SMILE - Dance Like No One's Watching!

*laughs* I do this all the time when I'm driving! My thanks to Life's Short, Talk Fast tumblr! 

International Contest Time!

Random post guys so bear with.

As you know, at the end of this month, a certain JK Rowling will be publishing her first adult novel. And, somehow, I've been roped in with my lovely pals at Hot Cherry to give away five copies of a parody book based on JK Rowling unpublished novel...

The Vacant Casualty is set in the small country village of Mumford where, shockingly, a man with an axe in his back doesn't raise an eyebrow. But the fact he's left a vacancy at the Parish Council does. Enter Detective Inspector Bradley who is, basically, a buffoon of a man, to try and solve this. When he teams up with an author trying to research a detective novel (hmmm... I wonder who the author based that on?!), the two must solve who the The Vacant Casualty is, before the whole village gets killed off.

And with country being filled with a granny mafia, farting tea-ladies, swearing, casual violence, car chases and tortoise milk, that might be easier said then done...

So, I have five copies of this to give away. It is international (I'm not doing to posting so HURRAY!) and you have till midday on Wednesday 19th September to enter. Three of you will win by filling in the form below and answering the question correct and the other two will go to those of you on Twitter who use the hashtag #TheVacantCasualty...

Good Luck Everyone!

Defiance Blog Tour - Interview With CJ Redwine

Why, hello there! Thank you for popping along to my blog. Today, as part of the Defiance Blog Tour, the lovely Madeleine at Atom Books manage to get CJ Redwine to answer some of my questions. So, my thanks goes to Madeleine for getting these questions to CJ and CJ Redwine to finding the time to answer them.

For those of you following the blog tour, tomorrow's stop is at YA Indie Princess. Anyway, enough of my waffle, let's get on with the interview!

Thank you for spending some time answering of my questions. How would you describe Defiance to someone who hasn’t heard of it?

Defiance is a post-apocalyptic fantasy adventure in which Rachel Adams commits treason against her brutal leader to escape her city so she can search for her missing father in the Wasteland beyond, but the truth she discovers will start a war two decades in the making. (Also, there’s a cute inventor who is also really good with a sword!)

Where did the inspiration for the trilogy come from? Also, could you confirm what the trilogy name is (as I keep hearing different names)?

In the UK, the trilogy is called The Courier’s Daughter Trilogy.

For years, I’d had the idea of a Leviathon-like creature living underground with the capability to destroy our world if anyone accidentally released him. Then one day I saw a picture of a fortress and it reminded me of a city-state. I said “What if we lived in city-states again? Why would we do that?” One idea collided with another, and Defiance was born.

With Defiance, the story is told from two characters points of view: Rachel and Logan. Was this an organic idea that happened while you were writing or did you always know that Rachel and Logan had to the share the story equally?

After writing half of the book from Rachel’s POV only, I realized that Logan had an equal stake in the trilogy (both with his backstory and with his actions), and so he deserved a chance to tell his story. Plus, he was going to do some REALLY cool things while apart from Rachel, and I wanted the reader to be able to see that.

How did you keep Rachel and Logan’s voices different?

Rachel is driven first and foremost by her emotions. She also loves to improvise instead of taking the time to come up with a meticulous plan of action. Logan is a planner, a thinker, and a master of figuring out every possible scenario before taking action. His go-to method for fighting is science whereas Rachel’s is weapons. Making sure I kept the emotions in the forefront for Rachel and the science/logic in the forefront of Logan’s scenes kept them different.

As I was reading Defiance, I got the feeling that while this book is a fantasy novel, it had elements of being a dystopia novel as well? Was this intentional or pure coincidental?

I set out to write a post-apocalyptic novel. When I finished, I discovered it had elements of fantasy, dystopia, steampunk, and some light sci-fi in it as well. I read those type of books voraciously, so it isn’t a surprise that those elements came into the story, but the dystopian aspect of Rachel’s city is truly caused by the personality of the leader. I didn’t know what kind of culture the city had until I understood him. Once I knew him, I realized the things that drive him would cause him to motivate his people to obey him out of fear, and thus the dystopian aspect of Defiance came to be.

With Rachel knowing so much about weapons and Logan knowing technology, did you have to do much research in these fields?

Yes! I was constantly stopping and looking up sparring videos or weapons descriptions or how to make a homemade battery etc.

I want to ask something about Rachel – all women in Defiance – needing a Protector and then having to a Claimed. With this being, in my opinion, extremely sexist. Is this the Commander’s ideal, or is this a subtle attack at sexist in the fantasy genre as a whole?

It’s truly awful, isn’t it? Sets my teeth on edge just thinking about it. The answer to your question is that it’s both the Commander’s ideal and my attempt to use the lens of dystopian fiction to deconstruct what it looks like to “protect” women… taking some of our ideals today and pushing them to the extreme edge of that protection. By using Rachel’s father, who protects Rachel by giving her the tools to protect herself, and Logan, who protects Rachel by fighting at her side as her equal, and by using that dynamic to upset the system the Commander put into place, I wanted to show my readers what true protection looks like. It isn’t a demand that you not bother your pretty little head about things, or that you stick with the roles a male-dominated society carved out for you. It isn’t being dependent on a man for every little thing. It’s understanding what makes YOU strong, respecting that, and expecting others to respect you and treat you as an equal.

