Unhinged Book Trailer Reveal and Giveaway!

I'm so excited about Splintered's sequel and I want to share the frabjousness with you!

Since I didn't get to have a giveaway for the Unhinged cover reveal, I'll be having a book trailer reveal/giveaway instead! YAY!

Can you tell I'm itching to hand out some free goodies? Also, a lot of readers have been asking what Unhinged is about, so I'll be posting an official synopsis, too.

SQUEE!

When is this taking place? **Monday, May 6th**

Where? On my pal Bethany Crandell's blog. Why there? First, because she generously offered. And second, because she has a FABULOUS YA debuting in 2014 and I want you guys to see her awesome blog/website and check out what her book's about!

Now, for a giveaway teaser, here's a sneak peek of the goodies:

First Prize: Personalized and Autographed 18 x 24 poster of Unhinged

 

 

Second Prize: Alice in Wonderland Victorian filigree pocket watch necklace with hinged face cover

(see what I did there? hinged/unhinged...heh)

 Third Prize:  8 x 10 Alice Falling Down The Rabbit Hole Vintage Dictionary Print (frame not included)

 

 

Fourth Prize: Personalized and Autographed Splintered Swag Pack

 

No ARCs to giveaway yet, but those are forthcoming! Be sure to stop by on Monday for the big reveal and a chance for the prizes! I'll post a link here again to help you find your way. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Alyssa gets her cowgirl on...

 

Splintered and I are hitting the Texas Tour Circuit this Friday!

 

My heroine Alyssa and her skater-boy Jeb are actually already accustomed to Texas things. They're from a fictional Texas town named after Alice Liddell (whose middle name happened to be Pleasance). But rodeos and bowls of piping hot chili are all foreign concepts to the winged and wild Morpheus. Maybe Alyssa will lend him her hat to make him feel at home. It's not exactly her style anyway. ;)

 

I'm posting my event schedule below in hopes any of you living in or visiting the Lone Star State can come by and say "Howdy". I'd love to meet you and chat about reading and writing!

 

 

Houston Events:

Friday, April 19

 

6:00pm                                
Event @ Murder by the Book

 

7:00pm                          
TeenBookCon Welcome Reception @ Blue Willow Bookshop

 

Saturday, April 20

 

9:00am– 3:45pm
Blue Willow Bookshop’s TeenBookCon

 

San Antonio Events:

Sunday, April 21

 

10am-1pm
International Reading Association Annual Convention

               
2:30pm
Event @ Barnes & Noble

15900 La Cantera Pkwy, San Antonio, TX 78256
 

Austin Events:

Monday, April 22

 

7:00pm
Event @ BookPeople

 

Tuesday, April 23

 

6:30pm
Event @ Book Spot

 

Dallas / Frisco Area Events:

Wednesday, April 24

 

7:00 pm                                            
Event @ B&N
Stonebriar Center Mall
2601 Preston Road, Frisco, TX 75034 

 

Fort Worth Events:

Thursday, April 25

 

2:30-6:30pm
Texas Library Association Annual Conference

 

Friday, April 26

 

12pm-8pm
Texas Library Association Annual Conference

 

Saturday, April 27

 

Back home to good ol' Amarillo!

 

 

**Side note** I will be doing in-stock signings of SPLINTERED at several of the B&Ns in the cities I'll be visiting. So if you don't get to make the signings but would like a signed copy, call around and I'm sure you'll find a B&N that has them.

 

Hope to see some of you very soon!

Girls & Monsters don't always play nice...

Luckily, today they're being downright SWEET!

I'm honored to welcome the ever lovely, ever dark Anne Michaud to my blog! I met Anne via blogger and fell in love with her delectable, seductive, and morbid prose while reading the short stories and poems she would post on her blog. Now at last she has a book coming out and the whole world can savor her terrifyingly twisted tales! Her new YA horror novel is launching in just a few days, so she has stopped by to tell us a little about it.

Anne, you have the spotlight!

