Friday, October 28, 2011

YA INDIE CARNIVAL: Best Indie Scare

This week we are promoting our favorite scary books that happen to be Indie.  I haven't read any, so I'm going to continue my Supernatural countdown with the rest of my top 20 favorite episodes of all time.  As always, at the end there will be a list of other Indie authors with blogs.  Please click on them and check out their favorite Indie scares.

10. Supernatural Convention: At one time we found out that there were Supernatural books out there.  The guy writing them had no idea Sam and Dean were real.  In this episode the boys wind up at the first-ever Supernatural Convention.  It was too funny, watching all these other guys dressing like Sam and Dean and saying lines from old shows.  Then there's this girl with a crush on Sam.  She licks her palm and blows him a kiss.  He looked like he was hoping the ground would swallow him whole.

9.  Werewolf Girl: I love the episode where Sam falls in love with a werewolf.  I'm not kidding.  Of course he didn't know she was a werewolf.  This is a heartbreaking show, very well acted by the boys.  I didn't like how easily the girl gave up though or how Dean wanted to blow her away without a thought.  If I was her, I'd be like Wait a second.  What if I take sleeping pills?  Maybe she wouldn't turn on those nights.  Just a thought.

8.  The FBI Arrest Sam and Dean:  This episode comes in at number eight for me because it was a turning point.  We see Lilith for the first time, the agent harrassing the boys finally get them, and we see the boys' matching tattoos.  Favorite line: The agent kills the sheriff and is stunned that he did it.  He says 'I shot the sheriff.'  Dean says 'yeah, but you didn't shoot the deputy.'  It was so dumb, so inappropriate, and so Dean.

7.  Make a Wish:  Have you ever thrown a coin into a fountain and made a wish?  On this episode the wishes come true, but you know what they say about being careful what you wish for.  One little girl has made her teddy bear come to life.  It's huge and depressed.  Sam and Dean don't know what to do about it.  There's also an invisible boy sneaking into the women's shower at the Y and a little boy with super powers.

6.  Ghostfacers: The ghost chasing nerds are back, and this time they're shooting a pilot for their new show.  This was an awesome ep. because it looks like it's shot by some kid with a video camera.  The nerds go to a haunted house, hoping to see something and get famous.  Sam and Dean show up to do what they do best.  Awesome!

5.  Sam and Dean in Another Universe:  They are sent to another universe where they are the actors in a tv show.  They have Sam's real life wife playing his wife.  She is the actress who played the demon Ruby on the show.  Sam's mansion is beyond great.  And he has a camel in the backyard.

4.  The Fairies:  Dean shouts, "Fight the fairies!"  I laughed until I had tears in my eyes.  Sam doesn't have a soul on this one, so he doesn't seem to care that much when Dean is abducted.  They think by aliens but later find out it is fairies doing the kidnapping.  Love it when Sam says his brother was abducted, and this girl says, "Oh no!"  Sam says, "It's okay.  I've learned to adjust."  "Did it happen when you were kids?"  "No.  Just about half an hour ago."  Then she sleeps with him. 

3.  Meeting the Trickster:  Some of my favorite episodes involve this guy called the Trickster.  He can create things that seem very real.  For instance, he makes this one guy slow dance with an alien.  I loved this ep. because Sam and Dean tell their friend Bobby what's been going on, and they both make the other look bad in the retelling.  We get to watch the same scene in two separate flashbacks, as different as night and day.  It was definitely different.

2.  Dean Scared:  My runner up for favorite Supernatrual show of all time is the one where Dean gets ghost sickness.  Dean who never seems to be afraid of anything (if he is scared, he jokes around and acts macho), but when he gets the sickness he is afraid of everything.  He won't drive his car over the speed limit, won't stay above the first floor at the motel, and won't help Sam hunt ghosts.  At one point he yells, "Only crazy people hunt ghosts.  We are insane."

Drum roll please......

My favorite episode is.....

