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Showing posts with label Karen Kincy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karen Kincy. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

"When I'm not writing..." with Karen Kincy + giveaway!

Karen Kincy

Today's guest is Karen Kincy, author of the YA Other series from Flux. She's joining us today to promote the third book in this series, FOXFIRE, which came out earlier this month. Her books have been praised by authors like Carrie Jones and Julie Kagawa so you should give her series a try!

Keep reading to find out what Karen does when she's not writing and then enter the giveaway she has graciously provided!

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You might find me slogging through Calculus, memorizing Chinese characters, getting my fingers bitten by bettas, catering to the every whim of a miniature panther, watering kumquat trees, skulking around rooftops as an assassin in a game, limping my way through 5K training, etc.

So obviously I'm a student, studying Calculus and Chinese as prerequisites toward a Master's in Computational Linguistics. I graduated two years ago with a BA in Linguistics, so don't ask me why I decided to torture myself with more school after I had so narrowly escaped. I may be addicted to learning stuff.

And I'm a loyal human servant to three aquariums full of bratty bettas, including a 20-gallon sorority tank with a bunch of greedy females, as well as a 13-pound, green-eyed black cat named Jiminy Cricket, who technically isn't a black cat because he has a white belly spot and is "defective," as my dad jokes. Jiminy is even more demanding and bratty than the bettas, since he will often commandeer my chair for more worthwhile pursuits than writing, like sleeping.

I'm also a gardener, if you want to put my obsession with plants nicely. Our apartment is overrun with things like citrus trees and spider plants. My husband has joked on more than one occasion that I'm turning into Poison Ivy. On the up side, that means I'd totally rock the naked-except-for-vines look. And I'd kick Batman's butt.

I'm technically, in theory, a runner. This is a new pursuit, since I decided being a writer involved too much butt-in-chair work. So I signed up for 5K training. My shins decided to mutiny and I got tendinitis at the start, though it's getting better now. I suspect my habit of walking several miles every day, often with a 25-pound backpack, has something to do with this. Anyway, I do seem to be increasing my speed and stamina, which come in handy for the zombie apocalypse.

Finally, I'm a gamer. I've been gaming since the wee age or six or so, when I snuck and played Doom until my mom caught me sleepwalking toward the computer and took it away. Right now I'm obsessed with Dishonored, where you get to play a totally bad-ass assassin in a plague-ridden dieselpunk city. I'm also a huge fan of Half-Life 2, Portal 1 and 2, Saints Row: The Third, Skyrim, and Team Fortress 2 (let's just say I'm that annoying pyro laughing maniacally). I also may have installed Dragon Age II and skipped the first game because I heard about Fenris and decided my character was going to seduce that sexy angsty elf. Ahem. I'm a bad person.

Bonus round! I'm currently watching Downton Abbey, Dr. Who, Breaking Bad, and Castle. My favorite characters are, respectively, Thomas, the Doctor as played by David Tennant, Jesse, and Nathan Fillion because he always plays himself in everything.

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Thanks for visiting us, Karen! It's been great getting to know you and I'm *thrilled* to hear you're doing Linguistics because that's what I study. :D

For more information about Karen and her books, check out her website or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

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Here's the scoop on FOXFIRE:

Foxfire by Karen KincyTavian Kimura has never forgotten his kitsune mother, a shape-shifting Japanese fox spirit who abandoned him as a baby. While visiting his adoptive grandparents in Japan, Tavian learns his mother is still alive and that a faceless ghost is haunting him at every turn. The ghost’s warning is clear: Leave now. It is almost too late.

After a pack of vicious dog spirits attacks him, Tavian discovers that his paranormal fox powers are failing, killing him at an accelerating pace. Desperate to find a cure, he must track down his kitsune mother in Tokyo’s dangerous underworld. She is Tavian’s last chance to survive not only the fatal illness, but also the dog spirits who hunt him relentlessly.

Read an excerpt (scroll down)

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

You should also check out the rest of the Other series:

Other by Karen KincyGwen Williams has been hiding a strange and fantastic secret: she's a shapeshifter. Although society may tolerate vampires, centaurs, and "Others" like Gwen, there are plenty of folks in her small Washington town who don't care for her kind.

