October Events

First up is an online event on Facebook:

"Embrace the Darkness" Paranormal Nights (2 Night Event)

Sponsored by the Wordsmithe Book Blog

(who interviewed me back in July)

Looking for some new paranormal reads? Over 40 authors have banded together to hold a two-night event on Facebook, and it's going to be full of chills and thrills! I'll be working the 8:45-9:00 PM (EST) slot on Saturday, October 24--stop by and check it out!

The party is happening on Facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/events/1640573729542675/

 On October 30, at 6 pm, I'll be joining up with some other authors at Face in a Book:

PARANORMAL PAGES: A FOUR-AUTHOR EVENT

October 30, 2015 in El Dorado Hills

El Dorado Hills, CA—In celebration of the spooky season, four accomplished authors of paranormal novels for teens are gathering at the indie bookstore Face in a Book for a night of haunting tales. The free, themed event goes from 6 to 8 p.m. on October 30. Each author will share an eerie excerpt from her book, followed by a group Q&A session. Costumes are encouraged for attendees, but not required. Seasonal, themed refreshments will be served.

The movie industry has spawned a growing demand for supernatural stories, spurring book sales and increasing the number of paranormal titles on store and library shelves.  Halloween is the perfect excuse for buffs of the genre to celebrate their favorite creepy book characters, and this event is one way for them to gather with fellow fans.

About the authors and their novels:

Angelica R. Jackson’s darkly funny, young adult urban fantasy novel, Crow’s Rest, is set in a fictional town in the Sierra foothills, and was partly inspired by a nearby haunted landmark, Preston Castle. She sometimes haunts the Castle’s hallways herself, as she photographs the arrested decay, and will be sharing a real-life ghostly encounter that made it into the pages of her novel. She was featured on Sacramento Access’s Story Connection in April, and the video is at https://youtu.be/JwRtQ3i06Ow. In Crow’s Rest, sixteen-year-old Avery Flynn is determined to reclaim her almost-boyfriend from the Fae, with the help of the creature who stole his body in the first place.

Linda Covella will be reading from the first book in her Ghost Whisperer series, The Castle Blues Quake. This tale of ghosts and friendship for teens and tweens received the Literary Classics Seal of approval and is “highly recommended for home and school libraries.” It’s also a finalist in the Literary Classics Book Award (winners will be announced soon), along with her other published book, Yakimali’s Gift, which  won an honorable mention in the RONE awards, young adult-general category. Recently published, The Ghosts of Pebble Brook Lodge, is the second book in the Ghost Whisperer series; both Ghost Whisperer books take place in Santa Cruz.

Linda Joy Singleton is the author of over 40 books for kids, including  the YALSA honored The Seer series, the Dead Girl Walking trilogy, and The Curious Cat Spy Club. Her latest book, Never Been Texted, is a sweet romance with a touch of magic: When Ashlee’s stepdad completely forgets her birthday she takes matters into her own hands to get the one thing she really wants: her own cell phone. But text messages start rolling in from a broken-hearted boy, and though Ashlee knows not all stories end happily, she’s determined to make hers the best it can be.

Tracy Clark formerly served as the Regional Advisor for the Nevada chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and is currently a contributing writer on the YA Series Insiders group blog. The first book (Scintillate) in her young adult paranormal romance series, The Light Key Trilogy, won the YA category of the 2015 Golden Quill Contest. Kirkus Review said of Deviate, the second book in the trilogy, “Passion and power are the driving forces behind this series that continues to deliver.” The trilogy was completed with the publication of Illuminate in September, and her next offering, Mirage, a young adult thriller, is due in the summer of 2016.

Face in a Book is located in the El Dorado Hills Town Center, at 4359 Town Center Blvd., #113, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762. 916-941-9401.

All authors are available for phone or email interviews.

Learn more:
Face in a Book: http://www.getyourfaceinabook.com/

Angelica R. Jackson: http://www.angelicarjackson.com/

Linda Covella: http://lindacovella.com/

Linda Joy Singleton: http://www.lindajoysingleton.com/

Tracy Clark: http://www.tracyclark.org/

I'll be costuming for this one--will you?

