THIEF OF LIES - RELEASE LAUNCH

I'm SO excited to share this launch with you! Brenda Drake has done so much for our community: contests, critiques, giveaways galore. 
Want to give back to this incredibly generous woman? 
Buy the book! 
* or *  
Tweet your congratulations to @BrendaDrake, #LibraryJumpers

And now, without further ado.... 

 THIEF OF LIES

ABOUT THIEF OF LIES (LIBRARY JUMPERS #1):

Gia Kearns would rather fight with boys than kiss them. That is, until Arik, a leather-clad hottie in the Boston Athenaeum suddenly disappears. While examining the book of world libraries he abandoned, Gia unwittingly speaks the key that sucks her and her friends into a photograph and transports them into a Paris library, where Arik and his Sentinels—magical knights charged with protecting humans from the creatures traveling across the gateway books—rescue them from a demonic hound.

Jumping into some of the world’s most beautiful libraries would be a dream come true for Gia, if she weren’t busy resisting her heart or dodging an exiled wizard seeking revenge on both the Mystik and human worlds. Add a French flirt obsessed with Arik and a fling with a young wizard, and Gia must choose between her heart and her head, between Arik’s world and her own, before both are destroyed.

TOUCHING FATE: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

ABOUT BRENDA DRAKE:

 

Brenda Drake grew up the youngest of three children, an Air Force brat, and the continual new kid at school. Her fondest memories growing up are of her eccentric, Irish grandmother’s animated tales, which gave her a strong love for storytelling.

So it was only fitting that she would choose to write stories with a bend toward the fantastical. When she’s not writing or hanging out with her family, she haunts libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops, or reads someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment).

Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram

Want to read but love the chance of winning a free copy of the book? Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway!

 GIVEAWAY

And here's a little taste of the book right now because we JUST CAN'T WAIT...

THIEF OF LIES EXCERPT

We stepped into the Children’s Library and stopped in the center of the room. A massive light fixture designed to resemble the solar system dominated the ceiling. The hushed rumble of two male voices came from one of the reading nooks. I crossed the room, paused at the built-in aquarium, and inspected the fish. Afton halted beside me.

“This is great,” I whispered, not wanting to disturb whoever was in there with us. “Fish and books. What’s not to love?” Spotting a sign referencing classic books, I searched the shelves for my all-time favorite novel.

The male voices stopped and there was movement on the other side of the bookcase. I paused to listen, and when the voices started up again, I continued my hunt.

Warmth rushed over me when I found The Secret Garden. With its aged green cover, it was the same edition I remembered reading as a young girl. The illustrations inside were beautiful, and I just had to show them to Afton. Coming around the corner of the case, a little too fast for being in a library, I bumped into a guy dressed in leather biker gear. My book and notebook fell and slapped against the floor.

“Oh, I’m so sorry—” I lost all train of thought at the sight of him. He was gorgeous with tousled brown hair and dark eyes. Tall. He flashed me a crooked smile, a hint of dimples forming in his cheeks, before bending over and picking up my forgotten book.

He held the book out to me. “Mistress Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?” He’d quoted a verse from The Secret Garden with a sexy accent that tickled my ears.

I stood there like an idiot, my heart pounding hard against my chest, unable to think of a response. The fact that he had read the book and could recite a line from it stunned me. And impressed me.

Say something. Anything.

“Good read there,” he said when it was obvious I wasn’t going to speak. He winked and nodded to a guy behind him before ambling off. When he reached the end of the row, he paused and glanced back at me, flashing me another killer smile, and then he disappeared around the bookcase.

Tingles rose in my stomach. He looked back at me. The guy following his Royal Hotness gave me a final appraisal before departing. His stringy blond hair hung over his large forehead. It looked like he hadn’t washed it in weeks, and there was probably an acne breeding ground under it. He grinned, and I broke eye contact with him, making for the nearest window.

Oh God, you’re so lame, Gia. You could have finished the quote or anything less tragic than not speaking at all. The response I would have said played in my head. With silver bells, and cockleshells, and marigolds all in a row. Why? Why hadn’t I said that?

### 

Cover Reveal - HYBRID (The Domino Project #2) by PitchWars mentor K.T. Hanna

I'm so excited to be part of this cover reveal for the indomitable K.T. Hanna, author and Pitch Wars  mentor extraordinaire.

And it gets even better -- because this cover reveal is a PUZZLE.  So cool.

But first, about the book:

Hybrid (The Domino Project #2) is the sequel to Chameleon. It's set in the wasteland of earth after a meteor shower causes ecological disaster, damages So

As Sai recovers from her life-threatening injuries, she struggles to piece together her damaged relationship with Dom. He fights the parasite within, suddenly freed from the interference of the other Dominos in his head.

