WordPlay

Unbelievable!  The Coolness goes on and on! This week it’s something for everyone–ebook readers and hardcopy readers alike.

So guess what!  Backlist eBooks is having an “It’s Still the Season” Sale! So to all those hungry new e-reading devices, it’s feast time!  All formats, all DRM free.

With 25% off out-of-print books already priced low by the authors… Yeah, you bet I went shopping!

Anyway, it’s easy. It’s a coupon sale, and the directions are right on the sale page:

RIGHT HERE GO AND BUY BOOKS

See all mine? They’re all $2.99 books before the discount:

“Another trademark Durgin, full of realism, deft strokes of humour (and pop culture), plenty of sizzle, compassion, action, and a heroine you not only believe, you want to be. Grab this one.” –Julie Czerneda, Stratification series

“HIDDEN STEEL is a pulse-pounding suspense…Full of mystery and interesting characters, HIDDEN STEEL will grab readers from the beginning and is a book you don’t want to miss.”

–Jennifer Bishop, Romance Reviews Today

“I’ve been a Doranna Durgin fan for years, and she consistently delivers all the things I like in a book…she doesn’t disappoint in this, [MAKING THE RULES], either.” –Karen Gould, reader review

“The mystery and fantasy slowly draw together, bonded by supreme characterization, to make for a story which is almost impossible to put down.”

–Reviewers Bookwatch

There, see? Aren’t those nice?

What?

What do you mean, I’m biased? Surely not.

Besides, there are books by all THESE authors to choose from, too!

MYSTERY & SUSPENSE
Patricia Ryan
Deb Baker
Lorraine Bartlett/L.L. Bartlett
Lillian Stewart Carl
Libby Fischer Hellmann
Mary Ellen Hughes
Michael Allan Mallory
Maryann Miller
Terry Odell

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Julie Ortolon
Judith Arnold
Fran Baker
Pamela Burford
Marsha Canham
Christina Crooks
Lori Devoti
Patricia McLinn
Terry Odell
Kathryn Shay

HISTORICAL ROMANCE
Patricia Ryan
Marsha Canham
Melanie Jackson
Patricia McLinn
Laurin Wittig

PARANORMAL ROMANCE
Doranna Durgin
Lillian Stewart Carl
Lori Devoti

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
Doranna Durgin
Patricia Rosemoor

SF/FANTASY
Doranna Durgin
Lillian Stewart Carl
Jeffrey A. Carver

WOMEN’S FICTION
Patricia McLinn
Maryann Miller
Susanne O’Leary

*infomercial voice* But wait! There’s MORE!

That’s because I’ve got bookmarks on the way, and I’ll be mailing them out soon.  See?  There it is at under the book covers, front and back.

It’s terribly terribly hard to get one of these nice glossy, sturdy long-lasting beauties.  Are you ready?

Email me.

Okay, yeah.  Include your snail mail address. Until I perfect the “Beam me up Scotty” school of mail delivery, I’m sticking with envelopes and the USPS.  But the good thing is, once you get a bookmark, you’re on the list for any new goodies that come out, too!

Oh, happy sigh. It is a week of bookie goodness!

What do you mean, “I knew that?”

Hmph.

Think AKC performance tracking. The first test in the AKC line-up is the TD, or Tracking Dog, and that’s what we’ve been training for lately (in between the agility and random bits of obedience).

However, tracking tests aren’t held just anywhere. Not only do you need the terrain and permission to use it, you need two judges, several track layers, a plethora of savvy support folks, and the entries to support the cost and effort.

Here in New Mexico, there’s one TD test held per year.

An artsie view of the tracking training and test area (well, one spot along six miles of it)

Bonus pic! This is what we try to avoid. We try very hard. (I wear my riding half-chaps for a reason...)

ConneryBeagle: Tracking.  Me.  BAWH!

Not surprisingly, sometimes the tests fill and not everyone can enter.  And either way, they put in a lot of effort per dog.

So really, they don’t want you to enter until you’re ready.

ConneryBeagle: I am SO READY.  BAWH!

Me: Who are you looking at?

