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June 30, 2011

And the winner is............

.......for LEAVING THE HALL LIGHT ON by Madeline Sharples

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

9

Timestamp: 2011-06-30 22:24:49 UTC



dvice12 said... 9 Yes, I do know someone with that

An email has been sent to the winner and she has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.


Guest Author Cathy Holton

Approximately a month ago, I received an email from an author, an author who has just finished writing her fifth (5th) book.   An author who's books are published by a big publishing house.   Honestly, I had to read the email twice because I really had a hard time processing what she stated in the email.   I was awestruck that this very talented and experienced writer was not only visiting my site, but liked it and wanted to know if she could visit with all of us and talk about her latest novel.  Astonished doesn't seem to express what I was feeling.  So I please ask to give a very warm welcome to today's guest, Ms. Cathy Holton, as only the CMash fabulous and fantastic followers can do!!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The daughter of a college professor and an artist, Cathy Holton grew up in college towns in the American South and Midwest. She studied Creative Writing at Michigan State University. She has worked as a dude ranch hand, a university seminar coordinator, a paralegal, and an assistant in a fire investigation firm. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee with her husband, three highly-intelligent children, and a rescue dog named Yoshi. She is the author of Summer in the South, Beach Trip, Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes, and Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes, all published through Random House/Ballantine.
Visit her online at www.cathyholton.com; follow her @cathyholton on Twitter and on Facebook.
Visit the Summer in the South Facebook Fan Page for news and special offers.

GUEST POST
As a child, I believed that the house I lived in was haunted.

This was in Stevens Point, Wisconsin; we lived in a large, rambling Victorian house not far from the campus where my father had taken a job as an assistant professor.  We were Southerners, born and bred, but my Liberal parents had decided to get us out of the South during the violent Civil Rights movement, and so my father had accepted a teaching position in this small Wisconsin town. For my younger brothers and I, it might
as well have been the gray, cratered surface of the moon. We were far away from everything we’d ever known.

I had always been an imaginative child, but now I was a lonely one. When I raised my hand in class that first day of school to answer a question, there was a moment of stunned silence. The teacher, unable to understand my thick Southern drawl, asked me to repeat myself. The boy in front of me turned around and said, “Where are you from, the swamp?” The next day the entire group on the playground lined up and shouted, “The Rebels are coming! The Rebels are coming!” as my brother and I plodded stoically toward the front door of The Abraham Lincoln Grammar School.

Eventually I made a friend, and when I went home to spend the night with her for the first time, her mother said, “Oh, you’re from down South where they turn the dogs on people.” I realized then that my family was different; we were tainted by our sinister history. I was deeply and irrevocably ashamed.

A few nights later as I drifted off to sleep, a strange thing happened. My bedroom was at the top of the house and had a faux “turret” that was actually a bowed window seat.  During the day, the window seat, surrounded by the thick branches of a leafy oak tree, was a wonderful place to read. But at night, these same branches cast eerie shadows in my room. On this particular evening, I awoke suddenly to find myself unable to move.  The room was hazy with moonlight and I could move my eyes slightly, but the rest of my body was paralyzed. As the horror of this dawned on me I became gradually aware that I was not alone in the room. I could hear soft breathing. Slanting my eyes to the right I could see, sitting on the window seat, the tall, dark figure of a man.

The paralysis lasted only a few short moments and when I was finally able to move, I jumped from my bed to find the man gone. The following year my parents moved us back to the South. The experience never reoccurred and it was not until college that I read of a fairly common, but little known sleep disorder called “sleep paralysis.” It occurs in roughly half the population at least once and includes both auditory and visual hallucinations.

Not long after I married and started a family, I went with my good friend Randal to spend the weekend in her small home town in Tennessee. Randal was from a very oldmoneyed Southern family, a family with an almost mythical history, and we were guests of her Great Aunt Fanny in a rambling mansion filled with wonderful treasures. On Friday, we escorted Fanny to the cemetery so she could “visit the dead.” Watching as the
elderly woman knelt to put flowers on a small grave set apart from the others, I asked Randal, “Whose grave is that?”

  She hesitated just long enough to make me curious. “That’s Fanny’s first husband. Charlie.”
  “What happened to him?”
  “He died. We don’t speak of him.”

