MuseItUp Publishing is hosting a Christmas in July Hunt from July 9 - 23, 2012. DETAILS: All you have to do is visit the participating authors websites/blogs (AUTHOR LINKS POSTED BELOW EACH COVER) and locate the hidden christmas tree in each of their sites. Then send me an email to: publisher AT museituppublishing DOT com *with the 15 authors' links where their trees were hidden (EX. AUTHOR'S PAGE, REVIEWS PAGE, BIO PAGE, ETC.) *and your name DURATION: Begins on July 9 and ends July 23...no exceptions. PRIZES: click on covers for more ebook details Package One: a $25.00 gift certificate to MuseItUp Publishing's bookstore Package Two: 10 EBOOKS Package Three: 8 EBOOKS Continue reading →

Awhile back I watched a great documentary about Dragons on the History Channel. It was different because it explored the scientific and historical findings that lead through civilizations. From Mesopotamia, Babylon, Egypt, Carthage, Scandinavia, China and Japan through the Middle Ages, across the ocean into Mexico with the Olmecs and Aztecs who performed human sacrifice to appease their dragon deity to Native North Americans and present day, the basic concept of the dragon has endured throughout millennia. The first evidence of dragons appeared in Mesopotamia 6000 years ago when the first written records were made. In this myth a good dragon, Marduk, slays the evil dragon, Tiamat, and uses the carcass to create all of the elements necessary for creation of the world. The question is why a dragon? Where did this concept originate? Why not a bear or wolf? Continue reading →

Well, the wedding is over and I survived--sort of. It's funny how lethargic and directionless I feel. It's been difficult forcing myself to do basic household chores. I feel as though a huge hole has opened up in my life and I can't find a way around it. This isn't because my daughter is married. She's been away at school for two years. I think it stems from the lack of a goal or deadline. I seem to function best under pressure of a deadline. After fourteen years of teaching that probably began to feel second nature and now I need that driving force to propel me forward at all. I also really missed writing and blogging during the past several months. But when I tried, all I could think about was what needed doing for the wedding or reception. In case you're confused, check out my blog at Robins in the Spring, Pecans in the Fall where I'm posting photos and blogging about the experience. Once most everything was made, ordered, organized, etc. I began to have some free time so a new Middle Grade series grew in my noggin. Since I couldn't concentrate on the actual planning of it, I began drawing the characters. This actually gives my mind time to work out the plot, the who-done-its and why, the main characters and sub-characters, settings, etc. Continue reading →

Young Chance N. Counter thought her life was nothing more than a series of meaningless, random events. But when she finds some crinkly yellow pages from an old book, with the same drawing of a shadowy door in each one, this all suddenly changes. Pages in hand, and armed with only a flashlight, Chance finds one of the shadowy portals and steps into the place between night and day... it is the place where nightmares and fairytales and creatures that go bump in the night were created. It is the place of lore and legend and dreams, and the place where the Shadow King reigns supreme. But to leave, Chance, along with a new ally (who happens to be a talking fox) must summon all of her courage and use all of her wit to travel through this bizarre world and find her way home. Continue reading →

Sorry!!!!!
Some men have trouble getting an erection in the first place, while others have difficulty keeping one. And these problems may occur frequently or just occasionally.!!uk generic!..
Bye.
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Very impressive giveaway, Rebecca! You are on a roll. Congratulations.

Howdy readers! You made it through the month of May's Summer Teen Reading Party. On this posting you will have the opportunity to read Chapter 3 from Odessa, Book One Seraphym Wars Series. Afterward, comment about the excerpt and be entered in my Grand Giveaway. Continue reading →

Kim – I love that your book is set somewhere so interesting. You must have done a lot of research. It sounds great.Good luck!
Rebecca – Your page is so chock-full of stuff I got lost! lol It was fascinating to see you had 53 visitors from Egypt (and 1 is me). Go you!

In Searching for a Starry Night, Samantha Ann Carlton would rather spend her summer vacation anywhere but a spooky old house in Wisconsin…like Lake Geneva! Somehow Sam knows it's going to take more than a few days to find a missing painting no bigger than her hand. Maybe things won't be so bad, she thinks, since she gets to take a friend's lovable but mischievous Dachshund, Petey, and her best friend Lita. If they're lucky, the three of them can find the miniature replica of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and help Sam's mother get it to the museum where it belongs. It's not going to be easy, Sam realizes, when she discovers her own family has some spooky secrets. Then Petey digs up an ancient curse, and Sam fears her friendship with Lita is doomed... Will they find the miniature masterpiece in time? Will Sam and Lita go home friends -- or enemies? Continue reading →

Fifteen-year-old Lupe Hernandez dismisses the legend about her Mexican grandmother's magical earrings as a silly fairytale, despite recurring nightmares of human sacrifice. But when the earrings thrust her into the parallel world of Ixtumea, she must confront the very thing she shuns the most -- her cultural heritage. Continue reading →

Thank you! Good luck! If you want some help with your blurb, I’d be more than willing to help out.

