Darn, where did November go ... must be past time for a giveaway!

Ack, it's the 30th and it seems like yesterday I had some Halloween Happiness I was going to tell you all about ... but the last month has whooshed by without even stopping to eat a cupcake!

And now it's snowing! O_o.

But never fear, I will show you  my Halloween Happiness anyway! *g*
(and don't forget to read on to find out how to share in my scarily good luck - there's a giveaway!)

Halloween Happiness no: 1 ...

Look what one of the coolest authors on the planet and one of my all time writerly heros sent me!

And signed too!

A BIG, BIG THANK YOU TO MIKE!!

Check out Mike's website for more info about The Unwritten!

Halloween Happiness no: 2 ...

Aww, look what my BFF Fiona gave me! This cute little guy is Bubba Boo!

And look! Bubba Boo's got a bat hanging from his warlock's hat! Yay!

Check out Fiona's website for some fab free reads, including a tale about 'Santa and the Legend of the Christmas Oath' story.

Halloween Happiness no; 3 ...

Then another very cool person, Jon Weir, the fabulous publicist at Gollancz, sent me this wonderful book! And let me tell you not only are the stories fantastic, but that cover is full of shiny goodness - just the perfect thing to give a readaholic for Christmas if you were looking for an idea :-) So keep reading to find out how Wolfsbane and Mistletoe could be winging its way to your Christmas stocking!

Okay, so here's what you have to do: leave me a comment telling me what book/or books you're looking forward to finding in your Christmas stocking this year! Simple!

Giveaway open internationally.
Closes midnight GMT time 9th December**.
Winner will be drawn by Random.org.
1 comment = 1 entry.

So what are you waiting for?? Go comment!! :-)

* though snowing here = a dusting of icing sugar, so hope wherever you are you're warm and take extra care when you venture out into the icy world outside if you've got more snow than we have down here on the South Coast.

** I will post asap after getting the winner's details, but so sorry I can't guarantee book will arrive before xmas if its destination is outside of the UK, we'll have to rely on the postman :-).

Happy Thanksgiving ...

to all my American friends! Enjoy the holidays!

Thanksgiving CupCake Bouquet picture taken from here

I tell all to Book Lovers Inc ...

... so why not head over and read all about me. Me. ME!!

Go on, you know you want to! *g* And if you need any more incentive* there's a signed copy of The Sweet Scent of Blood, or The Cold Kiss of Death up for grabs for two lucky commentators!

* Okay, so I'm not that interesting, I know this, but hey, there's *Free Books!*, that's got to be worth something, hasn't it? And you can find out about how my muse copes with my creative pants and what my crit partner, Jaye Wells has to do with it all! Plus there's the Book Lovers: they've got lots more interviews and giveaways lined up, with more exciting folk that me, so you'd be missing out if you don't go ... just sayin' :-)

For the Fallen

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old,

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Extract from 'For the Fallen' by Laurence Binyon

*Beverage Alert*

1. Go to google maps
2. Get directions (by car)
3. Type Japan as start
4. Type China as end
5. Go to direction #42

(Txs to tweeter @SteveNiles)

Hallowe'en Giveaway Winner!

And the Winner of The Cold Kiss of Death is

Anassa

Who said:

'The last scene that scared me was one in The Devil's Alphabet. Two characters, one of whom was my favourite, get stopped at a roadblock and I was terrified that Bad Things were going to happen.'

Congratulations, Anassa! Please send your snail mail address to contest[at]spellcrackers[dot]com and the book will be on its way to you :-)

***

Thanks everyone for entering the giveaway and letting me know what book last scared you - there are some great ones there!

Pixies are Go!!

So way back in February I teased mentioned I was writing a Spellcrackers short story, and that it had pixies in it ... well, I'm super stoked to say that the story has been accepted, and is going to be published in the next urban fantasy anthology edited by the wonderful Charlaine Harris and the fabulous Toni L. P. Kelner! Yay!

*Does the super excited happy dance*

As I'm sure you all know, Charlaine and Toni have already edited two fantastic anthologies together - 'Wolfsbane and Mistletoe', and 'Death's Excellent Vacation' - and this new one due out August 2011 is called 'Home Improvement: Undead Edition', which you won't be surprised to find out is all about how those of the supernatural persuasion go about improving - or otherwise - their homes *g*.

I can't wait to find out what Sookie Stackhouse has been up to! And look at those names on the cover; there's going to be some great stories to read by some of my favourite authors :-).

I had a lot of fun writing my pixie story, and I hope everyone who reads it enjoys it as much as I did creating it. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, there's no spoilers for the Spellcrackers books, as the story is about when Genny takes a job to evict some problematic pixies, and is set 6 months before the beginning of The Sweet Scent of Blood, so it's sort of a mini prequel.

And don't forget if you haven't read The Cold Kiss of Death yet, then you can tell me about a scary book you've read to be in with a chance at winning a copy here :-)