A CURSE OF ASH AND IRON and…the title

Okay, so now that I’ve been back from vacation for a bit, and sort of gotten my life all back in order again, I can return to my posts about CURSE. The book is still getting great reviews, even has some people talking about it on Goodreads. NINE HUNDRED people have added it to their Goodreads lists — To Be Read, or reviewed, or just read. That’s amazing to me! 900 people!

Anyway, the title. If anyone remembers, WAY back when it was a manuscript, it had another title. The original title was SMOKE AND MIRRORS. If you’ve read the book, you get why it was the title (although, I think I ended up taking out that direct reference before it went to print).

As so often happens in publishing, a title the author submits with is often NOT the title that ends up on the book. When my agent first sold it to Strange Chemistry, one of the editor’s requests was a title change. Apparently, some guy named Neil Gaiman had a book of short stories by the same name, and they wanted to avoid confusion…

Yeah.

My agent and I wracked our brains thinking of new titles. Things like MIDNIGHT and  MASQUERADE and all kinds of other crazy stuff. I think we had about a dozen rejected choices before I came up with the approved title. It started out as CURSED, which kind of reminds me of some kind of werewolf story or something. But in the end we got there. I actually like it better than the original, and it gives me something to build on for future novels of a SIMILAR nature *hint hint*

What do you all think? Like the title or no?

A CURSE OF ASH AND IRON — Cover reveal AT LAST!!!

The day has finally, FINALLY arrived! After the LONG journey this book has been on, it actually has a cover!! The day I got it i my email, a few weeks ago, I was SO excited to see it. It is everything I wanted, and more. YA Books Central was the first to reveal the cover, and you can visit the reveal post to enter my AWESOME giveaway.

At long last, and finally finally finally, here it is!

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Just a little more….

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Keep going….

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Ta da!

And the full wrap:

I am over the moon with happiness! All the blank images will be replaced with this STUNNING cover, and I can show everyone!

I also updated the Book Trailer to include the cover AND the release date!

Cover reveal teaser — A CURSE OF ASH AND IRON

We’re just a couple of days away from the BIG cover reveal! Today I thought I’d give you just a TINY teaser for the cover. It took awhile for me to choose a bit that wouldn’t give too much away but that was intriguing as well. Ready? Here you go…

That’s all you get until Tuesday! Watch YA Books Central’s blog on Tuesday, January 27th at NOON EST to see the rest and enter my giveaway for one of THREE posters of the cover art, signed by me! One hour after that, the cover will reveal here on my blog as well as a bunch of blogs around the blogosphere. I can’t WAIT to post it on Goodreads and get rid or that blank book!

If you want to be a part of the reveal, today’s the last day to sign up, which you can do on this simple form: http://tinyurl.com/qfnr4ng

Thanks, lovelies! See you Tuesday!

Cover reveal: Help!

So now one cover reveal is done (and it is awesome!), I need to prepare for the next. Yes, the cover for A CURSE OF ASH AND IRON is done!! And it is spectacular, to be honest. I jumped up and down when I saw it. I want to make a BIG deal of the reveal, celebrate it right.

The cover reveal will happen on JANUARY 27th, at Young Adult Books Central, at noon EST.

What I need is people to share it after that — 1pm EST on that day. Bloggers, I need your help. If you’d like to be part of the fun, please fill out this form. It’s a simple Google doc. I will send you the cover and all the information you need no later than the day before the reveal. You’ll just have to copy and paste and publish. Easy. If you do, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $10 Amazon GC. (there will also be a link to the YABC reveal, because I’m having a giveaway there, too — which you will be eligible to enter as well!)

Thanks!!

Cover Reveal: Beware the Little White Rabbit!

It’s such an exciting time! I have BOTH my new covers now. TODAY I have the cover reveal from the Leap Books anthology, BEWARE THE LITTLE WHITE RABBIT, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  Here is the announcement:

Come Celebrate the 150^th Anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic,
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

Join Leap Books on this curious exploration of madness, tea parties,

Cheshire grins, moments of terror, fantastical settings, romance, and, of course, mayhem!