Now, I want to ask about your journey into becoming a published author. Was it quite an easy journey or was it quite hard going?

It was a long journey. I signed with my agent in early 2009, and we subbed an adult urban fantasy to many, many editors. All of them said no. I wrote another urban fantasy, and we did the same thing all over again. I kept hearing things like “we don’t know where to shelve this” and “it doesn’t conform to the genre rules,” which was true. It didn’t because I like to combine genres as I write. I write what the story needs without worrying about whether that lines up perfectly with shelf space in a bookstore. :) It was a two year process of hearing constant “no’s” and that got discouraging some days! I finally sat down and said, “I can quit. Or I can switch to the genre I read the most and try the idea that scares me because it feels too big for me to handle.” I’m not a quitter, so two and half months later, I had a finished draft of Defiance. A few weeks later, my agent sold it at auction, and it took me soooo long to go from feeling like the poster girl for “Can Not Sell a Book to Save Her Life” to realizing I’d reached my dream.

How long did it take you to write Defiance from the original idea?

The idea was rolling around in my head in one form or another for months, but once I started writing, it only took two and a half months. That’s super fast! I think some ideas just burn their way out of you, and this was one of those.

While you were writing Defiance, there must have been scenes or moments that you, sadly, had to edit or completely cut out? How did you decide what stay in and what “little darlings” you had to cut out?

Yes, I cut entire chapters and combined others. My editor helped me decide where we needed to cut or combine and then I took that feedback and made decisions from there.

Was there a scene that you loved writing but you had to edit out? 

There was a scene that I’d originally written from Rachel’s point of view that finally had to be switched to Logan’s, and I was reluctant because I wanted the reader to see it from her eyes. However, once I made the change, I loved having the reader see it through his eyes instead. :)

What do you feel when you see people chatting about Defiance and their reactions on their blogs/Facebook/Twitter? Does it feel surreal?

Very surreal! I try to avoid it as much as possible. I don’t mind people talking to me about it on Twitter or Facebook, but I don’t go searching for it at all. I feel that once I’ve released the story to the public, it isn’t mine anymore. It’s theirs to read and discuss and interact with at will. I don’t want to interfere with that.

Sticking with this, the UK publisher has called Defiance perfect for fans of Trudi Canavan and Christopher Paolini and I have heard a few well respected book bloggers calling Defiance the perfect hangover cure for the Hunger Games. How do you feel to be compared to well known and well respected authors and series?

That is just as surreal as having people tell me the book made them cry or ended up on their all-time favorites shelf. It’s SUCH an incredible honor, and I have to pinch myself, and then push it from my mind and get down to the business of writing the next book.

Now, I have to ask this (because I need to know!) can you reveal any titbits that you could reveal for the second book in the trilogy?

Hmm … I’m not authorized to reveal much, but I can tell you that we get a LOT more of the secondary characters in this book, and that there are several enemies hunting Rachel and Logan, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. :)

Before I finish this interview, I have to talk about the striking cover. Did you have any input into the cover?

A bit! Harper [CJ's US publisher] came up with the amazing cover concept, and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. They discussed what they wanted to do at every stage (there were several cover comps before the final cover) and always took the time to ask for my opinion. My opinion usually consisted of HOLY WOW YES PLEASE I MIGHT LICK MY SCREEN I LOVE IT SOOO MUCH, so I was probably not that helpful. :)

GoodRead - Defiance

When Madeleine from Atom asked me if I wanted to take part in the blog tour, I was intrigued over the book and said yes very quickly after I saw the cover. I mean, have you seen it? Very striking, don't you think?

In the city of Baalboden, Rachel waits for the return of her father, a courier, to return from the Wasteland. But when he doesn't, Rachel is forced into the protection of her father's apprentice, Logan. But Rachel knows her father is alive, and plots to escape for the city. Even though the cruel city ruler is watching her, and the dangers of the Wasteland such as violent wanderers and highwaymen, unforgiving terrain and, more terrifying of them all, the Cursed One. 

But if Rachel and Logan could escape the city, could they find Rachel's father? And could they set their people free? 

Right, from the reviews that I have read online, I know that people either love this book (and have said things like "the perfect Hunger Games hangover cure". Atom has compared Defiance to Game of Thrones and say this is perfect for Trudi Canavan and Christopher Paolini fans) or hate this book. I am in the middle. I get why people are so excited over this book - I can see the elements that will make an exciting fantasy trilogy. But I can also see elements of why people are disappointed. 

I'm not sure where I stand on this book. The main reason with this is because... well... I feel like this book lacked something. There was something missing and I can't put my finger on what was missing or why it bothered me so much.

