Flight of Blue Virtual BookTour!!!

Welcome to the tour! I'd like to introduce my literary doppelganger, A.E. Howard. If you think our writing names are almost identical (what can I say, she has great taste!) you should see her twitter hastag: @aehowardwrites. But I assure you, we are two separate people. For one thing, A.E.'s fantasy debut is being launched today, whereas mine still has another 160 some days to go.

Need more proof? Here's a peek at A.E. and her lovely novel, Flight of Blue, published by Elder Tree Books:

Here's the trailer:

And a quick summary of the book:

A cursed traffic light. A rip in the fabric of the world. A possum sorcerer injured on a quest for revenge.

Kai and Ellie embark on a journey to return the sorcerer to his home. Entangled in events that could destroy the world, Kai must choose whether to accept the role he was born to play, but isn’t sure he wants.


A possum sorcerer? I'm so there!

Flight of Blue has been taking a virtual tour around the web, and I'm honored to be one of the stops.

To help celebrate, A. E. brought along her main character so we could get to know him. He's agreed to do an interview, so without furuther adieu, I give you Kai.

AGH: "Hello, Kai, and thank you for being here today."

Kai: "Sure. You’re welcome."

AGH: "Okay, let's start off with an easy question. How old are you?"

Kai: "I turned 12 on October 3rd."

AGH: "Wow. Impressive! When I was twelve, I was playing with my guinea pigs, not battling dark magic to save the world. You seem very strong for your age. What would you say your biggest strengths are?"

Kai: "Strengths. Well, before all this stuff happened, I think, you know, hiking and football. Oh, and video games. I’m pretty good at that. But since all this stuff happened, I guess I realized that I have more. I stick with my friends no matter what, even if that gets me into dangerous spots, and, well, I’ll do what needs doing, even if it’s scary. So I guess you could say those are strengths."

AGH: "Nice ... but to really know a person, we have to understand their flaws. So, what do you think your weaknesses are?"

Kai: "Oh, that’s easy. Especially in the middle of everything that happened last fall, I got whiny, and, like, jealous that I didn’t have abilities that were as cool as some of my friends. And I guess I really didn’t like the whole "Keeper of the Keys" role, I mean, it’s a big deal, and I was like, "why me?" But I’m cool with it now, I mean, someone has to do something about all this Realm of Darkness stuff, and I’d rather help than not know what was going on, you know what I mean?"

AGH: "Yeah, I get what you're saying. So ... heavy question now ... you ready?"

Kai: Grins. "Sure."

AGH: "I should've known I couldn't spook you. Tell me, what do you think is worth dying for?"

Kai: "Woah, okay, so that’s pretty heavy. But not hard. My parents, my friends. I mean, I’d rather not die period, but if it came down to it."

AGH: "Awesome. In the events that A.E. Howard recorded in Flight of Blue, you ended up sort of thrust into a leadership role. Do you see yourself as more a leader or a follower?"

Kai: "Oh, well, not really either of them, I guess. Before last fall anyway, I just sort of did my own thing. But I mean, after everything that happened, I did end up leading. But it wasn’t really by choice."

AGH: "So you tried to avoid being the leader? Why?"

Kai: "Yeah, I mean, I didn’t want to have to be responsible for everyone else when I didn’t even know what the heck I was doing. It all happened so fast. One day, I’m just a normal kid, and then bang, this possum dude talks to me, and the whole world changes. It’s pretty weird still."

AGH: "Well, I'd say you've done a great job of taking things in stride. Speaking of, after everything that’s happened, what do you see in your future?"

Kai: "Anna, sorry, A.E. Howard, has strictly forbidden me from talking about the events she recorded after Flight of Blue, cause like, those books haven’t come out yet and all."

AGH: "Ah. Gotcha. How about a safe question to end with? Let’s see... what’s your favorite food?"

Kai: "Food."

AGH: "Yes. What’s your favorite?"

Kai: "No, that is my favorite. I’m a twelve-year-old boy, I like food."

AGH: "Haha! Great answer, and great interview. Thanks for being here today!"

Kai: "Thanks for having me."

*****

To learn more about Kai and his adventures, and to see the book tour schedule, please follow these links:

Book Tour Schedule (also includes author interviews, sneak previews, and more on the making of Flight of Blue.)

Order paperback on Amazon

Order ebook on Kindle

Add to GoodReads

A.E.'s Twitter

A.E.'s Facebook

A.E.'s Website

Also, to kick off this tour, A.E. has generously arranged a giveaway (enter with rafflecopter below):

• Grand Prize: 1 t-shirt (Design Chosen by Winner)
• First Prize: Autographed paperback of Flight of Blue (1 available)
• Second Prize: Lucinarium Button (5 available)
• Third Prize: Autographed Custom Bookmark, printed on art paper (10 available)

For pictures of the prizes, click this link.

