All the A Christmas With winners are now announced, so I’d like to invite you to look back on each giveaway post to find the lucky ones!
All the winners have been notified by email and have 72 hours to reply with their mailing addies or I will pick a new winner.
Make sure to check your spam folder just in case!
Winners – If you won multiple prizes, you received multiple emails, please reply to each email with your address to make it easier for me – I won’t hunt it down.
Thank you, and congrats!
In fact, all the interviews have been posted by now, but you still have until January 3rd (midnight east) to enter all the giveaways (see all the link at the bottom of this post), and all winners will be announced on each respective Rafflecopter widget once I pick them, so don’t forget to come back and see if you’ve been lucky!
I would like to thank everyone for such an awesome response! I was really happy to have all of you come and visit and I hope you enjoyed learning about your favorite authors’ Christmas habits =)
Here are some numbers:
30 Authors
28 Giveaways which breaks down to 54 books total & some jewelry and lots of swag!
But this events wouldn’t have been possible without the participation of some truly awesome allies, and I would like to thank every single one of them personally for their time, their efforts and their generosity!
First, thank you to my friends from the different publishing houses (you know who you are, and you rock!)
And now a huge Thank You to the fabulous authors who made room for us in their busy schedule! You guys have been so amazing, we can’t thank you enough =)
(In no particular order)
| Kimberly Derting Larissa Ione Devon Monk Jaye Wells Juliet Dark (Carol Goodman) Linda Robertson Maria V Snyder Richelle Mead Faith Hunter Kelly Meding Jennifer Estep Brodi Ashton Cynthia Hand E. S. Moore Nancy Gideon | Elizabeth C. Bunce Kersten Hamilton Diana Pharaoh Francis Marissa Meyer Janet Lee Carey Rachel Vincent Julie Kagawa Anna Carey Leigh Fallon Dani Harper Theresa Meyers Alexandra Ivy Nancy Holder Shelli Johannes Courtney Cole |
Thank you so much! I truly hope you appreciated the event =)
Now here are link to all the giveaways (click the covers) – In case you missed some of them!
Today is the last day of A Christmas With… and I’m really happy to spend it with Elizabeth C Bunce, author of Starcrossed & Liar’s Moon! I loved Starcrossed and can’t wait to get started on the second book ^^
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1- Starcrossed, the first book in the Thief Errant series was a huge success, how different was the release of Liar's Moon for you?
I think the response to StarCrossed caught us all off guard, so with Liar's Moon, my publisher has done a lot to promote the release, particularly to booksellers and e-book readers (for a limited time, the e-book edition of StarCrossed is available for $2.99, and includes a big sample of Liar's Moon!). Liar's Moon is getting a lot of exciting press and attention, and it's been fun to see more and more people discovering Digger!
2- Your characters have very original names, I find myself wondering where you find your inspiration?
I have a background in anthropology and linguistics, so my first priority is to make the names seem to fit the cultural/linguistic background they're coming from. My second priority is to make them easy for a reader to pronounce! (I am not always successful with this last one, alas! Sometimes a character just arrives, complete with her name, and you have to go with it.)
3- If you had to pick three theme songs for Liar's Moon, what would they be?
I actually did have a playlist, of sorts--particular songs that evoked a mood, a relationship, or a scene for me, although put together they sound really eclectic. The first one would be Billy Joel's "Blonde Over Blue," which I'd call the "Koya and Durrel Theme." The next would be the clanky instrumental "Discombobulate/Marital Sabotage" from the Sherlock Holmes (2010) soundtrack, which was sort of my "Gerse Theme," because every time I heard it, it put me right into that dirty, mysterious city. And the now-infamous last scene Liar's Moon was totally inspired by an old English sea chantey called "Don't Forget Your Old Shipmate," and that probably makes no sense to anyone but me!
4- How many books can we expect in the series? Do you have a tentative title/release date for the next book?
At the moment, Digger's future is not firmly established. I know we'd all love for there to be a third book, and my editor and I have talked at length about what that book will be, but nothing is firm as of yet. It depends on the fans, really!
Now onto some Xmas-y questions:
5- What's a typical Christmas like in the Digger's World?
Well, there's no Christmas in Digger's world, but like many cultures, there is a sacred midwinter holiday. In Llyvraneth, it's called the Dead of Winter, and corresponds to the closest full moon of Marau, god of the dead, to midwinter. Instead of a holiday of merriment and festivity, it's a solemn day of remembrance of the dead. There is also a tradition of feeding birds on the Dead of Winter, as birds (particularly crows, rooks, and ravens) are thought to communicate between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
6- What's the best Christmas gift we could offer her?
I know we're supposed to say something like "peace in Llyvraneth and safety for her friends..." but Digger likes *things,* so she'd be pretty easy to buy for. Her favorite gifts have been small, lavish, and portable (like the embroidered black gloves Durrel gives her in StarCrossed)... so I think she would really like an Iphone, although service is spotty right now in post-war Gerse.
7- What's your best Christmas memory as a kid?
Oh, that's tough! I vividly remember being five years old and waking up very, very early in the
morning to use the bathroom. I knew it was too early to get up and check under the tree, but as I toddled down the hallway, I accidentally (hear that, Mom? ACCIDENTALLY!) caught a glimpse of a huge, hulking shadow in the living room that scared the daylights out of me. I crept down the hall to investigate... to discover a giant (GIANT) teddy bear sitting on the sofa! He was probably a good 5' tall, and much bigger around than my five-year-old arms could reach around. Like a good little girl, I scuttled straight back to bed until the sun rose and my big brother got me up.
8- What can we wish you for this Merry time?
Well, I would like world peace and health and safety for my friends! This is the first holiday season in five or six years that I haven't been just coming off a deadline, and it's lovely--for the first time in ages I have all this mental space to enjoy the holidays, not just survive them! We even got our decorations up before Thanksgiving, which I think is a first ever.
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If it got you curious, here’s a bit more about Liar’s Moon
Prisons, poisons, and passions combine in a gorgeously written fantasy noir.
As a pickpocket, Digger expects to spend a night in jail every now and then. But she doesn't expect to find Lord Durrel Decath there as well--or to hear he's soon to be executed for killing his wife.
Durrel once saved Digger's life, and when she goes free, she decides to use her skills as a thief, forger, and spy to return the favor. But each new clue only opens up new mysteries. Durrel's late wife had an illegal business on the wrong side of the civil war raging just outside the city gates. Digger keeps finding forbidden magic in places it has no reason to be.
And for a thief in a town full of liars, sometimes it doesn't pay to know the truth.
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository
Scholastic Canada would like to offer 3 copies of Starcrossed!
Open to Canada Only
Giveaway Ends January 4th, 2012.
All you have to do is fill the Rafflecopter form below.
The only mandatory entry is to provide your name and email addy =)
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“I write historical fantasy for young adults and discerning not-so-young adults. "Historical fantasy" means my work is inspired by real places and cultures of the past, but with fantastical, otherworldly, or magical elements.
I've been writing as long as I can remember--even before I knew it was a job! I’ve always been interested in literature, folklore, history, and culture, so I studied English and anthropology in college. But I’ve only ever worked as a writer (although not all my writing jobs were as interesting as being a novelist).
I’m a native Midwesterner, currently living in the tall grass prairie near Kansas City with my husband and our dogs. When I’m not writing, you can find me with a book, a dog, or my needlework in hand, sometimes all of the above, which makes for some furry embroidery.”
You can visit Elizabeth here.
More of Elizabeth Bunce‘s books:
A Christmas With is almost over, but worry not, there’s fun until the end! I’m really happy to have Anna Carey by my side, author of Eve, to celebrate it’s release =)
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1- Eve is your first YA novel, was it a challenge to change from a middle grade audience to an older one?
The two series are very different, but it didn't feel challenge to write for an older audience. I'd had Eve's voice stuck in my head, and when I began the book I just wrote from her perspective and the process felt very natural. The book is actually an incarnation of another book I was working on in graduate school, which was solidly adult.
2- Eve is part of a trilogy, Once is the title of the second book, have you already picked the third book's title? How hard is it for you to choose your book's title?
I'm currently discussing the title of the third book with my editor. I can't reveal it yet, but soon! I can have a hard time picking titles and rely heavily on her opinion. I'm sometimes so close to the book I can't pin point the one message or feeling that the reader will take away from it. That said, the first and third book were much easer to title than the second one.
4- If your book was turned into a movie, which actors would you pick to play your characters?
Ahh yes...fantasy casting! Eve's been optioned for television, and there's a pilot in development. Eve is a genuinely kind person, but grows stronger (and fiercer) over the course of the series. I love Pretty Little Liars, and even though Sasha Pieterse (Ali) is a bit evil in that show, that actress seems to have a mix of sweetness and strength. For Caleb, I keep thinking of Jackson Rathbone from the Twilight movies. If you take off all that vampire makeup and get rid of his red contacts, he definitely has Caleb's look. For full explanations and pictures, check out the official EVE web site: http://theevetrilogy.alloyentertainment.com/anna-carey-fantasy-casts-eve/#1
Now onto some Christmas-y questions!
5- What's your favorite Christmas song?
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. Whenever I hear it I think of that scene in Home Alone, when Kevin is pretending to have the party at his house. Growing up, I watched that movie hundreds of times with my brother, so that song always reminds me of him.
6- What is Christmas like in Eve's world?
For those who live in the wild, beyond the City of Sand, Christmas comes and goes like most other days. Presents are scavenged items wrapped in the pages of old books. Holidays bring up pain more than anything else, and remind survivors of the time before the plague, and loved ones they lost. Inside the City of Sand (which you'll learn much more about in Once) Christmas is a celebration, and an opportunity for the new government to show the citizens inside the walls all the City has to offer.
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If it got you curious, here’s a bit more about Eve
Sixteen years after a deadly virus wiped out most of Earth’s population, the world is a perilous place. Eighteen-year-old Eve has never been beyond the heavily guarded perimeter of her school, where she and two hundred other orphaned girls have been promised a future as the teachers and artists of the New America. But the night before graduation, Eve learns the shocking truth about her school’s real purpose—and the horrifying fate that awaits her.
Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Arden, her former rival from school, and Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust . . . and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository
Harper Collins would like to offer 1 copy of the book (US only) and Anna is also offering a signed copy (US & Canada only)!
Giveaway Ends January 4th, 2012.
All you have to do is fill the Rafflecopter form below.
The only mandatory entry is to provide your name and email addy =)
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Anna Carey is the author of the forthcoming EVE trilogy, which releases October 4th, 2011. She grew up on Long Island, the daughter of a special education teacher and an astronomer. Early on she talked of being a painter, district attorney, flutist, physical therapist, or graphic designer, but eventually pursued writing—the one thing that allowed her to be all of the above. She studied Literature and Creative Writing at NYU, and took part in her fair share of snowball fights in Washington Square Park. After college, she worked as an editor in children’s publishing before getting a Masters in Fiction from Brooklyn College. She now lives in Los Angeles, where the apartments are bigger and the weather is sunnier, but she still misses New York.
You can visit Anna here.
More of Anna Carey‘s books:
Please welcome today’s guest, Cynthia Hand, author of Unearthly and the soon-to-be released Hallowed. Make sure you read on the discover more about the series and a particularly delightful Christmas story!
** If you haven’t read Unearthly yet, you can purchase the ebook for only 1,09$ on Amazon**
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1- Unearthly received raving reviews from readers and fellow writers alike, what do you expect with Hallowed?
I think that most people who liked Unearthly will like Hallowed, for most of the same reasons. Hallowed is a middle book, and sometimes readers don't fancy the middle book as much as the first. I'm like that, actually. I am generally not as thrilled with sequels because I miss the initial rush of getting to know the characters and their world. But Clara is still Clara and Tucker is still Tucker and their story carries on. Hallowed is a more serious, contemplative book than Unearthly, but I also think it is more emotionally powerful, for that reason.
2- Where will Clara take us this time around?
