Category: Books

Barren Island Books interviews Anna Martoka!

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Anná Artwork by Hazel Butler

Anná
Artwork by Hazel Butler

What’s new in the world of The Lokana Chronicles? Well, today Anna Martoka was interviewed as part of the Barren Island Books interview series that my wonderful friend and fellow author, A.F.E. Smith, runs on her blog. If you’d like to know which books Anna counts among her favorites, head on over and check out her interview!

And while you’re there, don’t forget to check out some of the other interviews. There’s loads of great books just waiting to be discovered at Barren Island Books!

(c) 2014. All rights reserved.

False Awakening

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False AwakeningOne of the best parts of my online life has got to involve the writing community.  There are so many talented authors out there, and more often than not, they’re genuinely lovely people.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember that, but hopefully the forgetting is only temporary.

Anyway, one of the lovely, talented authors I’ve had the good fortune to become acquainted with is Callum McLaughlin, whose book, False Awakening, is out now:

When teenager Abi Watson wakes in a hospital bed with no memory of the incident that put her there, she must begin the long and difficult process of piecing her life back together, but unfortunately, her search for answers will merely give rise to further questions. Frayed relationships and haunting revelations soon come into play, leading Abi to discover that some things are best left forgotten.

With a past that is unwilling to let go, her only option is to delve into the depths of her own mind so that she can uncover the truth and finally awaken from her living nightmare.

The book’s official launch was yesterday, and I’m happy to continue the celebration here.  In that vein, I’ve got an excerpt from the book,  available behind the cut. 🙂

Photo 365 #62

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I love books. A house is not a home without them.

image

And when I come home and find a brand new book waiting for me in the mailbox? Well, if there’s a better way to end a long day at work, then I don’t know it. 🙂

Thank you to Kip Wilson for the pretty, pretty package I found in my mailbox tonight! What do you love coming home to after a long day?

(c) 2014. All rights reserved.

An American Faerie Tale

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thestolenOver the summer, I was lucky enough to snag a review copy of Bishop O’Connell’s book, The Stolen.  I was excited about it from the moment I saw that it was set partly in Tír na nÓg.

Of course, life happened, and I didn’t get around to reading it right away.  But when I did?  I couldn’t get it out of my head.

I was thrown off a bit by the beginning, as the story opens with a bit of back story about Brendan, who’s on his way to meet Áine, the girl he loves.  The blurb, though, focuses on Caitlin and the main plot of the book:

Tonight, for the first time in over a century, a mortal child will be kidnapped by faeries…

Photo 365 #61

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As usual on my day off, I’ve been busy trying to get more than my normal 45 minutes of writing time squeezed in. I’m hard at work on my revision of The Price of Mercy, and I wanted to get some extra work done today.

imageBut the boys had other ideas. They wanted to spend lots of time with me, as Cricket put it. The two goals weren’t incompatible, or at least that’s what I thought. So I sat Cricket and Thumper down with some crayons and paper and told them tk color some pictures for Daddy while I worked on my story.

I spent the next ten minutes drawing “beautiful butterflies” for Thumper (who is very into The Very Hungry Caterpillar at the moment) and another five recording him as he read Little Blue Truck to me. It was too darn cute, and I love that he knows the story by heart.

Books are important, and I can’t imagine life without them. I’m glad that, even though he’s only three, my favorite little bunny shares my literary love. All my boys do, and I couldn’t be more proud. We are a family of bibliophiles here at Casa Kauffman, and nothing could make me happier.

Except, of course, for more bookshelves. One can never have too many bookshelves. 🙂

(c) 2014. All rights reserved.

Run away!

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Wait!  No, please don’t run away!  That was supposed to be funny…You know, and make you think of this…

Or even this:

rugenOr, better yet, this:

Running Away Final Cover

It’s release day for Running Away, the second book in Julie Hutchings Shinigami series, and I’m super excited to help her celebrate!  But what’s behind this pretty cover?

Photo Friday: Stories!

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So today’s prompt is about stories.  Quite convenient, really, as I just posted an interview with the main character from The Price of Mercy.

story

Revision work continues.  I got absolutely nothing done on it yesterday, but I managed to eke out a few paragraphs this noon while on my lunch break.  I wish either a.) that lunch breaks were longer so I could get more done, or b.) that someone would pay me to stay home and write all day.

