HUGE ONLINE PARTY - A New Direction

Thank you for your feedback in the last post, everyone. Your thoughts were heard and applied. I think the new setup will work out nicely. If you've already submitted info, no need to do so again. I still have it.

You guys rock!

Check it out: http://www.TeenFantasyAuthor.com OR http://www.SongLore.com

I Need Your Help

I'm stumped.


The "Huge Online Party" has not been as popular as I'd anticipated. I'm getting 100+ visitors (vast majority of which are fantasy fans) to the site every day, but for some reason or another, people aren't joining the party. Blogs giving away a single book are getting more participation than this multi-hundred book giveaway. This would seem to indicate that something's wrong with my presentation. The problem is, I don't know where the problem lies. So I'm asking you for help, especially those of you uninterested in the "party." A penny for your thoughts? Feel free to answer anonymously if you want to remain hidden. But I'd really like to hear what you think.

HUGE ONLINE PARTY!!! (Hundreds of giveaways)

Hello everyone!


Big news: The website for Kestrel's Midnight Song is up at www.TeenFantasyAuthor.com AND www.SongLore.com

Somewhere on the site, you'll find a video of me making a complete and utter fool of myself. So check it out for that at least.

And... a HUGE ONLINE PARTY! On May 18th I'm going to be hosting an online party via live streaming video in which I'll be giving away hundreds of fantasy books, all in brand new condition. More details at the site. And there are a couple hidden surprises for those willing to search them out.

This has been in the works for some time so it's very exciting to finally announce it. I hope to see you all there!

Oh, and if you have a problem with the site, such as loading times, bugs, or bad layout, I'd appreciate it if you let me know in the comments section.

Giveaways

There are quite a few giveaways going on lately. I'm going to list some at the top of my head. If you guys know of anymore, post them in the comments, and I'll bring them to the top (if I can remember) because I know I will forget some.

Noah over at noahsreads.blogspot.com is going to conduct a giveaway as soon as he hits 30 followers. If he hits 60, he'll give away two books.

Nathan Petrie at whisperedroars.blogspot.com is giving away a copy of Starlighter by Bryan Davis, and from what I hear, there are more giveaways to come.

Cson is giving away two books: Chosen Ones, by Alister McGrath and The Prophecy, by Dawn Miller at his cool new website: www.hornspoon.com


Seth Skogerboe is giving away the ENTIRE Narnia series at www.sjskogerboe.wordpress.com. How cool is that?

Oh boy, I can't remember the others. Obviously I'm forgetting at least some. Help!

To Darkness Fled is out!

I should have blogged about The Blood of Kings Trilogy a long time ago. I first read By Darkness Hid, by Jill Williamson, on the train ride back from the summer writers' conference. Jill was the person who originally encouraged me to attend a conference, and I ended up going to one that she attended as well!

She's definitely one of the coolest people I know, and I'm proud to say that By Darkness Hid is the first signed book I ever owned. And recently, she even endorsed Kestrel's Midnight Song. But more on that another day. This post is about Jill and her books.

The story is terrific. It drew praise from VOYA and Library Journal, and is Marcher Lord Press's bestseller by a wide margin.

"In this medieval fantasy debut, idealistic servant Achan Cham dreams of becoming a Kingsguard Knight, while Vrell Sparrow disguises herself as a boy to escape an arranged marriage. She has a supernatural gift of being able to communicate to Achan without words. This thoroughly entertaining and smart tale will appeal to fans of Donita K. Paul and J.R.R. Tolkien. Highly recommended for CF and fantasy collections." —Library Journal

And now the sequel, To Darkness Fled, is out. This time, she got the attention of another major review publication, Publisher's Weekly.

