Review: Prince of Thorns & Write Club

Well. I'm off to a much better start this month, having finished book number 2, leaving me only one more book to read this month in order comply with my resolution to read three books every month.

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, is the first book in the Broken Empire Series and I chose it because I needed a good fantasy to read. I will say I was a little surprised by the main character, Jorg, who was decidedly unlikable, and yet...I kept rooting for him.

As the story begins, we are with Prince Jorg of Ancrath and his merry band of cut throats who have cut a swathe of destruction and death across the lands. Jorg is at first an unsympathetic character, too young to be so cruel, until we discover why. At the age of nine he witnessed the killing of his mother and younger brother by Count Renar's men. Now, five years later, he's ready to have his revenge.

What I liked about this book was the author's ability to make me root for Jorg, who went about killing without the least bit of remorse, even for the innocent. It helped that Jorg's father and his necromancer were worse though it takes a while before we meet them. Still, I liked the book a  lot and my only complaint would be that Jorg is a little too lucky sometimes. I would give this book four stars and I will probably read the next book in the series.

In other news, WriteClub is coming...

Query Con and a little promo for a friend

School's in Session at UnicornBell

I am one of the moderators at UnicornBell, a writer’s critique site. 

Last year we held a contest called School’s in Session, or Query Con. Editors judged the final products.

N.W. Harris participated with his query for Joshua's Tree. He received a contract and is now a published author. And *drum roll* came in first in the GoodReads 2013 Summer Reads. 

Well folks, we are doing it again. Query Con or School's in Session, 2013.

We currently have three judges ready to roll up their sleeves:

• Angela Kelly, editor Musa Publishing
• Victoria Lowes, agent The Bent Agency
• Andrew Buckley, editor Curiosity Quills

The plan:

• First week: Posts about building a successful query.
• Second week: A week of feedback on submissions
• Third week: Queries for finished/polished manuscripts only.

Highlights:

• Week One: The Man Who Needs No Hyperlink (but here it is anyway), Alex J. Cavanaugh, our Ninja Captain, will give us insight into his career as writer and musician. 
• Week Two: Anyone can submit their query for review.
• Week Three: Only queries (20) for completed manuscripts, please. Our judges will give their opinion on what works for them and why. They may even ask for more pages.

We are capping the total completed/polished queries at 20 for our judges. 

 

 

 

And this released yesterday from my friend and crit partner, Carol aka Huntress aka CD Coffelt. She's my fellow UB moderator and the founder. I'm pretty psyched for her :)

Have a fabulous weekend - next week I have something fun planned for Labor Day, first impressions on Wednesday and Friday, and the week after I'll tell you what I thought of Elyssium.

 

Write Club

Write Club is back and better than ever! DL over at Cruising Altitude is hosting Write Club for the third year and it should be a lot of fun so click on the button and check it out - maybe I'll be reading one of your submissions over there :)

Did you self-publish your book?

If you did, you could win:

• $3000 in cash
• National exposure for your work
• The attention of prospective editors and publishers
• A paid trip to the Writer's Digest Conference in New York City! 

 These are the categories:

• Children's/Picture books
• Genre Fiction
• Inspirational (Spiritual, New Age)
• Life Stories (Biographies, Autobiographies, Family Histories, Memoirs)
• Mainstream/Literary Fiction
• Middle-Grade/Young Adult books
• Nonfiction
• Poetry
• Reference Books (Directories, Encyclopedias, Guide Books) 

 ENTER HERE

one two three

First check out this awesome post at Moody Writing which practically mimics the same points made in a recent Writer's Digest Magazine.

Second go over to Literary Rambles and comment to win a copy of Maggie Stiefvater's RAVEN BOYS. I know I want one.

And third, think about whether you'd like your first page critiqued by yours truly (that would me me) and Dianne Salerni, author of WE HEAR THE DEAD and THE CAGED GRAVES (release date: May 2013). We still have one open slot for November.

contest alert and and a Sanctum ARC

Care to get your first page read by an agent? Check this sweet contest out...

Don't you just love those pictures? Do they not look like a fun group to hang out with?

Or, maybe you just want to read a good book. If that's the case head over to Lydia Kang's blog where she interviewed Sara Fine, author of SANCTUM, which will be released  on October 16th. You could win an ARC.

Sheri's absolutely huge give away

As many of you probably know by now, Sheri from Writer's Ally has signed with Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary. She's so psyched about it she's inviting everyone to celebrate which means...you guessed it, a massive give away! The give away consists of the following:

•  two separate Rafflecopters with multiple giveaways 
• and one grand prize Rafflecopter giveaway - to enter for the grand prize, you must enter either giveaway #1, #2, or both. 