When a new werewolf pack moves into the area, tensions rise—and Others start showing up dead, including someone close to Gwen. Despite the methodical murders, the police are ignoring evidence that suggests a serial killer. In the midst of terrible loss and danger, Gwen—along with a mysterious and sexy guy who happens to be a Japanese fox spirit—risks her life to find the murderer. But Gwen is already the killer's next target . . .

Read an excerpt (scroll down)

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Bloodborn by Karen KincyBrock Koeman had always loathed werewolves and Others like them. Then, while tracking a werewolf suspected of murder, he and his brother Chris were bitten—and infected with the very disease they despised. Chris is now fighting for his life in the hospital, but Brock faces another kind of battle: stifling the fierce urge to transform into a beast.

When werewolves kidnap him and the girl he loves, Brock discovers what it means to be Other—the thrill of unearthly powers, overshadowed by unrelenting danger. Brock begins to see the life that awaits him, but he must accept his new identity... before the wolf within kills him.

Read an excerpt (scroll down)

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

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giveaway

Karen has graciously provided one (1) copy of FOXFIRE for a lucky reader!

To enter the giveaway, obey the Rafflecopter!

US only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Do you guys have suggestions for who you’d like to see featured on the blog? If so, you can make your suggestions on this page. No guarantees that your favorite authors will be able to participate but we’ll try!

Authors, would you like to visit and share with us? Please email me at jennblogs (at) gmail (dot) com and we’ll set it up!

Jenn

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

July New Releases

The big majority of these titles have been featured during the Paranormal Summer Fest, but July is so full of awesomeness that I wouldn’t want you to miss any of them!

Here are the stars of July!

Product description from goodreads.com

Other-final-664x1024 Other by Karen Kincy

Release date: July 1st, 2010

Product Description:

Seventeen-year-old Gwen hides a dangerous secret: she’s Other. Half-pooka, to be exact, thanks to the father she never met. Most Americans don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat for Others, especially not the small-town folks of Klikamuks, Washington. As if this isn’t bad enough, Gwen’s on the brink of revealing her true identity to her long-time boyfriend, Zack, but she’s scared he’ll lump her with the likes of bloodthirsty vampires and feral werewolves.
When a pack of werewolves chooses the national forest behind Gwen’s home as their new territory, the tensions in Klikamuks escalate-into murder. It soon becomes clear a serial killer is methodically slaying Others. The police turn a blind eye, leaving Gwen to find the killer before the killer finds her. As she hunts for clues, she uncovers more Others living nearby than she ever expected. Like Tavian, a sexy Japanese fox-spirit who rivals Zack and challenges her to embrace her Otherness. Gwen must struggle with her own conflicted identity, learn who she can trust, and-most importantly-stay alive.

twice Twice Bitten by Chloe Neill

Release Date: July 6th, 2010

Product description:

Merit, Chicago’s newest vampire, is learning how to play well with others. Other supernaturals, that is. Shapeshifters from across the country are convening in the Windy City, and as a gesture of peace, Master Vampire Ethan Sullivan has offered their leader a very special bodyguard: Merit. Merit is supposed to protect the Alpha, Gabriel Keene—and to spy for the vamps while she’s at it. Oh, and luckily Ethan’s offering some steamy, one-on-one combat training sessions to help her prepare for the mission.
Merit must accept the assignment, even though she knows that she’ll probably regret it. And she’s not wrong. Someone is gunning for Gabriel Keene, and Merit soon finds herself in the line of fire. She’ll need all the help she can get to track down the would-be assassin, but everywhere she turns, there are rising tensions between supernaturals—not least between her and a certain green-eyed, centuries old master vampire.

