Congratulations
Crazy-For-Books
I've sent an email to the winner notifying them of the win. If I don't hear back in 48 hrs a new winner will be chosen.
16 hours ago
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
WINNERS!!!!
Zamora's Challenge Winners
Melissa B.
Anita Y
Vicky R
Kelsey O
The Mischief of the Misteltoe Winners
Jo Ann W - Book
Cindy M - Book
Cindy M - Book
Lorinda B - Ornament
Karen Y - Ornament
All winners have been notified. They have 48 hrs to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen. If you didn't win and would still like to read the books click here --- > Zamora's Ultimate Challenge
& The Mischief of the Mistletoe: A Pink Carnation Christmas
& The Mischief of the Mistletoe: A Pink Carnation Christmas
Book Blogger Hop ~ October 29th ~ Nov. 1st.
The Hop lasts Friday-Monday every week, so if you don't have time to Hop today, come back later and join the fun! This is a weekly event!
Your blog should have content related to books, including, but not limited to book reviews.
"What is the one bookish thing you would love to have, no matter the cost?"
Hmm.... I think I might already have everything book related I might want. I've got the new Kindle (I could really be spoiled and get a Nook too!), a house full of books, a spare bedroom with comfy couches (and no TV or computer to distract me) and an overstuffed comfy chair in the nook in my bedroom for my "reading corner." I am looking for a cool corner shelf/decorative type of thing to put more books in since I've officially filled the huge bookshelves my cousin built for me in the closet of my spare bedroom.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Guest Post ~ Lauren Willig
Over the past few years, I’ve written several books set in the early nineteenth century. I’ve shamelessly pressed Bonaparte, George III, Robert Emmett, and various other real folks into service in my books. But there was one person I carefully stared clear of: Jane Austen. You don’t mess with the Jane.
Last year, I had some ideas for a Christmas romp set in Bath in 1803, ideas that were, I admit, tangentially inspired by Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, The Watsons. It was one thing to use Jane Austen’s ideas, but Jane herself? I found myself checking—just out of curiosity, of course—where Austen had been in the winter of 1803.
Austen was in Bath in the winter of 1803.
I bowed to the inevitable. In The Mischief of the Mistletoe, Jane Austen is an old family friend of my heroine, Arabella Dempsey and The Watsons is inspired by Arabella’s situation. (Whereas in real life, Arabella was inspired by The Watsons—oooh, circular!) Literary scholars have argued for years over why Austen failed to 
finish The Watsons. In The Mischief of the Mistletoe, I offer my own rather, ahem, unique explanation.
Even so, even after weeks poring over Austen’s letters, her juvenilia, and all the biographies I could get my hands on, I was still nervous about incorporating Austen into the narrative. So I decided to include an explanatory epistle, a mock introduction to a collection of “recently discovered” letters between Austen and Arabella Dempsey. Just so people would be clued in to the fact that this was make-believe and all in good fun.
There was one problem—well, two problems. One was space. The other was that there was some concern that people might think the intro was, well, real.
Here, for your amusement, is the original, unabridged introduction to The Mischief of the Mistletoe….
From the Introduction to the Oxford Addendum to the Cambridge Companion of the Collected Letters of Jane Austen:
“… the Dempsey Collection, as it is called, was for some time denied a place in the Austenian epistolary canon. Due to the destruction of the bulk of Austen’s correspondence by her siblings after her death, for some time there were believed to be only one hundred and sixty letters extent. The discovery of a cache of correspondence, preserved in an old trunk in an attic in Norfolk, underneath a series of shockingly gaudy waistcoats embroidered in a carnation print, tucked inside an early nineteenth century recipe book concerned entirely with Christmas puddings, was thought for some time by the Fellows of the Royal College of Austen Studies to be nothing more than a malicious act of sabotage on the part of unscrupulous members of the rival Dickens Society, who had turned to thuggery as the inevitable result of immoderate consumption of late Victorian serial fiction. Although the Dickens Society denied the charge, relations between the two groups remained frosty, culminating in the great Tea Incident of 1983, which scandalized Oxbridge and caused a rift whose reverberations are felt to this day. As footnote clashed against footnote, and members of warring factions refused to pass the port at High Table, the Dempsey Collection was relegated for some time to the academic abyss, discarded as nothing more than Austenian apocrypha.