There's only one mandatory entry. Everything else is up to you!!  The giveaway is open until September 27th. WINNERS will be announced on September 28th. (Entrants may win more than one prize!)

List of Rocking Participants: Lenny Lee, Colene Murphy, LM Preston, Darby Karchut, Joanne Brothwell, Patti Larsen, Christine Fonseca, Catherine Stine, Jessica Bell, Kelly Hashway, Leigh Moore, Christine Danek, Alex Cavanaugh, Katie Mills, Matthew MacNish, Beverly McClure, Marcy Hatch, Jennifer Million, Nicole Zoltack, Christina Lee, Kris Yankee, JL Spelbring, Sharon Mayhew, Candice Granger, Dianne Salerni, Lisa & Laura Roecker, Elana Johnson, Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, Susan Kaye Quinn, Lydia Kang, Julie Musil, Natalie Agurrie, Talli Roland, Medeia Sharif, Kelly Polark, Angela Brown, Sarah Fine, Stina Lindenblatt, Lynda Young, Susan Fields, PK Hrezo, Shannon O'Donnell, Shelli Johannes-Wells, Theresa Brown Milstein.

And the answer is ...

I know. This totally dates me. But frakk it. I don't care. I liked this move. It was funny. And it's still funny - if dated. And if you ever saw it you might remember when johnny five says the line about "questions, queries, and posers..." Not to mention the hilarious line when Fisher Stevens' character says, "I'm sporting a tremendous ..."

But nevermind that, the real reason you're here is to find out who the heck won this week's price in the great give away.

This week's winner is Susan who you can find here. I don't know what she wants but on Friday I'll let you know what she chose as a prize and what's left. Meanwhile, I'm reading THE GIVER by Lois Lowry.
Very interesting. Old school.

What old school/classic have you read recently?

what's up in the blogosphere

A few things. One is this ...

a nifty little contest hosted by Unicorn Bell, the other blog I belong to. It starts next week and if you have a finished manuscript that's ready to send out in the world maybe you'll check it out. There will be a ton of posts about the entire query process from writing it to finding the perfect agent to send it to. Not to mention the editor judging at the end in which you could win a request from one of the wonderful publishers we've recruited.

Two is The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment, where Matt MacNish critiques queries in expert fashion (hint, hint, for those participating in the aforementioned). Yesterday was the query BEFORE Matt got out his red pen. Today is the after. By the way, he's really good at this.

Three, if you like contests, is this one: Aspiring Writers Competition with The Reading Room where you can win $1,000 for the first 450 words of your middle grade or young adult novel.

And last but not least is a question - because I know you're all dying to comment in order to win one the fabulous prizes being offered in the great give away and this will give you a reason:

What book would you like to see made into a movie? Who would you cast as the lead character(s)?

I'd like to see In the Garden of Iden made into a movie and I imagine Juliana Margulies (as she appears in this pic) as the botonist, Mendoza. In Kage Baker's debut novel, set in the 24th century, the Company recruits orphans from the past, renders them all but immortal, and trains them to preserve works of art and extinct forms of life (for profit of course). One of these is Mendoza the botanist who is sent to Elizabethan England to collect samples from the garden of Sir Walter Iden. While there, she meets and falls in love with Nicholas Harpole, who is secretly Protestant at a time when Queen Mary and Philip of Spain are on a Catholicizing rampage. Mendoza knows Nicholas is probably doomed but love has a tendency to make people do desperate things...

Write Club

I'm in. Are you?

I had a lot of fun with this the last time DL did it and while I got knocked out quite quickly it was awesome reading all the other entries, many of which were very hard to choose between. Write Club is also bigger and better this time around so check it out.

Think you're ready to query?

If so, Unicorn Bell is devoting most of August to queries: how to's, examples, workshops and the query process in general. The last week of August we will have three wonderful guest judges reading all polished queries for FINISHED manuscripts.

Krystal Wade from Curiosity Quills
Nancy Bell from MuseItUp Publishing
Amy Lichtenhan SapphireStar Publishing

presents -again!

Today is the day I announce the winners to my 200 follower contest...

But I decided to do something completely different, cuz yeah, it's my blog and I can do whatever I want, more or less. Sort of like how when you're an adult you can have whatever you want for breakfast, like cake, pizza, ice cream, nothing, whatever. It's one of the perks.