1.  Groundhogs Day:  This is my favorite episode of the series because Dean gets killed over and over again.  Dean doesn't remember any of it, but Sam does.  Sam wakes up several times to the same song.  It's Tuesday.  They eat at the same diner, Dean tells the same jokes, and the waitress drops the hot sauce bottle.  The only big difference is how Dean dies.  Sometimes it is Final Destination type deaths like when the desk falls on him.  This is also another episode with the Trickster in it.

Maybe you don't agree with my list.  There are so many shows to choose from, so many great episodes, but I think these are my top twenty... at least this month. 

1.Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series2.Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.Heather Self4.T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5.Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga6.Darby Karchut, author of GRIFFIN RISING
7.Lexus Luke8.PJ Hoover, Author of SOLSTICE, Blogging at ROOTS IN MYTH
9.Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy10.Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
11.K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed12.Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series
13.Courtney Cole, author of The Bloodstone Saga 14.Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
15.Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews 16.Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
17.M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping 18.Abbi Glines, author of Breathe and The Vincent Boys
19.Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind20.Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
21.Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler22.Nicole Williams, author of Eternal Eden, Falling Eden
23.Gwenn Wright, author of Filter24.Abbi Glines: Breathe, The Vincent Boys, Existence
NEWS:  13 on Halloween & Winnemucca by Laura A. H. Elliott now for sale at A Children's Place Bookstore and Broadway Books in Portland, OR
Twelve-year-old Roxie wants to be like Adrianne, the popular girl, the peacock, who gets everything she wants––a trampoline, a flock to prowl around the mall with, and most especially invitations to parties. But everything changes when Roxie invites all the popular kids in the eighth grade to her thirteenth birthday party on Halloween and they all come. And a boy, the boy, actually talks to Roxie. Roxie has the best night of her life until the peacocks decide they want to celebrate her birthday in a way Roxie never expects––in her attic, with a gift that is out of this world, and a pact to never tell a living soul what happens next.

A huge fan of Jane Austen, Danielle hopes to find her own Mr. Darcy when she leaves Colorado to attend art school in London. Of course she knows it's silly to wish for that, naive even. But she's met enough males who lacked respect for women, a growing trend it seemed. And at nineteen...well.... However, on only her second night there she gets lost and is threatened by a stalker who proves to be immune to her martial arts training. Before she is completely overpowered, she is then saved by Ethan Deveroux.

The Reckoning by M. Leighton, the second and final book in the Fahllen series, will be available for purchase on Amazon and Barnes & Noble on Monday, October 31st. Halloween day!
Visit http://mleightonbooks.blogspot.com/2011/10/reckoning.html for excerpts and the latest on her new release!
CHAMELEON by Cidney Swanson Now Available in paperback!
When Sam learns of her nemesis Helmann’s Nazi-like plan to establish a Thousand-Year Reign, she’s determined to fight him. Along with Will and Mickie, Sam flees to France to meet Sir Walter—their best hope for stopping Helmann’s brave new world.
But Sam isn’t any safer in France. Someone is following her. Someone invisible. Sam will have to figure out how to hide from an enemy she can’t even see.

Happy Reading!!!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Halloween Book Signing: CRUSHED

Time is running out... for me.  This Saturday at Vintage Stock at the Northpark Mall in Joplin, MO, I will be signing a limited number of copies of my book CRUSHED.  If you live in the area or know someone around here, I'd love a chance to meet you (or them).  There will be fun, prizes, a woman dressed as a witch handing out Halloween candy.  I'm giving away digital copies of Vampires Rule, also.  Can't wait.  I will be taking pictures and hopefully will be able to post a few next week.

It starts at noon and will go on until four (or until I run out of books). 