“After two decades of painstaking scrutiny, including chemical testing, textual analysis, and the consultation of several Magic 8 balls, the scholarly community has tentatively accepted the Dempsey collection as genuine, with some reservations. Although the dates of the letters and the identity of the author have, indeed, been authenticated, there are serious doubts as to the veracity of the contents. While Jane Austen writes in her own name, addressing the letters to a supposedly “real” young lady of her acquaintance, the events narrated within them are of such a sensational and fantastical nature as to defy all belief.
“The more serious members of the academic establishment adhere to the theory that Austen was, in fact, engaged in an epistolary novel, a style she employed for both the unfinished Lady Susan and the original draft of Elinor and Marianne, the novel that was to become Sense and Sensibility. There is some argument that the letters comprise a failed early draft of her incomplete novel, The Watsons. As in that work, the Dempsey collection features a heroine who, having been disappointed in her hopes of an inheritance from a wealthy aunt upon the elderly aunt’s imprudent second marriage to a handsome young captain in the army, returns to the somewhat straitened bosom of her family. Many of the names Austen uses in the Watsons appear in the Dempsey collection, although somewhat altered.
“There, however, all resemblance ends….
“That the letters and their contents were, in fact, the product of a contemporary correspondence conducted with an actual acquaintance in reaction to authentic events is a possibility entertained only by the most radical fringe of Austen scholars. This view is generally discredited…
“What Englishman, one may ask, would answer to the name of Turnip?”
Excerpt reproduced courtesy of the author, Perpetua Fotherington-Smythe, M. Phil., D. Phil, R. Phil, F.R.C.A.S.*, S.o.S.A.S.S.I..**, GAE (MEOAE).***
* Fellow of the Royal College of Austen Studies
** Symposium of the Society of Austen and Similarly Superior Interlocutors
*** Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the Austenian Epistle
About the author ~
A native of New York City, Lauren Willig has been writing romances ever since she got her hands on her first romance novel at the age of six. Three years later, she sent her first novel off to a publishing house—all three hundred hand-written pages. They sent it back. Undaunted, Lauren has continued to generate large piles of paper and walk in front of taxis while thinking about plot ideas.
After thirteen years at an all girls school (explains the romance novels, doesn’t it?), Lauren set off for Yale and co-education, where she read lots of Shakespeare, wrote sonnet sequences when she was supposed to be doing her science requirement, and lived in a Gothic fortress complete with leaded windows and gargoyles. After college, she decided she really hadn’t had enough school yet, and headed off to that crimson place in Cambridge, Massachusetts for a degree in English history. Like her modern heroine, she spent a year doing dissertation research in London, tramping back and forth between the British Library and the Public Records Office, reading lots of British chick lit, and eating far too many Sainsbury’s frozen dinners.
By a strange quirk of fate, Lauren signed her first book contract during her first month of law school. She finished writing "Pink Carnation" during her 1L year, scribbled "Black Tulip" her 2L year, and struggled through "Emerald Ring" as a weary and jaded 3L. After three years of taking useful and practical classes like “Law in Ancient Athens” and “The Globalization of the Modern Legal Consciousness”, Lauren received her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. For a year and a half, she practiced as a litigation associate at a large New York law firm. But having attained the lofty heights of second year associate, she decided that book deadlines and doc review didn't mix and departed the law for a new adventure in full time writerdom.
Last year, I had some ideas for a Christmas romp set in Bath in 1803, ideas that were, I admit, tangentially inspired by Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, The Watsons. It was one thing to use Jane Austen’s ideas, but Jane herself? I found myself checking—just out of curiosity, of course—where Austen had been in the winter of 1803.
Austen was in Bath in the winter of 1803.
I bowed to the inevitable. In The Mischief of the Mistletoe, Jane Austen is an old family friend of my heroine, Arabella Dempsey and The Watsons is inspired by Arabella’s situation. (Whereas in real life, Arabella was inspired by The Watsons—oooh, circular!) Literary scholars have argued for years over why Austen failed to finish The Watsons. In The Mischief of the Mistletoe, I offer my own rather, ahem, unique explanation.Even so, even after weeks poring over Austen’s letters, her juvenilia, and all the biographies I could get my hands on, I was still nervous about incorporating Austen into the narrative. So I decided to include an explanatory epistle, a mock introduction to a collection of “recently discovered” letters between Austen and Arabella Dempsey. Just so people would be clued in to the fact that this was make-believe and all in good fun.
There was one problem—well, two problems. One was space. The other was that there was some concern that people might think the intro was, well, real.
Here, for your amusement, is the original, unabridged introduction to The Mischief of the Mistletoe….
From the Introduction to the Oxford Addendum to the Cambridge Companion of the Collected Letters of Jane Austen:
“… the Dempsey Collection, as it is called, was for some time denied a place in the Austenian epistolary canon. Due to the destruction of the bulk of Austen’s correspondence by her siblings after her death, for some time there were believed to be only one hundred and sixty letters extent. The discovery of a cache of correspondence, preserved in an old trunk in an attic in Norfolk, underneath a series of shockingly gaudy waistcoats embroidered in a carnation print, tucked inside an early nineteenth century recipe book concerned entirely with Christmas puddings, was thought for some time by the Fellows of the Royal College of Austen Studies to be nothing more than a malicious act of sabotage on the part of unscrupulous members of the rival Dickens Society, who had turned to thuggery as the inevitable result of immoderate consumption of late Victorian serial fiction. Although the Dickens Society denied the charge, relations between the two groups remained frosty, culminating in the great Tea Incident of 1983, which scandalized Oxbridge and caused a rift whose reverberations are felt to this day. As footnote clashed against footnote, and members of warring factions refused to pass the port at High Table, the Dempsey Collection was relegated for some time to the academic abyss, discarded as nothing more than Austenian apocrypha.
“After two decades of painstaking scrutiny, including chemical testing, textual analysis, and the consultation of several Magic 8 balls, the scholarly community has tentatively accepted the Dempsey collection as genuine, with some reservations. Although the dates of the letters and the identity of the author have, indeed, been authenticated, there are serious doubts as to the veracity of the contents. While Jane Austen writes in her own name, addressing the letters to a supposedly “real” young lady of her acquaintance, the events narrated within them are of such a sensational and fantastical nature as to defy all belief.
“The more serious members of the academic establishment adhere to the theory that Austen was, in fact, engaged in an epistolary novel, a style she employed for both the unfinished Lady Susan and the original draft of Elinor and Marianne, the novel that was to become Sense and Sensibility. There is some argument that the letters comprise a failed early draft of her incomplete novel, The Watsons. As in that work, the Dempsey collection features a heroine who, having been disappointed in her hopes of an inheritance from a wealthy aunt upon the elderly aunt’s imprudent second marriage to a handsome young captain in the army, returns to the somewhat straitened bosom of her family. Many of the names Austen uses in the Watsons appear in the Dempsey collection, although somewhat altered.
“There, however, all resemblance ends….
“That the letters and their contents were, in fact, the product of a contemporary correspondence conducted with an actual acquaintance in reaction to authentic events is a possibility entertained only by the most radical fringe of Austen scholars. This view is generally discredited…
“What Englishman, one may ask, would answer to the name of Turnip?”