You can contact me at emerald_barnes (at) yahoo (dot) com

Great post. I’m just getting started on this self-publishing adventure, so these are all questions I’m trying to answer right now. I’m especially struggling with writing a good blurb.

I think my target audience is YAs between 14 to 18 years old who enjoy character driven fantasy stories.

Welcome Emerald Barnes, author of Read Me Dead and Piercing Through the Darkness Knowing Your Audience I’m a YA writer. At least that’s what I thought. What I’ve discovered about my writing is that I write cross-over. Boy was I surprised to learn this! I’m a YA suspense/thriller author. And even though, I write YA fiction, I have found that a lot of adults read my writing, more so than YAs. That’s fine with me. I’ve had some young adults who told me they loved my book, and I’ve had some adults tell me they love my books. My characters tend to be 17 and older, so I think that is who my audience generally is. Then again, younger or older people can relate to my characters as well. Cross-over. And I’m here to tell you, that’s not a bad thing! Hello – a larger audience. Something to be excited about. Continue reading →

Thanks so much Rebecca for having me on your blog today AND for guesting on my blog as well! Love your excerpts.

Swoop Saves the Cookie Lady Now I don’t like humans. Overall, they’re not a good thing for fairies. Overall, they’re dangerous for fairies. Overall, they’re fatal for fairies. Yeah, sure, we fairies live in the attic of a shopping mall that is full of humans, but they don’t know we’re here. If they manage to spot us, they think we’re birds or, ugh, bats. And that includes the Cookie Lady. We sure know the Cookie Lady exists, though. Her store in the mall’s Food Court is our favorite. Or it was. A couple of weeks ago, a sign showed up in her window saying the Cookie Lady would close soon. Us fairies panicked. No more snickerdoodles (my favorite), chocolate toffee squares or even the chocolate peanut butter no bake oatmeal cookies? Unthinkable. So I snuck into the air conditioning vent to spy. And while almost freezing to death, I discovered that the Cookie Lady’s sales had fallen way off. The stupid humans had gotten bored with her selection. Who could get bored with snickerdoodles? Continue reading →

The goddess sounds very intriguing. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for inviting Cailleach to visit. She’s not an easy guest, considering she might want to boil you for dinner.

Kat expects to have a great time on her graduation trip to Stonehenge. However, from the moment she leaves the witches’ arctic island, Galdorheim, she gets in nothing but trouble. Her younger half-brother tries to horn in on her trip, she gets lost in the magical Otherworld realm, is led astray by a supposed friend, then she has to confront a Scottish goddess who’s fallen on hard times. While dodging the goddess’ minions and trying to find her way out of the Otherworld, Kat soon learns she shouldn’t underestimate the old has-been for one second; the crone still has a few tricks that can drain a witch’s magic in a flash. To make matters worse, Kat's brother secretly followed her into the Otherworld. Now he’s in danger too. Kat has to go one on one with the goddess to save herself and her brother. Continue reading →

Rebecca, thank you so much for hosting me for the Summer Teen Reading Party.

Carolyn Samuels is obsessed with the idea of being popular. She is convinced that the only thing keeping her from happiness is her too heavy for fashion body and not being a cheerleader. Hyperventilating when she gets nervous doesn’t help. When she is paired for a math project with the girl who tormented her in middle school, Jennifer Taylor, she is sure it is going to be another year of pain. With Carolyn’s crush on Jennifer’s hunky junior quarterback, Brad her freshman year in high school looks like a rerun of middle school. When Jennifer is the only student who knows why she fell in gym class, Carolyn is blackmailed into doing her math homework in return for Jennifer’s silence. Jennifer takes on Carolyn as a pity project since she can’t be seen with someone who dresses in jeans and sweatshirts. When Jennifer invites Carolyn to spend the night to make her over and teach her to tumble, Carolyn learns Jennifer’s secret and lies to her own friends to cover it up. Will Carolyn become a cheerleader and popular? Does she continue to keep Jennifer’s secret? Or will she be a target of this mean girl again? Continue reading →

These sound like great adventure stories! Thanks for posting about them.

