Whoa . . .

You see that little count-down widget over there on my sidebar? Over, down, down, down, yes! Right there! It's cute, isn't it? Did you know you can put it on your own blog by just clicking the little Share button and following directions?

*ahem* Um, that wasn't the point.

Point is, look at the count down numbers.

ONE HUNDRED DAYS!!!! Holy cow!!!! I swear Spells came out like two months ago. I do NOT know where 2010 went. For me, it seemed like it lasted a couple months at best. But somehow, it IS 2011, and not only that, but it is almost the end of January. And thus, Illusions comes out in 100 days!

That is awesome!

To celebrate, I'm serving cookies! Well, just one cookie.

So after promising this for ages, here is a taste of Illusions!

“It’s this way,” she said to Tamani.

He paused for a second, then walked over to Laurel’s dad and stuck out his hand, which Laurel noted was temporarily free of pollen, probably courtesy of Tamani’s pocket-lining. “Great to meet you, Mr. Sewell,” he said.

“Absolutely, Tam.” Laurel cringed. It sounded twice as bizarre coming out of her dad’s mouth. “We’ll have to talk more one of these days.”

“Sure,” Tamani said, reaching his other hand up to clasp her dad’s shoulder. “But for now, wow, it’s Saturday—your store must be really busy.”

“Oh, it usually gets busy at about twelve,” he said, pointing to the clock that read just after eleven.

“Sure, but school just started a few weeks ago and people always want books for school, right? I bet they’re really busy down there and could use your help. You should go to the store. Help out. We’ll be fine here.”

It took Laurel about three seconds to realize what was happening.

“You know, you’re right,” her dad said, his voice sounding just a little far away, “I should go help them.”

“Well, it was good to see you for a little while at least. I’m sure I’ll see you again.”

“Yep, that would be great!” Laurel’s dad said, looking a little more like himself. “Well, you two get some good work done, I think I’m going to go down and help Maddie out at the store. It’s a Saturday; I bet it’s busy.” He grabbed his car keys and was out the door.

“Okay,” Laurel said, turning to Tamani, “not cool.”

“What?” Tamani asked, looking genuinely confused. “I got him out of the way.”

“Him? That him is my dad!”

“Enticement doesn’t hurt him at all,” Tamani protested. “Besides, I’ve been living on my own for years—I don’t do well with hovering parents.”

“My house, my rules,” Laurel said sternly. “Don’t do it again.”

*squirms in seat* Oh, man I can't wait to give you the whole context of this scene! Or, yanno, the whole book!

But, hey, in 100 days!!!!!!:D

Ciao!

Winner and Boxes

At long last I have five spare minutes and I am here to announce the winner of the Wondrous Strange series!!!

Congrats to A Rick who said:

"I love fairies because they can be sweet or they could be evil. You never know! That is why I love reading about them, to see what angle the author will take!"

Please email me your full name and address to aprilynne pike at "gee" mail dot com and I will get those right in the mail for you!

Okay, this doesn't have anything to do with writing. But I think it's a fun story. Earlier this summer I was reading something about collections and I was talking to my husband and I said, "I don't collect things. Well, I kind of collect dolls, but I haven't added to that collection in years and really, it just fell into my lap to begin with."

And he said, "What are you talking about? You collect boxes."

And my first thought was Boxes? That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Who collects boxes? And I said, "I do NOT collect boxes."

"Sure you do."

"I do not. Well, I have my Tiffany box, but who wouldn't keep their Tiffany box? And I have my perfume boxes, but they're pretty. And I guess I have that turquoise shoebox I've held onto, and that little blue box . . . Oh my gosh, I collect boxes."

