Supernatural Smackdown Time!

You may have heard that Dark Faerie Tales and Parajunkee's View are hosting another Supernatural Smackdown on their respective sites, and this year I'm participating. Well, I'm not, but the heroine of TRANCE, Teresa West, is!

Check out the match and see her opponent, and don't forget to vote! Simon & Schuster is generously giving away copies of TRANCE to five winners!

Let's help a superhero kick butt!

The TRANCE ARC Giveaway is Here!

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!

Real life has been a little exhausting/hectic lately, so my apologies in taking so long to get this up. But, as previously announced in a few places, I have in my hands a couple of TRANCE ARC's, and they are yours for the taking!

I'm giving away three signed ARC's, as well as a TRANCE cover flat, so you have the text and the pretty!



Such a lovely match.

So how do you enter? Easy. The MetaWars series is about superheroes, right? So to enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this post telling me the name of your favorite superhero. It can be from film, comics, television, etc... It could be Peter from the TV show "Heroes." It could be Hit Girl from the movie "Kick Ass." It could be Dean Cain's version of Superman, or the Golden Age version of the Flash.

Tell me who!

The giveaway is open until September 30th, and I'll use a randomizer to select three winners. Winners will be announced here the first of October. So spread the word! Be the one of the first folks to get a sneak peek at TRANCE before it releases October 25th!

Ready?

Go!

Romantic Times Review of TRANCE

And it's 4 stars!!!!

UF rising star Meding offers up the first book in a new series with her twist on the world of superheroes. A devastating war between the Ranger Corps and the Banes nearly destroyed all the Metas. This story follows the journey of a young woman finding her place in a world that is about to grow much more treacherous. Meding sets a dark tone and packs in plenty of action and high-stakes thrills. A great start for an exciting series!

The review will be out in next month's magazine (Nov '11)!

Five Items of an Everyday Sort 4

Item the First: I have a secret love for couscous. I don't cook it much, because if you don't add stuff to it, it's can be kind of bland. And the instant varieties that are common in my local grocery stores aren't all that...um, good. And buying the good stuff is a little expensive. But last weekend a friend came to hang for the weekend, and she brought supplies to make a very lovely dish involving Israeli couscous. It was also my first time eating leek, fennel, and saffron (the dish also had garlic, white wine, peas and veggie stock). It was amazing. And it made A LOT. I was still eating it several days later.

Item the Second: Publisher's Weekly posted an interesting article called "Authors Say Agents Try to 'Straighten' Gay Characters in YA." It caused a bit of a stir on Twitter, which you can check out on the hashtag #yesgayYA . And the comments section of the article has led to some pretty fascinating discussions about gay characters in YA fiction. No matter your views, I do urge you to check it out.

Edited: In the thirty minutes or so since I posted this, another article has appeared online from the agency addressed in the PW article. It is absolutely worth a read, as well, since it tells another side of the story.

Item the Third: I have a fun new Sekrit Project. It's not a market I've written for before, but the story started banging away at my brain last week while babysitting my niece. In just over a week, I've passed the one-quarter complete mark and I have a new beta all lined up. Yay for a Sekrit Project!

Item the Fourth: Publisher's Weekly reviewed TRANCE. It's not a super-great review, but they didn't seem to like THREE DAYS TO DEAD much, either, and y'all ended up loving it, right? *grin* I did, however, really like this particular quote: "Meding (Three Days to Dead) successfully captures the action-packed pace of superhero team comics—particularly The New Teen Titans, which she cites as an influence—with her group of colorful young adventurers." I'll take it.

Item the Fifth: Speaking of TRANCE, I have galleys! I have four very pretty ARC's, all bound up, to give away. I haven't decided how or where, but it will probably happen this weekend at some point. So keep an eye out for details!

More TRANCE goodness!

A new TRANCE snippet is up at the League or Reluctant Adults!

Yes, I remembered to post. I should get a cookie for that....

Five Items of an Everyday Sort 3

I forgot to do this post last week (for various reasons), and even though I wanted to get into the habit of doing these on Wednesday's, I won't be around online much tomorrow. So I'm doing it now.

Yay?

Item the First: It's the day after Labor Day, which for anyone who grew up in my area, means summer is officially over. Even though beach-going tourists will continue to flock here well into October, summer is finished. Kaput. And it's sad. I don't feel as though I accomplished much this summer. I wrote a little. I read a lot. But I didn't really go anywhere or do much of anything. Maybe autumn will be more exciting?

Item the Second: Author Jim C. Hines has a fabulous new post up on his blog about sexism in the publishing industry. I won't even try to summarize it, but it's an excellent read.

Item the Third: A friend sent me something really awesome, because she saw it in a store and it made her think of Evy and the necklace she wears on the Dreg City book covers. My first real fan gift! Isn't it gorgeous?



Item the Fourth: I went on a bit of an historical romance reading frenzy this weekend. Polished off PLEASURE ME by Monica Burns, and JUST LIKE HEAVEN and WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON by Julia Quinn. Loved all three of them, and I definitely need to find more Quinn books. She just tells these wonderful, fun and emotionally satisfying stories.

Item the Fifth: Sometime later in the week, I'll be on Twitter tweeting lines from TRANCE, using the hashtag #Trance. I'm not sure which night, so stay tuned! And don't forget, the MetaWars start next month! Squee!