“Yes, Gesach, we have what we’ve been searching for. And as we agreed, you can have the phylactery.” Sir Angelo reached for the prized container. He stopped. “Then again, Gesach, you know my walk, you know my beliefs. You despise my kind more than any other being walking the face of Nanthara. Your evil cannot be allowed to thrive. And if a Temple Sovereign knight ever has the ability to rid the world of such a demon as you, they will do so.” Sir Angelo stepped back next to Dreg, the paladin’s eyes lowered, his teeth clenched. “Enough!” Gesach said, his voice grating through the air like hot coals sizzling in water. “Such debauchery from one whose walk is supposed to be pure shows how tainted your heart truly is. Your righteous blood runs thick with refuse.”nched. “I have that ability.” Gesach arched his head backward in a partial tilt as another cackle left his decayed throat. “Too bad you have come all this way to die and never enjoy the treasure you have sought!” Continue reading →

Thanks for having me on your site today Rebecca! I am having lots of fun with the Summer Teen Reading Party and I am so excited about this month long event! We’ve got lots of great books and authors there – many for $1.99 or less. I hope everyone visits! Make sure to read the rest of this post to find out how you can enter to win a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card! Continue reading →

Nick stared at the mini-CD. It gleamed under the streetlights. Only the dying American pilot could have slipped it into his pocket. . . . After running to the scene of a plane crash in Abu Dhabi, Nick Chevalier stumbles across classified military secrets. A ruthless terrorist will stop at nothing to get them. As Nick investigates the cover-up behind the downed plane, he crosses paths with an agent from a covert espionage agency and makes the leap from high school senior to teen spy. But he realizes too late that he put more than his own life at risk—his mother and sister are also in danger. Does he have what it takes to outwit a terrorist who wants him dead and save the two people he loves? Continue reading →

As part of the Summer Teen Reading Party, please welcome author Penny Estelle who will tell us about her Middle Grade book, Hike Up Devil’s Mountain.

Hi Everybody.  I would like to thank Rebecca for letting me visit with her today on her blog.  I have brought a few guests along with me and I would like to take this time to introduce them.  Andy Thompson, Danny Crew, and Jason Crew.  These three boys have quite a story to tell about a place called Devil’s Mountain.

So Andy, let me start with you.  How did this whole thing start?

Well, I went to a house that was supposed to be demolished the next day.  I kinda disobeyed my mom and sorta broke into the basement.  I was pretty scared, but I found this really cool box!

Was there anything in it?

Yea.  When I finally got it open there was just this brown looking stick.  I was trying to figure out what it was when Jason and Danny happened along.  Well, Jason, over there, tried to take it from me and there was no way I was letting him have it.

Oh, give it up, Andy.  That stick would have been mine if you hadn’t blind-sided me from the left.

What?  None of this would have happened if you hadn’t acted like a bully, Jason.

Boys, please – people are listening.  Danny, we haven’t heard anything from you.

I have tried to put the whole thing out of my mind.  It was the scariest time I’ve ever had in my whole ten years.

Oh my, Danny, can we have some specifics?

Okay, first there was Jason, my brother, who was turned into…I can’t even say it out loud.  Then there was the flood.

Don’t forget the monster!

Yea, and the dragon!

Wow, boys, that sounds like quite an adventure.  So, Jason, all this started because you were a bully?

No…I wasn’t…if he…well, yea I guess so.  But let me tell you –almost getting killed at least five times, just climbing the mountain was nothing compared to what we found on top of Devil’s Mountain.  My bullying days are over.

Sounds like a thriller boys.  I want to thank you for telling us some of your story, plus a BIG thank you to Rebecca for having all of us!

Blurb from Hike Up Devil’s Mountain

Andy was peering into the biggest tunnel. Danny peeked in from the other side. A dull greenish light barely glowed in the inky blackness. It got brighter and the boys could hear a shuffling sound. The odor was overwhelming. “Something is coming!” Andy whispered in a panic. “Hide!”

Danny scooped up his brother and both boys dove behind the big gold rock, holding their breaths. Andy was afraid he was going to throw up as the shuffling got louder and the odor got stronger. He started to peek around the rock, but Danny grabbed his arm, shaking his head frantically back and forth.

Andy mouthed the words, “We have to see what it is.”

Danny swallowed and nodded okay.

Andy and Danny turned away from each other. Each one slowly peeked around his side of the rock. Emerging from the tunnel was a slimy, brownish-green, wormy-type lizard. It had a li