Our select group of talented authors are united by their passion for all things Alice and will delight you with their take on what really happened down the rabbit hole.

BEWARE THE LITTLE WHITE RABBIT releases on April 14, 2015.

Our menagerie of tale-spinners includes:

Laura Lascarso – Charlotte Bennardo – C. Lee McKenzie – Christine Norris – David Turnbull –

Jacqueline Horsfall – Medeia Sharif – Tom Luke – Jessica Bayliss – Crystal Schubert – Holly Odell –

Jennifer Moore – Liam Hogan

Here is the Gorgeous cover!!!

Beware…. (being an announcement)

Hallo, Lovelies!

I got an early holiday gift this week. I submitted a short story, called The Watchmaker’s Ball, to Leap Books for consideration in their upcoming anthology, Beware the Little White Rabbit.  The anthology is being put together in honor of the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which is next year.

I have never considered myself a strong short story writer. I write long. REALLY LONG, usually. But I wanted to give it a go. And I made it, just under the word count (6,000 words) and just on deadline. I never thought the story would get in, because there were SO many submissions, from around the world.

And I am not a short story writer.

The story I wrote, The Watchmaker’s Ball, is a twisted, steampunk take on the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party I connected it to A Curse of Ash and Iron, in a tangential way. I figured that if it was rejected, I would expand it and make it a novella and maybe sell it for .99 or give it away as a bonus to the novel.

But I don’t have to do that.

Because it was ACCEPTED. I’m IN, baby! I can hardly believe it. I had to read the letter three times to make sure.

Beware the Little White Rabbit will release in April, 2015. I have no idea who else is in or what their stories are about (except white rabbits and Alice). But the OFFICIAL announcement will come from Leap Books on December 31, along with the cover reveal.

Speaking of which… I am pretty sure the cover for A Curse of Ash and Iron will be done soon. I am working on setting up a cover reveal and such, probably around the end of January. No definite release date yet, but I assume I will have one sooner rather than later.

This Spring is going to be AWESOME.

The big announcement–take two!! Vlog!

We’ve gotten the go ahead to let everyone know what’s going on with A CURSE OF ASH AND IRON, the book that is like a phoenix and has risen from the ashes. 

I promised a video, and here it is. *blows kisses* 

 

A Moment of Silence…and moving on.

Today is the day. September 2. The day A Curse of Ash and Iron was supposed to release from Strange Chemistry. 

I look back and wonder how different my summer would have been if SC hadn’t folded. I would have been busy with blog tours and interviews and all kinds of other stuff. I wonder what the cover would have looked like. The summer would have been a whole lot different. My fall would have been different. I had a GREAT launch party idea in my head, and I had just started to make arrangements. 

So, a moment of silence for what could have been, please…

And now, moving on! 

I cannot yet give details, but I wanted to give a little hope to those who were so excited for the book to come out. A Curse of Ash and Iron  WILL be published!!! As soon as I can expand on that, I will. My agent and I worked hard on finding a FABULOUS new home for the book as soon as we could, so people wouldn’t forget about it. I’m super excited and can’t wait to share everything! The launch party WILL GO ON! There WILL be a cover reveal! And blog tours! And interviews, reviews and signings! All the things!

Meanwhile, it’s back to day-job work. My library was torn apart over the summer, and I have been working like a dog to put it all back together. I will be sporadic in posting (what’s new there, eh?) but will try and make sure that you get important information in a timely manner. Hopefully more videos! 

Until next time, my lovelies!

Christine

Video Blog: CONvergence and Curly Girl Week 1

Hey all! Here’s a video blog update, post CONvergence wrap-up, about book trailers, and results from week one of following the curly girl method. Enjoy!

 

Video Blog — Turning into a Curly Girl

I know, right? Two blogs in the same MONTH?? What is going on? It’s summer vacation! Here’s some of what’s goin’ on!