I couldn’t get anything else out of her. That night as I lay awake in my moonlit room waiting for Charlie’s ghost to appear, I remembered my experience all those years ago in the house in Wisconsin. And  I remembered, too, the tender look on Fanny’s face as she bent to put flowers on the grave of a man who had died sixty-five years ago. And I wondered what could have happened between Fanny and Charlie that would keep her family from ever mentioning his name.

Twenty-five years later I wrote Summer in the South, the story of Ava, a Chicago writer trying to escape her own troubled past who stumbles upon a sixty-five year old murder mystery in a small Southern town. Are the things that happened to Ava in that old mansion in Woodburn, Tennessee real or imaginary? Was the love affair between Fanny and Charlie truly as I imagined it?

The answers to both questions, I suppose, lie clearly in the realm of fiction.
 
ABOUT THE BOOK
For Chicago writer Ava Dabrowski, fleeing her own troubled past, the chance to spend the summer writing a novel in quiet Woodburn, Tennessee seems a welcome reprieve. A guest of Will Fraser and his great-aunts, Fanny and Josephine Woodburn, members of an aristocratic, old-moneyed family, Ava soon finds herself surrounded by an eccentric castof characters.

But the Woodburns are not who they seem to be. Gradually hearing rumors about the mysterious death of great-aunt Fanny’s first husband, Ava stumbles upon a decades-old family secret. With the help of Jake Woodburn, Will’s estranged cousin, Ava gradually puts aside her planned novel and begins instead to write the tragic history of the Woodburns, a family with more skeletons (and ghosts) in their closets than anyone can possibly imagine.

As she writes the history of the Woodburns, Ava begins to put together the pieces of her own past, learning that a good story is always more dazzling, and ultimately less painful, than the truth.

THANKS TO THE GENEROSITY OF THE AUTHOR,
CATHY HOLTON,  I HAVE TWO (2) COPIES OF
THIS GREAT BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

DISCLAIMER
Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners
via publisher, agent and/or author. This blog hosts
the giveaway on behalf of the above.
No items that I receive
are ever sold...they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.


GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE "SUMMER IN THE SOUTH" ENDED

JUNE 30th to JULY 14th, 2011

SUMMER IN THE SOUTH

by CATHY HOLTON

SYNOPSIS:
  For Chicago writer Ava Dabrowski, fleeing her own troubled past, the chance to spend the summer writing a novel in quiet Woodburn, Tennessee seems a welcome reprieve. A guest of Will Fraser and his great-aunts, Fanny and Josephine Woodburn, members of an aristocratic, old-moneyed family, Ava soon finds herself surrounded by an eccentric cast of characters.
  But the Woodburns are not who they seem to be. Gradually hearing rumors about the mysterious death of great-aunt Fanny’s first husband, Ava stumbles upon a decades-old family secret. With the help of Jake Woodburn, Will’s estranged cousin, Ava gradually puts aside her planned novel and begins instead to write the tragic history of the Woodburns, a family with more skeletons (and ghosts) in their closets than anyone can possibly imagine.
  As she writes the history of the Woodburns, Ava begins to put together the pieces of her own past, learning that a good story is always more dazzling, and ultimately less painful, than the truth.

THANKS TO THE KINDNESS OF
THE AUTHOR, CATHY HOLTON
I HAVE TWO (2) COPIES OF THIS
WONDERFUL BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.
HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.
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*ALL COMMENTS TO BE SEPARATE*
AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: WOULD YOU OR WOULDN'T
YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT FAMILY SKELETONS?*
Writer
*EXTRA ENTRIES*
*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
  BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.
So Many Secrets
*U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*
**HONOR SYSTEM**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.
Skeletons
*GIVEAWAY ENDS JULY 14th AT 6PM EST*
WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG AND NOTIFIED
VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND
OR ANOTHER NAME WILL BE CHOSEN
DISCLAIMER / RULES
Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold...they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed

June 29, 2011

And the winners are.........

............for TO BE SUNG UNDERWATER by Tom McNeal

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

23     18

Timestamp: 2011-06-29 22:05:25 UTC



Best O' Books said... 23 I don't have a special someone I never forgot, because once I met my wonderful husband, I totally forgot anyone who ever came before him :)
Victoria Zumbrum said... 18 I have never forgot my grandmother. I loved her very much and I miss her. Please enter me in contest. I would love to read this book. 

An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen. 


GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE "THE ASTRAL" ENDED

JUNE 29th to JULY 13th, 2011

THE ASTRAL
by KATE CHRISTENSEN

SYNOPSIS:
  From the PEN/Faulkner Award–winning author of The Great Man, a scintillating novel of love, loss, and literary rivalry set in rapidly changing Brooklyn.
  The Astral is a huge rose-colored old pile of an apart­ment building in the gentrifying neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. For decades it was the happy home (or so he thought) of the poet Harry Quirk and his wife, Luz, a nurse, and of their two children: Karina, now a fer­vent freegan, and Hector, now in the clutches of a cultish Christian community. But Luz has found (and destroyed) some poems of Harry’s that ignite her long-simmering sus­picions of infidelity, and he’s been summarily kicked out. He now has to reckon with the consequence of his literary, marital, financial, and parental failures (and perhaps oth­ers) and find his way forward—and back into Luz’s good graces.
  Harry Quirk is, in short, a loser, living small and low in the water. But touched by Kate Christensen’s novelistic grace and acute perception, his floundering attempts to reach higher ground and forge a new life for himself become funny, bittersweet, and terrifically moving. She knows what secrets lurk in the hearts of men—and she turns them into literary art of the highest order.


THANKS TO LIZ AND THE TERRIFIC

PEOPLE FROM DOUBLEDAY
I HAVE TWO (2) COPIES OF THIS
GREAT BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.
HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.
*ALL COMMENTS TO BE SEPARATE*
AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT:  FROM THE SYNOPSIS ABOVE,
WHAT INTRIGUES YOU TO WANT TO READ THIS BOOK?*
Brooklyn =)
*EXTRA ENTRIES*
*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
  BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT TO LET ME KNOW THAT YOU
  RETWEETED THIS GIVEAWAY (LEAVE LINK).

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.
love
*U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*
**HONOR SYSTEM**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.
loss
*GIVEAWAY ENDS JULY 13th AT 6PM EST*
WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG AND NOTIFIED
VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND
OR ANOTHER NAME WILL BE CHOSE

DISCLAIMER / RULES
Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold...they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed



June 28, 2011

And the winners are......

...........for BEG FOR MERCY  by Jami Alden

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

44     8     47

Timestamp: 2011-06-28 22:16:53 UTC

donnas said... 44 Like on FB - Donna S
Maureen said... 8 I follow on GFC
susansmoaks said... 47 i would risk everything to prove my innocence

An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen.


Teaser Tuesday

TUESDAY

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Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
*Grab your current read
*Open to a random page
*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
*BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
*Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I am still reading the same book, not because it isn't keeping my interest and/or because it isn't  a page turner, matter of fact it's quite the opposite.  Unfortunately, due to real life real life issues these past few weeks, has put me even further behind in my reading schedule.  I apologize to those waiting for reviews.

"Please don't hurt, Ally.  I'll do whatever whatever you want, just don't hurt her.  I'm begging you."
page 347


June 27, 2011

And the winners are........

.........for THE AMATEURS by Marcus Sakey

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

25    15    11

Timestamp: 2011-06-28 00:50:13 UTC


degood said... 25 I wanted to be a mom by the time I turned 30 and running my own business and I was doing both :)
Cuzinlogic said... 15 I wanted to be away from Cali...
Blissfulrains said... 11 Following via GFC!

An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen.


GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE "FLASHBACK" ENDED

JUNE 27th to JULY 11th, 2011


FLASHBACK
by DAN SIMMONS

SYNOPSIS:
  The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives. After ex-detective Nick Bottom's wife died in a car accident, he went under the flash to be with her; he's lost his job, his teenage son, and his livelihood as a result.
  Nick may be a lost soul but he's still a good cop, so he is hired to investigate the murder of a top governmental advisor's son. This flashback-addict becomes the one man who may be able to change the course of an entire nation turning away from the future to live in the past.
  A provocative novel set in a future that seems scarily possible, FLASHBACK proves why Dan Simmons is one of our most exciting and versatile writers.