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to follow Flight of Blue as it makes it's way from the shelves and  into the hands of eager readers everywhere!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's ALIVE!

Oh frabjous day, my new website is alive and kicking!

If you were wondering why I've been so quiet in the blogasphere and on twitter lately, it's because I was designing banners and adding text (we won't even mention my intake of caffeine). Heh

But it was worth the drowsy-hazed days and neglected teddy bear (he' still not speaking to me), because I now have a finished creation: simple, functional, and morbidly pretty. All the things I love in a monster, er, website.

Special thanks to Itkupilli, a Finnish artist and designer who offers free blog banners and backgrounds. You can find the "Free Backgrounds and Other Stuff" button on my blog's sidebar if you'd like to check out the artwork for yourself. One of those lovely free banners provided the perfect foundation for my website/blog's theme.

Also, thanks to my wonderful husband, the real mad scientist behind this project, who brought life to my index page, a Gothic Victorian storefront with blinking candlelight. If you'd like a peek at that, hop over here: www.aghoward.com.

Now, the only thing that makes me happier than this sense of accomplishment is knowing I get to celebrate with you!

And celebrate, we shall. Wonderland style, of course.

Welcome to the...

(Yes, that's me in the red wig. Not the best look, I'll admit,
but I'm thinking I could give Ronald McDonald a run for his money.)

Oh, and best news of all? This contest is INTERNATIONAL, yo!


Now, let's check out what's up for grabs.

• 1st Place Prize: A hot off the press signed Splintered ARC

• 2nd Place Prize: Signed 18X24" Splintered Poster

• 3rd Place Prize: Signed title page from an original Splintered galley

• 4th Place Prize:  Assorted Splintered / Alice swag, all signed

• 5th Place Prize: Choice between ONE of these fab YA books:

• 
  6th Place Prize: Set of 5 Alice in Wonderland Mini Book Charms  

• Two super Awesome BONUS Prizes: A query critique by the fabulous Jenny Bent and also one by the fantastic Molly Ker Hawn from The Bent Agency (Please note: Ms. Ker Hawn only takes YA or MG queries, and due to time constraints, her critique will get back to the winner sometime in early September). 

A couple of notes about the prizes: There's something very special about the galley title page, a secret about the book's formatting that has been kept under wraps. Also, about the BONUS prizes, since there are two crits, that means two lucky writers will get the inside track into what an agent likes to see in their inbox.

Now, how do you get a hold of these wonderful prizes? Use my new website linkies at the top of my sidebar. Go to the "Contests and Giveaways" page, and find out how to get your name in the drawing.

See you over there, my little madlings!

Off with your heads!

Oh, wait, wrong expression. I meant, "Heads up!" Heh.

A few quick public announcements:

1. FERAL SPLINTERED SWAG ON THE LOOSE: If anyone reading this won a Splintered button in a previous contest/giveaway and never received it, please email me (using my contact info) and I'll see that you get it. I have a friend who works at my local post office and he found one of my buttons in a mail sorting machine. Apparently, the sneaky devil escaped its confinement and rolled far, far away from any envelope or package that could tell us where its destination was. GAH! If the button was meant to belong to you, I will tame it, bind it, and send it on its merry way (the little naughty).

  

2. AESTHETIC UPHEAVAL IN THE LAND OF MADNESS: By this coming weekend, I'm planning to start changing the formatting here in the land of madness in order to make it website worthy. So don't be afraid if you pop over and see mismatched backgrounds, experimental banners, and runaway text. It's just like when you rennovate your home, you have to make a mess before the beauty can shine through. So please bear with me and be patient, I'm hoping we'll all be happy with the end result. :)

3. LOCAL AUTHORS PROVE ADEPT AT NAVIGATING ROCKY TERRAIN: I am so proud of all of my author/blogger pals, but two of them went through the wringer during their writing journey and could've turned their back on their dreams. But, instead, due to their unrelenting faith and their refusal to ever give up the fight, those pals both now have amazing things to celebrate. Want to share in their accomplishments? Hop over to their little galaxies here in the blogasphere and read their stories, and don't forget to pat their backs for a quest well done:

• Bethany Crandell at Rookie Riter: Trying to get it Write
• Lisa Ann at Kicked, Cornered, Bitten and Chased

Congrats, my lovelies! I tip my Mad Hatter's cap and raise a tea cup to you both. May your futures bring many happy sales and book signings!

Everyone else, thanks for stopping by, have a great week, and I'll see you soon(ish)!