Winner of The Galaxy Games by Greg Fishbone!

The most important event in human history is here, in The Galaxy Games: The Challengers by Greg Fishbone! I promised to send off a copy to some lucky winner today, so let's find out who that is, shall we?

According to Random.org, the winner is...

Evan!!

Congratulations!! I'll send the book out to you asap.

For the rest of you, if you're still looking for a contest, I'm launching one tomorrow, and another this saturday. So stop by to enter!

Winner of the October Reading Challenge Giveaway!!

I'm up to 61 books, so six more than last month. *shrug* It's progress. :)

Anyway, it's time to announce the winner of these two books.

And that person is...

Margaret!!

Congratulations!! I'll get your books out to you asap. I'm launching next month's reading challenge contest tomorrow, so stay tuned! NOTE: There was some confusion, so I wanted to clarify something. You don't need to agree to read 100 books this year in order to enter this contest. You just need to read and review at least one book next month to enter. That's all. :)

Blog Tour: The Galaxy Games by Greg Fishbone

Today I'm interviewing Greg R. Fishbone, author of The Galaxy Games: The Challengers, a humorous middle-grade book about the most important event in human history, aliens, and sports. Greg is here to tell us a bit about his book as well as how his tour has been going.

Writer Musings: Welcome, Greg! How does it feel to be on the last day of a month-long blog tour?

Greg Fishbone: It's like finishing a marathon.

WM: How so?

GF: More like a sense of dragging myself across thefinish line, puking into a bush, and wanting to sleep for a week. Maybe the triumph will sink in later.

WM: Yes, that sounds understandable. You did 31 guest blog entries in 31 days--what were some of the highlights?

GF: There were some great essays and resources that will definitely find a permanent home on my website. The one I did about writing a sophomore outing for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations, the one about book trailers at Shevi Arnold's blog, and writing SF for young readers at DeborahJ. Ross. I enjoyed the conversation I had with Simon Haynes, live from Australia, and it was great to present materialfrom some deleted scenes that didn't make it into the book at Roots in Myth. I had a lot of fun this month.

WM: Sounds great! This is the first blogging you've done it awhile, isn't it?

GF: That's true. I had an author blog, in one form oranother, for about ten years until I gave it up earlier this year. The problemwas that whenever there was something newsworthy happening in my life, therewasn't time to write about it. But when I did have time to blog, I didn't haveanything much to say.

WM: Has this blog tour made you more or less likely to blog in the future?

GF: More likely. It had been just long enough that I'd started to miss having a virtual soapbox and megaphone, and it's helpful to reflect on things from time to time. Blogging every day isn't for me, but I'm excited to announce that I'm going to be blogging once a month as part of a newgroup blog called Read It and Laugh.

WM: Can you tell us what that's about?

GF: Myself and a bunch of fellow authors of humorousYA and Midgrade books will make you laugh until you cry, and then cry until you start laughing again. I call it the laugh-cry-laugh cycle, patent pending.

WM: What else is going on in the Great Galactic Blog Tour?

GF: The big contest ends today, and also there's the puzzle contest. This final piece is a huge key that should really help folks to put it all together.

WM: Very nice. Has this all helped you get word out about The Galaxy Games series?

GF: I like to think that every blog post was a pathfor people to find out more about the book. The tour as a whole should reallygive people a good idea of what I'm all about and what the book is all about,and hopefully that will make them want to pick up a copy of their own. Available in hardcover or ebook from stores everywhere!

WM: Thanks for visiting with us today,Greg!

GF: Thanks for hosting me, Tabitha.

To see more of what Greg is up to, check out his website at GFishbone.com. I will be announcing the winner of his book, The Galaxy Games, at the end of the day. So you have until then to get your last-minute entries in!

Winner of the October Book Giveaway!

Halloween is around the corner, which means October is almost gone. And it also means it's time to announce the winner of these two books.

 

And that winner is...

Maidenveil!!

Congratulations! I'll get your books out to you asap.

There's still the other contest going on until monday, so sign up for that if you haven't already. I'll be announcing more contests next week, so stay tuned!!

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil.
What a fabulous book!! I’ve been meaning to write this review for quite some time, but other things kept getting in the way. Now, I can finally sit down and do this book justice.

First off, I was skeptical when I picked it up. I’ve been burned (no pun intended) by angel books in the past, and was worried it was going to happen again. And, to be honest, the beginning didn’t pull me in right away. Sure, I liked that Willow knows how to fix cars. Okay, I really liked that. But it still didn’t pull me in. I kept going, though, because I’d heard intriguing things about this story and wanted to know more.

Once I learned about the angels and their part in the story, I could NOT put this book down. It’s so refreshingly unique. I’m looking forward to learning more about them.

The dynamic between Willow and Alex is very well done (the story is blessedly free of love triangles, in case anyone was wondering). I’m not usually a fan of dual points of view, but in this case it works. Both Willow and Alex struggle with their identities, which are a direct result of their heritage. Something every teen can connect to. Also, the strength of the angels is wonderfully illustrated through Beth. Actually, everything is shown so well through the characters. I had an easy time connecting both to them and, consequently, to the story.

I cannot wait for the next book, Angel Fire, to come out in the US. That’s saying a lot, because I’m not usually so excited about sequels. :) Definitely recommended.

A Bunch of Articles on the Submission Process

For those of you who liked the articles on plot I compiled into a pdf recently, I finished another one. This one contains of a bunch of articles I've written on this blog over the past three years. This one is on the the submission process.

• Attacking the pitch
• Writing the synopsis
• The query as a whole package
• What to do (and not do) with rejection
• Dealing with THE CALL

All of this is on my blog, of course, but if you'd like it in one single, handy document, you can download it here.

I'm slowly putting together the next document, and it's on character. So, if this sounds interesting to you, stay tuned... :) I'm planning to release it sometime next month. Ish.:)