Monday, March 29, 2010

Winner!!

My mom asked me how my day was going. I told her it was exploding--thus, this post will only have the Spells ARC winner. But more soon! Including my tour schedule!! Yay!!!

The Spells ARC winner is Amber Lynae at http://seriouslyamberlynae.blogspot.com/ Amber, email me at aprilynne pike at g mail dot com with your name and address and I will get that into the mail for you right away!!

Thank you EVERYONE for participating and posting the widgets. It is so fun to see them start to pop up everywhere!!!

Ciao!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Winners and Widgets!

Okay, I'm a little late . . . . but I'm getting SO much good work done on Wings III! Trust me, the two-day delay will be worth it.:D

Okay, our winner for Struts and Frets is:

Maybe Genius who loves "I Love The Rain The Most" by Joe Purdy!

And our winner for Mistwood is:

Erica, who would shift into a hypogriff or a leopard!!

Both of you please email me your names, and addresses to aprilynne pike at g mail dot com and I will get those in the mail just as soon as possible!

Thank you everyone for entering, this ended up being a fun and really big contest! Yay!!!

So.

Have you noticed the little addition in my sidebar?

I HAVE A WIDGET!!!!! Whoo-hoo!!!!!! (I'm really excited.) My husband made it, including coding the whole thing from scratch because he's just super-awesome like that. *smooches hubby*

And in celebration of my new widget, I'm going to cough up one more ARC of Spells!!!!

Long-time readers will know I don't like to make contests work, so you just answer a question in the comments. But my little widget is spurring me into a bit more action. So this is a widget contest!

One ARC of Spells up for grabs and you can enter by posting the widget on your blog, and commenting with the web address where I can find it.

This contest also ends Monday morning, but unlike this Monday, I will also announce it on Monday. *shifty eyes* Ahem.

You can get the code for the widget by clicking the "Share This" button in the upper right hand corner, or you can go here and copy/paste it right from my website.

Also . . . . SPELLS COMES OUT IN FORTY DAYS!!!!! EEEEEEEEEE!!!! *runs around in circles and falls down*

Have fun!

Ciao!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Rules, Books, and ARCs

Hey all! Poking my head out for a minute to let you know about some giveaways. (Because, yanno, if I can't give you good content at least I can give you free books.;))

Sarah MacLean, the author of the awesome The Season (YA) and upcoming Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake (Adult) is doing a fun series on her blog where other authors come and offer Nine Rules for their books' worlds. Today is me! However, the other guest posts are all fun, so you may want to look for some of your favorite authors, like Tera Lynn Childs, Toni Blake, and Kerrelyn Sparks! (And there are more to come!) She has oh so kindly put all of the "Nine Rules" posts here! Additionally, on my entry (hereherehere!!) Sarah is giving away a copy of Wings! All you have to do is go tell her your favorite flower!

My lovely ladies at L8BloomerOnline have been running a contest for a SPELLS ARC for the last couple of days, but this morning they announced that they are giving away TWO ARCs! Double the chances to win one! And all of the details are HERE!

And since I can't just send you to other people's blogs for giveaways, I'm doing two here as well!


For all you contemporary realism fans out there, I have one signed copy of Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron up for grabs! This is a fabulous book for guys or girls, with lots of heart and Indie rock music!! And on top of that, it's written by a guy of incredible awesomeness who is one of the best Dads I know. Jon is the man! If you want to enter for this one, leave a comment with your favorite song!

And next, unsigned, but also unreleased, I am giving up my ARC of Mistwood, by Leah Cypess. I don't give away a lot of ARCs because I have this thing for them. I LOVE ARCs! And even though I also generally buy the book after it comes out, I still keep the ARC. (I have a special shelf.:)) But you guys, I have to give this one away because it is so good! It comes out April 27th, so it's only a little bit early, but, seriously, people, you want to read this book!



Here's the description from Amazon:

The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwood. But when she is needed she always comes.

Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.

Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty—because without it, she may be his greatest threat.

Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court . . . until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.

Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart . . . and everything she thought she knew.

To enter for this one, comment and tell me which animal you would most like to be able to turn into.

You are welcome to enter one contest or the other, or both. No hold barred.:D Contest ends Monday morning . . . . GO!:D

Ciao!

Sunday, March 07, 2010

The Cave

*poking my head out*

Hi guys! It's me! Your long-lost blogger! Sorry for the radio silence; I have descended into "the cave," as the lovely Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl dubbed it last year. Complete with this very appropriate picture that I have shamelessly yoinked.:))



That's right, it's revision time!

I'm really excited at the improvements that my editor of awesomeness has suggested, but there is a lot of tweaking and streamlining to do and I've got a six week deadline. So you may not hear a ton from me on the blog, but I tend to over-Tweet as a break when my head starts to esplode, so if you are not following me on Twitter, you might want to! (Author neurosis in action, oh yeah!)

I admit, I'm looking forward to it. I love seeing my novels improve with the expertise of my editor's red pencil. (Actually, it's almost always a purple pencil *lesigh* editor luv!) And really, it's a great way to spend 6 of the final eight weeks NOT stressing about the upcoming release :D

I will, however, be changing out of my pajamas and brushing my hair long enough to attend a fun event this Saturday, March 13. A website called Story Casters is co-hosting an event with Changing Hands Bookstore that is going to be as much party as anything else. Here's the announcement!

  • STORYCASTING MEETUP: THE MOVIE IN YOUR MIND 6-8pm
    As part of a series of regional conventions, Storycasting, the premier “fantasy casting” website, sponsors a free Storycasting meetup and signing. Six Arizona authors and a crowd of storycasters will meet, discuss fantasy casting, sign books, and talk about related topics. Authors in attendance will be Aprilynne Pike, Marsha Ward, Frank Fiore, Dan Shaurette, Marcia Fine and Shonnovan Mitchell. Snacks provided. The first 25 attendees will receive a free Storycasting T-shirt. FREE. RVSP: meetup.com/Storycasting- RegionalConventions.


This will be the last public event I am doing before Spells comes out. (I will be doing one writer's conference at the end of April, but it's only open to attendees . . .) So please come on out and see me!! (Laura, I have something for you--I expect to see you there.;))

In fun news, my fabulous Late Bloomer gals have started a new feature called "Sneak Peek Saturday" on their awesome blog, where they will be posting short cookies from Spells each week until release! Check them out.:)

I also found out a few days ago that after the super amazing promotion that my Italian publisher, Sperling and Kupfer, did for Wings, it hit number three on their children's bestsellers list! It's amazing to start to see other countries roll out their versions of my book, and even more amazing to see tons of readers enjoy it!! Grazie, Italy!!!

Thanks for sticking around and reading--I promise the content will get better soon.:D

Ciao!