Thursday, October 20, 2011

YA INDIE CARNIVAL: Favorite Halloween Story

To be honest, I don't have one.  We were not allowed to Trick or Treat.  So you can go below and click on the other Carnis.  Read about their favorite Halloween times.  As for me, I will make a list of my favorite Supernatural episodes.  Anyone here watch Supernatural?  It is my all-time favorite scary-fun paranormal show.  Here are my top twenty (you get half this week and half next week while the other Carnis discuss their favorite Indie books that are scary.  Once again, I have nothing to offer the conversation.  So here are the first ten in my top twenty Supernatural episodes:

20.  The Pilot:  I love this episode for obvious reasons.  We are introduced to the brothers, get a look at how they work together, and hear some awesome background on them.  It's also the first time that Sam calls Dean a Jerk and Dean calls same the B word.

19.  Sam Possessed: I loved the episode where Sam seems to have lost time. He tries to convince Dean to kill him, even taking Jo as a hostage and threatening to off her.  Dean refuses to hurt his baby brother and hits him with holy water instead.  My fav thing about this ep. is how Sam snaps out of it at the end and asks, "What did I miss?"  Dean punches him.  Good times.

18.  The Bank Job:  They are searching for a shapeshifter in this episode.  It likes to rob banks, so Sam and Dean are inside of the bank when a well-meaning guard tries to capture the thing by taking the entire bank hostage.  He is killed and Dean takes over the bank heist.  I love how this girl keeps telling Sam how great Dean is.  "He's like a hero."  Sam looks unimpressed.  It's hilarious.

17.  Killer Clowns:  In this episode we find out that little Sam was afraid of clowns while growing up.  My fav lines from the show?  "You're afraid of flying."  "Planes crash."  "Yeah, and apparently clowns kill."  LOL
I'm with Sam on this one.  Clowns suck.

16.  Dean has Out of Body Experience:  In this episode, Dean almost dies in a car crash.  Sam has to communicate with him through a Ouiji Board.  I loved it because this is when their dad dies.  They all did an awesome job.

15.  Dean Returns from Hell:  This is the episode when Dean comes back from Hell.  First Bobby tries to kill him, thinking he's a fake Dean.  Then Sam tries to kill him.  I loved the hug between these two when Sam realizes Dean is really back.  Very emotional.  I also liked this episode because we meet Castiel.

14.  A Jinn Grants Dean's Fondest Wish:  In this one Dean wakes up in an apt. with a girl he doesn't know.  He has a whole new life.  His mom is still alive and Sam is in law school.  It's so funny when he calls Sam a 'B' and Sam looks confused.  I also love it when they make a big deal out of Dean mowing the lawn. 

13.  The Christmas Special:  I almost turned the TV off when the words Special Presentation came on the screen and a cheezy Christmas movie started.  Then this old guy gets yanked up a chimney and killed.  I'm like okay, guess I'm watching the right show after all.  The bad guys in this ep. were hillarious.  An old couple.  The woman told Dean not to cuss, to say Fudge instead. 

12.  Meeting the Ghostfacers:  I enjoyed this episode because Sam and Dean were pranking each other the whole time.  We find out that Dean put Nair in Sam's shampoo when they were kids.  Sam glues Dean's hand to a beer bottle.  Dean puts itching powder in Sam's underwear.  All very funny.

11.  Supernatural Books:  The boys find out that someone is writing books about their lives, and the guy knows more than he should.  Love it when this girl (a fan of the books) meets them.  She keeps touching Sam and saying how firm he is.  LOL. 

Join me next week for the rest of the list.  In the meantime, hop over to these other blogs to read about their Halloween stories.


1.Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series2.Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.Heather Self4.T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5.Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga6.Darby Karchut, author of GRIFFIN RISING
7.Lexus Luke8.PJ Hoover, Author of SOLSTICE, Blogging at ROOTS IN MYTH
9.Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy10.Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
11.K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed12.Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series
13.Courtney Cole, author of The Bloodstone Saga 14.Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
15.Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews 16.Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
17.M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping 18.Abbi Glines, author of Breathe and The Vincent Boys
19.Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind20.Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
21.Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler22.Nicole Williams, author of Eternal Eden, Falling Eden
23.Gwenn Wright, author of Filter

Courtney released her Bloodstone Saga finale, My Tattered Bonds.