THANKS TO ANNA AND THE FANTASTIC
PEOPLE FROM THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP
I HAVE TWO (2) COPIES OF THIS
EXCITING BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.
HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.
*ALL COMMENTS TO BE SEPARATE*
AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT:  IF YOU COULD "RE-EXPERIENCE"
A BEST MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?*
dream of the past
*EXTRA ENTRIES*
*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
  BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.
drugs
*U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*
**PER PUBLISHER**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.
funny icons future fortune
*GIVEAWAY ENDS JULY 11th AT 6PM EST*
WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG AND NOTIFIED
VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND
OR ANOTHER NAME WILL BE CHOSEN
DISCLAIMER / RULES
Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold...they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed.



Monday Memes

MONDAY
Welcome Back We Missed Ya Dog Animation Animated Gif

WooHoo !!!  Have you heard ????  Someone is back in business!!!  I am soooo excited,  if I could jump up and down, that's exactly what I would be doing!!!!  I am thrilled beyond words can express.  Oh how I remember that day, the day that I got up the courage to email this blogger and ask a  couple ofa few, many questions, and she was so gracious and kind and answered every single one of them.  Then she encouraged me and mentored me to go public and was my very first follower.  Well, she's baaaack!!!!  YES!!!!  VICKI, from her former blog Reading At The Beach, is back!!!!  So run right over to her new place, I'D RATHER BE READING AT THE BEACH and give her a great big {{{{{{ hug }}}}}}.... .  I am sure, like me, that there are a lot of bloggers who have missed her as much as I have.  WELCOME BACK VICKI!!!!!



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Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading
This week's question:
Have you ever read a book that inspired you to take up a cause? What book was it, and what is/was the cause?

My answer:
What a great question.  The only book that came to mind was The Left Behind Series.  I have always had a deep belief of my religion.  I'm not the type to discuss it unless asked, preach about it, ring door bells, etc etc., but when I read this series , a fictional interpretation of The Revelations from The Bible and written by 2 pastors, I have recommended it to so many people.  The reason being that these books were written in the late 1990s and I read them approximately 5 years ago, all 13 of them. and in a very short time.  I want to share these books with others, for them to make decisions in their own lives.


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June is being hosted by Bluestocking
Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour.
According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”
The Hachette Book Group

Won from Bookin' With Bingo



June 26, 2011

Sunday's Shining Star

I would like to explain how this came to fruition. Hubby and I were having a discussion about the old days, (for the young'ens reading this..a little history lesson) but before the dark age. When Sundays were special and had traditions and rituals. Sunday mornings Church, come home to a big gravy (sauce) cooking on the stove, a big Sunday dinner, then either off to visit relatives/friends or wait for relatives/friends to drop by. We would spend the afternoon sitting around the table, talking, catching up, having coffee, pizza, calzones, etc etc, dessert. And now, how sad, all those traditions are gone. And then I got to thinking, why not have something similar here on my blog. This past year, I have met so many amazing and wonderful people (some I now call friends) through blogging, and how I am in awe of what they do and accomplish. How much respect I have for them, for their honesty, integrity, credibility and so enjoy when a bit of their personality shines through. So every Sunday, here at my place, the coffee will be on, the dessert is on the table and friends will be stopping by. And I will be rolling out the red carpet for my Sunday Shining Star Blogger guest.
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I was told when I first found this community of book blogging that "book bloggers were the nicest bloggers there are" and I have never forgotten those words. And over the past year, I have truly met the nicest people. I also believe, even though we live behind a screen, a bit of our personality shines through. That is one of the reasons I am having so much fun with this weekly event, and hoping you are too, because we are getting to know those "nicest bloggers" around and about bloggyland a little bit better.

We haven't traveled in a while, so I thought we might take a little trip.  Plus the guys, Jeff (Lori's hubby aka Dollycas's Thoughts) and my hubby, Steve, have had the past few Sundays off playing golf so they should be well rested to carry our luggage.  And btw...they are both telling us that they had the better golf score..... like Lori and I aren't going to talk.....Men!!!! lol

Today we are going to Canada to visit with our Shining Star.   I really hope everyone is enjoying this event as much as I am, I truly can't wait to draft up my posts to read the bloggers answers and get to know someone just a little bit better.  And I have to tell you, I didn't know what I was going to find out with this blogger!!!  Her sense of humor is one of a kind....you will see what I mean......so let's get right to it.....today's guest and Shining Star is PK from AISLE B.



*When and why did you start blogging?
I jumped into the ocean of review blogging due to an ultimatum from Mrs Q Book Addict: my nebulous blog birth without an epidural was on April 7 2010. 6 hours of labour... sweating words over the keyboards.

