KNIGHT'S CURSE releases today!

Well, the day is finally here. KNIGHT'S CURSE is on sale in bookstores all over the country. It's hard to believe that just one year ago, practically to the day, I got "the call" from my agent telling me Harlequin Luna made an offer on the manuscript. I've been floating on Cloud 9 ever since. :)

It's funny how certain days when momentous events happen will stick in your mind. I remember exactly what I was doing at the time the call came. I was on my way out the door to go to a lunch meeting and almost didn't answer the phone. Needless to say that lunch ended up including a celebratory Margarita. Ha!

Also on that day, my husband learned he got the job he'd been pining for for months. It was amazing that we both received such awesome news on the same day, news that changed both our lives.

To celebrate the release of KNIGHT'S CURSE, I'll be giving away this cute little gargoyle charm to three lucky winners who post in comments. They are hand-painted by local artisans in South America and are beautifully detailed. He's not very big, but he's a mighty gargoyle with the power to ward off the same gargoyle curse Chalice has to deal with in the book. So you need one. :)

The charms are strung on a black chord you can wear around your neck, but they're very small (as in tiny, like 1/2 inch tiny). I have mine hanging off my computer monitor.

I hope you'll buy my book and share Chalice's amazing journey. Her next adventure will be out in about six months and that book is called DARKEST KNIGHT. I'll be talking more about it when it gets closer to its publication date.

Don't forget to include your email address with your comment so I can contact you if you win. I'll do the same thing I did last time and have one of my cats draw a name. They really have fun batting around the pieces of paper with the names on them. If my camera doesn't die, I'll be sure to snap a photo. Heehee. :)

We have a WINNER!

Thanks, everyone, for visiting my blog over the past couple of days and entering your comments to win a free book. I had lots more visitors (147 visits) than comments, but that gave those who entered a better chance of winning. Yay!

I loved your ideas for curses and charms, too. One thing I often figure into the charms I invent is that there's no such thing as a free lunch. In other words, a charm or a curse may expect compensation for its favors. This leads to some very interesting outcomes as you'll discover in my second book, DARKEST KNIGHT. Get ready for a wild ride. :)

Back to the contest: I wrote down all the commenter names on tiny strips of paper, folded them up, and dropped them in a bowl. Then I set the bowl in the middle of the kitchen floor and let my cats have at it. The dog wanted in on it, too, but she slobbers too much so I promised her she could pick a winner the next time. So 2 of my 3 cats (the lazy one was sleeping... big surprise there) huddled around the bowl, curious as I expected them to be, and Sammy reached her paw in and grabbed a slip of paper that said...

Wait for it...

TheaH!

Congratulations, Thea! I'll be emailing you for your address so i can send you a signed book.

Thanks, everyone, for playing! My next contest will be for a gargoyle charm necklace, so stay tuned for more information.

Have a great weekend!

Curses and charms and a CONTEST!

KNIGHT'S CURSE is an urban fantasy about a modern day female knight named Chalice who is cursed with the mark of the gargoyle. What that means is she's in constant danger of turning into one of the ugly, fanged flying beasts and she almost does a few times during the course of the book.

There are a lot of curses and charms in this story. Part of Chalice's job as a thief is to steal them for a nefarious group of magic users called the Vyantara. So part of the fun in writing this book was inventing a variety of charms and curses. I pushed the envelope of my imagination to come up with this stuff and my creative subconscious surprised me sometimes. I didn't know such bizarre and creepy things lurked inside my head. I need therapy.

If you could create a charm or a curse, what would it be?

It's time for a contest. Woot!

This is an easy contest and the prize is a signed copy of my soon-to-be released urban fantasy novel KNIGHT'S CURSE. In less than two weeks, the book will appear on brick and mortar store shelves all over the country and it's already available for pre-order through online booksellers, including ones I didn't even know existed. 

All you need to do is tell me what kind of charm or curse you would make if you had the power to do so. Good or bad, doesn't matter. Be sure to include your email address when you comment so that I can contact you if you're a winner. I'll put all the names into a bowl and have one of my cats randomly choose a winner. You must be in the continental United States due to shipping costs outside the country.
 
Contest extended until Friday midnight. (When will I learn that it can take more than 24 hours for the word to get out about a contest? Sheesh.)

Let's get this party started!

What's up with contests?

The finalists for the Nola Stars Suzannah contest were announced yesterday, and alas, I didn't make the cut. It's one of the strangest contests I've ever entered because even though you have to indicate what genre your manuscript is, there are no categories. Everything is lumped together, which should have been my first clue that this wasn't the right contest for me. I think writers who write traditional romance have a better chance of scoring high in the Suzannah.

For this contest, six finalists are chosen out of 120 entries that are judged by RWA published authors, PROs, and librarians and/or bookstore owners. Those 6 finalists are the top scoring manuscripts regardless of genre, so if 6 historical novels, or 6 erotica novels, or 6 paranormal novels get the highest scores, they're the total contest finalists. This year, based on the genres of the finalling entries, it appears that romantic suspense was the overall favorite. There wasn't a single paranormal title in the bunch! I found that kind of odd, but oh well.

I got my scores back from the 3 judges who judged the synopsis and first 26 pages of Knight's Curse. Two of the judges were very thorough and detailed with their comments and I really appreciate their time and effort. One was a librarian, and the other an RWA PRO member. Out of a possible score of 230, one gave me 210 and the other gave me 220. Not bad. Both offered glowing praise. The 3rd judge was a published author and she hated my entry. Absolutely hated it. She gave me rock bottom scores in all areas, including manuscript format (WTF?), and the only 2 comments she had were that she found the first person point of view off-putting, and the story was too complicated. She gave me a total score of 91! LOL! Talk about a difference between night and day.

That clueless judge didn't affect my ranking because the determining factor comes from the two highest scores only, so the anti first-person judge didn't count. My concern is that maybe this judge shouldn't be judging contests if she lets her bias about point of view affect her judgement. That's just wrong.

I'm now $35 poorer and none the wiser for my experience. I won't be entering this contest next year. I've gathered that it's geared more toward traditional romance than stories that contain romantic elements. Meh. Live and learn.

What's Up Wednesday

Exciting news! I'm a finalist in the PASIC Book of Your Heart contest! I'd entered the contest in May of this year, then promptly forgot all about it when I got my agent about a week later. I received the call yesterday that Knight's Curse made the finals and will be going on to the editor judge who'll make the final determination of the winner. Yes!

I don't enter contests very often, so this was a huge surprise. The contest is for romance novels and my book is urban fantasy with a romantic subplot, so all the more reason for my surprise. The final judge is Heather Osborn, editor with Tor, and she happens to be on my agent's submission list anyway. So my agent now has a nice segue already in place. Nice.

Knight's Curse is also being considered by a handful of other large publishing houses, so the waiting begins. Thank heavens I'm not a nail-biter. And I have Mystic Taxi to keep me busy.

Speaking of Mystic Taxi, here's a tidbit about New York City's turn-of-the-century past. You've heard the old-fashioned term "the joint is jumping," yes? Back in the late 1800s, early 1900s, people needing extra cash would often host rent parties, which featured entertainment like music and dancing for a small admittance fee. The apartments that held these parties were called "Jump Joints." I love that term! I'm definitely using it in the book. Ha!