We're still in Jackson, Wyoming, but the world has definitely changed for Clara in this second book. In Unearthly, Clara very much saw the world in black and white, but in Hallowed she comes to live in a world of grays. We'll find out a lot more about angel-bloods in general, about Black Wings and White Wings, purpose, and, of course, we'll find out more about Christian.
3- How did you manage to keep the tension, to not say love-triangle between Christian-Clara-Tucker alive?
Ha, I love these love triangle questions. What cracks me up about the reviews for Unearthly is how often folks talked about the love triangle. I don't think I even thought the words love triangle when I was writing Unearthly, simply because I didn't mean for the reader to truly get to know Christian. Clara has a crush on Christian in Unearthly, but it's a crush on who she imagines him to be, not who he truly is. And she really gets to know and love Tucker. So there's no contest, really. That said, in Hallowed, she really does get to know Christian, and she's attracted to him and all that he represents, so it very much is more of a traditional triangle. I'm not really trying to manipulate the reader into being team Christian or team Tucker. I'm just interested in getting to know the characters and seeing what they do on the page.
4- How many books can we expect in the series? And when will the next one release?
Sigh. Well there were originally going to be four books in the series. Harper Collins only bought the first three, but I was working on the third book this summer and fall with the idea that there would be a fourth book. But my editor has recently convinced me that the story would be better served as a trilogy--that I didn't quite have enough there for four books, so I am revising the third book to be the final book of the series. This makes me sad, in some ways, to leave Clara's world, but it's also exciting because there are some other projects I've been itching to work on and now I can get to those sooner. I don't know what the release date will be yet.
Now onto some Xmas-y questions:
5- What was your favorite part of Christmas when you were a kid?
I think I loved the beauty and pageantry of Christmas best. I loved the lights and the tree and the candles that we used to light while we sang Silent Night at church on Christmas Eve and the all-in-all glowiness of Christmas.
6- Is there one present you received that really stuck to your memory?
I have a funny story about this. I'd been having some doubts about the existence of Santa, but when I confessed this to my parents, they said I would have to prove my theory. Or, in other words, disprove Santa's existence. Nice, right? I tried to do this for a couple of years. I stuck notes up the chimney giving Santa instructions to bite off the gingerbread cookie's left arm (if he really came down the chimney, he'd find the note and follow the instructions) and I tried to stay up late to catch my parents, but it never worked. I had savvy, savvy parents. Then one year I hit on an ingenious idea. We made our yearly trip to see Santa in the mall, and I told him I wanted a sewing kit. But I told my parents that I told him I wanted a specific kind of doll (what I really wanted). Oh how clever I was. Mwa ha ha. It was too good not to share, so I told my piano teacher all about my insidious plan. And I made her promise not to tell my parents. She promised. (She did not, however, promise not to tell ANYBODY, as I found out years later that it was her mother who called my parents and ratted me out). So Christmas morning. I bust downstairs to look under the tree, and there it was. . . the sewing kit. I was so astonished. Maybe Santa was real after all.
7- Is there a special tradition in your family?
Oh, lots. We open one present on Christmas Eve. We always read The Night Before Christmas on the night before Christmas (and The Grinch who stole Christmas) and we don't open presents until at least 7am, and I like to make cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning.
8- What would a typical Christmas be like for Clara?
I actually wrote a quick Christmas scene in Hallowed that was eventually cut, where Clara and Billy were decorating the tree. But I think Christmas is pretty ordinary for Clara. Maggie always wanted her kids to have normal upbringings as much as possible, so I think they had pretty standard traditions. That said, I'd guess that there would be a lot more angel jokes than usual around this day.
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If it got you curious, here’s a bit more about Hallowed
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository
Cynthia would like to offer one of you an ARC of Hallowed!
Open Internationally
Giveaway Ends January 4th, 2012.
All you have to do is fill the Rafflecopter form below.
The only mandatory entry is to provide your name and email addy =)
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Cynthia Hand divides her time between Southern California, where she lives with her husband and son, and southeast Idaho near the Teton mountains. She teaches creative writing at Pepperdine University. She is the author of Unearthly.
You can visit Cynthia here.
More of Cynthia Hand‘s books:
