Fun News, Jump Boys, & The Edge of the Falls

First the Fun News!

Rouge has made it to the Quarter Finals Round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

Download me FREE!

O.M.G.

I confess, y'all, I've been doing everything in my power not to think about the fact that I entered this contest.

Why? Well, I love this swishy, musical-theater, romantic-suspense story so much, I feel like sometimes I'm wearing it on my sleeve.

And after its history, and to see it do well, and to read the nice reviews has just made me ... verklempt.

Give me a moment. Talk amongst yourselves...

Or better yet, if you would, please hop over and download the FREE first chapter (link)!

I don't know if it helps or not, but it might. And it'll give you a feel for the book if you haven't read it. You might like it! (Especially if you liked Les Miz--it's very similar in tone and feel.)

And if you have read Rouge and like it, you might consider leaving a short, sweet review there. Your call.

Thank you so much!

Now for the Jump Boys~

Great bloggy friend Ali Cross/Alex Banks has written the most awesome-sounding middle-grade science fiction adventure! I'm dying to read it and so is my fifth grader!


Jump Boys: SOS
by Alex Banks
MG Science Fiction

A dare gone terribly wrong.
An SOS from another universe.
A threat from right next door.

Thirteen-year-old twin brothers Jayce and Val are about to jump the multi-verses on a dangerous dare, but true danger is closer to home than they realize.

The Jupiter Prime colony has been orbiting the stormy gas giant for nineteen years and all anyone wants is to get back to Earth. Sent to preserve the best and brightest of the population, a grievous error in the Prime’s navigation coordinates sent the colony to an alternate dimension with no way to return to the Earth they call home.

In a society where technical expertise is valued above all else, Jayce and Val are among the most privileged—until they uncover their uncle’s plot to claim dominion over space and time. While attempting to rescue a lone girl from a post-apocalyptic earth, Val will come face to face with space pirates and Jayce will lay his life on the line for the sake of his brother and the little girl who holds the key to time itself.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Kobo * Smashwords * Goodreads

Alex Banks doesn’t live on Planet Earth.Alex lives on the Prime Colony Ship orbiting Jupiter or on a pirate ship off the Nova Scotia coast,or on a world called Insulunda where the land masses shift and move like clouds.Wherever there are dreams to be charted like stars in the sky or fun to be had just down that street . . . that’s where you’ll find Alex Banks.

~ ~ ~

Last but not least, The Edge of the Falls (link) is now out!

I did the cover reveal for great bloggy friend Nazarea Andrews's new book last week, and now you can get it. It's an awesome romance for lovers of Beauty & the Beast.

On Amazon

Here's the description:

Sabah always knew where she belonged—with Berg—and what was expected of her—to care for the other children the Mistress took in.

But when a ban-wolf saves her life, things begin to change.

Arjun isn’t like the other ban-wolves, the savage creatures that are barely human. He’s gentle and furious and as Sabah spends time with him, she can’t seem to get him out of her mind. But in a world of darkness, control, and danger, is there a place for two outcasts?

Edge of the Falls is a romantic retelling of Beauty and the Beast in a dark dystopia.

Here's the link to get it on Amazon.

Nazarea's also having loads of fun giveaways and contests on her blog (link), including things like query critiques and chapter critiques! Check it out!

Fun times.

Enjoy, and have a super weekend, reader- and writer-friends~ <3

Not Resolutions

Happy New Year's Eve, guys!

Resolutions? I don't do 'em. Not because I think I'm so great or I don't need to change. And not because I don't think resolutions are good. I think whatever motivates people to change is valuable.

It's just if I identify something in my life that needs to change, or something I need to do, I don't wait. I change it right then.

Okay, sometimes I'll wait for a Monday if it's like an exercise program... or an "eat less chocolate" program. (I need a last hurrah. I'm from the land of Mardi Gras, after all.)

Last January, Sheri Larsen (link) challenged some writer-friends (me included) to make a 2012 "Rebel Writer's Pledge." (It wasn't called a resolution, but, yeah, it was the same thing.)

I pledged to take my writing career more seriously. To treat it like a business.

One year ago, I'd written four books and had three works in progress (WIPs). I had an agent who was sending my book Rouge (link) to publishers, I had The Truth About Faking (link) waiting in the wings to be subbed next.

By outward appearances, I was taking my writing career seriously. Right?

Actually, I was being passive. I was letting other people make the big decisions for me. I wasn't doing my own homework. I wasn't researching how the marketplace was changing or reading the "weather report" of what was coming.

In 2012, Fifty Shades of Grey changed everything. Some argue Hugh Howie really changed everything... From where I'm sitting, I think the two can be rolled into one big change: Traditional publishers lost their domination of the marketplace.

I haven't read FSoG. I know I'm the last person on the planet, and I could give you a whole bunch of reasons why... I'm a slow reader. There are so many books I really want to read. Honestly, I just don't care enough about it.

When my former, Big 6 publisher bought Rouge, however, I kept hearing how "in this post-Fifty Shades of Grey reading environment..." I seriously needed to consider making big changes to my book. As in big, sexy changes. And lots of them.

I disagreed.

Get me

We had a friendly rapport, but we disagreed about several things, and ultimately when I asked to be released from my contract pre-publication, they agreed to let me go.

Several months before, I had parted ways with my agent.

September changed everything for me. I self-published The Truth About Faking not expecting much to happen. Every traditional publisher passed on it. One said it was "too Christian" for their imprint.

I don't write Christian books, but TTAF is a story about characters living in a small town, some of whom have religious beliefs about which they feel strongly... I just think that's reality.

Anyway, in two months, it sold five thousand copies. At this point, it's sold more than 10K.

Rouge is not Christian. It's dark, and terrible stuff happens. It's about survival and being brave and making hard choices. Choices I probably couldn't make. I'd like to think I could make them, but I don't know.

It's sold less than 500 copies. Maybe my old publisher was right, and I should've made it erotica. Sex sells, right? Maybe it's just a slow starter, and the buzz is still building for it.

I don't know.

What I do know is it's mine, and I can take my time with it. Decide what to focus on next, and keep my stories true to the way they come to me.

So here we are, going into 2013, I've got four big things on tap:

#1-I've agreed to work with literary agent Eric Myers on my YA science fiction novel 21 Days. He'll be subbing it starting this month.

#2-I'm finishing up revisions to The Truth About Letting Go and plan to release it in February.

Get me

Letting Go is a companion novel to Faking. I started writing it in 2010 and never finished it. But after several requests for a sequel to Faking, I pulled it out of the drawer. Early feedback is very positive, and I'm excited to share it with you guys!

#3-Amazon has taken over their Breakthrough Novel Award competition. I'm going to enter. Let me know if you're doing the same, and we can cheer each other along!

#4-I'll be finishing the sequel to Rouge. My goal is to have it out in May.

So there you go. Not resolutions, necessarily. More of me taking this writing career seriously.

What are you guys doing? Making resolutions? Pledges? Maybe just planning like me?

Whatever you do, here's wishing you all the best of luck in 2013, reader- and writer-friends! Have a super week and an even better year~ <3
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