Since neither of those things are likely to happen anytime soon, I guess I’ll just have to keep plugging away a few minutes at a time.  Don’t forget to check out Charnele’s blog and see what stories she’s into.  Happy Friday, everybody!

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

A belated stop on the Main Character Blog Hop!

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I was tagged in this bit o’ fun by the awesome Justine Manzano, a fellow legal secretary/writer/geek/mom to whom Twitter was kind enough to introduce me.  (I seriously love making new friends.)  It was supposed to have gone up on Monday (the 15th).  Yeah, that didn’t happen.

Whoops.

Anyway, better late than never, right?

J Manzano Bio PictureJustine Manzano is a multi-genre writer living in Bronx, NY with her husband, son, and a cacophony of cats. Her short fiction has appeared in the anthology Things You Can Create, Sliver of Stone Magazine, and The Greenwich Village Literary Review.  She maintains a semi-monthly blog at JustineManzano.com and a twitter account where she discusses her adventures in juggling aspects of her life such as motherhood, writing, and the very serious businesses of fangirling and multiple forms of geekery. She works as a fiction reader for Sucker Literary Magazine and is currently searching for a publishing home for her YA Urban Fantasy series, Keys and Guardians.

The first book in Justine’s series is called The Order of the Key.  What’s it about?  So glad you asked!  Here’s the blurb:

Jacklyn Madison has a thing for heroes. She reads about them, watches them on TV, and would very much like to become one. When a monster makes an attempt on her life she discovers she is one – the long lost member of The Order of the Key, a group that protects humanity from creatures that come through interdimensional rifts. It’s all fun and games until training for her duties reveals the Order’s out of touch views – Keys, like Jacklyn, are protected while Guardians, like the rest of her family, are expendable. As she rails against their value system, she finds herself in the center of a power struggle between the group’s leader, Lavinia, and her idealistic son, Kyp – the boy Jacklyn likes. Worse, Kyp’s attempts to protect her only entangle her in a mire of deceit. Viewed as a target on one side and a weapon on the other, Jacklyn must find a way to protect the people she loves and decide what kind of hero she’s willing to become. Filled with action, romance, and paranoia, The Order of the Key is an edgy Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy novel that is currently searching for a home with an agent.

I love the name Lavinia.  It’s so pretty and old-fashioned. 🙂

And now it’s my turn!  Here to answer a few questions about himself is…

Book blogger confessions

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Fantasy Angel over at the Avid Reader Blog tagged me in this fun little game and, since I have nothing better to do (okay, I do, but I’m procrastinating) right now, here be my answers:

snoopy-the-endWhich book did you most recently not finish?
Uhhh…I don’t understand the question.

Which book is your guilty pleasure?
I know not of this guilt of which you speak.  The only guilt I experience about reading is when I’m too busy reading to do other things, like clean the house or work on my own books.

Which book do you love to hate?
Twilight.  No, I’ve never read it, but I did see the movie, and it just wasn’t for me.  I’ve heard that it’s not good, but having never read it, I cannot attest to the veracity of that rumor.  Also, Fifty Shades of Gray.  Haven’t read that one either.  Have no desire to.

That said, if you love these books, then read them proudly.  Lord knows people should read more…

How did I spend my weekend?

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Why, engrossed in the latest Banned Underground novel to hit my phone, naturally.  Suffering, as I was, from a complete lack of motivation and a nasty headache to boot, I settled down yesterday afternoon and read the whole of Have Frog, Will Travel in the space of an afternoon.

What’s it about?  Glad you asked!  From Goodreads:

Go Fridge-diving at Grizelda’s in Have Frog, Will Travel

A traditional witch’s cottage is a wondrous, if sometimes impractical, thing. But not in the eyes of the County Council Building Regulations Inspectorate. And when the Council Inspector condemns her home after a chance encounter with the Fridge, Grizelda (off-white witch and leading proponent of the people/frog spell) is forced into a quest for a competent builder to make the necessary alterations.

But such things are not always easy to find, and as for a suitable plumber, well, you could throw money down the drain. Or the frog pond, as it might be… Just who is going to turn out to be Another Brick In The Wall?

And because Amazon’s blurb differs slightly, here’s that one: