Eternal Kisses in Mean Streets : Giveaway

20 days, 2 hours 46 mins and 23 seconds - tick, tock - [as I write this] until The Cold Kiss of Death :: Spellcrackers.com book 2 :: is published, and Woot! am I getting excited? You bet I am *g*. And nervous too, as I hope everyone will love it as much as I do*. This week to continue my celebratory giveaways to help get the word out, I'm going with anthologies - Mean Kiss.

I have a strange ambivalent relationship with anthologies of short stories. On the one hand I never feel quite as enthusiastic when starting to read a short story as I do a book, because just as I end up getting to know the characters and enjoying spending time with them- bam! - the story's finished. I call it the Cinderella syndrome. Give me a nice fat book anytime :-).

But on the other hand, reading anthologies is a really great way of experiencing that first-date excitement when I discover a new author and think 'Wow! I've got to read more like this!'. Then there's the third hand [hey, I write fantasy, I can have as many hands as I want *g*] which is when I get to read short stories about characters I already love such as Harry Dresden in Mean Streets. Yay!

So onto this week's giveaway ...

Here's what and how you can win: leave a comment telling me if you've ever found a new author through a short story or not, and the first commentator drawn by Random.org will win their choice out of The Eternal Kiss : Twelve Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire*** or Mean Streets plus a signed copy of either The Cold Kiss of Death, or The Sweet Scent of Blood. Second commentator drawn will win the other book. Contest open to all, and finishes end of day [anywhere] Wednesday 1st July 2009.

I comment = 1 entry

Follow me = 1 entry**

Please help me spread the word about the release of The Cold Kiss of Death and the giveaways with a mention of the giveaway on your blog/live journal/myspace/facebook/twitter/etc [post the link to the mention into the comments again] and win yourself more entries into this week's giveaway :-) 1 link = 1 entry

ETA: 29th June 22.27 - there are now 67 commentators!! if commentators hit 70; then I'll give away 3 copies of The Eternal Kiss ... If commentators hit 90 then I'll give away 4 copies and if we pass the magical 100 mark then I'll be giving away 5 copies! Yay! so more links mean more comments and more chances to win :-)

ETA: 30th June 15.05 - there are now 103 commentators in all, we've passed the magical 100!!! So I will now be giving away 5 copies of The Eternal Kiss to 5 lucky commentators instead of 1. Thanks so much to everyone who's entered so far.

Which means you could end up with more entries into the metaphorical hat, so what are you waiting for? Get posting and linking!! Good Luck!!

x/posted to my LJ: leave a comment here or there.

* Lovevampires.com has a special advance review up of The Cold Kiss of Death. Here's part of what it says . . .

The Cold Kiss of Death [is] an exciting and satisfyingly complex read. The book's cover promises magic, mayhem and murder and there is no shortage of any of these things. Genny makes a realistically likable yet suitably kick-ass heroine who keeps fighting to the end. Throw in an imaginatively realised fantasy London . . . and it's clear that this book is a sure-fire winner for fantasy fans. Read the full review here

** There will be an extra giveaway just for my followers when The Cold Kiss of Death releases on the 16th July - yep, I resorting to bribery now in order to feel the love! LOL!

*** Look at the fab list of authors - including one fantastic new author you should all look out for Karen Mahoney who has her first short story published in The Eternal Kiss, which is published on the 7th July! Congratulations Karen!

Kelley Armstrong
Holly Black
Libba Bray
Sarah Rees Brennan
Rachel Caine
Cecil Castellucci
Cassandra Clare
Melissa De La Cruz
Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
Dina James
Karen Mahoney
Maria V. Snyder
Lili St. Crow

Fangs for Morganville : Winner

This week's contest is now closed and Random.org has drawn the following winners ...

Winner 1 = No. 11 robin_titan

Congratulations robin_titan! You've won your choice out of Lord of Misrule or Carpe Corpus and your choice of bracelet, plus a signed copy of either The Cold Kiss of Death, or The Sweet Scent of Blood. Please send me an email to contest {at} spellcrackers {dot} com with your choices and your snail mail details.

Winner 2 = No 18 Vicki

Congratulations Vicki! You've won the remaining book and bracelet. Please send me an email to contest {at} spellcrackers {dot} com with your snail mail details and I'll let you know which after robin_titan' has been in touch.