And all that is why one must certify as being ready in order to enter a test.  And certifying is basically running a less formal TD-worthy track (3-5 turns, 440-500 of the longest yards on earth) and finding the glove at the end with a judge who kindly agrees to do it.

ConneryBeagle: Me!  Test ME!  BAWH!

Me: *deep breathing exercises*

Me: You think I’m kidding.

Yesterday, with a belated family Christmas event looming, we struck out at dawn to do this thing.  A friend laid a quick starter track (short-n-sweet, high-reward) in a slightly different area, and Connery expressed enthusiasm about the whole adventure.

ConneryBeagle: I am BAWHSOME!  Let’s go!

Me: I think I feel sick.

We scooted back to where the track was aging, met the judge, and headed for the start flag.

ConneryBeagle: I see it!  I see the start flag!  Harness me!  BAWH!

Me: Yeah, I’m gonna throw up.

Juuuust getting started... It is Not Warm. (That's frost on the grass.)

Tracking is unlike anything I’ve done with Connery before, because only one of us has any idea where we’re going, and it sure isn’t me.  In both agility and obedience, he looks to me for guidance.  In tracking, he’s in charge.

ConneryBeagle: BAWHSOME ME!

Me: Can’t…breathe…

My job is a subtle balance of support and suggestion, and of very, very carefully not providing Connery with inadvertent miscues of movement.  I’m supposed to notice the subtle changes in his body posture, the quick flick of his nose to either side, and the change in the line tension, so I can say, through the line, “Are you sure?” until I think he is.

If I miss those subtle cues, then woe–I send those inadvertent misdirectionals, and we blow past turns or get tangled in scent pools.

Ask me how I know.

Otherwise, it’s my job to have confidence in my dog.

Out there in the middle of nowhere.

Busy here! Move along!

ConneryBeagle: Trackin’!  I’m trackin’!

Me: Seriously.  No longer breathing.  Now a zombie.  With no idea what I’m doing.  But the whistle would have blown if we were totally wrong so maybe…

ConneryBeagle: Turn here somewhere.  Must LOOK AROUND.  LOOKING!

Me: We’re lost!  We’re lost!  *brain squeaking noise*

ConneryBeagle: Nothing over here.  That means I can go back to the turn and I knew it was there ALL ALONG I just had to MAKE SURE it wasn’t MAGICALLY EVERYWHERE.

Me: *vision grows grey and sparkly*

ConneryBeagle: Look!  IT’S A GLOVE!

I'm SITTING beside the GLOVE for you, mymom!

SEE I TOLD YOU -- BAWH!

ConneryBeagle: BAWH!  BAWH!  BAWHSOME!  I AM BAWHSOME!

Me: You know what?  You really are!

It’s another week of fun stuff, which seems just about right for this time of year.  Not only do I have a new cover to share, but I am all about the glee because I have…

Drumrollllllllllllllll

A book trailer! For Storm of Reckoning!

1. Cover!  Cover!  Cover!  So excited! (Does it show?)

What do I like best, you ask? Garrie is perfect!  And doesn’t the river look spooky?  And look!  There’s Sklayne!

Wait, you mean I have to choose ONE best?

Nah.  Not gonna happen.

Deep River Reckoning is a novella set in my Reckoners world.  Stand-alone, and in a timeline that…well, call it wishful thinking.  It’s Garrie and Trevarr and Sklayne, and it’s the journey of a post-living woman [Garrie's words, those] striking close to home while living and dead clash over the mysteriously damaged spirits of the Rio Grande.

($1.49 ~Kindle ~Smashwords)

2. BOOK TRAILER! Storm of Reckoning!

Storm of Reckoning is the second book in the Reckoners series (the first aptly being titled Reckoners).

Lisa “Garrie” McGarrity is young woman once mentored by a ghost who now leads a ghostbuster team–all of whom are recently entangled with Trevarr, a fiercely driven demon-hunter from a different dimension.  After tumultuous adventures in San Jose, the team finds themselves much changed and struggling to adjust, while Trevarr returns to this world–and to Garrie–a battered exile.

