Feast your eyes on this!

By Merrie Destefano

The countdown has started. My second novel, Feast: Harvest of Dreams, releases next Tuesday, June 28. For me, that means lots of sleepless nights and scatter-brained moments. Despite my copious to-do lists and spreadsheets (yes, I’m a nerd when it comes to organizing things), I’m always looking for extra hours in the day and wondering what I forgot to do.


So, before I forget, here are some cool things:


1. You can read sample chapters of Feast on the awesome HarperCollins site HERE.

2. I now have “secret” website, just for my readers. You can check out a deleted scene from Feast HERE.

3. I have a blog tour set up for Feast and you can read the details HERE. Notice, many of the sites will be featuring contests. (Yay!)

4. You can read about my secret exploits in an interview with My Bookish Ways HERE.

5. Two early reviews of Feast are already up! One is at Bitten By Books and the other is The Aussie Bookworm.

6. You can pre-order Feast here: Amazon l Barnes and Noble l Borders l Mysterious Galaxy l Laguna Beach Books l Vroman's Bookstore l Indie Bound Books l Or at your favorite local bookstore.

And ….

I’m doing a giveaway, right here, right now!! One lucky person will win the following: Signed copy of Feast, signed copy of Afterlife, 4 bookmarks, 2 buttons, and a fab Afterlife tote bag--all perfect to jump start your summer reading by the pool!



What must you do to win this very cool prize, you ask?

Tell me something fun you plan to do this summer in the comment section below. Be sure to include your e-mail address, so I can contact you if you win.

Earn extra points by also doing the following (and be sure to add up all your points in your comment section.)

5 points: Mention and link to this post on Twitter
5 points: Mention and link to this post on Facebook
5 points: Mention and link to this post on your blog
10 points: Follow my blog
10 points: Subscribe to my newsletter, (lower left corner of my website)

Contest will run through midnight, July 8. Winner announced shortly thereafter.

AND, one more thing...

I just wanted to tell you that I have a prequel novella to Feast coming soon! Titled Cursed, it tells the story of how the Darklings first came to Ticonderoga Falls and the hunger that drove them to break all the rules. This novella will be available exclusively as an e-book and I will have more details in a week or two. Meanwhile, you can check my blog for updates. But just in case you're curious, you can get a sneak peak of the cover below. Isn't she gorgeous?

Spreading the love at Supernova

This weekend, fellow Supernatural Undergrounder Tracey O'Hara and I joined Aussie UF writer Erica Hayes to promote Australian UF/PR at Supernova.

What is Supernova? It's kinda the Australian equivalent of Comicon. For two days, there's a wealth of displays of all things geeky (focussed mostly on comics, manga/anime and tv/movie) and panels about the things we love. There's a range of stars that come to be met and to promote shows (this time it included Tom Felton aka Draco Malfoy, James Marsters, Sean Maher from Firefly and the cast of I Dream of Jeannie). It moves around Australia during the year - this one was in Sydney.

Tracey, Erica and I had a table in the artist's alley, to try and let folks know that as wonderful as peeps such as Charlaine Harris and Laurell K Hamilton are, there's some rocking Aussie writers as well (and yes - for this purpose, we definitely adopt folks from New Zealand and so counted Nalini Singh as one).

We had lots of chats, sold a few copies of our books and all in all, had a

fantastic weekend. The best part of the whole thing, however, was the cosplay.

At the science fiction conventions that I've come to love here in Australia, we don't do a lot of cosplay. I was devastated when I first realised this - I was all ready for a Simpsons style of convention.

Well, my friends, I OVERDOSED on costumes at Supernova. The effort folks put into what they're doing was just sensation. I was really impressed by how welcome and friendly people were to stop and have photos taken. These were ordinary folk who kept up the smiles and willingly did some ridiculous things to make a photo work and did it all weekend.

None of us three authors dressed up, but we're thinking of going back next year and we'll probably do it again. I'm thinking of dressing as one of my gadda :) Anyhoo, here's some pics.

A guy pretending to be trapped in a cage by a gorilla - our favourite.

Tracey with Wonder Woman

Some very nasty aliens :)

Everyone's favourite little droid.

And finally - I'd love to read in the comments your story about how these three could have met.

Captain Jack Sparrow, Wonder Woman and Indiana Jones.

