Thursday, October 31, 2013

Serial Killers are So 1978; Killer SERIALS Are HERE!!!


Do you know who's a lucky girl? ME!
You know why?

Because I have four FABULOUS partners in crime today, ready to SLAY YOU with SERIALS!!! I gave a teaser on Tuesday at Mel's blog about WHY Killer Serials are superior to serial killers (say THAT 10 times fast), but TODAY I want to tell you a LOVE STORY.


Sexy Serials Suck you IN!

Here's a secret... my first book was over 200,000 words. Books typically can have complex characters or a twisty plot. But not both. (and while that first was admittedly not ready for prime time, it hurt SO BAD trying to cut it down)

I WANT IT ALL!

So last year when Susan Kaye Quinn said she was releasing a book SERIALLY, this GIANT lightbulb went off in my head. I didn't HAVE to choose anymore! I could have a fabulous twisty plot AND character development!

And let me tell you what... the OTHER fabulous feature of these feisty fables is ADRENALINE! HOLY COW can they grip you!? Of course for some people that's problematic, but I absolutely ADORE ADRENALINE!


So YOU WANT SOME!?


Here are FIVE FABULOUS SERIALS, a couple have free first episodes (including yours truly) and ALL of us are giving away something in the Rafflecopter giveaway below!!! You should go see ALL of us at our blogs, too!!!

Some Killer Serials you should consider sampling

Andrew Leon: The Shadow Spinner Series (34 parts, 40ish pages each)

Tiberius has always thought of himself as a normal 10-year-old boy, at least until the day his mother finally decides to tell him about his father, and she tells him things that convince him that one of them is crazy, and he's pretty sure it's not him. That is until the Man with No Eyes shows up and his father falls out of the sky.






Susan Kaye Quinn: The Debt Collector Series (9 Volumes, 50ish pages each, all complete, (for you risk-averse readers) first one free)

What's your life worth on the open market?
A debt collector can tell you precisely.







EJ Wesley: Moonsong Series (5th coming in December (no end point necessarily planned, but they are coming in 3-book clusters (6th in January) for satisfying individual story arcs; link to the first one FREE)

Jenny Moonsong recently inherited the title of "monster hunter" and an ancient tribal journal/how-to manual passed down by her Apache ancestors. The Moonsongs books follow her adventures as she battles the dark supernatural denizens of the world in a series of action-packed, urban fantasy novelettes. 


 


RaShelle Workman: The Cindy Chronicles (4 published of 6 volumes)

From a seemingly insignificant word comes the greatest of fairytales... Cinderella is a witch and she's been asked to save a world she never knew existed. 






Hart Johnson: A Shot in the Light Series (10 episodes, 100 pages each, 4th available today and the first is free)

Deadliest virus in a century, or a social experiment gone awry? Sidney Knight begins to notice inconsistencies in what people are being told and what's going on as half the population dies of the flu... or is it the vaccine?



So what should you do NOW?  Enter to WIN some of this loot!!!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Visiting Mel Chesley

Serial Killer Serials

Which do you like better? Serial Killers or Killer Serials?

I'm over at Mel Chesley's today arguing for Killer Serials... you should come see us.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Holy CowNoWriMo

I'm not sure how this could possibly creep up on me. I've done it since 2009. But this year I am doing it DIFFERENTLY and creep upon me it did.

Probably I should explain that in these interim years I've come to believe I can't NOT participate in NaNoWriMo... I know some people don't get it, but to ME, the risk of heading off on some tangent is bigger than the problems of 'not editing as I go'. I end up with a BETTER WORK after a month of crazy-paced insanity than I do after SEVERAL months or the slower version.

Between my short attention span and my inability to say NO (to a plot tangent), it is just better to commit to the primary plot fast.

This year, though, is full-on different for me. I am going to write books 7-10 of my serial, about a quarter of which was written previously (but need to have PoV changed) so I am officially a rebel.

I really have approaching 75K to write, and I will only track new words... but I am a little stressed as to how this will go.

Anybody else playing NaNoWriMo?