But Garrie and her team don’t head for home; Quinn Rossiter has a lady friend in Sedona who needs their help.  There, in that area of power convergence, Garrie is astonished to find the ethereal breezes quiet, the earth’s activity so diminished as to be nonexistent…if you don’t count those oddball surges that don’t taste like our world at all.  Soon enough, Quinn’s skeptical friend soon goes missing…soon enough, their efforts to contain the situation go amazingly awry.

With Trevarr wary and alert, his opinionated not-cat bond partner dropping dire hints of trouble on their trail, Sedona ghosts rising to act out against Garrie wherever she goes, and one living Keharian ethereal breeze detector gone completely amuck and on the loose, she has only just so much time to figure out what’s going on before the power plays are too much even for this one-of-a-kind reckoner and her otherworldly partner.

You see?  CONTINUING COOLNESS!

PS The default place where the book trailer “hovers” between plays?  It’s not my fault!

I hardly even know where to start! We overflow with coolness today!

One totally cool thing: As of today, Hidden Steel has a new cover to match the style of the other two.

(It’s not up at Amazon/B&N yet, but never mind that!  It’s HERE!)

And look!  Here it is! Done by Pat Ryan, as were the first two, and very much in the vein of the first…just totally neatified.  If you clickie on the cover, there’s more info (on my yes-I’m-still-excited new web site!).

Meanwhile, the coolness rolls on! Because hey–we’re talking free Kindle here!   And I’m helping to give it away!

Here are the basics–and yes, you betcha, you’ll end up on newsletter mailing lists with your entry.  Me, I mail about four to five newsletters a year…don’t hold myself to any schedule, and try to make them full of total usefulness.  Of course, you can always opt-out.  But I kinda hope they’ll have their own coolness factor,  and maybe worth checking out.

*big blinkie eyes of hope*

Where were we…oh, the rules! And another CLICKIE to take you to the entry page!

• Entries will be accepted until December 31, 2010 (CST)
• Open to U.S. residents only; void where prohibited by law.
• One entry per household; IPs will be checked and duplicate entries voided.
• Only entries received through this website will be considered eligible.
• Mailing address must be included for entry to be complete and will be used only to send prize.
• Except as required by law, entrant information will not be shared with any third parties.
• Prize sponsors shall not be held responsible for technical failures in entry transmission.
• Entrants agree to be added to the mailing lists for the Kindle giveaway sponsors:

SPONSORS!
Alison Kent
Backlist Ebooks
Doranna Durgin
Julie Ortolon
Judith Arnold
Kathryn Shay
Lorna Barrett
Pamela Burford
Patricia Rice
Patricia Ryan

You know you want it.

Booksies.

Me, I’ve never been one for messing around with (cue thunderous music and monster truck announcer) BLAAAACK-FRIIII-DAAAA-AY-AY!

So never mind all that. Thanks to Smashwords, I have the Power of the Coupon.  All the e-reader formats, DRM-Free.

So if you’re looking forward to a weekend of guerilla shopping, have a fortifying treat of fiction.

Here’s how it goes:

Clickie the book links–they open in a new page.  Add ‘em to your cart.

Come back here and grab the codes, and apply them to the books in the cart.

Check out!

(Can you tell that I stocked up at Backlist eBooks during the sale last month?)

Making the Rules
Coupon Code SG64H
An orphaned Silhouette Bombshell original: Hunter Agency operatives Kimmer Reed and Rio Carlsen, overseas and cut off from the agency on their first assignment together, face an old enemy who wants it all: political terrorism, theft–and revenge. Not only that, she knows just how to get it–by turning their greatest strength into their greatest weakness: their love for one another.

Hidden Steel
Coupon Code YB88P
Originally an orphaned Silhouette Bombshell, published by Five Star Expressions. Who’d have thought that the woman who stumbles her way into Steve Spaneas’ gym, looking and acting so very much like a street person off her meds, is really a CIA case officer whose memory has been obliterated by experimental drugs used by some very bad people? And they want her back…

A Feral Darkness
Coupon Code QD852Z
Originally a Baen Book: As a child, dog-loving Brenna Fallon naívely invokes an ancient Celtic deity–and leaves an opening for a far more malevolent force. Years later, she depends on her wits, a persistent stranger, and a mysterious stray dog as she faces the threat of a modern Black Death. Welded by a desperate sacrifice, woman, man, and dog face the feral darkness together.