You can find more photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34631097@N08/sets/72157626877984895/

In other news - my third book is released in less than two weeks! Eek. To celebrate, I'm going to give the ENTIRE TRILOGY to a subscriber of my newsletter. If you want a chance to win, sign up here: http://nicolermurphy.com/

i heart fan art!

i'm alive!
you say, of course you are cindy,
why wouldn't you be? well, i did
in fact indeed verily survive the release
of my second novel, Fury of the Phoenix,
AND a super duper mega grandiose book
tour with my gay twin, malinda lo, and our
Diversity in YA fiction signings! more on that
on my next post here at the underground!

today, i wanted to share some fan art with you.
there are many many wonderful things about
being an author, but one of the raddest ones
(i'm working on bringing the RAD back, why
does awesome get to have all the fun?) is fan art.
not only are they wonderful to receive, but the
best part probably is knowing that what you've
made up in your head and written has inspired a
reader artistically. i don't get much fan art but i
treasure each and every one of them!!

**click for full image! 8)

*here is li rong by philomela!

*and a portrait of my heroine ai ling, by annie in calgary.

*a really cool interpretation of ai ling twined with
a chinese dragon by haricha in the uk.

*another portrait of ai ling. i love the loose lines
but how it captures her so well in the expression
and the eyes, by marie.

*and finally, a personal favorite because not only
is it stunning, it shows my hero chen yong with
my heroine, ai ling. =) by the multi-talented
natalie. i was VERY lucky in that natalie parted with
the original and this is now a framed piece in my bedroom!

now you can see why i treasure each and every one
of these unique pieces created by my readers. i hope
you enjoyed them as much as i do.

till next time, super undies!! =D

Bibliophile v. Voracious Reader?

Recently, I was at a party and got to talking to a group of people about the fact that I'm a novelist. The talk turned to the topic of ebooks, and one of the ladies in the group said, "I'm such a bibliophile. I can't stand the thought of ebooks!"

And that statement got me to thinking. I'm a bibliophile...I loooove my books. I love the feel of them, I love the design that goes into making them unique from one another. I'm such a geek that I wax rhapsodic over font choice and interior design, along with typesetting. Yes, books are a thing of beauty.

But I'm also a voracious reader (or, at least, I was until I began writing full-time. Now, I'm not as much of a voracious reader as I used to be). And being a voracious reader--at least in theory--I love my Kindle.

Those of you who have ereaders know all of the reasons I love my Kindle--the convenience, the transportability, the financial benefits and the instant gratification of downloading the next book in the series as soon as I've finished the previous one. Yep. Love my Kindle.

So does the fact that I love my Kindle make me less of a true bibliophile? Can we voracious readers, who go through book after book after book, co-exist with those who love books so much they won't touch an ereader?

Are we different animals, we voracious readers versus the true bibliophiles?

I wonder, too, if bibliophiles might differ from voracious readers in another way too... and that is, in the number of actual books they read. Do they buy fewer books, read less, but concentrate on the beauty, feel and smell of the book in hand? I confess... I've bought many many a book because of its beauty and design... and a good number of them are still sitting, unread, on my shelves.

However, my voracious reading side doesn't care what's on the cover or how the words are typeset (which is good, because that art is pretty much lost in ebook formats).... All my voracious reading side cares about is a good story.

So... what do you think? Are bibliophiles different animals from voracious readers? Are those of us who are bibliophiles selling out when we buy/use an ereader? Or can we co-exist peacefully?

Is a bibliophile different from a voracious reader?

Comment below and YES, there is a giveaway! (It's Friday...there must be a giveaway!) Comment below about this topic, your thoughts, and I'll pick TWO winners from US commenters (only) for copies of one of my books.

And by the way...Night Betrayed is still offered at $2.99 for ebooks right now! So if you haven't had a chance to try this series, now's your chance. Kindle. BN.

(Don't you think the guy looks a bit like Nathan Fillion?)

What Love Means

The Spell of Rosette Giveaway (see below)

Thank you everyone for the wonderful response! A lovely third party has just drawn 2 names out of the hat PLUS 2 bonus names. Congratulations to the winners! Please email me with your details so I can get your copies to you!

(1) Billabong1502

(2) Fleur

(3) Cylver

(4) Jess

Thank you!!!!

I find it fascinating that the English Language has only one word for love. We love our cars and cats and pancakes. We love our new job, the latest film and the computer that never lets us down. We love our gardens, sports, family and our lovers, but the feeling for these ‘loved ones’ can be quite different. Still, we say the same thing: I love . . . Not so in other cultures. The ancient Greeks, for example, had four different words for love with different meanings and different ‘locations.’