Inside Central, Bastian’s Shine dosing has become a dangerous dance. Enhanced security protocols and endless meetings have him on a tightrope, with little room to move without revealing himself.

When the GNW release the Damascus to begin their systemic hunt of the Exiled, the noose closes around the rebels and their allies. If they can’t disable the threat, the Exiled won’t be the Damascus’ only agenda

Without further ado - here's a teaser of the cover by the amazingly talented S.P. McConnell.

 

Go see the full cover at YA Interrobang!

Isn't it GORGEOUS!?!?!

Sit back and bask in this for a moment.
 
 

It's available for pre-order for $3.99 and will be available on November 10th, 2015!

It will also be available in print via CreateSpace, Amazon, but best of all, my local indie is supporting me again and it's available for pre-order in print there!

 

Watermark Books

 

Haven't read Chameleon? There's still time to catch up!

Get it HERE!

About the Author

KT Hanna has a love for words so extreme, a single word can spark entire worlds.

Born in Australia, she met her husband in a computer game, moved to the U.S.A. and went into culture shock. Bonus? Not as many creatures specifically out to kill you.

When she's not writing, she freelance edits for Chimera Editing, interns for a NYC Agency, and chases her daughter, husband, corgi, and cat. No, she doesn't sleep. She is entirely powered by the number 2, caffeine, and beef jerky.

Note: Still searching for her Tardis

Celebration!

To celebrate, we're giving away a copy of books 1 & 2! With an Amazon e-card, and a SWAG pack!

Winners will be announced on Monday October 19th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

PitchWars - On Winning and the First Week's New Writing Tools

This is what it felt like, the night the PitchWars list was released.




In the first week we mentees were high-fiving all around, and the haze of celebration was thick and heady plus infused with disbelief. Me? My MS? The one I have sweated blood and tears for? You chose me?

**Breaks down sobbing grateful tears of relief that someone has seen beauty where so many before have seen dreck**

We, the 2015 PitchWars Mentees, introduced ourselves, started a secret-squirrel Facebook group and pinched ourselves because now WE were UP IN DA CLUB. (I don't often speak like 50Cent, but somehow that seemed appropriate here, go figure)

And then the work began.

My mentor, the incredible Kendra Young, began by sending me a spreadsheet.

I am a plotter by nature and I love outlines, but had never considered the spreadsheet because they're for bean counters, AmIright? They're rife with numbers and data and other inscrutable things.

But yanno what? It was a beautiful thing.

Because I was beset, bedeviled even, by structural problems I didn't know how to fix. And Kendra, with her laser vision, saw that right away. And she also saw, because she is a  teacher, that the best way for me to fix my problems was to engineer the solution myself.

In other words, working through her spreadsheet allowed me to excavate the weaknesses in a way I could never have seen just by copious re-reads of my ms.

Boom.

This spreadsheet helped me gauge not just the goal of each chapter but also the tension and action levels. And there it was in column form - places where the tension level was too low for too long. Chapters whose goals were too similar or repetitive or unclear.

Boom again.

From that spreadsheet, we went to yet another, one some of you may already know but I was unfamiliar with - from Larry Brooks's Story Engineering. This lovely little Excel allowed me to enter my total word and page count, and then spit out an exact blueprint of where I was supposed to hit milestones - plot and pinch points, etc.

Armed with spreadsheet data and new ideas for tightening plot, strengthening and clarifying my antagonist, and streamlining the number of flat characters, I was off to the races. And Kendra was right by my side the whole time, offering insight, asking all the right questions, and suggesting some of the key ideas that ultimately shaped where SPOOKY JANE is today.

So - perhaps it's been said a few thousand times, perhaps it gets old. But Pitch Wars DOES change lives. Within one week of learning I'd been chosen, I was already a stronger, more educated writer with more powerful tools at my disposal.

Thank you doesn't begin to cover it. Thank you Kendra, thank you Brenda Drake. And thank you to the data which has given my creativity a new lease on life.

Today I am .... a Prospective #PitchWars Mentee

Hello People of #PitchWars!

*Waves*

Let me introduce myself:

I'm Heather Murphy Capps. 

I’m a mom (I have two children, my youngest is 3), an Army wife (we call ourselves Dharma and Greg), a Minnesotan (but haven’t lived there since my early twenties), a teacher (business/government writing and public speaking), of course, a writer. I dig kidlit -- both MG and YA.

My Backstory:

 I’ve got an acidic sense of humor and love to laugh, but I’m also deeply earnest and nice because Minnesota.

I <3 Christmas decorations.

If I wasn’t a writer, I’d be a rock star. 