Happy Thanksgiving! (I bet you know what I’m grateful to have this year… *Nook Love*)

That makes it sound appropriately SF/F-ish, doesn’t it?  Plus romance?  Yes.  I think I like it.

This, as it happens, is a letter to a friend’s daughter.  About a wedding I couldn’t go to, but thought about a whole lot.

Dear Friend’s Daughter:

Do you remember when we met? You were seven. We were at an entirely grown up writers meeting thing so when I saw your little self with whatever project you’d brought along that day, I was silently all wincey inside.

You know. “Ugh, this is not going to be good.”

Ha ha ha!  Was I wrong! Let it not be said that children cannot instruct certain adults with their good behavior.

There was more to come, of course. Like the first time you answered the phone when I called.  The first time you answered the door when I stopped by, because who knew we would turn out to be “cut through the backyards” neighbors?

The moment I realized that when doing these things, you had more poise than I ever have.

Hmph.

Years passed–they have a habit of doing that–and through the process of movie nights, drop-bys, and the best dinners ever, I also had the chance to watch your various explorations of Things to Do with Life.  In these I always saw an admirable combination of passion, thoughtfulness, and thoroughness.

Which, frankly, I never quite understood. I’m not so old that I don’t still remember me at that age, you know.

So for a while, I had the privilege of being on the sidelines of your life. And then I moved a little, and was less so, and then I moved a lot, and…well.

Not so long ago, then, I heard about the Pending Nuptials. And I got absurdly pleased and excited.  And I thought, well, huh!  What’s that all about?  (Because, you know, writers just never let these things go.)

I did figure it out, though. It’s the potential of it all.  It’s because I don’t have to know New Hubby to know how very much you’re doing the right thing for you, and that as you’re faced with the big honkin’ new things that come with marriage, you–and he–will face them with that same admirable combination of thought, passion, and completeness that I saw from that first day: at meeting, with project, teaching the grown-ups a thing or two.

In other words…  SQUEEEEE!  YOU GOT MARRIED!  WAHOOO!

(Have a good time.)

…Monday

Because YES, I have cover!

Holy cow, do I have cover!

*pause to  gaze upon COVER*

Waiting for the book cover is one of the hardest things for me.  Will it suit the book?  Will it be accurate?  Will people like it?  Will it SELL the book?  Will it speak to me?

Lots of my covers speak to my AuthorSelf.  But what makes my AuthorSelf happy and what makes a good book cover are generally two different things (and kinda in a big way).  So once I see the cover, I still wonder about all that stuff.  And my various inner selves argue about it.

MarketingSelf: Holy cow!  Lookit that guy!

AuthorSelf: Can we convince people that Trevarr has his hair pulled back?

MarketingSelf: Holy Cow!  Lookit that guy!

AuthorSelf: …Because Trevarr is just the sort to rip his shirt off and amble around without, he who finds your average perfect summer day to be “brisk”?

MarketingSelf:  Holy Cow!  Lookit that guy!

AuthorSelf: *desperately losing the battle*  The belt…no clan symbol…

MarketingSelf: Holy Cow!  Lookit the not-tattoos!  Lookit the leather!  Lookit the sword!

AuthorSelf: I do kinda like the sword, in fact.

MarketingSelf: And hel-LO, pouty fussy AuthorSelf.  Did you happen to notice it is THE “paranormal romance” cover?  It has a sexy guy with otherworldly markings.  It has leather, brooding, and introspective smolder.  It says, “Pick me up for a good paranormal read!”  So what’s the deal here?  What’s the important thing?  That you get your picky little  trivia bits just right, or that the cover entices people to learn about your picky little trivia bits in the first place?

AuthorSelf: …

AuthorSelf:  Holy Cow!  Lookit that guy!

MarketingSelf: That’s what I thought.