NaNoWriMo & Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards

Happy NaNoWriMo!!!

Everyone, celebrate this month by either spending it writing or by encouraging your favorite authors to keep plugging away on their own books. Know someone who wants to write & is doing NaNoWriMo? Feel free to mention them in the comments!





When you (or someone you know) is finished with the next big book, why not prepare it for submission to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards? This is a wonderful contest where an unpublished author can submit his or her book in the hopes of getting it published by Penguin or by one of the other companies out there! Many people have gotten published after being in this contest & getting lots of praise from their peers & reviewers rating their books, so this can be a wonderful opportunity for potential authors!


The #1 requirement is that your manuscript not be previously published. If it is a self-published book, you can still submit it- just make sure to stop offering it for sale during the time of the contest. (Here's the wiki entry for ABNA, which contains info about all of the steps to the contest.)

Down in the ABNA forums you'll find tons of people who will be more than happy to help you with your writing & with the pitch you'll have to write for the contest. The next contest isn't until next year, but the earlier you start with this stuff the better.

I hope to see you in the next ABNA contest!

Read this book: Nickel Plated by Aric Davis

Hi everyone!

I want to tell all of you about an author that competed in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novelist Awards. His name is Aric Davis & he wrote one of the best excerpts in the forum, but unfortunately he didn't progress in the contest due to a technicality, but thankfully Amazon had the good sense to snap his book up to be released through their AmazonEncore line.

Here's the book synopsis:

Nickel is a survivor. He has to be. For as long as he can remember, his life has hinged on the flip of a coin. Or, rather, the scribble of a social worker’s pen. He’s been through the system, even had a good dad for a few years, until he was gone, too. But Nickel remembers everything he taught him, and since the day he escaped from foster-care hell, he’s put that knowledge to good use. Just twelve years old, he makes a steady living by selling marijuana to high schoolers, blackmailing pedophiles he ferrets out online, and working as a private investigator.

When a beautiful girl named Arrow hires him to find her little sister Shelby, Nickel figures at best the kid’s a runaway; at worst, some perv’s gotten a hold of her. He scours the internet and the streets of Arrow’s suburban neighborhood, and what he finds there is as ugly a truth as he’s ever seen. For beyond the manicured lawns, Nickel discovers children for sale, and adults with souls black as the devil. And people like that aren’t about to let some kid ruin their game. This edgy thriller introduces a canny, precocious anti-hero, the likes of which young-adult readers have never seen.

I'm really excited to see this in print & even more excited to announce this to everyone! If you want to order a copy from amazon, feel free to pre-purchase it here. It doesn't release until March of 2011, but from what I read of it the book is well worth the wait.

If you want to show the author a little love, you can always visit his website & contact him through there! Davis also has another book out that he self-published, which is unfortunately not in print anymore but hopefully now that Nickel Plated has been picked up we'll see that come back into print!

I want to trick or treat here: Couple hands out books instead of candy

Happy Halloween everyone! Go hug your favorite ghoul or vampire & make merry!

Speaking of making merry, I think I've found one of the coolest places to trick or treat. In Kennewick, Washington there's a couple who have decided to forget the candy & give kids a treat that they can enjoy for far longer than they would a tootsie roll or snickers bar.

The Reeves are handing out books to the children that come through have their choice of books such as Captain Snap and the Children of Vinegar Lane as well as books for various other age groups & interests. They said that this is their second year doing it & that last year not a single kid (or parent) went away unhappy.

Isn't that just the coolest? Makes me wish I both lived in Washington & was young enough to trick or treat in their neighborhood.

Book Review: Zombie Cupcakes by Zilly Rosen

Title: Zombie Cupcakes
Author: Zilly Rosen
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Release Date: 02/15/2011
ISBN: 9781449401122







Lovingly illustrated & highly playful, Zombie Cupcakes showcases many different ways to decorate your cupcakes for that oh so special occasion! These aren’t your typical “worms & dirt” cupcakes that you’ll find at every Halloween party & bake sale. No, these cupcakes go the extra mile. With designs inspired by several different movies, stories, & genres, (my favorite was the Resident Evil T-Virus one), this is one book that is not for the faint of heart.

I’ll admit, when you first look at the directions for some of these cupcakes you’ll feel overwhelmed. Some of them are pretty detailed & somewhat time consuming for the clumsy or inexperienced pasty cook. (Yay me, I’m both.) Luckily for these people (and myself), the book not only gives a great set of instructions as well as a pictorial guide to decorating the cupcakes. Also in the book are various trivia questions so you can see how up to date you are on your scary knowledge. The book also gives a complete list of the things you'll need as well as a list of handy tips, which makes it a lot easier to approach some of the designs.

Each cupcake design uses a skeleton rating scale to show how difficult the cupcake is to make While this is helpful, beginners might find that some of the one skeleton designs are a bit hard for them. No worries though, many of them are easier to make than they appear & you will improve over time. (The three star designs are easily the coolest, but I have to admit it'll be a while before I attempt making the zombie hands or the killer bridal couple.)

Experienced & professional chefs will love this book, although some readers will probably feel a little overwhelmed by some of the recipes. (Still fun to look at, though.) For those chefs I recommend that they try checking it out via the library first or perhaps glance through it at the bookstore just in case.

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: Shall We Drown in Feathered Sleep by Michael Merriam

Title: Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep
Author: Michael Merriam
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: 11/15/2010
eISBN:9781426890758







Short stories are both a joy as well as a difficulty to read. If done properly they can tell stories & leave the reader as full as if they were to have read hundreds of pages. If improperly done the reader leaves unsatisfied & empty, wishing for something more substantial. Michael Merriam is one author who knows how to properly pen a short story.