Turns out, I collect boxes. I have tons! And, in support of my newfound hobby, my husband got me two new boxes for Christmas this year. Boxes that encompass BOTH of my collections.:D We have gotten rather obsessed . . . er . . . interested in these amazing porcelain dolls. They are ART. Like, they put them in museums. (*disclaimer* These are amazing art, but . . .um . . . they are anatomically correct and most of them have no clothes on. It showcases their full body porcelain hinges. They are very cool, but you have been warned. Don't follow the link if naked porcelain dolls weird you out.) Anyway, it's called Enchanted Doll and they are gorgeous and I want one some day!! Yanno, some day when I have $16K just laying around (the price her last doll went for on eBay). *sigh* So Kenny did the next best thing. He got me two doll-sized tin boxes with Enchanted Doll figures painted on them! So I have dolls, boxes, and two doll boxes!!! They are my new pride and joy.

With the addition of my new boxes, I figured I would actually decorate the top of my bookshelves (now that I've had them for seven months . . . FAIL.) And I thought I would share!

First, my new boxes (and the blue box in the middle was my very first box, about five years ago. You'd have thought I would get the hint that it was special to me when I lugged it through two moves . . . I'm a little slow.) Anyway, the new ones are the yellow and blue ones on the sides.




And the whole shelves, dolls and boxes.:D



I'm very excited.:D

Okay, a couple of things for the future: I traditionally give away an ARC of my new book for Valentine's Day and I will be doing that again, so stay tuned. Also, I have been working on some short pieces for Harper that take place either between Spells and Illusions or during the first part of Illusions but from another person's point of view. (In fact, one of them is first person point of view from a character you haven't met yet.) I am having a blast with that and should know more about when and where they will be posted soon. And as soon as I know, I will let you know. I will also be doing a few excerpts from Illusions starting next week so you will have something to tide you over.

Also, I counted months last week and Illusions comes out in LESS THAN FOUR MONTHS!!!! WHOO-HOOO!!!!!!

Ahem. Sorry about that.

:D

So yeah, lots to look forward to and hopefully more frequent blogging is one of those things.:D

Ciao!

Tempestuous!

I haven't recommended a book for a while, but I'm really excited about yesterday's release of Lesley Livingston's final book in her Wondrous Strange series, Tempestuous. Seriously, check out this gorgeous cover!




But not only is this an awesome series (about faeries, natch ;)) but the author is also a wonderful person. And funny. SO funny. Lesley is a Canadian actress turned author and one of my favorite things she acted in is this commercial.:D



Heehee! I still laugh every time I see it. Anyway, Lesley is the lovely blonde girl. Her series begins with Wondrous Strange and Darklight (below) and concludes with Tempestuous which just came out yesterday.




Wondrous Strange is, essentially a fantasy about faeries and Shakespeare involving two lead characters, Kelley and Sonny. For a taste of Kelley's writing style, I want to give you a little excerpt from pages ten and eleven of Darklight (you can find the full first sixty some-odd pages on Harper's site, here). It's an excerpt she read when we toured together in Canada last year, and even though I heard it multiple times, it's still one of my favorite parts of the whole series!



Kelley reached the Ladies Pavillion on the shores of Central Park Lake and mounted the steps. Her four-leaf clover firmly attached around her neck, she leaned on the railing, gazing out over the still water.

"This bud of love by summer's ripening breath . . ."

She murmured her lines and pictured Sonny climbing a trellis to her balcony.

"May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night! As sweet repose as rest
Come to thy heart as that within my breast!"

"Oh wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?" asked a voice in the darkness.

Kelley glanced up, startled. "Uh . . ." she stammered, flustered at being taken off guard.

The moonlight pouring down onto the pavilion steps illuminated her like a spotlight.

"Sonny?" Kelley peered hopefully into the darkness of the surrounding woods, trying to make out where the voice had come from. No . . . not Sonny. Sonny wouldn't joke with her like that. It had to have been one of her fellow actors from the theater screwing around. "Alec?" There was still no answer. To cover her momentary unease, Kelley laughed a little. "Fine, I'll play your silly game," she said, and answered with her next Juliet line. "What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?"

"Well," the voice answered, "I'll take that pretty necklace, for starters."

Kelley put a hand to her throat as a stranger stepped out of the shadows and into the light. It wasn't Alec Oakland.