Friday, October 25, 2013

Cat Herding (Killer Serials Coming)


And when I say Cat Herding... I am not talking about herding cats, which is difficult... but about a cat herding authors... And while authors are fabulous and can be very compliant, cats aren't very organized... and by cats, I mean me.

Are you confused yet?

I have this amazing promotional idea for serials, right...

Serial Killers turned on their heads for Killer Serials...

So instead of:

You get:



And we are going to tell you ALL about it on Halloween!!!


Thursday, October 24, 2013

Dissected by Megan Bostic: A Review


So I don't volunteer to review books very often, largely because my TBR stack is HUGE and timing is hard to come by, but my friend Megan Bostic writes edgy YA that fills some of the same space of where I try to hit with MY YA. She also did something very interesting with her writing and allowed people to SPONSER her expenses for self publishing through Indiegogo, so she could hire her editing and do all her promotional stuff to set this book off in the right direction.

Here is the Trailer for it (which Megan produced herself and she can produce trailers for YOU, too, if you want, but that's another story).

Story teaser: Sydney [note I also am writing a Sidney story, but never mind] is a high school junior, crushing hard on a guy in one of her classes. She has good friends, parties on the weekends, hates her sister, and in nearly every way is a normal teen. Sure, she has some baggage. Her mom left when she was a kid and her dad is gone a lot, but her step mom is pretty good (if annoying the way teens find all adults who want to be in their lives).

Things go well with that cute boy... REALLY well... and for a time she is super happy... until an ill-timed work shift on her part and some bad decision making causes the bottom to fall out from her world.

She doesn't want to be herself anymore and dives into anything that will help her forget: alcohol, drugs, sex... and cutting. Is there any way out?


Review: Megan does a fantastic job of the very real emotion of first love, high school isolation, coping (and sometimes failing to cope) with what life deals us. Sydney is dealing with some big stuff. Stuff many adults couldn't handle, and she has the skills and perceptions of a teen. She also has some destructive forces around her... betrayal, negative peer pressure, abandonment issues...

There is also a nice balance of the darkness and the hope. In the happy times, there are warnings things might not be as clean and happy as Sydney thinks. And in the dark times, there are people reaching out, even if she isn't ready.

I think this tale is a realistic one, showing that things can always get worse... but maybe they can also get better. I would throw up a warning that any 'shelter the teens' folks, or people who don't believe in teens using alcohol, drugs or having sex... this isn't your book. But if you like edgy YA and a realistic tale for a teen having a really hard time, this is a good one. I recommend it.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Rejuvenated


Man, I needed that.

The grant that we turned in at work last week resulted in some comp time, so I am coming off three and a half days off and it was heavenly! My buddy Patti was in town for the Detroit Marathon (she ran the international half marathon, which crossed the bridge into Canada at sunrise—AWESOME, and well done, Patti!!!)

Patti was ALSO attending several of the Skate America sessions, which really makes for a PERFECT houseguest... someone THERE to visit, but with other activities so I could do some of MY other activities (some obligatory, some fun).

So this weekend I got my chore time... I got to go to a neighborhood harvest party (more on this shortly). I drank wine with Patti and the Couch to Keg team, arguing politics, as Jean and I often do after several glasses (I love that I have friends I can passionately debate and still like).

What I DIDN'T do was any writing... I think I needed a total break... from ALL the work, both the one I get paid for, and the one I'd LIKE to be my vocation. I wrote a little yesterday.

After the fun stuff was done, I managed to get some real writing done. And some blogging... a book review I will share later this week... some personal paperwork annoyances I've been procrastinating for months. And a handful of pages of my WiP, which is currently 70 pages and needs to be 100. It's the first time I've sat down for quite a while that I really felt equipped to approach these things (that obligatory paperwork piece, in particular, is REALLY hard to face). I just was tapped. But now I feel better.