BloodLaw3a Blood Law by Jeannie Holmes

Release Date: July 6th, 2010

Product Description:

To stop a vampire killer, she’ll have to slay her own demons first.
A provocative and savvy vampire, Alexandra Sabian moves to the sleepy hamlet of Jefferson, Mississippi—population 6,000, half vampires—to escape the demons lurking in her past. As an enforcer for the Federal Bureau of Preternatural Investigations (FBPI), Alex must maintain the uneasy peace between her kind and humans, including Jefferson’s bigoted sheriff, who’d be happy to see all vampires banished from town. Then really dead vamps start turning up—beheaded, crucified, and defanged, the same gruesome manner in which Alex’s father was murdered decades ago. For Alex, the professional has become way too personal.
Things get even more complicated when the FBPI sends in some unnervingly sexy backup: Alex’s onetime mentor, lover, and fiancé, Varik Baudelaire. Still stinging from the betrayal that ended their short-lived engagement, Alex is determined not to give in to the temptation that soon threatens to short-circuit her investigation. But as the vamp body count grows and the public panic level rises, Varik may be Alex’s only hope to stop a relentless killer who’s got his own score to settle and his own bloody past to put right.

Unchained2 Unchained by Sharon Ashwood

Release date: July 6th, 2010

Product Description:

Ashe Carver, monster-killer, has the scars to prove it. But faced with a custody battle, she's hung up her stakes and taken a job at the public library, determined to show the courts and her ten-year-old daughter that she's as good a mother as she is a hunter.

Easier said than done. There are lovelorn vampires haunting the library, a slime demon in the shopping mall, and her new-mom sister needs a hand with her ghostbusting biz. Then, after centuries guarding a supernatural prison, Captain Reynard strides into her world like a hero from the library's Must Reads. Smokingly gorgeous, passionate and courageous to a fault, he has only weeks to live unless Ashe finds the thief who took his soul.

Ashe picks up her weapons to save the day—but not every problem can be solved with a stake. With so much tragedy in her past, Ashe fears the disaster she sees ahead—and prays she doesn't fail everyone. Again.

Memories are the hardest monsters to kill.

unholymagic Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane

Release Date: July 6th, 2010.

Product Description:

ENEMIES DON’T NEED TO BE ALIVE TO BE DEADLY.
For Chess Putnam, finding herself near-fatally poisoned by a con psychic and then stopping a murderous ghost is just another day on the job. As an agent of the Church of Real Truth, Chess must expose those looking to profit from the world’s unpleasant little poltergeist problem—humans filing false claims of hauntings—all while staving off any undead who really are looking for a kill. But Chess has been extra busy these days, coping with a new “celebrity” assignment while trying on her own time to help some desperate prostitutes.
Someone’s taking out the hookers of Downside in the most gruesome way, and Chess is sure the rumors that it’s the work of a ghost are way off base. But proving herself right means walking in the path of a maniac, not to mention standing between the two men in her life just as they—along with their ruthless employers—are moving closer to a catastrophic showdown. Someone is dealing in murder, sex, and the supernatural, and once again Chess finds herself right in the crossfire.

sleepless Sleepless by Cyn Balog

Release date: July 13th, 2010.

Product Description:

Eron De Marchelle isn't supposed to feel a connection. He is a Sandman, a supernatural being whose purpose is to seduce human charges to sleep. While he can communicate with his charges in their dreams, he isn't encouraged to--after all, getting too involved in one human's life would prevent him helping his other charges get their needed rest.
But he can't deny that he feels something for Julia. Julia, with her fiery red hair and her sad dreams. Just weeks ago, her boyfriend died in a car accident, and Eron can tell that she feels more alone than ever. Eron was human once too, many years ago, and he remembers how it felt to lose the one he loved. Eron has always felt protective of Julia . . . but now, when she seems to need him more than ever, he can't seem to reach her . . .
Sandmen are forbidden from communicating with humans outside their dreams. But will Eron be willing to risk everything for a chance to be with the person he loves?

linger-210 Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Release date: July 20th, 2010.

Product Description:

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past...and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabel, who already lost her brother to the wolves...and is nonetheless drawn to Cole. At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love--the light and the dark, the warm and the cold--in a way you will never forget.

7292791 Dark and Stormy Knights – Anthology

Release date: July 20th, 2010.

Production Description:

They’re the last defenders of humanity, the lone wolf bad boys— and girls—who do dark deeds for the right reasons. Modern day knights who are sexy, funny, mad, bad and dangerous to know because they do what most of us only dream about…and get away with it. In this all-star collection, nine of today’s hottest urban fantasy authors bring us original stories of supernatural, modern day knights that will have readers clamoring for more!