Thank you to everyone for taking part and for a fantastic turn out in letting me know your comfort reads. I'm sorry more of you couldn't win. I had a lot of fun reading the comments, and it was great to see that a lot of my own comfort reads were amongst them.

Remember to check back for the details of the next contest later today!

Fangs for Morganville : Giveaway

Yay! Less than a month [okay, that's 27 days, 1 hour, 35 minutes and 17 seconds as I write this *g*] until The Cold Kiss of Death :: Spellcrackers.com book 2 :: hits the virtual and real shelves of the book stores, and to continue my celebratory giveaways to help get the word out, here's this weeks contest - Fangs for Morganville!

!!Attention: Fan-Girl moment follows!!

One of my writing heros is Rachel Caine. I love her Weather Warden* books and when I heard she was writing about vampires . . . Well, squeeeeeeee was an understatement :-) Then I read the Morganville Vampires books ... WOW ... I totally love this series :-). Then a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to meet Rachel [see the Murder One event report by Karen Mahoney here] in person and watch The Lost Boys [one of my fav films] along with her and a wonderful group of her other UK fans. And Rachel is just as lovely and gracious in real life as she is in her virtual one**.

So to say thanks Fangs for the Morganville Vampires and many, many happy reading hours, here's this week's giveaway ...

A copy of Lord of Misrule : Book five, signed by Rachel herself. This is the UK version, which is not only beautiful but glows in the dark!

A copy of Carpe Corpus : Book Six [US cover and sadly not signed by Rachel] that doesn't release in the UK until October '09 [but look at the stunning UK cover it's going to have]

And each book comes with one of these two exclusive Morganville bracelets [raffled by Rachel at the Murder One event and rather less than elegantly modeled on my odd looking limb above ... quite why it looks odd in this photo, I'm not sure, but hey, at least I cleaned the blood off after last week's zombie fest, so it's cool *g*] The top one is leather and embossed with Morganville 'Don't stay out after dark' and fastens with adjustable poppers, the black one is rubber-like and printed with Morganville.

Here's what and how you can win: leave a comment telling me your favourite comfort read and the first commentator drawn by Random.org will win their choice out of Lord of Misrule or Carpe Corpus and their choice of bracelet, plus a signed copy of either The Cold Kiss of Death, or The Sweet Scent of Blood***. Second commentator drawn will win the other book and bracelet. Contest open to all, and ends end of day [anywhere] Thursday 25th June 2009.

I comment = 1 entry

Please help me spread the word about the release of The Cold Kiss of Death and the giveaways with a mention of the giveaway on your blog/live journal/myspace/facebook/twitter/etc [post the link to the mention into the comments again] and win yourself more entries into this week's giveaway :-) 1 link = 1 entry

Which means you could end up with more entries into the metaphorical hat, so what are you waiting for? Get posting and linking!! Good Luck!!

x/posted to my LJ: leave a comment here or there.

* They're my comfort reads when I'm writing :-).
** Rachel is also petite, or at least that's what I thought when I met her, then I saw this photo of us together, and decided either I'd shrunk since last I looked in the mirror, or I'm not as tall as I thought I was LOL!
*** The Serious Bit: Morganville Vampire books are young adult and the main characters are teenagers. My own books are not young adult, and feature strong language, voilence and scenes of a sexual nature as do a lot of current urban fantasy; they may not be suitable reading for some young adults. Whilst I've featured young adult books in the giveaways before, it hasn't been quite as prominently. I'm not going to police this giveaway, as I don't feel I'm not the correct person to judge what a young adult should or should not read [we all mature at different rates]. The decision should be the responsibility of the reader and if necessary their parent or guardian. But if the winner feels that my books would be unsuitable reading for them, I'm happy to offer an alternative.

Jasmyn :: Alex Bell - Happy Book Birthday!

Happy Book Birthday to Jasmyn :: Alex Bell

"One day, without warning, Jasmyn's husband died of an aneurysm. Since then, everything has been different. Wrapped up in her grief, Jasmyn is trapped in a world without colour, without flavour - without Liam. But even through the haze of misery she begins to notice strange events. Even with Liam gone, things are not as they should be, and eventually Jasmyn begins to explore the mysteries that have sprung up after her husband's death . . . and follow their trail back into the events of his life. But the mysteries are deeper than Jasmyn expects, and are leading her in unexpected directions - into fairytales filled with swans, castles and bones; into a tale of a murder committed by a lake and a vicious battle between brothers; into a story of a lost past, and a stolen love. She's entering a magical story. Jasmyn's story."