***

They hide under the bed, in the closet or in a dark corner of your mind; they want to scare, play with or eat you. Monsters are everywhere, feeding off your screams, waiting for the perfect moment to attack - and sometimes, only girls can kick their butts. A killer mermaid, suburbia, hallucinations, one huge spider and zombies all face their match in this dark horror collection of 5 novellas for young adult. Annoyed by weak and fragile protagonists waiting for boys to save the day? Here's GIRLS & MONSTERS! Death Song, an excerpt:

 

Something catches in the back of my throat. I hide my face in my hands to quiet the sobs. But then, something ain’t right. Air moves around me and I stop. I look between my fingers, but the blur of my tears thickens everything: the bathtub, the towels, and someone on the floor. A woman’s in here with me, door still closed and locked. An exhale, like after a deep swim, and a smell, like the swamp close to my empty home. A chill runs down my back, I wipe my eyes, rub and scratch them to see more clearly. And I do. Two gray hands scratch the floor tiles, nails green with algae, putrid flesh sagging on her legs, arms and torso, hair so long and wet and heavy, it drags her down. Diluted, impossible to focus on, like little waves rippling over her body from head to foot, seaweed in the water. Scales and fins, mermaidlike, little knives, those are. And they scrape the floor, like a fork on a plate. It’s her—Limnade. She opens her mouth of scissor-teeth and the rotten smell of fish wraps around my throat like two hands trying to choke me. "You can’t be…” I don’t finish my breathless thought and jump backward, knocking over the dish of decorative soaps. Blurry waves, vision impaired, out of focus, unreal. She crawls toward me, eyes unblinking, lethal, hands inches from me: my legs refuse to move, as my body feels like stone. Frozen, hypnotized, a statue. Then I hear something coming from within her…A melody, reminding me of something lost, tickles my ears. It drags on until the sweetness turns sickly, vibrating into a full-on super-scream, hyenalike, enough to pop my ears and make them bleed. Her large mouth deforms her face into one gap of black, the cry so high and strident, I scream from the pain. Limnade stares at me, everything but her fades away—Jo’s nice bathroom, Jo’s new life, Jo himself, none of it matters anymore. Her fingers brush my forehead, they’re cold and sticky like clams. And I let the darkness take me away.

 

***

 

 

To celebrate the release of Girls & Monsters on April 30th, the author has handcrafted Skellies, The Monster Collection, each representing a monster of the 5 stories. The giveaway also includes a softcover of the collection, autographed if requested. The grand prize winner will be announced during the book launch's LIVE CHAT with Anne Michaud on April 30th at 9PM (east)! Girls & Monsters will be available at Darkfuse and other retailers from that date on. ♥

 

***

Anne Michaud

 

She who likes dark things never grew up. She never stopped listening to gothic, industrial and alternative bands like when she was fifteen. She always loved to read horror and dystopia and fantasy, where doom and gloom drip from the pages. She, who was supposed to make films, decided to write short stories, novelettes and novels instead. She, who’s had her films listed on festival programs, has been printed in a dozen anthologies and magazines since. She who likes dark things prefers night to day, rain to sun, and reading to anything else.

She tweets
She blogs
She facebooks

And don't forget to add Girls & Monsters to your goodread list ♥

Get UNHINGED Giveaway Winners Announced!

Closeup of Splintered cover by Joni Andersen

 Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway! Winners are announced below and I will be contacting you via email. If I don't hear back within a week, I'll select a new winner for that prize.

Congrats!!! And no worries if you didn't win; there will be a lot more chances to win prizes in the near future, so stay tuned. :)

 

Personalized / Signed SPLINTERED hardback + key necklace:
Ashley Rogers

Signed 18X24 SPLINTERED poster:
Nina

4x6 Artist Signed Pop Art Print of Rabbit on the Bridge:
Stephanie Verhegen

Silver Heart and Key Locket Necklace:
Sabriena Galati

THE CORPSE BRIDE Decorated Bottle Caps:
Adriana Cabrera

Splintered Swag Pack:
Ng Jing Zhi

 

Thanks again, and have a great week!

My first foreign book cover!!!

~Click picture to view enlarged image~

Es muy bonito!

 

The Spanish version of Splintered (aka: Susurros) launches with Oz Editorial on April 2, 2013, which is just a few days away! YAY!

As soon as I get some complimentary author copies, I'll have a giveaway. So if you know anyone who reads Spanish who might like this book, please let them know it's coming!