 

cityofghosts City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Release Date: July 27th, 2010.

Product description:

IT’S A THIN LINE BETWEEN ALIVE AND UNDEAD.
Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case.
Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime boss—and Chess’s drug dealer—gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows, or what it all has to do with the vast underground City of Eternity.
Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths, First Elders, and a lot of seriously nasty magic—all while coping with some not-so-small issues of her own. And the only man Chess can trust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead.

51p gNI6QDL Shadow Chase by Seressia Glass

Release date: July 27th, 2010

Product Description:

In a job like this, one mistake can cost you everything.As a Shadowchaser, Kira Solomon has been trained to serve the Light, dispatch the Fallen, and prevent the spread of chaos. It’s a deadly job, and Kira knows the horror of spilling innocent blood. But now she has a new role, as the Hand of Ma’at, the Egyptian Goddess of Truth and Order, and an assignment that might just redeem her.A fellow Shadowchaser has gone missing, and so has a unique artifact imbued with astonishing magic. Unless the Vessel of Nun is returned, it will cause destruction beyond anything the modern world has seen. Kira’s got a team at her back, including Khefar, a near-immortal Nubian warrior who’s already died for her once. But as complicated as her feelings for him are, they’re nothing compared to the difficulties of the task she faces.And the only way to defeat the enemy is to trust in a powershe can barely control, and put her life—and her soul—on the line.

7199485 Bring on the Night by Jeri Smith-Ready

Release date: July 27th, 2010

Product Description:

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin seems to finally have it all. A steady job at WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock 'n' Roll. A loving relationship with the idiosyncratic but eternally hot DJ Shane McAllister. A vampire dog who never needs shots or a pooper-scooper. And after nine years, it looks as if she might actually finish her bachelor's degree!
But fate has other plans for Ciara. First she must fulfill her Faustian bargain with the Control, the paranormal paramilitary agency that does its best to keep vampires in line. Turns out the Control wants her for something other than her (nonexistent) ability to kick undead ass. Her anti-holy blood, perhaps?
Ciara's suspicions are confirmed when she's assigned to a special-ops division known as the Immanence Corps, run by the Control's oldest vampire and filled with humans who claim to have special powers. To a confirmed skeptic like Ciara, it sounds like a freak fest. But when a mysterious, fatal virus spreads through Sherwood—and corpses begin to rise from their graves—Ciara will not only get a crash course in zombie-killing, but will be forced to put her faith, and her life itself, in the hands of magic.

EternalKissLJ Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost

Release Date: July 27th, 2010

Product description:

An immortal war has been brewing in the darkness…and now one woman has stumbled into the shadows.
Chicago private investigator Kira Graceling should have just kept on walking. But her sense of duty refused to let her ignore the moans of pain coming from inside a warehouse just before dawn. Suddenly she finds herself in a world she’s only imagined in her worst nightmares.
At the center is Mencheres, a breathtaking Master Vampire who thought he’d seen it all. Then Kira appears—this fearless, beautiful…human who braved death to rescue him. Though he burns for her, keeping Kira in his world means risking her life, yet sending her away is unthinkable.
But with danger closing in, Mencheres must choose between the woman he craves, or embracing the darkest magic to defeat an enemy bent on his eternal destruction.

7114946 As lie the Dead by Kelly Meding

Release date: July 27th, 2010

Product Description:

Evangeline Stone, a rogue bounty hunter, never asked for a world divided between darkness and light…
…or the power to die and live again in someone else's borrowed body. After a murder plot meant to take her out leaves an entire race of shapeshifters nearly extinct, Evy is gnawed by guilt. So when one of the few survivors of the slaughter enlists her aid, she feels duty-bound to help—even though protecting a frail, pregnant shifter is the last thing Evy needs, especially with the world going to hell around her.
Amid weres, Halfies, gremlins, vamps—and increasingly outgunned humans—a war for supremacy is brewing. With shifters demanding justice, her superiors desperate to control her, and an assassin on her trail, Evy discovers a horrifying conspiracy. And she may be the only person in the world who can stop it—unless, of course, her own side gets her first.