The Social Tart

I might identify...
Know how I'm awkward? If you don't know, I am. I act like I'm not awkward online... pretend I'm naked and outrageous... and I sort of am. I want that to be me. But that is NOT real life me. I am too inattentive for small talk. Too shy for real disclosure... In fact I confess to doing better talking to people after a few drinks. It's not admirable, but I own it.

But I live in a REALLY fabulous neighborhood. And I'd forgotten Holly, the party host, worked in such a totally overlapping area.. That sounds stupid, right... to not think about what your neighbors do, but she is a larger-than-life, super-friendly gardening enthusiast, so I KNEW she worked in violence prevention at the University... but it just didn't cross my mind how many of her associates would be related to MY day job (health equity)... Man, I met the most INTERSTING public health folks. Had GREAT conversations.

Conversations that felt 'on' which is weird. I'm not sure why that seems so strange, but it does. Maybe it is my insecurity about my social competence, but whatever the case, it felt good.


As For the State of the Writing

I am writing book 6. Book 5 is with first readers. 4 is with my copyeditor. So there.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Butterman Cover Reveal and Time Travel Blogfest

Halo, fine friends!!! I'm participating today in a Time Travel Blogfest and cover reveal for PK Hrezo!!!

Some of you may know, I really love wibbly wobbly timey whimey stuff... I particularly love a good plot that folds back on itself (a la Terminator or Prisoner of Azkaban)



Welcome to Butterman Travel, Incorporated
We are a full service agency designed to meet all your exclusive time travel needs. Family-owned and operated, we offer clients one hundred years of time travel experience. A place where you can rest assured, safety and reliability always come first.
Anxious to attend a special event from the past? Or for a glimpse of what the future holds?
You’ve come to the right place. We’re a fully accredited operation, offering an array of services; including, but not limited to: customized travel plans, professionally piloted operations, and personal trip guides. *Terms and conditions do apply
Conference us directly from our Website. Our frontline reservation specialist, Bianca Butterman, will handle all your inquiries in a professional and efficient manner, offering a tentative itinerary and free fare quote, so you can make the most of your time trip.
We look forward to serving you at Butterman Travel, Inc., where time is always in your hands.  



For the blogfest theme, BOOK YOUR TIME TRIP TODAY, if you could walk into a time travel agency and book a time trip, where and when would it be, and why? 

Let's see... when would I go?

Judgment of Paris
Let's see... I would have been thought most beautiful in Ruben's age... And LOOK how NAKED everyone was!!!

But I would have been FREAKISHILY tall... I think a tall MAN back then was about 5'8"...

And all the consumption and dysentary... and the life expectation was only what? 40? So a visit might be okay, but I wouldn't want to stay long.


And there are times that seem so intriguing... the roaring 20s or the Summer of Love (1968)... but I think we are still so far from being truly enlightened. No... I think I am headed to the future to see if we've managed to place intellect, compassion, and humanity before vanity and greed. How far forward do I think we need to go?

Possibly New New New New York of the future... Though it has its problems... Still... getting to have my OWN kittens...

Or 3rd Earth, a la Pendragon... Though the one that is cool is a moving target...

Yes, the future is uncertain, but I think I'd like the hint as to what goes right and wrong so I could come back and try to guide things along a bit.

Go check out when everyone else visits here.

Monday, October 14, 2013

That Eccentric Lady


So I was walking to work Friday morning in the dark, but trying to edit anyway as I walked...

I get the impression quirky becomes eccentric at about 30
See, this is what I do... I walk and read. Or I walk and edit. I have just gotten in the habit. I walk the same way all the time and it isn't that I have to pay much attention. But this time of year, I can only actually see what I'm looking at under the street light.

So I pass a man and his dog, and he says, “this time of year must be hard for you. You can't see.”

True.

But who the heck is HE?

I'll tell you who he is... somebody I must pass ALL the time and never see because my nose is in my book or my editing.

More and more I meet people who tell me they see me, know who I am... are well aware of me... and I've never seen them before. It's a strange feeling to be 'that lady'. I mean I'm sure I'm only infamous on the couple streets I walk, but infamous I seem to be. Ah well.