Love as Epithemia translates into words like horny or randy. It’s a physical, sensual, sexy love that’s hard to resist. Animal attraction. Chemistry. You know the kind? It’s tactile and felt in the body. It wants to get close, to touch and explore. It wants to have sex because that’s the only thing that will put the fire out!

Love as philia is a friendship love that brings creative inspiration. There can be a deep sense wanting to be together in companionship and co-creation. Philia is felt in the heart. We can write characters that have a feeling of philia for each other and it really screws things up if they do have sex. Or if one character is feeling the philia and the other is on fire with epithemia. These make great problems for convoluted story lines!

Love as Eros is felt in the soul. Eros is a god from which we get the word erotic, but to the ancient Greeks it was much more than just ‘sex’. The original definition of erotic (of Eros) is a situation when two or more people come together in such a way there is a lasting transformation. By this definition, sex is seldom erotic, but it can be. The Eros relationship is heady, intense, obsessive. It always leads to growth and change.

Love as agape is a divine love felt in the spirit. It may not need the body conneciton to feel fulfilled. This is also tantric, sex that opens the mind to another level of consciousness. Agape can lead to transcendence where characters move beyond their earthly limitations to become more than they ever thought possible.

Stories that contrast these kinds of love can be deeply moving because they speak to our own subtle and complex longings. One character feeling the ‘brotherly love’ of philia may be confronted by their companion’s erotic fire. Someone with the reverence of agape may not know how to face pure epithemia head on. It’s not unrequited love, exactly (it doesn’t have to distance characters) but it brings trouble and that’s exactly what we want in a good read! Mixing up the love keeps the stakes high and the dynamics flowing!

Readers will find all four brands of love in the Quantum Enchantment Series and to get you started, I’m giving away two copies of The Spell of Rosette, paperback or Kindle version, your choice! All you have to do to put your name in the hat is make a comment. Tell us what your favorite kind of love story is and be in the draw to win! Winners drawn on the Solstice, midnight June 21.

Kim Falconer is a Supernatural Underground author writing epic science fantasy novels. Kim’s latest series is Quantum Encryption. Book #1, Path of the Stray, and book #2, Road to the Soul are out now. Book #3, Journey by night is out Sept 1. Currently she’s writing an entirely new series. You can find out more about her at kim.falconer.com. She posts on the 16^th of every month.

A little news and a giveaway

Congratulations Jennie. You've won a copy of Ascension. Please send your mailing address to Sablegrace@ymail.com and we'll get that right out to you. Thank you to everyone for playing along.
~Sable Grace

Happy Humpday!
I figured I'd use this post to give a little news about our current project. People have been asking when the next Dark Breed novel comes out ( thank you for asking!) and while Book 2 in the series, Bedeviled, is scheduled for release in January, we have a smaller treat hitting ebooks this fall. An untitled novella for Avon Impulse is in the works. Yes, Kyana will make an appearance, but no, it doesn't center around her. Instead, it revolves around an ex Member of the Order of Ancients and takes place the day the gates of He'll opened. A little prequel to Ascension, if you will.

To celebrate, we're offering up a signed copy of Ascension as a giveaway here. Just leave a comment on this post and we'll draw a name this week!

kisses!!
Sable

Sex, Chaos and Rock n' Roll!

Congratulations to JULIE (Comment #24), who won the signed copy of DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE!! Julie, send your mailing address to me at terrigarey@gmail.com, and your book will be in the mail!

You know what's wrong with this blog?  Not enough hot guys and rock n' roll, that's what!

Oh, and chaos.  Not enough chaos, which is why I'm giving away an actual RING OF CHAOS over on my site!  Yep, you, too, can own an actual ring of chaos, just like the one worn by Finn Payne in DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE! It's fine English pewter, handmade and awesomely cool. All you have to do is go HERE and answer the question: "When did all Hell break loose?"

If you answer the question here on the blog, it won't count! You have to enter properly, according to the rules (so my software can count you), or you WON'T be entered! Besides, why would you want to give anyone else the answer by putting it up here on the blog, hm? :)

Drawing will be held on July 15th, so get over to my website and enter!

However, anyone leaving me a comment today on the blog will be entered for something else: a signed copy of DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE! (See, I'm not entirely heartless.) Tell me what you think about the video, the music, the ring or the cover, and you're good to go!

Winner of the signed book will be announced by the end of the day tomorrow, June 15th!