Anyway, I've decided to give everyone who wanted to win the option of choosing their prize, either a first chapter, a first page, or a query critique. That's you Leslie, Kim, Susan, Jem, Tara, Karen, Charity, Old Kitty, L'Aussie, Elaine, Prerna, Ella, and Sarah. I'll be emailing you all if I haven't already. And for anyone who didn't want to win feel free to change your mind; I love new reading material :)

THANK YOU AND HAVE A HAPPY MONDAY! HERE'S SOMETHING I FOUND THAT MIGHT MAKE YOU SMILE.

Hooked

 Interested in winning this book?

Go here

From Amazon: "The road to rejection is paved with bad beginnings. Agents and editors agree: Improper story beginnings are the single biggest barrier to publication. Why? If a novel or short story has a bad beginning, then no one will keep reading. It's just that simple.

In Hooked, you'll find:

• Detailed instruction on how to develop your inciting incident
  
• Keys for creating a cohesive story-worthy problem
  
• Tips on how to avoid common opening gaffes like overusing backstory
  
• A rundown on basics such as opening scene length and transitions
  
• A comprehensive analysis of more than twenty great opening lines from novels and short stories

Plus, you'll discover exclusive insider advice from agents and acquiring editors on what they look for in a strong opening. With Hooked, you'll have all the information you need to craft a compelling beginning that lays the foundation for an irresistible story!"

presents

ok, so I've had a few contests before, none of which have gone very well. Nevertheless, because I'm a glutton for punishment, I'm going to hold another one to celebrate my 200th follower (who I hope will arrive some time this month). Yay you! and everyone else who stops by and comments from time to time. I love seeing you and reading what you wrote and checking out your blogs. So I'm giving back and the prizes are easy to win. All you have to do is comment and be a follower. Everyone gets one entry and I'll pick three names out of a hat at the end of the month. Just make sure I can contact you :)

The prizes: ONE a first chapter critique, TWO a first page critique, and THREE a query critique. ANYONE who comments and asks for one can have a bookmark designed by either myself or the son.

yay! we have another winner!

From Charity:

Sedalia lay curled up on the hard ground, shivering from the cold. The darkness surrounded her, but the sky to the east turned a softer gray as she watched.

She wiped at the tears and then her nose. Part of her wanted to stay in the dark forever. She would be closer to him in the dark. But the sky continued to lighten and her heart followed suit. Rolling to her back, she watched the salmon colored glow move upward. The clouds scattered to reveal the blue white of a new day.

He might be gone, but the sun still rose each day. And for now that was enough.

I also really enjoyed this one from Michael:

After a long, breezy stroll on the beach, Gabrielle sunk down into the damp, wet sand to stare at the oncoming sunset. So many images played through her mind. The man she had all intentions of marrying proposed to another girl.

"How could I be so stupid? My best friend no less," escaped from her parched lips.

She closed her eyes hoping, praying to forget. 


Thanks guys :)

second chance

Sadly there was only one entry for my creative challenge. But that one entry was an awesome one and I thank the Book Breather. Her prize, The Clockwork Angel, is on it's way to her along with a lovely bookmark made by yours truly. But because it occurred to me folks might have been busy on Labor Day doing nothing I've decided to give everyone a second chance to win. The two books remaining are The Monstrumologist and The Magicians. All you have to do is be a follower and write something about this picture:

Meanwhile I've been working hard on my revisions for The Way to Dendara, having cut nearly 20,000 words to date, as well as change my first person POV chapters to third person - no easy task let me tell you. I've also found a new toy which may or may not turn into something interesting. It's hard to tell. I've found so many toys over the years and they seem so pretty and shiny at first but then ...something happens. I lose interest or they just don't work right and eventually they end up in a file, unfinished. Oh well.

So what are you doing? Working on? Care to enter my little creative challenge and tell me something about the picture above? Want to win a book plus an oh so fabulous bookmark AND stretch your creative muscles all at the same time? C'mon! It'll be fun :)

The Bookbreather

The BookBreather offered this in response to the picture:



A tight knot formed in the pit of my belly as I looked up. The sky had turned a doleful gray that seemed to mock me. Rain was on the way.

"Mason," I called out, the word coming out shaky.

The reply was distant. He must have been on the other side of the boat. "Yeah, babe?"

"How much longer until we reach the island?" I hated myself for sounding so scared. I'd already taken down a vindictive faerie king and nursed a dying and unstable werewolf to health. The prospect of a bad storm should not have caused my heart to thump wildly behind my ribcage, should not have been giving me wobbly legs.