Alex is a brilliant writer, a very cool lady [check out her blog here]* and a wearer of seriously *hot* shoes! But don't take my word for it, here's what others have said ...

"Impressive." (Jonathan Wright SFX )

"Bell's strength lies in fusing fairytale and psychological suspense in a compelling modern narrative, combined with effective characterisation. Bell charts original territory with considerable charm." (Eric Brown THE GUARDIAN )

"Occasionally heart-wrenching, occasionally creepy but altogether deeply personal character study. Bell's charactersisation and prose is infectious, expressed on the page with an oddly compulsive pace. All in all, this is a fine piece of literature." (James Rundle SCI FI NOW )

* Don't forget to say hello to Erin ... seen here with Alex :-)

Zombie Fest :: Winner

This week's contest is now closed and Random.org has drawn the following winners ...

Winner 1 = No. 19 AllyKatt

Congratulations AllyKatt! You've won a copy of The Forest of Hands and Teeth :: Carrie Ryan plus a signed copy of The Sweet Scent of Blood and the must-have for the zombie apocalypse; the Whack-A-Zombie kit! Please send me an email to contest {at} spellcrackers {dot} com with your snail mail details.

Winner 2 = No. 37 Dave-Brendon de Burgh

Congratulations Dave, you've won a copy of The Forest of Hands and Teeth :: Carrie Ryan! Please email me at contest [at] spellcrackers[dot]com with your snail mail details.

Thank you to everyone for taking part and for a brilliant response in letting me know your favourite zombie fiction, TV or film and for all your links to help get the word out. I'm sorry all of you couldn't win. I had a lot of fun reading the comments, and wow! there are more zombie films out there than I'd realised.


Remember to check back for the details of the next contest later today!

The Cold Kiss of Death : Chapter One

The Cold Kiss of Death : Spellcrackers.com : Book two is published on the 16th July. Just one month to go! Yay!

To celebrate, Chapter one is now available to read on my website here - Enjoy :-)

Zombie Fest :: Giveaway

So there's only 5 weeks until The Cold Kiss of Death :: Spellcrackers.com book 2 :: is released! Yay! And to continue my celebratory giveaways to help get the word out, this week's contest is about zombies!! [Cos y'know, we've done vampires and werewolves, so it's really time that some of the other undead got to have a look in *g*]

Shaun of the Dead

I have to admit that I'm not much for horror movies [I'm more the wussy type that hides behind cushions] so I haven't seen many zombie flicks. But I recently read this ...

. . . and while I wasn't so much scared [it's much easier to turn your imagination off when reading the gory bits, than when watching LOL!] this book really got to me; at one point the tears were streaming down my face [I can't tell you where cos that would be spoilerish]. Darn that Carrie Ryan for writing such a brilliant book *has jealous moment now the tears have gone*.

Now I don't have zombies in the Spellcrackers.com books [or at least none have shown up yet!] but in The Cold Kiss of Death, Genny is being haunted by a ghost, which is definitely a spine-crawling problem for her since she suffers from Phasmophobia [Fear of Ghosts].

But back to the zombies and this week's contest.

I bribed*asked my fantastic publisher, Gollancz to give me two copies of The Forest of Hands and Teeth :: Carrie Ryan for my zombie fest giveaway. [Thank you Gollancz] So the first commentator drawn by Random.org will win a copy of The Forest of Hands and Teeth plus a signed copy of The Sweet Scent of Blood and because we all need practice for when the zombie apocalypse arrives, I'm also including a Whack-A-Zombie kit [pic below]! Second commentator drawn will win the other copy of The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

All you have to do to win one of these two giveaways is leave me a comment telling me what your favourite zombie fiction, TV or film. Contest ends end of day [anywhere] Thursday 18th June 2009.

I comment = 1 entry

Please help me spread the word about the release of The Cold Kiss of Death and the giveaways with a mention of the giveaway on your blog/live journal/myspace/facebook/twitter/etc [post the link to the mention into the comments again] and win yourself more entries into this week's giveaway :-) 1 link = 1 entry

Which means you could end up with more entries into the metaphorical hat, so what are you waiting for? Get posting and linking!! Good Luck!!

x/posted to my LJ: leave a comment here or there.

Watch the creepy book trailer for the book ...