Also, thanks to my good pal Kaylie Austen and her Spanish prowess, I now know Susurros means whispers, mutters, or rustlings, which fits perfectly with the storyline considering the whispering bugs and flowers that Alyssa hears due to her Alice Liddell lineage. :) Curiouser and curiouser...

On a final note, I'll be posting the winners of my Unhinged giveaway on April 1st, so anyone who's entered be sure to stop by and see if you're a winner.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

• Add Susurros on GoodReads

A Little Taste of Poison, and a Legacy of Love and Laughter

During the week of March 11th, book lovers all over the blogasphere are banding together to get the word out about a delightful YA debut and the talented young author who left a legacy of laughter for her readers, yet isn't here to harvest the fruits of her labor of love.

In tribute to her first and last novel, authors were invited to talk about their momentus firsts, so I'll direct you to this link where I originally announced my first book contract.

  

The rest of this post is all about Bridget Zinn, the vivacious and lovely young author, daughter, woman, and wife, who poured humor, heart, and soul into an endearing and magical story called Poison, all while battling the very real and merciless monster of colon cancer.
 
About Bridget:

 

Bridget grew up in Wisconsin. She went to the county fair where she met the love of her life, Barrett Dowell. They got married right before she went in for exploratory surgery which revealed she had colon cancer. They christened that summer the "summer of love" and the two celebrated with several more weddings. Bridget continued to read and write until the day she died.

Her last tweet was: "Sunshine and a brand new book. Perfect."

Bridget wanted to make people laugh and hoped readers would enjoy spending time with the characters she created. As a librarian/writer she loved books with strong young women with aspirations. She also felt teens needed more humorous reads. She really wanted to write a book with pockets of warmth and happiness and hoped that her readers' copies would show the watermarks of many bath time reads.

About Poison:

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she's the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom's future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart…misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king's army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she's not alone. She's armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can't stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she's certainly no damsel-in-distress—she's the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

Purchase your copy:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• IndieBound
• iTunes Bookstore
• Powell's Books

Links about Bridget:

• Bridget's Web site
• A remembrance of Bridget written by her agent (with a video of Bridget that shows how vibrant and funny she was)
• Bridget's path to publication - in her own words.
• A post in which Bridget shares her Sneaky Tips for writing

 Help get the word out and make Bridget's launch a success so she can leave behind a legacy for her family, friends, and fans:

• Everything you need to know about helping spread the word (lots of links and info about Bridget and her book)
• Please tweet this post, Poison's GoodReads page, or any of the above purchase or informational links using the hashtag #Poison.

Thank you, and please take something away from this for yourself. Treasure every moment like Bridget did! Live life to the fullest every day. Considering all I've read about her, I believe she'd want that above anything else.

 

 

  

"Get UNHINGED" Giveaway!

Closeup of Splintered cover by Joni Andersen

 

YAY! A Splintered sequel, titled Unhinged, is in the making and is due to launch January 2014 from Amulet Books.

I originally wrote Splintered with a second book in mind, but I didn't know if the sequel would ever be given a chance. Because of the wonderful Splintered fans and readers, I get to continue the story!

So to thank you all, here's that huge INTL giveaway I promised!

As far as details for the second book, all I can offer for now is:

Alyssa kicks bootie. And Chessie's there along with other Wonderlandians (the good, the bad, and the creepy). OH, and then there's Jeb and Morpheus ... *swoons*.

Here's the short and sweet of the giveaway:

Since I'm not allowed to offer an actual blurb for the book yet, several of the following prizes play a role in the sequel somehow. Later when you read Unhinged, you'll be able to decipher how each puzzle piece fits.

First Prize: Personalized / Signed Splintered hardback + key necklace

Second Prize: Signed 18X24 Splintered poster

 

(Unhinged clue: a bridge in London )

 

Fourth Prize: Silver Heart and Key Locket Necklace

(Unhinged clue: a heart pendant tangled with a key)

 

 

 

Fifth Prize: Set of 6 THE CORPSE BRIDE Decorated Bottle Caps

(Unhinged clue: The Corpse Bride's wardrobe)

 

Sixth Prize: Splintered Swag Pack

There's a rafflecopter provided below. The contest runs through the entire month of March. I'll announce winners the first week of April. Good luck everyone, and thanks again for making the second book a reality and for helping me celebrate the frabjous news!

a Rafflecopter giveaway