My Un-Grinching Giveaway

I am normally not Grinchy at all, but this year...

I am normally one of those crazy people who actually doesn't get at all annoyed when stores start putting out Christmas stuff before Halloween. Despite my penchant for horror writing, Halloween is a holiday I can do without. No, it has nothing to do with me not liking its evil roots--that's not an issue with me--it's just the idea of spending $30 on a costume for each kid so they can wear it for about two hours, griping the whole time about how this is too loose and that is too tight, so they can collect a pile of candy, more than half of which will go in the trash. So, fine by me to skip right on past Halloween straight to Christmas. I love the decorations, the music...the movies!

Most years, the inside of my house is decorated all but the tree itself a week or so before Thanksgiving. I try to hold out, I really do, but always give in. I start with multiple Nativity scenes, one of which is hand-painted by me, then go on to my nutcracker collection. A smattering of miscellaneous figurines and wreaths get spread around. Then the very day after Thanksgiving, the tree and outside lights go up.

My daughter IS this cute, or the decorations might still not be up!

But this year I've had an oddly hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. Not a single decoration went up before Thanksgiving. Actually, it took my daughter begging me to put the tree up all day--aaaallll daaaay--on Monday to get me to start pulling out boxes. I didn't put up everything, either. Yep, even half my nutcrackers went back into the box and into the closet.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, I need to do something to get me feeling Christmas-y. I thought maybe giving some books away might help.

So, I am going to run a contest for one copy each of four books. As in, if you win, you get all four.

They are as follows:

A signed copy of my novel, MG fantasy Finding Angel.

Angel doesn't remember her magical heritage...but it remembers her.

Magic and science collide when she embarks on a journey to her true home, and to herself.

Angel lives with a loving foster family, but dreams of a land that exists only in the pages of a fantasy novel. Until she meets Gregor, whose magic Talent saves her life and revives lost memories.

A signed-by-me copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Just for Preteens, which contains my story "Armored and Dangerous" (a tale about the time I found strength in a very odd place when faced by a bully).

A signed-by-me copy of Aquasynthesis, the anthology featuring short stories by all the Splashdown Books authors. Three of my stories are found inside.

A not-signed-by-anyone-because-I-ordered-it-from-Amazon-and-the-author-lives-in-Kansas-but-I-live-in-Florida copy of Odd Little Miracles by Fred Warren. It is a collection of his short stories, which are what made me buy his book, The Muse, which is what got me interested in Splashdown Books as a potential publisher because I *adore* his writing.


These are all brand-new, unread copies, that I bought to sell. So, if you enter but happen to have one of the titles already, think "gift." :D

Now, how to enter.

I hate trying to track these things, to be honest. I want to make it easy on you, and on me. Each of the following gives you one entry:

• Leave a comment here, on THIS POST. (If you comment any-ole-where on the blog it makes it very hard for me to track it down.)

• Leave a comment on my Facebook wall or in a message. 

• Leave a comment on my Facebook Author Page wall or in a message.

• Friend me and/or become a "fan" on Goodreads and send me a message.

*Make sure your comment or message states that you are interested in the giveaway, please!*

I will contact the winner on December 13th, so if you are giving one or more titles away they'll reach you before Christmas. (I hope.) (I really should have thought of this earlier...)

First, Second, Third, Fourth, Eleventh....

First, there is an interview with me and a contest right now at The Barn Door Book Loft. You can enter to win an ebook copy of Finding Angel by visiting and leaving a comment.

Second, Finding Angel is now available in ALL formats, including print and Kindle at Amazon,  print and Nook at Barnes & Noble, all ebook formats at Smashwords, and print at The Book Depository (which has free international shipping).

Third, the anthology recently published by Splashdown Books - Aquasynthesis - has been receiving some great reviews. Three of my stories are in that book, two of which are companion stories to Finding Angel. 

The latest review really touched me. Heather Titus dubbed my story "Dude" her favorite of the bunch! Check out her full review HERE.

Fourth, I got my contributor copy of Dark Heroes in the mail yesterday. Having my own book has not at all diminished the thrill of getting a copy of an anthology with one of my short stories inside.  