*How and what made you decide on the name of your blog?
love of venturing into the aisles at the library and bookstores made me think... hey aisle b... aisle b for books!
aisle b = my love for words. my motto being "Words are my PASSION... so READ IT!"

*What would you say is the main content of your blog?
fascination for Mailbox Monday / In My Mailbox & Teaser Tuesdays are fave memes. aisle b runs the gamut of reads since I don't discriminate against words of creativity.

*If books, what genres do you mostly read?
got words - > will read it. mysteries, thrillers, Ya, guilty pleasures... historical romance... yes love men in kilts and Scottish brogue but please no Fabio. long fangs without glitter and lupine feasts are intriguing as well.

*How often do you post?
5 - 6 times depending on whether hubby lets me out for good behaviour from Tibetan yurt.

*What are some of the things that you love about blogging?
people and exchanging incredible experiences via our readings. by far the most infectious part of blogging is the people you meet & develop "soul reads" lasting bonds. can't beat that!



*What are some of the negatives?
stalkers, red eyes from reading, and overpile of review books. alright my husband is my stalker who constantly hounds me to get off the PC!

*Name 1-3 favorite items/postings that you have/do on your blog?
more GIVEAWAYS... the feeling you get when you get to say ... "And the winner is...." Right-o nothing beats that for me.

India Black is my latest "gotta share that love" shout out.

*Any advice you would give to new bloggers?
grab the passion of books and run with it. have fun and don't get bogged down by the enormity of deadlines. live laugh and READ!

*What draws you to follow someone's blog?
the texture of design coupled with intelligent writing... bam-o consider me a new found follower. crave to widen my world by expanding the reading radar through the help of fellow bloggers.

*Do you have any "pet peeves" that other bloggers do?
pet peeves... comments that have no reflection or connection to articles posted by blogger... take the time to really read and appreciate what is being said.

*Would you please share 5-7 things about the person behind the screen so that we get to know the "real" you!!
1) vertically challenged... ahem... height 4 foot 10 inches... and that's with heels!

2) run in the basement from wall to wall... too cheap to buy a treadmill... which reminds me I've been slacking from my run... hence unable to get into my jeans!

3) love love love love FOOD! see connection to running in the basement (read above)

4) Blockbuster renews my Platinum membership every year free of charge... spend way too much on rentals...clerks have offered to set up a cot for me since this is my second home after Indigo.

5) Coverholic.... step 1 admit your addiction... step 2 control the lust that takes over me as I look at the cover... step 3 buy IT just for the COVER!

6) Able to understand Ewok talk since it has traces of Tibetan interlaced with other foreign languages. impressive n'est pas.

7) able to avoid projectile vomit due to years of mothering sick children. trust me it's an important parenting skill you MUST Learn. otherwise eau de puke will be your new scent.

*Any other info you would like to share.
my scorpian style gets me in more trouble than i care to divulge... on that note "i plead the fifth!"

PK, thank you for being my guest today and sharing a bit of you with all of us.  Didn't I tell you about her sense of humor?  I always know when I see a comment or an email from PK, I know a chuckle will soon follow.  However, she is also a very caring and genuine person.  She'll remember bit of info from months ago and inquire if things are OK.  And then use her humor and philosophy to help the situation.  A fun, dedicated, family oriented, yes short, but all around truly nice person.  A very kind and funny Shining Star!!!!

June 25, 2011

And the winners are........

for THE DELTA CHAIN by Iain Edward Henn

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

10      54

Timestamp: 2011-06-25 23:20:12 UTC


Bingo said... 10 I follow you on twitter at Bookinbingo
Betty C said... 54 I follow on twitter as willitara.


An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen.


