Where I'll be - Anthony Head - Giveaway!

A quick post to say I've happened across a giveaway for The Bitter Seed of Magic and Under Attack by Hannah Jayne on Paranormal Haven Blog (Int. Ends Jan 31.)


And I will at the SFX Weekender next weekend! Yay! I'm going as a punter, not a guest, but I'm happy to sign books, or anything else (within reason!). If you're going to be there, then do say hello! I don't bite. Much! *g*

The programme's just gone live and it looks like a whole lot of fantastic FUN! Plus, ANTHONY HEAD! *nuff said* *g*

Halloween Mash!

Please join me and dozens of your favorite authors at the 2011 Halloween Mash at Writerspace tonight from 8pm ET to 11pm ET. We’re giving away 100s of fantastic prizes -- Kindles, autographed books, gift cards and more. The more who enter, the more Kindles will be awarded! You don't have to be present to win, but you must be registered. To register and for details visit http://www.writerspace.com/halloween/

I'm giving away 3 signed copies of The Bitter Seed of Magic! Yay!

And don't forget to enter the International Urban Fantasy Month giveaway in the blog post below! Lots more books to win! But be quick it ends tonight!

Weddings + Apples + Magic Slays - Ilona Andrews! (giveaway)

Giveaway now closed! Winner will be announced soon . . .

The Cold Kiss of Death is out now in the US (Thanks to everyone who's bought it! You Rock!) and in the UK now, and The Bitter Seed of Magic is out now in the UK (December 27 in the US).  So, this is the last of my 16 weeks of celebratory giveaways, and this week's is a book I'm really looking forward to get my sticky little reading hands on. *g*

*Cue Drumroll*

Magic Weds, err, sorry, Slays (Kate Daniels, Book 5) UK by Ilona Andrews!

Blurb from Amazon:

Kate Daniels has quit the Order of Merciful Aid, but starting her own business isn't easy when the Order starts disparaging her good name. And being the mate of the Beast Lord doesn't bring in the customers, either. So when Atlanta's premier Master of the Dead asks for help with a vampire, Kate jumps at the chance. Unfortunately, this is one case where Kate should have looked before she leapt.

Ooooooh!! *WANTS* :-D


So what do you have to do to be in with a chance of winning Magic Slays (or your choice of an earlier book in the series)? Well since Kate and Curran got together in Magic Bleeds, and today saw another Kate marry her Prince . . . (not that I'm suggesting there will be a wedding in Magic Slays . . . but who knows!!! *g*) leave me a comment telling me something you enjoy about weddings. Me, I always look forward to seeing the cake cut, and raising a glass of bubbly to wish the happy couple well!

Many congratulations to the Royal Couple!

I wish them a long, happy, loving and healthy life together!

How to enter:

Leave a comment about something you enjoy at weddings.

Please leave a way to contact you (email in comment: Please remember to replace @ with [at] to forestall spam - or your twitter name - no way to contact you - no entry).

Giveaway is international and closes end of day (GMT time) 9th May 2011.

Full General Terms and Rules at the bottom of this post here.

You can get an extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway. Leave the link to the tweet as an extra comment.

Please note: My usual blog policy is that I try to reply to all comments on the blog, but for ease of admin I won't be replying to any comments made on any of the giveaway posts during the 16 weeks. Sorry, but it makes it much harder to sort out the winner. However I do read and enjoy all the comments, and will, of course, continue to reply to comments on any other post, so if you have a question for me, leave it on one of those, thank you :-)

All book links lead to Amazon (UK/US) or the Book Depository, and contain affiliate links. I've decided to go affiliate as I love giving books away (and not just as a way of shameless self-promo), but boy, does it get expensive.

Tour London in The Cold Kiss of Death (+ Giveaway)

US Cover

Well, I'm a bit later posting this week's celebratory giveaway, as I got carried away* with the writing today. Anyway, we're now on week # 14 of my 16 weeks of giveaways to celebrate the the upcoming US release of book 2  The Cold Kiss of Death (out 26th April - only 10'ish days to go!!! Yay!!), and the UK release of book 3 The Bitter Seed of Magic (Out Now! And don't forget you can get it from The Book Depository with Free WorldWide Del (she says, just dropping that tiny bit of self-promo in there . . .) *g*

So it's all about MY BOOKS this week!! And one of the things I love about using London as the setting, is that it's full of fantastic and interesting places. In fact, sometimes I have a hard time choosing which ones to use. But when it came to The Cold Kiss of Death it was all made easier for me by a lovely birthday day out. Here's a tour of some of the great places appearing in the book, that Mr Mc treated me to! Yay! Love that man!