"Williamson pens an action-packed, imaginative second installment in the Blood of Kings trilogy. Achan Cham... [spoiler eliminated] rides with a party in Darkness, the unlit half of the Kingdom of Er’Rets, to free two unjustly imprisoned knights. His party includes Vrell Sparrow, who is Lady Averella Amal disguised as a young boy to flee an unwanted marriage to Esek, who has usurped the identity of Prince Gidon Hadar. All the familiar epic elements and emotions are freshly rendered, with Vrell and Achan especially memorable as they grow during their journey... the pace gallops along, leaving readers hungry for the concluding book.” —Publisher's Weekly

If you haven't already, go buy By Darkness Hid! And if you've already read that, go buy To Darkness Fled! I've already ordered my copy. Can't wait to get my hands on it and fall into the Kingdom of Er'Rets again. You don't want to miss out.

Note: The To Darkness Fled image was shamelessly ripped from Christopher Kolmorgen of my-ink-spot.blogspot.com, where it was, in all likelihood, shamelessly ripped from elsewhere. As such, please direct any paperwork-totin' lawyers in that direction. Thank you.

Our Pet Moose, Lucy

This is pretty indescribable... Good thing I have pictures! :)

A moose has quite literally taken residence in our backyard. Over the past few weeks, we've spotted her from time to time in the driveway, or in the woods. But now she lives in our backyard. She moved in earlier this week. I'm not exaggerating.

Last night she slept directly next to the house outside my bedroom window, a little under eight feet from my bed. She drinks from the water that collects in the tarp covering our firewood (which is stacked up against the house beneath our family room window). She lumbers by, literally inches away from the windows. She even walks up to the windows and peers inside, her head taking up the whole window frame, her nose almost touching the glass (she actually did touch the glass with her nose this morning).

As she peered in at me yesterday, I stood so close that if the windowpane hadn't separated us, I could have reached out and touched her. Easily. (Not that I wasn't prepared to scream and run at her slightest movement)

Here are the pictures, and although they don't do her size or the experience of being so close to such an awesome creature justice, they are definitely worth clicking on to view full size.

View from My Room

Lucy Gazing into the Distance

Lucy Drinking from the Tarp

She's Very Thirsty

And now for some other notes on the matter... We DO NOT feed, pet or approach her in any way. She doesn't seem to fear people, but we haven't tested that theory by actually going outside to her. She's a wild animal, so if she doesn't fear people that's dangerous both to her and any humans she might encounter... Our dog lives mostly outside, but we've had to keep him cooped up inside lately. Last year, when she was younger, Lucy stopped by from time to time (we believe it's the same moose) and during one encounter she seemed to get along with the dog just fine, but we don't want to risk it.

Oh, and so far she doesn't seem to be amused by any of my Rocky & Bullwinkle jokes.

In other news, I'm editing.

And finishing up the tribe-building contest.

Curse of the Spider King Book Trailer

As some of you know, I'm participating in a contest being put on by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper in which tribes of people compete against each other by completing promotional tasks to earn points for lots of cool prizes, like a real sword! (If you'd like to join my tribe, shoot me an email). The point being to promote their new Christian fantasy book, Curse of the Spider King.

Three teen members of the Nightwing Tribe, Christian Miles, Leighton, and Jon M (and many others), have completed a totally awesome book trailer, where everything from the acting to the editing to the special effects to the music was done from scratch! The following is the product of literally hundreds of hours of labor, so turn your speakers up and enjoy. And if you'd rate the movie (5 stars ;)) and leave a comment on the youtube site, that would be much appreciated, since that would draw in more viewers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6h-RfnSRbE

Jon M: Music

Leighton: Special effects

Christian Miles: Filming/editing

Presenting... THE FINAL COVER!

That was quick, huh? The cover was actually finished minutes after I posted the cover art. But I decided to wait a bit for dramatic effect ;). As such, I'm a bit late to the party. The cover has already been posted in several places over the internet. But for those of you who haven't seen it yet, here it is: (Click to see full view)


I actually ended up doing the cover design myself with GIMP, a free program I downloaded online. I had sent in a preliminary cover with some ideas. The consensus ended up being that my preliminary cover was a better option to go with than the professional cover designer's in this case. So after a few changes to the preliminary, this is what we came up with.

Also, I'm not sure I mentioned this before, but the release date has been moved to September, much sooner than originally anticipated.