Check out The Paranormal Plumes Haunted Book Tour in Savannah Halloween Weekend! http://www.theplumessociety.com/

30% of the royalties of Lexus Luke's Manitou The Sky People Saga go to the ASPCA.

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines will release on Oct 21. Here is the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aAp6chU-d6o

For a limited time, Kimberly Kinrade is selling signed copies of her YA paranormal thriller/romance Forbidden Mind. As an All Hallow's Read bonus, she is also including some awesome gifts with each purchase... including a very special bonus to the first 5 lucky people who place an order. Get a copy for yourself and buy one for a friend in celebration of All Hallow's Read. For more details, visit http://bit.ly/qGMQkz

Filter Giveaway on Gwenn Wright's blog! http://hereventuality.blogspot.com/2011/10/von-strassenbergs-giving-it-away.html. When she reaches 100 followers she will give away a signed copy of Filter AND one of her fancy new mugs!



Happy early Halloween!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Finding Something Original to Write About

Now that's a hard one.  I swear, every time I come with something I think has never been done, one of my friends tells me that they either just finished reading a book about it or saw a book about it online.  My reaction?  WHAT???  Are you kidding me?

No, they are not kidding.  This has been happening to me since I first started writing.  I remember being sixteen and thinking I had a killer idea that no one else had thought of.  Then I went to the store, looked at the books, and found that not only had someone else already thought of the same idea, but they'd beaten me to it.  This also happens to me frequently with titles.  Sucks!

Can you guess why I'm writing about this subject today?  That's right.  It happened again.  Because there are sooo many books about vampires and werewolves, I decided to go out on a limb and do something different.  I came up with what I thought was a wild idea.  Then I spoke to a friend in Ohio, and she tells me that she's reading a book that has the exact idea.  ????

How does this happen?  Am I psychic and picking up on other peoples' ideas, or does God give these ideas to several people at once?  Kind of depressing. 

Does this happen to anyone else, or is it just me for some reason?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

YA INDIE CARNIVAL: Favorite Fan Experience

This week on the Carnival we are writing about our favorite fan experience, but to be honest I don't have one.  I met a woman at Wal-mart one day who was reading one of my Harlequins and was nearing the end.  She kind of threatened me.  I think she was kidding.  She said if the main guy died she was going to hunt me down.  I just looked at her like 'okay, that's an overreaction.'  She also asked about my cats and some other personal stuff, and that kind of freaked me out until I realized she'd read my author's bio.

I guess I would have to say that my favorite fan experience was not really a fan experience at all but rather a sweet gesture.  My first book had come out and my best friend's 12 yr old daughter was visiting.  She sat at my kitchen table with a notepad and a pencil and quickly scribbled out a short letter.  Then she gave it to me.  I was like: What's this?

"It's your first fan letter," she said.  "I wanted to be the first person to write you one."

Aw, isn't that cute?

Anyway, it meant a lot to me, and I stilll have it somewhere.  Of course she hadn't read the book at the time.  She was too young to read a romance novel as far as I was concerned, but it's the thought that counts.

News:  For a limited time, Kimberly Kinrade is selling signed copies of her YA paranormal thriller/romance Forbidden Mind. As an All Hallow's Read bonus, she is also including some awesome gifts with each purchase... including a very special bonus to the first 5 lucky people who place an order. Get a copy for yourself and buy one for a friend in celebration of All Hallow's Read. For more details, visit http://bit.ly/qGMQkz

Courtney released her Bloodstone Saga finale, My Tattered Bonds.

Check out The Paranormal Plumes Haunted Book Tour in Savannah Halloween Weekend! http://www.theplumessociety.com/

30% of the royalties of Lexus Luke's Manitou The Sky People Saga go to the ASPCA.