First up is the London Experience and The London Tombs ~ a fun, and sometimes scary exhibition with a good dash of the historical, which is a great day out for all ages (remembering that it can be scary . . .). It's a place that plays a big part in the book. Here's an extract from chapter two where Genny is in the tombs working on a ghost survey with Finn:

"Chewing the end of my pencil, I scanned the underground site again. Bare bulbs in their yellow hanging cages lit the place brighter than the midday sun, even though it was past midnight. The bright lights didn’t make me feel any better: they cast weird shadows over the abandoned builders’ tools, turning them into hiding places full of staring eyes; watching. Thick cobwebs stretched across the arched brick roof and damp stained the walls with algae-slimed patches. And it smelled old and musty, with an underlying whiff of putrefying flesh – a smell Finn had assured me existed only in my over-active imagination, not that his assurances made the smell go away. The place was creepy enough even without the steady stream of ghosts drifting by. Finally my gaze skittered over the more modern breezeblock wall blocking the River Thames end of the tunnel and landed on the cordoned-off area in one corner. An avalanche of old human bones spilled out over the floor. The very bones I’d been trying to ignore all night, especially as I had an odd notion that they kept whispering my name."

The Clink Prison Museum ~ the museum is built upon the original site of the Clink Prison, which dates back to 1144 making it one of England’s oldest, if not the oldest Prison. It's small but perfectly equipped with a selection of original artefacts, and torture devices. The museum is another place that plays a big part in one section of the book. Here's an extract from chapter 11:

"I reached the Clink and almost slipped down the small flight of worn stone steps that led into the museum. I paid my admission and walked slowly through the exhibits towards the large back room.

A concrete troll sat at a big wooden table, rolling a crap-shoot of plastic dice back and forth between his large slab-like hands. He was old – or at least he’d had a hard life; his nose was missing a chunk and his age cracks had been filled with blue-coloured grout, making his pitted concrete skin look like it had a map of wriggling blue lines drawn on it.  The troll’s name was Blue, unsurprisingly appropriate, and the info plaque in front of him stated that trolls had been used as jailers at the Clink as far back as the fifteenth century."

London Bridge ~ There's been a bridge over this section of the Thames since the Roman occupation of the area, nearly 2,000 years ago. It's been replaced/rebuilt a few times over the years, and the current bridge has been there since 1973. Bad things happen to it in the book!

The Borough Market in Southwark ~ a fantastic food market, with some scrumptious eateries. We had lunch at a fab fish restaurant (fish is my fav food as anyone who knows me *g*) with a lovely glass of bubbly*. The market gets a very brief mention in the book :-)

The Golden Hinde ~ The Golden Hinde is a full-sized reconstruction of the Tudor warship in which Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe in 1577 – 1580. We didn't visit this, so that's a trip for another day, but the ship does get a mention in passing in the book, along with a selkie who's squatting in the captain's cabin.(now that's a short story waiting to happen . . . sometime *g*)

And one place we went that didn't appear in the book: Vinopolis ~ The place to go in London for a wonderful wine tasting tours.

So onto the giveaway! Here's what you need to do to be in with a chance of winning your choice* of one of my books: Leave me a comment telling me which place from The Cold Kiss of Death you'd choose to visit.

And if you haven't tried any of my books yet, then check out the books pages on  my website. UK editions here. US editions here.(UK and US editions have the same text, but different covers)

How to enter:

Leave a comment with which place from The Cold Kiss of Death you'd choose to visit.

Please leave a way to contact you (email in comment: Please remember to replace @ with [at] to forestall spam - or your twitter name - no way to contact you - no entry).

Giveaway is international and closes end of day (GMT time) 21st April 2011.

Full General Terms and Rules at the bottom of this post here.

You can get an extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway. Leave the link to the tweet as an extra comment.

And don't forget to check out the Giveaway Schedule here. And so you don't miss out on a chance of winning any of the wonderful books in the coming weeks, why not follow me? (following is not a condition of entry).

Please note: My usual blog policy is that I try to reply to all comments on the blog, but for ease of admin I won't be replying to any comments made on any of the giveaway posts during the 16 weeks. Sorry, but it makes it much harder to sort out the winner. However I do read and enjoy all the comments, and will, of course, continue to reply to comments on any other post, so if you have a question for me, leave it on one of those, thank you :-)

All book links lead to Amazon (UK/US) or the Book Depository, and contain affiliate links. I've decided to go affiliate as I love giving books away (and not just as a way of shameless self-promo), but boy, does it get expensive.

