And now for your reading pleasure
April 17th, 2013So this came up when I was tweeting with the always amazing Richelle Mead and Rachel Caine. I had misremembered this as a poem about punctuation, but it’s actually about ASCII characters. According to my mad Googling skills, this poem originally appeared in the May/June 1990 issue of Infocus magazine, and it was written by Fred Bremmer and Steve Kroese. Thanks, guys!
The genius of this poem is that you have to read it out loud.
Here’s the poem:
< > ! * ' ' #
^ " ` $ $ -
! * = @ $ _
% * < > ~ # 4
& [ ] . . /
| { , , SYSTEM HALTED
And here’s the poem, out loud:
Waka waka bang splat tick tick hash
Caret quote back-tick dollar dollar dash
Bang splat equal at dollar under-score
Percent splat waka waka tilde number four
Ampersand bracket bracket dot dot slash
Vertical-bar curly-bracket comma comma CRASH.
You’re welcome!
BREATH blog tour – April 15 – 19, 2013
April 15th, 2013The BREATH Blog Tour is here! Stopping at:
4/15 Books Make Me Happy – guest post on music and the book
4/16 The StoryMen – video interview (had a TON of fun) and a Deadline Dames giveaway
4/17 Chapter by Chapter – review and Top Three Favorites
4/18 A Backwards Story – interview
4/19 Book Smugglers – guest post on influences for the book
There’s a blog tour giveaway of a set of all four books, plus cover posters – so be sure to comment for a chance to win! (And, you know, maybe also read the guest posts and stuff.) I’ll add the links as the posts go live.
BREATH officially hits the shelves tomorrow!!! **throws confetti**
April already? Yow.
Okay, BREATH winners, I know you’ve heard this song before — but the books/posters are **finally** going out today, really really. Sorry for the delay. Hope it was worth the wait.
The event on Wednesday was terrific — thank you to everyone who attended! I’m waiting for the final count, but it looks like we raised almost $300 for the Shen/Shaker sports scholarship in memory of Chris Stewart and Deanna Rivers. Thank you again, everyone!
I’ll be doing a reading/signing/talk at Flights of Fantasy on Tuesday, April 16, starting at 7 pm. And since this is the date that BREATH officially launches, you better believe there will be copies there for purchase.
Also on Tuesday April 16, I will be speaking at Albany High School. My books will be there for purchase, too, so yowza!
And the week of April 15 through April 19, I will be doing a BREATH blog tour. There may be a giveaway involved. Details to follow!
Skipping ahead to May, I’ll be at the RT Booklovers Convention in Kansas City, from Wednesday May 1 until Sunday, May 5. I’ll be on a panel or two, and will do a speed reading, and will be at the ginormous book fare that Saturday. Hope to see you there!
Finally, I’ll be off the interwebz until April 13 — because the revision of TO BEAR AN IRON KEY is due Friday, April 12.
That’s all, folks!
Okay, so I didn’t exactly mail stuff last week. Sorry. I get easily distracted.
But everything will go out on Monday.
Unless I get distracted. But I won’t. Because I will stay focused. Really.
…oh, look: Bunnies!!!
And without further ado, here are the five winners!
Janine: I think I would have to go with the biggie, death!
Poppy A.: I would be War for sure!
Caroline: I think I’d be pestilence. I definitely enjoy conquering things.
Stina: I wouldn’t really enjoy any of the jobs, but I think I’d be Famine.
Tiffany: I would absolutely be Death, it would be so cool! And whoever has read the Alex Craft books by Kalayna Price would also agree that being Death is damn sexy!!!
~
Congratulations to all the winners! TO GET YOUR COPY, you must email me via the contact form here on my website with your postal address. (Name too, please!) Please email me by this Friday, March 22, 2013, by 6 pm Eastern — if I don’t hear from you by that time, you’ll be disqualified. And no one wants that!
Consolation giveaways to everyone who entered: If you’d like a poster — either one of the four book covers, or a cover compilation poster — email me via the contact form here on my website with your postal addy.
Many thanks to everyone who entered! I hope you enjoy BREATH. (And if you do, I hope you’ll let everyone know!)
THERE WILL BE ANOTHER GIVEAWAY BEFORE APRIL 16, SO STAY TUNED!!!
Author copies of BREATH are here!!! **throws confetti***
The thing is, I’ve already read the book! So I’m thinking it’s time to give some of these away!!!
Specifically, I will give away 5 copies of BREATH. (That is, 1 copy to 5 different folks. Because who really wants 5 copies of the same book?)
And I’ll even throw in some Riders of the Apocalypse cover posters!
The giveaway is open to…oh, everyone. Around the world. Because I love shipping things around the world! (I can pretend I’m well-traveled that way.)
But…because you shouldn’t get something for nothing…I request that anyone who gets a free copy of BREATH please post an honest review of the book. Ideally, you’ll love it and think it’s the best thing you’ve ever read. But even if the book doesn’t work for you, I’ll still respect you. Please post an honest review. (Ideally, before April 16, 2013, when BREATH officially hits the shelves.)