05 Wait for Dusk by Jocelynn Drake

Release date: July 27th, 2010

Product Description:

There is no sanctuary in the night…
Feared even by her own kind for her mastery of fire, the Nightwalker Mira is summoned by the Coven to take her rightful place as Elder. But with this honor comes grave responsibility—a commitment to the annihilation of the unleashed naturi. For now the foul creatures walk the earth—and neither vampire nor human will survive their horrific onslaught.
A tide of blood is sweeping relentlessly across the European continent, as Mira is dispatched to Budapest for the most devastating test yet of her astonishing powers—and falls into a well-laid trap. With the dark secrets that haunt her growing darker by the hour, she must confront the terrible truth of her past and protect her fragile sanity in the face of unanticipated treachery—a betrayal by her ally, her enemy, her lover…the vampire slayer, Danaus.

Happy Reading!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Giveaways – Other by Karen Kincy

Best2-199x300

A shameless nerd and lover of snark, Karen lives in Olympia, Washington, where she is a senior studying linguistics, literature, and computer science at The Evergreen State College. She ripped off her hometown of Snohomish, WA for the fictional locale of Klikamuks, where Other takes place. When she’s not at her computer, writing, she’s probably out in the forest with her notebook, writing, or on a photography expedition with her trusty digital camera. She likes to imagine werewolves lurking among the trees. (source)

 

Karen’s first novel Other is about to hit the shelves (July 1st, 2010) and I am really happy to have 2 copies of her book to giveaway! Her story is very original, and reading the following description I am sure you will agree!

Other-final-664x1024

I can’t last much longer. It’s been one week, three days, and I forget how many hours.

My belly cramps, and I curl on my bed, staring out at the stars. A delicious breeze glides through my window and cools my sweaty forehead. The air smells of summer–mowed grass, recent rain, lingering barbecue–and tempts me more than I want to admit. Shards of moonlight and shadow shift on the wall. I clench my teeth and toes and try to ride out the pain. My bedroom drifts counterclockwise, and I shut my eyes.

It can’t be good for me, not shapeshifting.

Seventeen-year-old Gwen hides a dangerous secret: she’s Other. Half-pooka, to be exact, thanks to the father she never met. Most Americans don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat for Others, especially not the small-town folks of Klikamuks, Washington. As if this isn’t bad enough, Gwen’s on the brink of revealing her true identity to her long-time boyfriend, Zack, but she’s scared he’ll lump her with the likes of bloodthirsty vampires and feral werewolves.

When a pack of werewolves chooses the national forest behind Gwen’s home as their new territory, the tensions in Klikamuks escalate–into murder. It soon becomes clear a serial killer is methodically slaying Others. The police turn a blind eye, leaving Gwen to find the killer before the killer finds her. As she hunts for clues, she uncovers more Others living nearby than she ever expected. Like Tavian, a sexy Japanese fox-spirit who rivals Zack and challenges her to embrace her Otherness. Gwen must struggle with her own conflicted identity, learn who she can trust, and–most importantly–stay alive. (source)

Now I can see all your confused eyes looking at the computer screen...

you gonna ask me, Tynga, what's a pooka?

Here’s how Karen answers the question (source)!

Also known as, “What the bleep is a pooka?”, which may be the reaction of certain people. Anyway. A pooka is, in a nutshell, a shapeshifting spirit of the faerie family from Wales or Ireland. Most commonly, they appear in the form of a shaggy black horse with sulfurous yellow eyes. A pooka’s yellow eyes always give it away, even in human form. Gwen, being half-pooka, can pass her eyes off as hazel, though they glow when she gets excited. Pookas are tricksters who love waylaying innocents, according to lore, though that may just be human propaganda. Pookas also go by the name puca, phouka, pwca, and many other spelling variants.

Now that we all have a better idea what Other is about, Let’s talk giveaway details!

Flux offered 2 copies of Other!!

Open US, Canada & Mexico!

to enter, Please FILL THE FORM

Ends July 4th, 2010.

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