Winner & RTW: Spookiness

First, let's get to the winner of the signed copy of Behind the Bookcase by Mark Steensland:



Congratulations, Tricia C.! Thanks to all who entered!

And now on to today's Road Trip Wednesday post. Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: Halloween! What's your favorite scary book or movie?

My idea of a scary movie is probably laughable to a lot of people. Or at least to my husband, who still teases me about the time I ran out of the room during a "gotcha" moment in the movie The Changeling. Or to my childhood friend, who loved to torment me about Gremlins when we were in the POOL. A POOL FULL OF WATER.

But when it comes to books, my own brain knows how much I can handle so it fills in "monster" with something appropriately creepy or frightening, but not enough to give me too many nightmares.

So there are a couple of books that I like to read around Halloween, to help set the mood.

I haven't read any of her other books in ages, but The Witching Hour has the power to immediately transport me to another time and place. It's genuinely startling to look up from the pages of this book and not find myself caught in an intense storm in New Orleans.

Carrie Ryan's zombie series is another great Halloween read, for its dark ambiance and themes. There is one bit of creepiness that's almost unbearable (if you've read it, you'll probably agree which part that is) but so incredibly well-written.

What about you? What are your favorite Halloween reads or movies? Feel free to include the link to your RTW post in your comment if you're participating.

Halloween Urban Fantasy Blog Hop Is Here!

So the fabulous Yelena Casale, writer of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, got this idea to do a Halloween Urban Fantasy Blog Hop, and I got on board. My current work-in-progress, Crow's Rest, is my first full-length urban fantasy novel. I've written some UF short stories (which will likely never see the light of day) and I've always been a fan of the genre as a reader, so I figured why not join the blog hop?

All of our posts will go up on our blogs today, October 24, and each site is offering a giveaway! And we're answering some questions (brace yourself, it's going to be a long post) to help you all get to know us better. Here are my answers:

1. What do you love about the urban fantasy genre (reading and writing)?

For urban fantasy, it's the possibilities that hook me. Like magical realism, it's our own, recognizable world, but with the possibility of magic and something extraordinary. That's been my favorite part of writing Crow's Rest.

My first book, Spirits from the Vasty Deep, is historical fiction and I did a ton of research before even starting to write. Historical fiction involves world-building as well, but there's also a lot of pressure to get the details correct.

But with Crow's Rest, I had the freedom to indulge all the possibilities without the restrictions of a historical basis. I've made up words, folklore, spells, traditions, an entire present-day town. Sure, I drew on Celtic and other mythologies, but it was more of a guideline.

And urban fantasy is a great place to get your geek on, both as a writer and a reader. So many esoteric facts and fantasies come together within the genre!

2. Who is the sexiest supernatural creature? Who’s the scariest?

The sexiest supernatural character? That would be Damon Salvatore. Oh wait--you didn't want that specific of an answer? But seriously, I don't actually think that vampires are inherently sexy (necrophilia, anyone?)--I think that comes from some brilliant writers and Ian Somerhalder actors having fun with those characters.

I do think it's curious that you can find examples of the same creature as hero and villain within the paranormal and urban fantasy genres. A demon might stoke one person's fires, but be the worst nightmare for another. Except zombies--for a long time, that was the creature I was most scared of, and I can't imagine anyone thinking an animate rotting corpse would be sexy. Oh wait, I just remembered the movie Fido.

3. If you could make any supernatural creature, what would it look like and what powers would it have?

I created a type of fae called a corbin for Crow's Rest. The corbin usually cross over into our world by inhabiting crows, but in specific circumstances they can take over human bodies. If it's with the host's cooperation, then the human takes a dreamy sojourn into Fairy while the corbin inhabits the body. If it's without the human's cooperation, and both consciousnesses are fighting for the body, it usually ends in madness for the human.

In Crow's Rest, some of the corbin are no longer satisfied with crow bodies. Or even the occasional accommodating human. They want to come here in their natural forms, with their full, terrible powers intact. It’s happened before, leading to the fall of Rome and the Dark Ages.

4. Do you have any Halloween rituals?

I don't! I've gotten kind of lazy about Halloween since we don't have kids, my nieces and nephews are mostly grown, and our isolated house doesn't lend itself to trick-or-treaters.

But last year on Halloween, I was actually radioactive. The radioactive iodine for my thyroid cancer was administered on October 31, and it's a little different from most radiation treatments because you are radioactive yourself for some days. So I spent it locked in a room, alone and watching stuff on the computer--interrupted by phone calls where everyone joked about if I was glowing!

So if I go for a costume this year, I'm thinking glow paint or glow sticks.

5. Walking at midnight in a forest on Halloween – crazy, scary or adventurous?

It would be adventurous for me--I'm kind of a nature girl, and as long as I could stay awake until midnight I'd be up for it!

6. What is your worst fear?

Yeah, I'm not answering this one. I'm just superstitious enough to not want to attract the attention of what scares me most!

7. What is one of your character’s worst fear?

 For Lonan, the corbin who's been sent to stop his scheming kin from invading, it's fear of what happens if he fails. There was an attempted invasion years before, which was stopped--but not without casualties. And see question number three above for the stakes if he fails.

8. What is your favorite Urban Fantasy novel?

I have lots of favorites (all of Charles de Lint's books, the Borderland series, the first few books in Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series, and Christopher Moore), but the Charles de Lint book I often recommend is Svaha. I think it has some great concepts, including a dystopian twist, and the story and writing is more accessible for a newbie to the genre. My favorite Christopher Moore book is A Dirty Job.

9. Who is your favorite Urban Fantasy hero/heroine?

There's some definite crossover between paranormal and urban fantasy, so I would have to say Evie from Kiersten White's Paranormalcy series. She's fun and sassy at first, and as she develops as a character, reveals surprising depth.

10. Which hero/heroine would you love to be on Halloween?

I'd love to be able to dress up as Xena, warrior princess, because it's such a combination of badassness and ridiculous campiness. Hmm, I used to be able to manage her ululation--I wonder if I still can?


GIVEAWAY
Okay, if you stuck around for all that, you're probably wondering about the giveaway that was promised at the beginning!

If you comment on this post, you will be entered to win a signed copy of Behind the Bookcase by Mark Steensland! See Monday's interview post for more on the prize, and if you've already entered the giveaway there, you can also comment here for an extra entry. Double the opportunities, double the odds (unless everyone does it, in which case they're still pretty good odds).

You must leave an email address (feel free to disguise it from bots, like emailaddy (at) gmail (dot) com), and only one entry per person please. Winner will be randomly chosen with a random-number generator. Email will be used to contact the winner only; you will not be added to any kind of list.

Entries close at midnight Pacific Standard Time on October 29th (I'll use the time stamp to determine the cutoff) and the winner will be announced on Angelic Muse on October 31, Halloween!

And yes--this giveaway is open internationally!

Good luck, and don't forget to check out the other participants in the Halloween Urban Fantasy Blog Hop through the links below!

Tina Moss

Heather McCorkle

Lisa Nowak

Kristie Cook
A.J. Locke
KH LeMoyne  
Yelena Casale

Happy Halloween!

To celebrate Halloween, I thought I'd post a tiny teaser from Spirits from the Vasty Deep:


As I was drifting to sleep finally, I felt someone sit on the edge of my bunk and heard a woman softly singing in Spanish. "Mamá?" I called sleepily and reached out. But the hand that clasped mine was cold and dripping, and my nostrils filled with the scent of sodden wool and brackish water. I came awake and scrabbled against the wall, my heart pounding.

The dim light from the corridor showed me I was alone in my bunk. A strange sensation crawled across my skin, over the entire length of my body. As if many spirits were trying not just to talk to me, but to grab hold of me as well. Never had the veil between the worlds felt so thin, not since the haunted room back in the boarding school.

That's when Ruby started screaming, in a long drawn-out wail of horror.


Hope you enjoyed it! Any plans to celebrate Halloween? We don't even get kids coming to our house any more, since it's on a dark country road.

Revision Swamp

Deep in the revision swamp since we've been back from our trip, so I haven't been posting as often. Or trolling my blogger friends' sites, sorry. But the pumpkins ripening in the garden made me feel Halloween-ish and I thought I'd inflict the following videos on you:
P.S. I should warn you that I found these videos as a result of my nephew declaring a "terrible music day" where we all nominated videos in a facebook thread