Excerpt reproduced courtesy of the author, Perpetua Fotherington-Smythe, M. Phil., D. Phil, R. Phil, F.R.C.A.S.*, S.o.S.A.S.S.I..**, GAE (MEOAE).***
* Fellow of the Royal College of Austen Studies
** Symposium of the Society of Austen and Similarly Superior Interlocutors
*** Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the Austenian Epistle
About the author ~
After thirteen years at an all girls school (explains the romance novels, doesn’t it?), Lauren set off for Yale and co-education, where she read lots of Shakespeare, wrote sonnet sequences when she was supposed to be doing her science requirement, and lived in a Gothic fortress complete with leaded windows and gargoyles. After college, she decided she really hadn’t had enough school yet, and headed off to that crimson place in Cambridge, Massachusetts for a degree in English history. Like her modern heroine, she spent a year doing dissertation research in London, tramping back and forth between the British Library and the Public Records Office, reading lots of British chick lit, and eating far too many Sainsbury’s frozen dinners.
By a strange quirk of fate, Lauren signed her first book contract during her first month of law school. She finished writing "Pink Carnation" during her 1L year, scribbled "Black Tulip" her 2L year, and struggled through "Emerald Ring" as a weary and jaded 3L. After three years of taking useful and practical classes like “Law in Ancient Athens” and “The Globalization of the Modern Legal Consciousness”, Lauren received her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. For a year and a half, she practiced as a litigation associate at a large New York law firm. But having attained the lofty heights of second year associate, she decided that book deadlines and doc review didn't mix and departed the law for a new adventure in full time writerdom.
Visit Lauren on her website
Find her on Facebook
Her latest book ~
Arabella Dempsey’s dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpson’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas, she accepts a position at the quiet girls’ school in Bath, expecting to face nothing more exciting than conducting the annual Christmas recital. She hardly imagines coming face to face with French aristocrats and international spies…
Reginald “Turnip” Fitzhugh—often mistaken for the elusive spy known as the Pink Carnation—has blundered into danger before. But when he blunders into Miss Arabella Dempsey, it never occurs to him that she might be trouble. When Turnip and Arabella stumble upon a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message written in French, “Meet me at Farley Castle”, the unlikely vehicle for intrigue launches the pair on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austens’ modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Dukes of Dovedale, where the Dowager Duchess is hosting the most anticipated event of the year: an elaborate 12-day Christmas celebration. Will they find poinsettias or peril, dancing or danger? And is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella and Turnip’s hands, in the form of a festive Christmas pudding?
Reginald “Turnip” Fitzhugh—often mistaken for the elusive spy known as the Pink Carnation—has blundered into danger before. But when he blunders into Miss Arabella Dempsey, it never occurs to him that she might be trouble. When Turnip and Arabella stumble upon a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message written in French, “Meet me at Farley Castle”, the unlikely vehicle for intrigue launches the pair on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austens’ modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Dukes of Dovedale, where the Dowager Duchess is hosting the most anticipated event of the year: an elaborate 12-day Christmas celebration. Will they find poinsettias or peril, dancing or danger? And is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella and Turnip’s hands, in the form of a festive Christmas pudding?
Click HERE to enter my contest for The Mischief of the Mistletoe. Thanks to the publishers I'm giving away 2 copies of the books and 2 ornaments. The contents ends tonight, so hurry up and enter.
Other books by Lauren ~
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Left Neglected - WINNER
Congratulations
Marci R
Marci has won my copy of Left Neglected. I've sent her an email notifying her of her win. If I do not hear back form her in 48 hrs another winner will be chosen. Make sure to pre-order your copy today. Left Neglected
(to be released Jan 4th)
(to be released Jan 4th)
Guest Post & Giveaway ~ Planning To Live by Heather Wardell
Why Are E-Books Better Than Paper Books?
1. Your bag, and your shoulder, will thank you.
At last check, I have sixty electronic books on my "to read" shelf at Goodreads.com and I'm pretty sure I've got a few more lurking in my iPhone that I forgot to track there. All those books stashed in my phone and it doesn't weigh even a gram more as a result. No matter where I am, I can have my current book, and anything else I might want to read instead, instantly accessible. I can carry around writing-related reference books, and a dictionary and thesaurus too, without breaking a sweat.