There HAVE been some 'Only in Ann Arbor' moments... near crashes with OTHER people walking and reading. That is sort of a trip. We seem to all think we are the only ones.


Designed by Joris Ammerlaan
In Other News

I had a very productive weekend. I got Book 4, Fight or Flight, to Leanne for copyediting. (And LOOK at my spectacular cover!!!) I got Travel Plans to my first readers... and Book 6, The New Normal, is sitting at about 16000 words (I had 10,000 written from the original book I did). Oddly, the writing is EASIER when less is previously written than when I was having to UN-write or change to a different PoV... Sid and Theo are off on an adventure... by themselves for a time, so I can't use ANY of their stuff for anybody else... in fact a lot of it I won't use at all... I wrote this during a WriMo and the road trip has far more details than it needs...

My goal on this project is to write Book 6, and then go through ALL the rest of what I've written (some 200 more pages) and change THAT to appropriate PoVs before November. That will make it easier to, as a NaNoWriMo Rebel, keep track of my new words written (much easier than if I am both writing and editing).

Any of you guys doing NaNoWriMo? Remember, you are ALL cordially invited to join BuNoWriMo on Facebook for a little more personal interaction—we all encourage each other TWICE a year (during NaNoWriMo in November and BuNoWriMo in June). You can also join Writing Sprints R Us if you like to write in sprints. Several of us sprint at least a couple times a week... we sprint EDIT as well as sprint write—just nice to have a buddy to yell GO with, to keep you focused for an hour.


In OTHER OTHER News...

My basement, while not clean and pleasant, is cleaner and pleasanter than it has been since the water problems in July... I worked hard this weekend...


I hope I am now back to being able to do some blog visiting, and to blog 3 days a week. The grant doesn't go in until Tuesday, but we are pretty much there. I did some long days last week. Now it is just polishing...

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

THREE and FREE (whereby I attempt bribing you)



So today is a BIG day for me.

Book 3 in my A Shot in the Light Series is up for sale.

So I am offering BOOK 1 for FREE!!!!


But my day job is TOTALLY not cooperating. As in it is the busiest day I have probably had in a collection of very busy days recently...


Which reminded me of the Weejee hunt we used to go on in campfire camp (that I've heard as a lion hunt which I not nearly so fun, but the hunt details are the same).


Can't go over it...
Can't go under it...
Can't go around it...

Gotta go THROUGH it!!!


And that got my little tart brain going... HOW does a TART go through a promotion without being PRESENT!? (even on Naked Thursday it seemed daunting)


And when the answer hit me I was STUNNED I didn't think of it earlier... Bribery, of course...

So HERE is my offer:


BRIBERY TABLE:

ONE promotion (share this blog, or links to book 1 (free) or 3 (now available) and get a free episode of ANY in this series (whichever you do not yet have).

Like me all around for one free episode: Go to all the following and click 'like' or 'to read' (or mark read and rate) and get the free episode of your choice:


FIVE FOR TEN: Share FIVE times (any venue: FB, Twitter, Blog, Review) and get a subscription for the lot of them... the WHOLE DANG SERIES. The only caveat is at least an hour wait between shares on the same venue (so 5 tweets is okay if they are an hour apart,--a blog and FB share can be at the same time... in fact if you used 3 venues, then two time would cover it.). I DO prefer you mix it up: one of this blog and one of each book, then whatever you think works.

Once you've posted, just email a link to me for your shares to verify: hartjohnson23@gmail.com

Links you need:



And THANK YOU!!!!  You guys ROCK!!!!

Norse God(dess) Birthday Bash


Today's blogfest serves double duty, it is my Norse Sister Siv's birthday, and her book, Secrets of the Ash Tree is in the midst of it's blog tour for its release .

 So FIRST—Happy Birthday, Siv!!!


Second, BEST of luck with Secrets of the Ash Tree:

Secrets of the Ash Tree tells the story of Liv, a young woman who discovers her true nature through the unraveling of hidden secrets. Her adventures begin when she digs up a chest that was buried by her father under the old ash tree in her garden. What she finds inside the chest changes her life forever.