Set in an unknown time & location, this story focuses on a post-apocalyptic world that has been torn apart by war. People must do what they can to get by, which includes trading as well as having a yearly sacrifice to the loons. Each year the loons cry & only Grace Kriske seems to hear them. She regularly dreams of them, hearing their calls & seeing their plumage. Grace knows that she will never be chosen to be the sacrifice as a past injury has left her crippled for life. But as she grows increasingly more unsatisfied by her life in the village & what is never to be hers, will Grace be able to answer the loons' call or will she spend the rest of her life in her wheelchair?

While this is a short story (being just over 40 pages), the length truly does suit this apocalyptic fantasy. It's the absolute perfect length, which is something to commend Merriam about. (Although if he chose to, he could pen future full length stories set in this world.) Grace is a character that readers will be able to sympathize with & as the conclusion of the story looms ever closer they'll find themselves becoming impatient to see what fate will bring her & how everything will end up. There's also a little bit of romance to this story, although the main force of the story lies with the loons & Grace's desire to do more than what she currently is.

This is a great story & well worth the time to read, although at times readers will wish for just a teensiest bit more information about some of what is going on in the story. I heartily recommend this to anyone looking for a great short story to read inbetween their lengthier books.

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: Vampire Vacation by C.J. Ellisson

Title: Vampire Vacation (The V.V. Inn #1)
Author: C.J. Ellisson
Publisher: R.H. Publishing
Release Date: 10/10/2010
ISBN: 9780982661000







While there have been a lot of vampire books flooding the market, I can safely say that I haven’t seen a novel combine vampires, sex, mystery, AND innkeeping. Shoot, I’ve never seen a vampire hotel themed book before, so that element alone intrigued me.

Ancient vampire Vivian runs an Alaskan inn that caters to an ultra exclusive crowd, specializing in erotic pleasures. Money can’t buy your way in, nor will wearing the right clothing. No, to gain a room in this hotel you have to be an owner of a pair of fangs or at least be traveling with someone who does. Vivian’s pretty happy to spend her days quietly in the cold North, hiding her true powers from those would have her dead. When a dead body is found in one of the hotel rooms & old threats from the past threaten to re-emerge, it is going to take Vivian’s entire arsenal to figure out what is going on & to keep her precious peace from being disturbed.

Liberally sprinkling generous portions of red hot sex scenes in with a mystery that is slow to reveal its secrets, Ellisson gives the audience the usual vampire powers with just enough new additions to make the book interesting. Having a vampire run a hotel just for her fanged counterparts to freely romp in is something that isn’t usually seen, which works surprisingly well.

The only downfall of the book is that there’s a LOT of back story going on here, so much that some readers will wonder if they’ve picked up the second book in a series or if there are previous books out there further detailing Vivian’s exploits. Ellisson does her best to elaborate on Vivian’s past in brief glimpses, but it will still leave some readers feeling like they’re being left a little in the dark & looking for prequel novels.

Overall, this is a decent first novel by Ellisson. There are a few rough spots to work out here & there (mostly dealing with Vivian’s past as noted above), the spicy & lovingly written sex does make up for it.

I will let you guys know that while there is going to be a sequel dealing with things mentioned at the end of the book, the author has told me that there will be a prequel to the novels dealing with Vivian's past. So fear not- we'll eventually get a novel dealing with all of the past mentioned in the book!

(Reader copy provided by author)

Book Review: True Believers by Maria Zannini

Title: True Believers
Author: Maria Zannini
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: 10/18/2010
eISBN:9781426890673







When I first read the synopsis of this book I was pretty enthused- after all, I love stories that involve the Nephilim. Then I started reading the book & got a little confused when aliens started getting brought into the mix early on in the book. Don't worry readers- it doesn't get as muddled up as you'd think & there's a method behind Zannini's writing. I'm not going to spill the details, but trust me- she puts an intriguing spin on things. Since I can't do justice to the already fantastic plot description put out by Carina Press, I'm going to list it below:

Taelen Jessit is an alien emissary on a mission sanctioned by the U.S. government to search for ancient gods. His hunt leads him to a dig headed by archaeologist Rachel Cruz. When his military entourage forces Rachel's team out of the cave they were exploring, a flash flood hits the riverbed and threatens to tear them through the ravine.

In the aftermath of the flood, Taelen witnesses the incredible healing of Rachel's broken ankle and believes his gods have blessed her. He is inexplicably drawn to her, and she to him.

What Taelen doesn't know is that Rachel is Nephilim—a descendant of the gods his people worship—masquerading as a human to find the god-killer and destroy it. Rachel needs help to bring down the tech that is manipulating the Earth's magnetosphere and frying her people alive. She's given Taelen her heart, but can she trust him with her secret?

I have to admit that I was a bit curious as to how such a book would work out once I realized what it was going to be about. Part of me wondered if I would like it or if this would just end up getting bogged down under its own weight & I'm glad to say that I did enjoy it a great deal. Zannini manages to take two different genres & make them work together quite well. Readers will love the interaction of the two main characters & the instant heat that rises between them is pretty believable & tangible.

The only drawback I had was with the ending- I wanted more & I really felt like this was left open for possible sequels. Not a bad thing, but towards the end I was wondering how everything was going to be wrapped up & felt a little disappointed when some things didn't happen. I'm still glad I read it & I'll be watching for more works by her, so it isn't like the ending is a deal breaker by any means.

This really is a perfect book for October since reading it reminded me of candy: incredibly fun & hard to put down. Like I said earlier- I can't wait to see if Zannini will revisit this world.

(ARC provided by NetGalley)