I went to Kuwait in January to visit a friend who works there, and having my books with me electronically was a lifesaver for the long flights, a total of 13 hours in the air. As a natural speed-reader, I couldn't have carried enough paper books to keep me going that long.
2. "What did that character look like again?"
Search! I often find myself trying to remember a specific detail of a novel I'm reading, or wanting to find a piece of advice buried in a non-fiction book. Every ereader I've used over the years has had a search function, which lets me get at those little nuggets of information without flipping endless pages trying to remember where I saw it.
3. No more folded-down corners.
Another great feature of ereaders is annotation. They've all allowed me to make notes on a book. Kindle, and the iPhone and PC readers for those of us not blessed with a physical Kindle, can even upload those annotations to the Internet where others can see what notes you took.
Even if you keep them to yourself, it's great to be able to mark passages or pages for later reference, and get a list of all those marks so you can look back at things you've forgotten you wanted to reread.
4. Portability between devices.
Amazingly, I can read that ebook from March 2000 on my iPhone, because it's in eReader format and eReader is still around. I'll admit that I have lost a few books to formats that end up being abandoned, but the vast majority of my library could be read on my iPhone right now. As ereading becomes more popular, I think the formats will become more standardized and we won't lose books any more. We're already heading in that direction with the popularity of the ePub format.
5. Instant gratification
When someone mentions a book I might like, I can look it up online on my phone and buy it in an instant. (This, incidentally, is also the primary reason that ebooks are evil. ;)
6. eBook + ziploc bag + bathtub = bliss
One of the first arguments people always seem to make against ebooks is, "You can't take that thing in the bathtub like a paper book."
Every reading device I've owned has found itself in a ziploc bag and clutched in my bubble-covered hand, and many have taken an unexpected swim. With the bag sealed tight, there's no damage. Ever dropped a paperback in the tub? I have, and they don't come out pristine.
Related to this, I also set my iPhone on the magazine rack of the treadmill or elliptical machine, set a book to autoscroll in the eReader app (currently the only one that permits autoscroll), and work out while reading. (I also do this while crocheting if I feel like reading at the same time. No need to stop crocheting to turn a page.)
7. Free books galore!
Sites like manybooks.net list free books available for your ereader.
Smashwords.com does too, and publishers often make certain books available for free Kindle download. You can try out a new author by picking up a free book (like, say, a certain Heather Wardell's "Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo") and you might find your new favorite writer.
Even when they're not free, many ebooks are very reasonably priced.
(Some, sadly, are not, but I'll touch on that below.) Nearly all are less than ten dollars, and you can often get several books for that price. My own books are $0.99 and many other writers sell their work for $0.99 to $2.99.
8. Privacy
Want to read "The Erotic Adventures of the Many-Armed Man"? (I made that title up, but if you'd like to write a book to go with it, let me know when it's available and I'll check it out. :) You might not feel comfortable reading it in public in paperback, with the cover on full display, but with an ereader nobody knows what you're reading. This is partly why erotica epublishers are doing so well: you can buy online and read in privacy rather than carrying a stack of books up to a cashier and trying not to blush.
And a few benefits we don't quite have yet but that I'm sure are coming.
1. The ability to lend books
This is one of the downsides of ebooks at the moment. However, many libraries have made ebook loans a reality, and I think that as ebook reading takes off we will shortly see the ability to lend a book to a friend across any platforms. Users of Barnes and Noble's nook reader can do this now, sharing with other nook readers, and I'm certain it will expand. Readers will demand it.
2. Cheaper ebook pricing
Some of the big publishers are still trying to charge the same price, or sometimes even more money, for an ebook than for its paper equivalent. They usually justify this by saying that the majority of the cost of producing a book is in the editing and typesetting and formatting and cover creation, not in its paper and covers. Even if we give them that point, however, why aren't ebooks even slightly cheaper to make up for the paper and covers?
I think as more and more people read electronically, those prices will come down, because the authors of publishers that don't lower their prices will see readers moving to authors at other publishers and they won't be pleased with that.