Guest Author McCarty Griffin

As avid readers and bloggers, we know that times are changing.  How we read, be it print or ebooks.  How authors get published, be it by big companies or independently.  Today, I will be introducing you to an author who has written 3 books, and has asked if she might visit with us and talk about her newest book, a novella.  And since my belief is that everyone needs to start somewhere, what better place to start, than right here where the visitors are fantastic and fabulous.  So please welcome Ms. McCarty Griffin!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
McCarty Griffin lives in the Pacific Northwest, at the foot of the Cascades, with her husband, two children and several nonhuman family members. She is a transplanted hillbilly, born in Texas, but raised in the hollows and hills of West Virginia, where most of her works are set. She does not limit her creative efforts to any particular genre, although she does have a special love for horror, which she traces back to a childhood of Saturday nights eating Chef Boyardee pizza and watching Chiller Theatre with her mother. Before beginning her second life with her current husband, and settling in to raise her daughter and son, she served in the United States Army, went home to earn her undergraduate and law degrees, and then practiced criminal defense law for more than ten years. After half a lifetime spent doing everything but what she truly wanted to do, she finally just sat down and started writing, and she hasn’t stopped since.
You can visit her website HERE.
GUEST POST

for better or worse, indie publishing has at least one major trait in common with traditional publishing—labeling.

Since first publishing Half-Inch on Smashwords in October 2010, followed closely by Monster Story in November 2010 and then The Tribe in May 2011, I’ve thrown myself into a frenzied attempt to market my own books, as does every indie author. Whether it’s writing a guest blog, or doing an interview, requesting a review, or just trying to get my book listed for readers to find and hopefully purchase, I’ve filled out forms, written queries and answered lots of questions about myself and my books. One question that probably seems obvious on its face, and probably is for many writers, is “What genre do you write?”

I realize that for most writers, whether they’re published traditionally or they’re running with the outlaws of the indie world, this question is a gimme. Stephen King, horror. Nora Roberts, romance. Sue Grafton, mystery. These talented writers are recognized masters of their genres and for that fact we are all grateful and admiring readers. Like everyone else, I have my favorite genres to read and tend to gravitate consistently to them. However, when it comes to my own writing, I’m all over the board.

My first book, Half-Inch, is a novella which I categorize as chick lit noir, although I sometimes have to call it suspense or thriller because I’ve never actually seen chick lit noir listed as a category. It’s a story about an abused woman who takes an extreme and somewhat bizarre revenge on her husband. Monster Story is just flat out horror, an old-fashioned “monster story” about a werewolf. The Tribe is a children’s book, possibly edging into young adult, about cats, which I wrote for my children. I’m currently working on two books; Sub is a futuristic sci-fi, perhaps even dystopic, and Soul Searchers might qualify as paranormal chick lit. Anyone seeing a pattern here? Or maybe a lack of pattern might be more accurate.

I can understand why some writers only write in one genre. We all have our own peculiar tastes and bents of mind, and we tend to do better when we confine our endeavors in those areas. Can you picture Stephen King writing romance or chick lit? Or Nora Roberts writing steampunk? Neither can I and that’s what sometimes give me pause, because the stories that occur to me don’t seem to fall into one set genre; they never have. I’m just compelled to write the story that blossoms in my mind without any regard for traditional categorizing or pigeonholing. I explain it to myself by thinking, “I don’t live my life in a single genre, so why should I limit myself to one in my writing?”

Of course, I worry that this may be a case of whistling in the dark. What if readers don’t accept that a writer who produced a werewolf story can also write a good children’s story or a credible sci-fi? Will I be seen as a jack of all trades, but master of none? Will readers shy away from everything I write, because they can’t pin a label on me in their minds? I’ve actually toyed with the idea of writing under more than one name, as several traditionally published authors and some indie authors have done to avoid just this problem, but I haven’t quite been able to make myself do it yet. Maybe I’m foolishly optimistic or maybe I’m blindly stubborn; I’ll just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, I hope some of you check out my books and see for yourselves if one person can write a good werewolf story and a chick lit noir and a children’s book. Then, have some mercy on me, and other writers who wonder about that very same thing, and share your answer with the indie publishing world. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the answer is "Yes!"

ABOUT THE BOOK
Pammy has had enough of Bobby, her abusive drunk of a husband. One lovely spring day, she decides to kill him, despite the fact that they will soon be divorced and he will, at least in the eyes of the law, be out of her life for good. Indulging in homicidal daydreams for years has led her to devise her own perfect and completely bizarre plan.

THANKS TO THE GENEROSITY OF THE AUTHOR,
McCARTY GRIFFIN,I HAVE THREE (3) EBOOK
EDITIONS OF THIS NOVELLA TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
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DISCLAIMER
Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners
via publisher, agent and/or author. This blog hosts
the giveaway on behalf of the above.
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
No items that I receive
are ever sold...they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

Although I’m fairly new to the indie author world, I’ve been around long enough to notice that