*I blame it on the ménage à trois that turned up unexpectedly. Definitely didn't see that one coming! *g* And no, before anyone asks, the ménage isn't who you're all thinking! Mwahahahahaha! *Evil Author Moment* 

*Yep, I know, bubbly for lunch, and then a wine tasting! Hedonistic! But hey, it was my birthday!

* Winner can choose one book from: The Sweet Scent of Blood #1, The Cold Kiss of Death #2, The Bitter Seed of Magic #3, Home Improvement: Undead Edition #1/2 (contains prequel Spellcrackers short story).

x/posted to LJ. Comment here or there. One entry per person.

Dead Reckoning with True 'Grits' Giveaway (Charlaine Harris)

I've been reading books by American writers for a looooog time now, and as I'm British, I often find some things get 'lost in translation'. (Which no doubt happens on occasion when someone who isn't British reads one of my books *g*).

One thing that always made me curious was 'grits'; everyone seemed to eat it, and I hadn't a clue what it was (this was before the internet was around to give me a million and one explanations ;p). But even when I did discover grits was a sort of corn porridge, it still seemed weird that it was eaten with savoury food. (The porridge I'm used to is eaten with salt or sugar, and sometimes cream! Oh, and a splash of whisky for those special brekkies!Yummy! :-)) So it wasn't till Mr Mc and I holidayed in Florida, 4 or so years ago, that I got the chance to try grits. (I liked it :-))

For those who don't know what grits are, this is from the font of all webby knowledge: Wikipedia. ;p

Grits is a food of Native American origin that is common in the Southern United States, mainly used in breakfast. It consists of coarsely ground corn . . . [and] is similar to other thick maize-based porridges from around the world, such as polenta (which I also hadn't tried till a few years ago :-D). 

So, keeping grits in mind . . . We're now on week # 13 of my 16 weeks of giveaways to celebrate the the upcoming US release of book 2  The Cold Kiss of Death (out 26th April), and the UK release of book 3 The Bitter Seed of Magic (Out Now! And available from The Book Depository with Free WorldWide Del) (I know, you all know that, and thanks to everyone who's bought, read, and hopefully loved it, but hey, I thought I'd just point it out . . . One. More. Time!) *g*

So, on with this week's giveaway. It's for the 11th book in the fantastic Sookie Stackhouse series: Dead Reckoning* by one of my all time writerly heroes, the wonderful and gracious Charlaine Harris. Out in the USand the UKon 3rd May.



Cover blurb from Amazon:

'With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but her attention is divided when she realizes that her lover Eric Northman and his "child" Pam are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, Sookie is drawn into the plot-which is much more complicated than she knows...'

Oooooh! I'm sooooo glad we only have to wait a couple more weeks for this! Sooooo looking forward to reading it! I LOVE the Sookie books with a passion (Okay, I'll admit it, a good chunk of that passion does belong to Eric! But then he's always been my favourite vamp *fans herself* *g*)

And just to give you whiplash from drooling over Eric, to hopefully not drooling over grits, here's what you need to do to be in with a chance of winning Dead Reckoning. Leave me a comment telling me what food/thing/whatever you've read about in a book that's made you curious.

How to enter:

Leave a comment about what food/thing/whatever you've read in a book that's made you curious.

Please leave a way to contact you (email in comment: Please remember to replace @ with [at] to forestall spam - or your twitter name - no way to contact you - no entry).

Giveaway is international and closes end of day (GMT time) 14th April 2011.

Full General Terms and Rules at the bottom of this post here.

You can get an extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway. Leave the link to the tweet as an extra comment.

And don't forget to check out the Giveaway Schedule here. And so you don't miss out on a chance of winning any of the wonderful books in the coming weeks, why not follow me? (following is not a condition of entry).

Please note: My usual blog policy is that I try to reply to all comments on the blog, but for ease of admin I won't be replying to any comments made on any of the giveaway posts during the 16 weeks. Sorry, but it makes it much harder to sort out the winner. However I do read and enjoy all the comments, and will, of course, continue to reply to comments on any other post, so if you have a question for me, leave it on one of those, thank you :-)

All book links lead to Amazon (UK/US) or the Book Depository, and contain affiliate links. I've decided to go affiliate as I love giving books away (and not just as a way of shameless self-promo), but boy, does it get expensive.

*or winner's choice of an earlier book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.

x/posted to LJ. Comment here or there. One entry per person.