I'm not sure what the 'sweet spot' is for ebook pricing. Amazon's Kindle books from major publishers are usually $9.99. Many self-publishers come in at around $2.99. I, and many others, have set pricing at $0.99 in the hopes that more people will pick up the books at such a low cost. But over the next little while I think pricing will stabilize, and I definitely think it'll be lower than paper prices.
About the author ~
Growing up, I was an avid (rabid?) reader. I am a natural speed reader, regularly clocked at about 1200 wpm (I read Harry Potter 5 in just under three hours), and always have several books on the go, nearly all in e-book form on my iPhone.
I have always made up stories in my head, but never considered becoming a writer. Instead, I intended to be a high school music teacher. I was sidetracked by my enjoyment of my psychology courses in university, and ended up with a psychology degree with a concentration in computer science.
This took me to a major Canadian bank as a software developer. I stayed there for just over four years, and then went back to school to become an elementary school teacher. After four years teaching elementary school computer science, I took up the National Novel Writing Month challenge and attempted to write a novel in a month.I succeeded, and the first draft of "Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo" was the result. I realized I love writing. I left teaching, and I haven't looked back since!
In my non-writing time, I read, run, swim, crochet (I am on Ravelry and would be happy to add you as a friend!), take care of my 55 gallon aquarium and my cat Sapphire, and play clarinet. Generally not all at once.
This picture shows me wearing a sweater I crocheted and holding the finishers' medal I received at my second half marathon, May 13/08.
Find Heather ~
- My blog
- Goodreads.com
- email
- "Lovely Little Things", the community I'm creating to help us see the beautiful moments of life
Her latest book ~
Thirty-something Rhiannon is an obsessive planner and goal-setter, but somehow nothing she achieves ever seems good enough to her. Determined to lose forty pounds for her best friend's August wedding, Rhiannon flees her parents' house in a Christmas-day blizzard to avoid the temptation of all her favorite foods, but her car skids off the deserted road into a tree.
Unable to escape the car, with her leg trapped and bleeding and her cell phone out of reach, Rhiannon is at first certain she'll be rescued and writes notes to her friends and family to pass the time. As the weather cools and her condition deteriorates, though, she recognizes the possibility that her life might be over. Interspersed with increasingly desperate escape attempts, her letters become deeper and more heart-felt as she comes to see what really matters in life.
Read an excerpt ~
Chapter One
My eyes open to a blurred whiteness, and I blink, confused, until it resolves into the airbag beneath my cheek. Images rush into my mind, scrambled snapshots of my car skidding off the icy road and plunging into trees and darkness, and I jerk upright and grab for the door handle. Huge mistake. My stomach lurches below my suddenly kilometer-a-second heart and my brain seems to twist and spin in all directions at once.I collapse onto the airbag and take slow deliberate breaths to force back the panic and nausea. In, hold, out, hold, repeat. At first it dizzies me even more but I persist, counting the breaths in my head and focusing on the numbers, and begin to regain my much-needed control.
Once I reach twenty, I cautiously sit up and run my mind over my body. My head's not spinning any more, and my pounding heart and churning stomach are settling down. Nothing else is clamoring for my attention.
Relief fills me, soothing my insides even more, along with amazement at my luck. I could have been badly hurt, but I've escaped without a scratch. Not wanting to spend another moment in the car, I undo my seatbelt then open my door and swing my legs around to get out.
Unbearable pain rips through my left leg, and the whiteness rises to claim me again.
If you've never tried ebooks, now's your chance! Since e-books are the authors favorite way to read right now, she has generously donated three sets of all four of her e-books to give away as well as a paper copy of her newest book ~ Planning to Live to a fourth winner (and since she's feeling extremely generous, that winner may also get copies of the e-books as well.
To enter, follow the giveaway rules below & comment on this post and let her know what you think of ebooks. When filling out the form, please make sure to choose which format you would like the books in should you win.