"And I'll take any other jewelry you got. I'll take your wallet too, just for the hell of it. And your watch, if it ain't a knockoff." The man radiated casual menace as he ambled toward her. Her was lean and tattooed and wore a dirty denim jacket and motorcycle boots.

Great, Kelley thought, a knot of fear tightening in her stomach. A mugger with a taste for Shakespeare. This could only happen in Central Park.

*Any typos or formatting issues are mine; please do read the actual, typeset text here!*

Anyway, it's a fun series with a great world building and a healthy dose of theatre! (Which makes me really happy.:D) So Tempestuous came out yesterday so if you are looking for a new faerie series, you may want to try this one.

And for a final treat, here is Lesley's awesome book trailer!




**ETA*** D'oh! I'm a moron and forgot to mention that I am giving away a copy of the entire series. Please leave a comment letting me know why faeries (of any kind) are awesome to enter. (See? Super easy.:D)

Ciao!

The Last Three Weeks

Wow! I have had such a crazy last three weeks!

What I have done:

*Had a baby (:D)
*Put in about 50 hours finishing up the first round of revisions on Life After Theft and turned it in! (Not quite by my self-imposed deadline, but before my editor-imposed deadline, phew!)
*kissed the baby about a trillion times
*Made about 15 pounds of hand-dipped chocolates (Penuche in milk, truffles in milk, Strawberry-lime in white, orange creme in white) plus Velveeta fudge.
*Just sat and looked at my baby for about an hour a day. . . maybe more.
*Finished 100% of my Christmas shopping!
*Took about a hundred pictures of the baby.
*Selected and contacted ten winners from the Illusions cover contest and sent out prize packs. That included winners from Finland, Sweden, Australia, and Canada! (I get excited about foreign readers.:D)
*Tweeted about 50 of the said one hundred pictures.
*Finished practicing and then directed the choir Christmas performance at church yesterday.
*Spent hours trying to make the baby smile (which she does!)



*Did I mention kissing the baby?


What I did NOT do in the last three weeks:

*Blog


Ahem.

Okay, couple of items of business.

UK cover for book three!!!!



Wait, what? That doesn't look quite right, you say? I have known this for a while and keep forgetting to tell you guys! In the UK book three will be called Wild, which I absolutely love! . . . for reasons I can't tell you yet . . .:D But I'm really excited about the new title and this beautiful cover!

*Bonus content: One of the things we are doing as a lead up to Illusions is that I am writing some bonus content that will be posted in various places over the next few months. They will be short pieces that take place either between Spells and Illusions, or during Illusions but from a different person's point of view. I'll be writing them over the next month and they will be posted the first couple of months of 2011. I will let everyone know where they can find them as soon as they are up.

*I will also be posting some bits from Illusions as well as some fun cover copy as we lead up to the Illusions release. . . . Starting today! Special holiday gift, the following is the short scene Harper is putting on the back of the book jacket. However, two disclaimers:

1.) David fans, this scene is taken completely out of context.
2.) Tamani fans, this scene is taken completely out of context.

You have both been warned.:D

And with the standard ***SPOILER ALERT***, here you go:

"When you kissed me, I got all these . . . ideas. For potions I've never heard of." Laurel thought of the way the word poison had invaded her mind. "I think maybe they're forbidden."

"Why?" Tamani asked.

"It told me how to make potions from you." Laurel lost herself in thoughts of potions, powders, and poisons she somehow knew she was never supposed to learn.


***END OF SPOILERS***

Happy Holidays!

Ciao!

My Excuse:)

Okay, I admit, things have been a little . . . sporadic around here the last few months. But I have a good reason! (I mean besides the normal writerly excuse of I'm writing/editing my next book.";))

I've kept this very much to myself this time around, but now that she's here, I'm telling everyone!

Meet Gwendolyn, born this morning, at home.



She arrived thirteen days past her due date (silly kid--didn't she get that calendar I swallowed??) but she's here at last, to everyone's relief--especially mine!

And no, this does not mean more babies will suddenly start popping up in my books.:D

Ciao!