Dark Heroes is the eleventh anthology that contains a story of mine. (Ah, now the blog title makes sense, eh?) For some reason that number feels significant. You'd think that the tenth one would have meant more--double digits and all--but this one really jumped out at me. Eleven anthologies. Must admit it feels rather cool to say that.

Anyway, that's my book news. Still pondering in search of a mind-blowing blog post for next time....

"A" is for August....and Anthologies

I feel like a broken record. And I feel like one of those authors who runs around going, "Hey, look at all my books! Look at meeeeeee!" I hate that feeling.


But. (*evil grin*)


This has been a stellar month for me regarding anthologies. First, there was the release of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Just for Preteens, which technically hit on July 26th, but that's darn close to August. Then, there was Aquasynthesis, which I have been yammering about for days now because it has three stories of mine as well as some of the most brilliant short stories I've read by other Splashdown Books authors.

Now, the anthology I've been waiting a while for is finally out. While the Morning Stars Sing just released from Residential Aliens, and it features my story "The Guitar." 


This, I must admit, is my favorite of my short stories. It stars my favorite character in Finding Angel--a bit of back story about him, told from the pov of his best friend. He's Elven, a musician (with leather and tattoos and pointed ears lost in really great hair...) and has an amazing magic Talent. 


Here's the opening of the story:

“Dude, please, you gotta take me with you this time.”
Kalek perched on a low branch of a Platinum Oak, his Elven ears poking through a massive mound of ragged curls. I cringed at the way his onyx eyes gleamed. He’d convince me, I was sure, but I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“No way,” I said, “I’m going camping. Alone. That means without you, so forget it.”
He jumped down from the tree, lithe as a panther, and stood in front of me. “C’mon. I’ve never been off the island. Just this once.”
“Your father will be furious.”
“I know, dude, all the more reason.”

You can order WtMSS by clicking HERE.

And lastly, coming later this month (no exact date yet) will be my story "Ordinary Folk" in the Dark Heroes anthology by Pill Hill Press. This is my longest published short story to date. Dark Heroes is an anthology of stories in which a character that would normally play the part of the villain is actually the hero. Think vampires and monsters, fur and fangs. 

My dark hero? Janey, whose husband and doctor are looking at ordinary things to explain her extraordinary symptoms...but Janey knows there has to be more to it and decides to visit her parents' hometown in search of answers. She finds answers, all right, as well as a chance for revenge.

So, there you have it. My month of anthologies. I will now turn off the record player :P.

Aquasynthesis...

What is Aquasynthesis?


aqua (n) - water, used in compound names, or substances in water.
synthesis (n) - The combining of elements into a unified entity.
aquasynthesis (n) - a combining of worlds within a pool of water; an anthology of short stories from Splashdown authors.


Gizile follows her mysterious teacher, Tok, as they look into the ice of an ocean pool to contemplate a series of strange and mystical visions: astonishing tales of technology and transcendence, aliens and elves, space and time, dragons and demons, prophecies and scriptures, humor and horror, the gifted and the enslaved, virtual and supernatural reality, insanity and inspiration.


No, really, what is it?


Just what is says--an anthology from Splashdown Books, which features stories by Fred Warren, Caprice Hokstad, P.A. Baines, Adam Graham, R.L. Copple, Travis Perry, Mike Lynch, Keven Newsome, Kat Heckenbach, and Ryan Grabow. Edited by Grace Bridges and narration by Walt Staples.

My contribution includes three stories:


"Between the Pages" is a story that involves my character Angel and the magic of books, sort of a prelude to Finding Angel. Can't say it really happened, can't say it didn't. But it could have.


"The Artist" was previously published in two other magazines (Mindflights and Beyond Centauri) and is a companion story to Finding Angel, a bit of back story for one of the characters who struggles to find her magic Talent.


"Dude" was originally published in Residential Aliens, and is unrelated to Finding Angel. It's the story of a scientist and a stuck-in-the-eighties Elf working together on a very special project.


Available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. 
(Note--Amazon is being squirrelly right now and only has the Kindle version up. B&N has the print version but is taking a while on the ebook. Smashwords has all ebook formats.)