GIVEAWAY Rules for entering:
- This contest is open to residents of USA residents only!
- Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
- The contest will end on November 10, 2010 at 11:59PM EST; 4 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
- Once the winners are contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
- Book will be shipped directly from the author.
New Book - Check it out ~ The Severance by Elliott Sawyer
The Severance: A Novel
The Severance: A Novel
Author ~ Elliott Sawyer
Publisher ~ Bridge Works
Publication Date ~ Available now
Sawyer was born and grew up in Chester, Virginia, south of Richmond, and received a B.A. in History from Radford University, Radford, Virginia.
The Severance: A NovelAuthor ~ Elliott Sawyer
Publisher ~ Bridge WorksPublication Date ~ Available now
An action-packed mystery centered on a hijacking and murder plot that takes place in the midst of the war in Afghanistan, The Severance is a thriller whose authenticity springs from author Elliott Sawyer’s two combat tours as a decorated captain in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Severance is the story of deadly intrigue within a “rehabilitation platoon,” a platoon made up of bitter, unruly troublemakers and misfits whose past disciplinary sins have led the Army to put them into this unit, a unit assigned the dirty missions no one else wants. They are 21st Century counterparts of the World War II rogue soldiers in The Dirty Dozen, the 1965 bestseller made into the classic movie of that name. The Severance, set on battlefields as timely as today’s headlines, is both a caper tale and a tale of American soldiers urgently searching within their own ranks for an unknown foe bent on larceny and murder.
The platoon’s leader is Captain Jake Roberts, picked as punishment for past lapses of his own. He and his men, fighting and patrolling in the Afghan mountains, discover a large cache of American dollars hidden by a corrupt contractor. They devise a plan to hide it and later smuggle it out of the country when they are sent home for discharge. They call it their “Severance pay package.” Soon the men discover the Taliban insurgents aren’t the only enemy they must confront and defeat on and off the battlefield. Someone has found out about The Severance and wants to highjack it.
Is this second enemy one of them, another soldier at their base, or even Jake’s girlfriend, a nurse? The mystery of thieves hunting thieves builds to a climax as the unknown adversary tries to kill Jake and some of his men while they seek to safeguard The Severance and determine the identity of their deadly stalker.
About the author ~
Elliott Sawyer was an officer, an Air Assault Captain, in the 101st Airborne Division. He saw action as a combat patrol leader in Iraq in 2005 and 2006 and during a second deployment in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2009. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and an Army Commendation Medal. Now, back in the United States, he commands a training company of up to 240 soldiers. He and his wife live in Elgin, Oklahoma. The Severance is his first novel.
Sawyer’s first combat tour, in Iraq, included heavy fighting in Al Dora, a marketplace and neighborhood in south Baghdad on the south bank of the Tigris River. It is astride the fault line between the Sunni and Shia populations and their then-warring militias and insurgent factions. He experienced more than ten IED (improvised explosive device) strikes there and numerous ambushes and other attacks as his platoon went on raids, fought insurgents and carried out other missions. In Afghanistan in 2008 and 2009, he was a Field Artillery platoon leader and a fire direction officer at Firebase Shkin, a cluster of mud buildings located about four miles from the Pakistan border at an elevation of 7,800 feet. He and the more than 40 soldiers under his command provided artillery support from their 105mm howitzers for Special Operations forces. They were bombarded by enemy rockets daily, sometimes hourly. Later, Sawyer led another platoon assigned a dual mission: protecting the colonel who commanded their battalion, and also acting as the Quick Reaction Force to any unit in need of reinforcement in their area—which was often.
Find Elliott on Facebook
Follow Elliott on Twitter
Visit his website
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Discovery of Witches Button Giveaway
A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.
In this short (out just in time for Halloween), Deborah Harkness describes what someone on a more mortal budget might serve at a dinner date with a vampire. I hope you’ll consider posting the video on your blog! It provides some great recommendations for readers hosting Halloween parties this month.