But i wasn't the rain that frightened me. I'd read the books. I could practically see it already: Two teenagers on a boat in the middle of the ocean, on their way to a mysterious island, when all of a sudden ominous lightning illuminates the night sky and the rain begins to fall, pounding against their skin, obstructing their vision. They crash into a rock and the boat begins to fill with water. The girl screams, high and peircing, and then throws herself into the cold and dark water. She flails and calls for the guy's help, because - duh! - she forgot that she has no idea how to fricking swim. The guy doesn't come to her rescue, so eventually her hand bangs into something that fell off of their boat, and she grabs onto it for dear life, clinging to it as she struggles to tame her ragged breathing. Finally, she looks around. The boy is nowhere in sight! She cries out for him, but he doesn't surface. Then, she sees his pale, lifeless body floating down, down, down into the vast depths of the ocean...

Oh God. A hysterical sob flew from my mouth and I tried to do what my therapist had taught me. Take a deep breath, count to three, then release it.. I only got to two before I felt a light hand rest on my waist. I squealed and jumped about five feet, nearly pitching myself overboard.

Mason's deep laugh wrapped around me and I felt my pulse simmer down. For a second.

"That's not funny," I said, my voice sharp. "You could have given me a heart attack!"

He laughed again and I was extremely tempted to try out that ninja move I had learned in the eighth grade where I flip someone over my shoulder. I thought about it for a second longer, though, and decided against it because I sort of loved him and he was much more fun to kiss when he wasn't groaning in pain.

Instead, I turned to him and narrowed my eyes. "I hate you." It was difficult to remain angry when I looked at his incredible face. Bright blue eyes and, my God, that smile. I could already feel the anger flitting away from me.

Mason's grin widened, revealing a set of impossibly perfect teeth. Why was he so fabulous? "Would you calm down, Molls? Have a little faith in me. I told you we'd make it just fine, and I mean it."

"But the rain--"

"Molly, please. Don't do this." He brought his hands up and cradled my face in them. His thumb lightly traced my lips. "We'll be fine."

The tension immediately began to melt off of me, like ice cream dripping down a cone on a summer day. If he said we were going to be fine, who was I to argue? "I'm sorry I'm so crazy."

"I like it. Makes me feel a whole lot more sane." He smiled, tender and delicious, then brought his lips to mine. I was pretty sure that if I died right then and there, it would be o-freaking-kay. The feel of his lips, warm and expertly moving against mine...Well, I was already in heaven..

Then there was an earsplitting crash and the boat lurched, sending Mason and I hurtling toward the deck. I hadn't managed to disentangle my hands from Mason's hair in time to catch my fall. My head banged against the metal of the boat with a sickening thunk! There was a moment of sharp agonizing pain before my vision began to blur and I lost sight of the world around me.

The blackness swallowed me.

a creative challenge

Ok, so here's the creative challenge, a little writing exercise that I hope will be fun and offer you a chance to win one of those books along with a a wicked cool book mark (see right below the pic of the books up for grabs).

See the picture below? I want you to write whatever comes into your head, fiction, non-fiction, an essay, a memory, a description, whatever comes to mind. Just write it down. Then post it in the comments, say 200-500 words max. That's all you have to do in order to win a book - oh, and be a follower. Winners will be chosen randomly from ALL comments, no matter where in the world you live. Yup. That's right. I WILL ship overseas if you want to play.

Here's the picture:

Now go write. 

a reminder

Don't forget about my creative challenge contest in which you - yes you! -  could win one of these fabulous books:

Along with one of these bookmarks:

minus the stupid black line I couldn't get rid of...grr.

On Monday I'll post the challenge - which is really more of a writing exercise - and all you have to do is be a follower and comment. Oh, and tell me what book you want. I'll pick a random winner from all the comments I receive on that particular post. There will be two more chances to win on September 12 and 26. And yes, this is an international contest. So get your muse out and come play :)

find me

here.

Yep. Today's one of those days when I'm trying to be two places at once and it's not working out so well. But you still might enjoy my post over at unicorn bell. It's a crit of someone's first page/second chapter. I have two more this week if you're interested and I'm sure the authors would LOVE some comments.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking about my little contest and what sort of creative assignment I can come with. I do know the first three books I'll be giving away:

The Monstrumologist, which tells the tale of Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a doctor with a most unusual specialty: monster hunting.
The Magicians, an enthralling coming-of-age tale about magic practiced in the real world-where good and evil aren't black and white, and power comes at a terrible price.
and Clockwork Angel, the story of Tessa, who goes looking for her brother but discovers she has the power to transform into anyone else - living or dead. 


I'm also going to try to include with each book a fabulous bookmark made, not by yours truly, but by the son, who in addition to taking amazing pictures, made me a pretty cool bookmark. Trust me, it rocks.