* with promises of large amounts of brains ... err chocolate!

6 : 6 : 6 Book Bonanza :: Winner

This week's contest is now closed and Random.org has drawn the following winners ...

Winner 1 = No. 39 tetewa

Congratulations Tetewa, you've won a signed copy of The Cold Kiss of Death [plus a signed copy of The Sweet Scent of Blood, if you haven't read it] and your choice of one of the six books listed below. Please send me an email with your choice and snail mail details.

Winner 2 = No. 87 jennilovevirgo

Winner 3 = No. 68 Valorie

Winner 4 = No. 21 lemmythewolfboy

Winner 5 = No. 56 Fantasy Dreamer

Winner 6 = No. 7 My Blog 2.0 (Dottie)

Congratulations to you all! Please email me at contest [at] spellcrackers.com with your snail mail details and first, second and third choices of the six books below.

Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr
The Summoning - Kelly Armstrong
Micah - Laurel K Hamilton
The Demon's Lexicon - Sarah Rees Breenan
Night Shift - Lillith St Crow
Blood Bound - Patricia Briggs

Thank you to everyone for taking part and for a fantastic response in letting me know your favourite city. I'm sorry I wasn't here to comment back to you but I've had a lot of fun reading them now I am back [and now I want to go visit them all too :-)].

Remember to check back for the details of the next contest later today!

M.I.A and Forbidden Planet Signing: Video

I am currently having my internet connection surgically removed [yep, it's that bad LOL!] so won't be around for the next few days ... I will miss reading all about your favourite cities - don't forget to scroll down and enter this week's 6 : 6 : 6 Book Bonanza Giveaway - but I will catch up as soon as I can plug myself back in. So, instead, I leave you with this ...

The Lovely Ladies of Gollancz from Neil C Ford on Vimeo.

6 : 6 : 6 Book Bonanza :: Giveaway

6 = Only SIX weeks until The Cold Kiss of Death :: Spellcrackers.com book 2 is released! Yay!

6 = It's June! And June is my favourite month :-)

6 = There will be SIX winners in this week's giveaway!

So to continue my celebratory giveaways to help get the word out about The Cold Kiss of Death, here's this week's contest.

London is my favourite capital city*, not only was I born there, but now my Spellcrackers.com books are set in London. I love to wander round** and find real places to set my scenes, like Old Scotland Yard above [the home of the Metropolitan Police Magic and Murder Squad] and The Stilt, or Dali Tree in Victoria Embankment Gardens [pic below] which if you've read The Sweet Scent of Blood, I hope you'll recognise :-).

So here's this week's contest - To win all you have to do is leave me a comment telling me which city in the world is your favourite :-).

First commentator picked by Random.org will win a signed copy of The Cold Kiss of Death [plus a signed copy of The Sweet Scent of Blood, if they haven't read it] and their choice of one of the other six books [by some of my fav authors] below [includes the new release by Sarah Rees Brennan - The Demon's Lexicon]. Commentators 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will also win one of the books pictured below***






I comment = 1 entry

Please help me spread the word about the release of The Cold Kiss of Death and the giveaways with a mention of the giveaway on your blog/live journal/myspace/facebook/twitter/etc [post the link to the mention into the comments again] and give yourself more entries into this week's giveaway :-) 1 link = 1 entry

Which means you could end up with more entries into the metaphorical hat, so what are you waiting for? Get posting and linking!! Good Luck!!

x/posted to my LJ: leave a comment here or there. Contest ends end of day [anywhere] Thursday, 11th June 2009.

*I know there are other wonderful cities, but I was born there, and I'm British, so I'm biased. ;p

** Note to hubby: It's called research, and yes, it is vital I check out the shops too, who knows when and where inspiration might strike!

*** Logistical nightmare much! If you're a winner, I'll be asking for your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices, and hopefully everyone will get a book they're happy with :-)

Getting Furry with Kitty :: Winner

This week's contest is now closed and Random.org has drawn no. 59. The winner is ...

Ladytink_534

Congratulations! You've won your choice of one of Carrie Vaughn's werewolf books plus a signed copy of either The Sweet Scent of Blood or The Cold Kiss of Death.

Please email me at contest [at] spellcrackers.com with your snail mail details.

Thank you to everyone else for taking part and letting me know your favourite werewolf comments - lots of my own favs in there too - I had a lot of fun reading them all.

Remember to check back for the details of the next contest later today!