Liv discovers one secret after another and is thrown into a world full of dangerous and strange creatures, mighty Norse warriors and perils beyond her belief. What started out as a fairy tale in her father’s journal was to become her legacy, a guide line to survival, and a map to the world she was about to enter.
Each day, each mystery, each encounter will ultimately reveal her true destiny and behind the edge of a sword awaits a young god who is willing to share that destiny with her.

And now, without further ado... my GOD(dess)...

I began this quest at a bit of a disadvantage. In spite of being fully HALF Scandenavian (one Norwegian grandmother and one Swede, with a couple mutts for grandpas) my knowledge of the Norse gods is relatively limited. And while seeking pictures of Thor DID require three cold showers, a blustery thunder god is not ACTUALLY the one that gets my vote, so I set to reading.

The winner?

Ran, Goddess of the sea. WHY, you ask?

I'm ruled by the moon (which also rules the tides) and have always felt an affinity for the sea. But look at THIS endorsement from Godchecker: She's the wife of [AEGIR] but is terribly randy and fancies mortals.


HA! Randy. I can get behind that! And look how fierce she is! She is mother of the nine sisters that rule the waves, and EVERYONE knows the Viking advantage is their sea travels, so she's like... The GODDESS!!!

You should go visit all the other gods and goddesses today!!!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Crystal Collier's Moonless: Cover Reveal

Listen to this for a teaser:   Jane Eyre meets Supernatural

Is that hot or WHAT? I love the idea of it...  And look at the cover!!!




Want more?  Here is the description:

In the English society of 1768 where women are bred to marry, unattractive Alexia, just sixteen, believes she will end up alone. But on the county doorstep of a neighbor’s estate, she meets a man straight out of her nightmares, one whose blue eyes threaten to consume her whole world—especially later when she discovers him standing over her murdered host in the middle of the night.

Among the many things to change for her that evening are: her physical appearance—from ghastly to breathtaking, an epidemic of night terrors predicting the future, and the blue-eyed man’s unexpected infusion into her life. Not only do his appearances precede tragedies, but they’re echoed by the arrival of ravenous, black-robed wraiths on moonless nights.

Unable to decide whether he is one of these monsters or protecting her from them, she uncovers what her father has been concealing: truths about her own identity, about the blue-eyed man, and about love. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with the man of her dreams and risk becoming one of the Soulless.

Best of luck to Crystal with her book release November 13th!!!
Here is where to find her:
Blog |
Twitter |
Goodreads |
Facebook |
Website

Monday, October 7, 2013

This Week's PLAN *BUWAHAHAHAHA*

So I am here some this week, not all the time, but hopefully better than LAST week (and the week before).


TOMORROW:  Reveal of the Moonless Cover!!!




Wednesday:  Norse Gods Birthday Bash Blogfest!!! (still time to sign up--those Norse Gods know how to throw a party!!! (though Thor is bitter it isn't on Thorsday... erm... that would be NAKED Thorsday in my world... Mmmmm... Thor....)

Warning... if you look up Naked Thor, be prepared for some rather vivid imagery...






Naked Thorsday:  Release of So This Is War!!!! (Accompanied by a FREE day for A Flock of Ill Omens!!!)


Those of you waiting for ARCs of So This is War, they are COMING, but I had some computer challenges on formatting... I will make sure and use my work computer in the future, as my home ones don't play nicely with Word. At ALL. I had to redo things several times and now have three versions, each with different iterations. Hopefully by tonight...

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

No Longer a Decoy

So While I goofed on Monday... thought I was visiting... TODAY, I really am...

Why else would the fabulous writer's of Unicorn Bell interview me? Oh, okay, maybe because they're fabulous and Marcy is a blog buddy... but anyway, I am there so you should go over and see me!!!

As for HERE... My work schedule is terrible until Oct 15, so I think twice a week is as much as I might manage blogging...

But if you visit me over at Unicorn Bell, I will do my best to get back to you!!!

I'm a Fire Horse... why NOT a fire unicorn?