All you have to do to enter is comment below and tell me which Rider of the Apocalypse you’d like to be. (If you don’t pick a Rider — Famine, War, Pestilence/The Conqueror, Death — or a Rider’s color — Black, Red, White, Pale — you won’t be entered. So please do pick a Rider!)
The giveaway is open from RIGHT NOW until noon (Eastern) Wednesday, March 20, 2013 — springtime, rah! On Wednesday afternoon, I will randomly pick 5 winners (via a random number generator). The winners will be announced by 6 pm Wednesday evening, on my blog, and they will have 48 hours to contact me with their mailing info. (If by 6 pm Friday I haven’t heard from a winner, that person, sadly, will be disqualified and I’ll pick a random runner-up.)
Ready? GO!!!
I’m thrilled to announce that my novel TO BEAR AN IRON KEY has sold to the amazing Georgia McBride at Month9Books! KEY is a YA traditional fantasy novel about Bromwyn, a young and powerful witch who is trapped by her grandmother’s curse, her mother’s love and a promise to marry the wrong boy. KEY is slated for publication in spring 2014.
What that description doesn’t tell you is there’s also a thief, the Fey, and a challenge during Midsummer. Nope, no Riders – this one’s completely different.
Yeah, it’s been forever since I’ve blogged. I’m finding Twitter and Facebook to be so much more convenient, you know?
So, brief writing updates:
1. A short HELL story, “A Chance In Hell,” will be in the anthology CARNIEPUNK, coming this August!
(This is via my alter ego, Jackie Kessler. Shhh.) This one’s a lot of fun. The story stands alone, and it’s a bridge between the HELL ON EARTH series (and if you haven’t read the last book, HELL TO PAY, it’s now available as an e-book for 99 cents — worldwide! Rah!) and the new series, PIT & PARADISE, which I really, really, really will write. My goal for 2013 is to write the first book, BEFORE THE FALL, and since I’m planning on e-pubbing it, it should be available this year as well. It’s on my to-do list, really! CARNIEPUNK is awesome for many other reasons – namely, Rachel Caine, Kevin Hearne, Rob Thurman, Jennifer Estep and so many other authors, many of whom are from the League of Reluctant Adults! I’m sure this anthology will have something for everyone — as long as you’re into warped carnies.
2. A short story, “Thirst,” will be in the anthology VERY SUPERSTITIOUS: MYTHS, LEGENDS AND TALES OF SUPERSTITION, coming this October! (Sorry, no cover image yet, and not yet available for pre-order.) This is a story set in the Riders of the Apocalypse universe, and it’s a Famine story. While I won’t tell you which myth/legend/tale I am revisiting in the story, I will say that I mention it in one of the Riders books. This is a charity anthology for SPCA International, and the book will include stories from a number of awesome authors, including Shannon Delany and Mari Mancusi! I’ll be signing copies at BEA this year, so I hope to see you there!
3. My YA novel BREATH will hit the shelves on April 16, 2013! 
Yes, I know, some places are still saying June 2013. Don’t believe the hype. Mid-April, the book will be available. This one’s the biggie: It’s the fourth, and final, book in the Riders of the Apocalypse series, and it’s Death’s story. It’s also the story of Xander Atwood, a boy with a secret. The book answers…well, all the big questions in the series. All of the Riders are in it. I really love this short description at the Book Depository:
In the fourth and final volume of the Riders of Apocalypse series, high school senior Xander Atwood has a secret. Death, the Pale Rider, has lost his way. What happens when the two meet will change the fate of the world.
There’s a longer description, too, which is available via Amazon, B&N, Book Depository, Indie Bound…you know, everyone.
Also, I’m working on making posters for this book, as well as a composite poster of all four covers. I will have them available for RT — where I will be signing copies of BREATH! While I’m not looking forward to flying — apparently, my knee is uber sensitive to changes in pressure, ugh — I can hardly wait to be at RT and see so many friends. Hope you’ll be there!
4. I have an announcement. But I can’t announce it just yet!!! I know, obnoxious, right? Stay tuned.
Happy Halloween! All the candy has been given away, so now it’s time for me to announce the winners of the two giveaways.
First, for the Authors Against Bullying giveaway…since there were five entries and four books, I’ve decided to throw in an extra book so everyone wins! I’m giving away, signed from me, HUNGER and RAGE, and signed from A.S. King, PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ and EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS. The winners are:
Michelle M. Pillow
Stina
YA Book Queen
Sara M
Lea
Winners, please email me via my website contact form, and let me know which of the four books you want, in order of preference, as well as your mailing address. I’ll email you back to confirm your address and to let you know which book you’ll be getting.
And for the VELVETEEN contest, the winner is…
Naomi Clark
Congratulations!!! Naomi, please email me via my website contact form with your mailing address.
Thank you to everyone for participating! I promise there will be more giveaways in the near future. Stay tuned!
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