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines will release on Oct 21. Here is the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aAp6chU-d6o



Here is the list of my other Carni writer friends.  Take a peek at their favorite fan experiences.  I'm sure they have to be more interesting than mine.  :)

T. R. Knight
P. J. Hoover
Madeline Smoot
M. Leighton
J. L. Bryan
Suzy Turner
Dani Snell
Patti Larsen
Nicole Williams
Rachel Coles
Cindy Tefft
Cheri Schmidt
Laura Elliott
Fisher Amelie
Courtney Cole
Cidney Swanson
Lexus Luke
Amy Maurer Jones
Kimberly Kinrade

Happy writing!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Romantic Suspense

As some of you already know, I used to write for Harlequin.  I found out something interesting that I did not know.  After a certain amount of years I can get back the rights to my books and publish them again.  All I have to do is contact the Contract Department at Harlequin and get a release in writing.  Awesome! 

What does this mean?  I am going to re-publish my old Harlequin Intrigues as ebooks.  Plus, I have a couple of romantic suspense novels that were never published.  They have been sitting around, collecting dust.  It's time to put them to work. 

I have no idea what name will be on them yet.  I originally used Kasi Blake, but I signed away the use of it to Harlequin, so I would have to get the rights to that back to if I was to use it.  I'm thinking of using a pen name instead like Braile Chandler, Brenda Blake, or something with the last name stone.  Which one do you think sounds better for a romance writer?

I don't want to use K. C. Blake because that is on my YA novels.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

YA INDIE CARNIVAL- Favorite Character to Write For

This week we are writing posts on our favorite characters to write for.  At least this is my understanding on what we're supposed to be doing.  Below, as always, I will list the other writers/bloggers so you can check out their posts as well.

My favorite character to write for would have to be Jersey Clifford in the Rule series, probably because I've been living with him for so long.  I actually created Jersey for a different book over twenty years ago.  It didn't work out, so I put him on a shelf for a while.  Then when I began to write Vampires Rule I knew that I would need a strong, compelling bad guy.  Jersey seemed like the perfect fit. 

What do I love about him?

Well, he's deliciously insane for one thing.  Writing for a crazy person can be liberating.  They will say and do things that other characters can't or won't.  Jersey is fun too.  He wears solid black with a splash of color like red sneakers, a dark blue tie, etc.  He's been alive for about three thousand years, so he's had plenty of time to educate himself and broaden his mind.  His love for literature is what ties him to Jack and gives them common ground. 

Jersey often quotes poetry.  On reviewer of Vampires Rule said: Jersey is a gentleman, and he willl quote Robert Frost while ripping your face off. 

Unfortunately, Jersey had to leave town after the first book, but he still finds ways to annoy Jack in the second, and he will be back for a big chunk of the third book.

Favorite scene with Jersey:  When he gets angry while talking to his assistant, and a freaky wolf face imposes itself over his own until he calms down.

Favorite quote from Jersey:  After Jack says he's going to win the battle against Jersey, Jersey replies, "That's what I like to hear Jack.  Confidence.  Even if it is unfounded."

News:  Rachel has a new anthology of ghost stories called Beyond The Veil: A Ghost Story Anthology. It will be available Friday on Kindle and is at Smashwords here:  at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94161

From Darby:
Griffin Rising is a nominee for the 2011 Cybils Awards (YA fantasy).

From Laura,
In Portland, OR? Tonight 6:30-8:15 pm at the West Linn Library, West Linn, OR 97068 I'll be on tour with The Rain Boots Required Young Adult Authors talking about "The magic of magical realism" *knees knocking*!
Also at Wordstock Oct 8-9:)
Check out these other sites and see what these writers fav characters to write about are:

T. R. Knight
P. J. Hoover
Madeline Smoot
M. Leighton
J. L. Bryan
Suzy Turner
Dani Snell
Patti Larsen
Nicole Williams
Rachel Coles
Cindy Tefft
Cheri Schmidt
Laura Elliott
Fisher Amelie
Courtney Cole
Cidney Swanson
Lexus Luke
Amy Maurer Jones

Thank you!!!