Gargoyle Loving Giveaway!

Yay! We've reached week # 12 of my 16 weeks of giveaways to celebrate the the upcoming US release of book 2  The Cold Kiss of Death (out 26th April), and the UK release of book 3 The Bitter Seed of Magic (Out Now and available from The Book Depository with Free WorldWide Del) *insert yet another shameless self-promo plug* *g*  Huge thanks to eveyone who's bought it! I hope you're all enjoying the read! And a big Gargoyle Loving Welcome to all you new blog followers and visitors!

Yay! On with the celebrations. And if you haven't guessed already, the 'Gargoyle Loving Welcome' is a clue for this week's giveaway, which is for Magic on the Hunt (Allie Beckstrom #6) by the awesome Devon Monk, one of my all time fav authors! It's officially out in the US 5th April, but I've heard rumours it's already out in some stores now! UK peeps can buy from The Book Depository :-)

When I read (and re-read) the Allie Beckstrom books, I always love it when Stone, the gargoyle, appears on the page. Stone for me is a wonderful character and exactly what I think of when I picture a gargoyle. Just like the one above, which is one of a pair a gargoyles who live in my garden. Legend has it that gargoyles are said to scare off and protect from any evil or harmful spirits.

But when it comes to buildings, gargoyles are carved stone heads usually made to drain rainwater of roofs – appropriately out of their mouths – as the term gargoyle comes from the French gargouille, meaning "throat" or "gullet"*. Though not all gargoyles are waterspouts, some are just decorative; they’re called grotesques. But waterspout or not, some gargoyles, like those on the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, are how I imagine the archetypal gargoyles to be, but others can be anything from grinning faces, snarling animals, and there’s even a fantastic Darth Vader one on Washington National Cathedral. Yay! *geeks out*

You can read an excerpt here for Magic on the Hunt, or if you don't want to spoil yourself, then here's the short blurb from Amazon.


"In the secret lockup of the Authority, the council that decides what can and can't be done with magic, an undead magic user has possessed one of the prisoners. He wants his freedom-and then some. Now Allie Beckstrom and her lover, Zayvion, are the first line of defense against the chaos he's about to unleash on the city of Portland..." 

I can't wait to read, and find out what Stone gets up to next! (Oh, and Zay too! *fans herself*). And if you want your very own Stone, and you're of a crafty nature, you can knit him from the pattern here on Devon's site.

Now, if you want to win a copy of Magic on the Hunt*, here's what you need to do: remember my two gargoyles who protect my garden? Well, they don't have any names, so to enter leave me a comment suggesting either one or two names for my garden pets :-)


How to enter:

Leave a comment with either one or two name suggestions for my garden gargoyles.

Please leave a way to contact you (email in comment: Please remember to replace @ with [at] to forestall spam - or your twitter name - no way to contact you - no entry).

Giveaway is international and closes end of day (GMT time) 7th April 2011.

Full General Terms and Rules at the bottom of this post here.

You can get an extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway. Leave the link to the tweet as an extra comment.

And don't forget to check out the Giveaway Schedule here. And so you don't miss out on a chance of winning any of the wonderful books in the coming weeks, why not follow me? (following is not a condition of entry).

ETA: There's more chances to win a copy of Magic on the Hunt over at Devon's blog - she's giving away 3 copies to 3 lucky commentators between now and 3rd April! And there's a snippet (which I haven't read, as I'm saving myself for the book *g*).

Please note: My usual blog policy is that I try to reply to all comments on the blog, but for ease of admin I won't be replying to any comments made on any of the giveaway posts during the 16 weeks. Sorry, but it makes it much harder to sort out the winner. However I do read and enjoy all the comments, and will, of course, continue to reply to comments on any other post, so if you have a question for me, leave it on one of those, thank you :-)

All book links lead to Amazon (UK/US) or the Book Depository, and contain affiliate links. I've decided to go affiliate as I love giving books away (and not just as a way of shameless self-promo), but boy, does it get expensive.

x/posted to LJ. Comment here or there. One entry per person.

Don't forget to check the blog's sidebar for more chances to win my books, and the opportunity to help those in Japan through the British Red Cross at Genre for Japan, where you can bid for the chance to have your name as a character in my next book, or a critique of your writing by me, closes 3rd April. Plus there's over a hundred other wonderful donations, and new ones recently added, so why not go and check them out!

* Thank you, Wikipedia *g*
*or your choice of one of the earlier books in the Allie Beckstrom series