To me, this book feels ok. Just ok, though. Nothing more, nothing less. I do hope that if/when I do read the sequel, I get more that changes my mind. 

And because of this "it's ok"ness, I'm unsure on whether I should go to you guys "Go! Buy this book!" or "Flee from the book for your lives!" as this is my opinion. Mine and mine only. However, I'm going to say read other reviews and make your own minds up. If this book sounds up your street, go for it. Read it. However, if this does feel like something you enjoy, then don't. I want you all to find a book that you will read and love!

Anyway, here's the the book trailer and see if that wets your appetite for those of you who might/are going to read this... 

SMILE - You Are Not Alone

As always, I want to thank Sasha aka FzngWizbee's tumblr for the above! So true!

Defiance Blog Tour

Just a quick note to let you guys know that I am taking part in the Defiance blog tour. As you can see, there's a few of us taking part and I do hope you all join us if you want to know more about the book and the author, CJ Redwine (I'm sorry, but her surname! I love it!)

As you guys can see, my post for the tour is 7th September (aka this coming Friday) and I should be having my review of Defiance in the coming few days (Thursday, hopefully, as I always like my reviews on a Thursday now...). So, I do hope you pop back on these days or take part in the blog tour! I shall see you all soon! 

Harry Potter's BIGGEST UK & Ireland Fan Has Been Revealed!!!

Alissa Howard, a 17-year-old from Somerset, has been selected as the UK and Ireland’s biggest Harry Potter fan. Her entry was chosen as the best in the recent competition run by Bloomsbury to celebrate the 15^th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling.

Alissa’s entry (see below) was selected from over 6000 posted in bookshops and libraries throughout the UK. Alissa’s piece stood out for the originality in her poetic wording and in her colourful and neat artwork. Her last line of “You inspired a generation, now that’s magical” was especially loved.

After hearing of her win Alissa said: "I was quite surprised to hear that I had won, and now I just can't believe it. It'll take time for it to sink in but I am really happy to have been chosen as the winner."

Alissa has won a family holiday to experience the magic and excitement of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ only at Universal Orlando^® Resort, plus a leather-bound and numbered 15^th Anniversary Edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, signed and dedicated by J.K. Rowling. 14 runners-up have also won copies of the leather-bound and numbered 15^th Anniversary Edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, signed and dedicated by the author. With only 15 of these exclusive editions being signed by J.K. Rowling for the UK, the books will be a rare and unique item for the lucky Harry Potter fans.

To celebrate the 15^th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Bloomsbury launched a nationwide competition to find the UK’s biggest HARRY POTTER fan. Bloomsbury invited fans to write a letter of no more than 50 words explaining why they love HARRY POTTER. Fans could only enter by visiting a local bookshop or library and posting their letter in the specially designed postboxes. Over 1800 bookshops and libraries signed up to take part.

From an idea born on a train journey, to its creation in a small café in Edinburgh, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is the book that started a global phenomenon.  Rejected by many publishers and with an initial hardback print run of 500 copies, it is the book that put Harry’s destiny in motion and created a whole new generation of readers. It is hard to think now that before 1997 none of us knew about Hogwarts, Quidditch or Voldemort (who was voted as the favourite literary villain in a recent Bloomsbury poll).

The competition results will be available to view from Saturday 1^st September on the HARRY POTTER competition website – www.bloomsbury.com/harrypottercompetition

(This was the press release [which was embargoed, FYI] but as a Harry Potter fan, I am thrilled that Alissa has been called the UK and Ireland's Biggest Harry Potter Fan! Congratulations!)

This Has Blown My Mind A Little...

This time last week, my other half and I started the scary process of putting a collection of short stories self-published via Amazon (it took us till half six as Amazon wanted Page Breaks and no tabs, and we edited it and, at the very last minute, added two stories [as I felt it needed some humour] and changed the title of the whole collection from The Emancipation of the Pewter Wolf to The Perfect Day). I told you guys on Tuesday (but family knew on Saturday and my other half started tweeting the news when I wasn't looking!), and, within the space of a week, I was told to go to Amazon and type in The Perfect Day in the Amazon search bar.

Now, I haven't looked at how well it's been selling/reviews/anything so, against my better judgement, I did. And this is what I found:

MY THE PERFECT DAY IS THE FIRST RESULT WHEN YOU SEARCH THE PERFECT DAY! I have no idea how many of you guys have searched for my little eBook, let alone BUY it. So, you guys are... Oh, wait! I have another pic for you... And this BLEW my mind!

MY NAME IS IN THE SEARCH SUGGESTIONS!!! OMFG!!!

I can not tell you how weird and mind blowing and completely freaked out I am at the moment. But I want to thank you. THANK YOU! You guys have blown my mind! 

Anyway, I better get the boring stuff out of the way. If you want to buy The Perfect Day from Amazon.co.uk, please click here. If you shop on Amazon.com, click here for your copy. And the Friends pic is taken from FYeahFriendsGIF.tumblr.com. Again, thank you. Now enjoy the rest of your Saturday!