I love, love, love reading and writing adventures and thrillers, especially those with sci-fi, magical, or ghostly twists. The cherry on top is when there’s humor involved. (I’m the one who jokes when everyone gets too serious) But I also like a good cry, and it doesn’t have to be for sad reasons. I’m a big fan of the happy cry. I cry at the end of Frozen and Cars. EVERY. TIME.

I’m committed to writing diverse characters. I’m mixed race, so are my kids. I want them to have access to non-white characters who are smart, interesting and funny, who do cool, exciting, adventurous things.

I’m fascinated by: cell biology, what might happen when we learn how to use more of our brains (magic! Super powers!), time travel, clones, reincarnation, witches, and ghosts. What else? Fringe science, pop culture, and quantum physics.

I like music, poetry, the ocean, coffee, tea, and chocolate. Both cats and dogs. And sunflowers.

I’ve always been a writer, but have only recently turned to fiction. I was a television news reporter for nearly two decades before I stepped away to raise my kids. Now I never want to go back because STORIES! IMAGINATION! So much more fun than real life.

I reported many stories I’m proud of, but THE ANCHOR DESK was where I gained some cocktail-party-worthy notoriety.

I was also briefly the press secretary for the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida. 

Why Chose Me?

• I no longer have anchor hair, yay!
• I am a hard worker, straightforward communicator, and I WANT THIS. I have the FIRE IN THE BELLY to improve my work.
• I will happily slice and dice characters and scenes under your guidance. I will revise until my ms is shiny and pretty, even when it hurts.
• I will respect your time and understand you are a volunteer and I will THANK YOU for giving back to the writing community in such a HUGE way.

My favorite MG Writers (IMPOSSIBLE to pick a short list!!):

Madeleine L’ Engle, Rebecca Stead, Kate Messner, Linda Urban, Holly Black, Shannon Hale, Sharon Creech, Mary Downing Hahn, L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables), Laura Ingalls Wilder (did I mention I’m from Minnesota?), Louisa May Alcott, E. L. Konigsburg, C.S. Lewis, Rick Riordan, Anthony Horowitz, Tim Federle

   

Favorite YA:

Libba Bray, Maggie Stiefvater, Laini Taylor, Myra McEntire, Tess Sharpe, Stephenie Meyer, Victoria Schwab, Maureen Johnson

Favorite TV:

Grey’s Anatomy (I have a medical degree earned from watching all seasons since its pilot)

The Vampire Diaries

Orphan Black

The X-Files (I’m a VERY recent but enthusiastic fan)

Fringe

Scandal

The West Wing

The Newsroom

Some Favorite Movies (I have WAY too many to list – this is just a taste)

Star Wars (New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi), Phenomenon, Fried Green Tomatoes, Dead Poets Society, Steel Magnolias, Contact, Dogma, The Blues Brothers, Casablanca, Bridesmaids, Shrek.

Everything Changes

So for a while, I had a rhythm and it was nice.
I wrote on the weekends and in the mornings when both my kids were in school. I had space to both parent and write, and while it wasn't perfect, (what ever is?) it was pretty workable.

And then we MOVED. Goodbye, Arizona, Hello Virginia. We drove cross country for 6 days and had lots of fun and also some too-much-togetherness, because families.

We arrived and then our stuff arrived and ATE OUR HOUSE. We were buried by boxes

So now I am unpacking and keeping up with all the many moving parts of a transition - emotions, loss, discovery, paperwork, finding all the things that were packed in random boxes. Let me be clear: we're a military family, we move a lot. This isn't new. But it's never easy.

 Also I am unpacking and parenting and tutoring my kids so as not to lose ground during their endless summer vacation. (because of a scheduling difference between states my kids have been out of school since mid May and won't go back until September.)

And I am not writing. Much.  I feel as though one of my lungs has been removed.

But I just can't devote the time I need. My kids need me, my house is still in complete chaos, and my life needs me. The DETAILS of my life need me.

And here's the thing: ZEN has happened.

Because I can't REALLY write like I want to -- for all those reasons -- I have been THINKING and NOODLING and guess what? I have found a new zone. I am feeling patient. (Well, patient for me, which may not look like much to some, but it's pretty amazing from where I sit.) I am feeling focused. I am feeling CAPABLE.

Here's what patience and waiting and the Zen Space have wrought:

• New story ideas - So Excited to start outlining. I want to do them ALL. NOW.
• Discovery of a small list of agents to query -- all of whom seem like cool, simpatico people I want to hang out and talk books with.
• New ideas for tightening, strengthening, and bettering my current WIPs. Ideas that feel RIGHT.

So, yay for enforced down time. It's a new rhythm and not one I asked for but you know the whole thing about closing doors and opening windows. It's true, even if it's sometimes hell in the hallway.