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness (On-sale: February 8). One of the most talked about books of the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair, translation rights have already been sold in 32 countries. It’s the smart, sophisticated story of a witch and a vampire who overcome their differences to investigate a lost alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782. This is a book that will be on everyone’s radar come February.
In order to celebrate the pending release of A Discovery of Witches, Viking has provided this wonderful set of buttons for me to giveaway to one lucky winner.
In order to celebrate the pending release of A Discovery of Witches, Viking has provided this wonderful set of buttons for me to giveaway to one lucky winner.
GIVEAWAY Rules for entering:
- This contest is open to residents of USA residents only!
- Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
- The contest will end on November 9, 2010 at 11:59PM EST; 1 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
- Once the winner is contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
- Book will be shipped directly from Viking.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Mailbox Monday
Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.
We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.
Black Beans & Vice
by J.B. Stanley (for review) ~ The Flab Five’s creative new strategy to slim down? Hypnotherapy! And James has new motivation for laying off the donuts: his adorable son Eliot and a rekindled romance with his ex-wife, Jane. But a radical animal rights group is stirring things up in Quincy’s Gap. When
two suspicious deaths occur, the Supper Club friends team up to solve another delectable, food-filled mystery. A cozy “village” mystery, Black Beans & Vice is the sixth book in the warm and wonderful Supper Club mystery series.Featuring recipes for tasty vegetarian entrees, a simple and refreshing cocktail, and delicious desserts!
Love You More: A Novel (D. D. Warren)
by Lisa Gardner (For review, ARC) ~ The crime appears 
open-and-shut: Pushed to the brink by an abusive husband, state police trooper Tessa Leoni finally snapped and shot him in self-defense. But Tessa isn’t talking–not about her dead husband, her battered face, or her missing six-year old daughter. Now, Detective D.D. Warren will have to race against the clock to unearth family secrets, solve a murder and save a child.
Play Dirty (The Bounty Hunters)
by Lorie O'Clare (for review) ~ Heartthrob bounty hunter Greg King knows how to work it—and he knows that he can have any woman he wants. But there’s more to Greg than
meets the eye…and he’s still haunted by the memory of his beautiful, estranged wife. Much as he’s tried to move on, he’s never been able to stopstopped wondering why Haley left him. Or what he could have done to make their marriage better—and make her stay…After putting a vicious criminal behind bars, Haley King had no choice but to leave her loved ones behind and enter the witness protection program. Turns out that, in her new life, Haley has once again found herself in serious trouble—and needs help from the only person she can trust: her husband. Now, as old secrets threaten to tear them apart and danger closes in from all sides, it’s up to Greg to keep Haley safe…and convince her that this time, he’s playing for keeps.
Never Trust A Rogue (Heiress in London)
by Olivia Drake (for review) ~ The wealthiest heiress of the 
season, Miss Lindsey Crompton finds detective work far more fascinating than social engagements—at least until she meets Thane Parker, the Earl of Mansfield. Thane is a paradox: a war hero and a cad, a wicked scoundrel and an indulgent guardian of his young ward. When Lindsey sneaks into his house to investigate his role in a series of murders, he blackmails her into a betrothal.Thane has a secret life he keeps hidden from everyone, especially the infernally curious—and curiously alluring—Miss Crompton. Working with the Bow Street Runners, Thane is tracking a killer who may be one of Lindsey’s suitors. Even if their engagement is a ruse, the heat between Thane and Lindsey is undeniably real. And with a murderer on the loose, desire has never been so dangerous…
Scoundrel In My Dreams: The Runaway Brides
by Celeste Bradley (for review) ~ The child is his: Jack, or rather, Lord John Redgrave knows it the instant he glimpses the blue-eyed girl who was abandoned on the steps of his gentleman’s club. Her mother came to his room one dark night more than three years ago—and 
spurned his proposal the very next day. But when Jack visits Amaryllis Clarke to demand an explanation, he receives the shock of his life. For it wasn’t proud, worldly Amaryllis with whom he spent that soul-stirring night. It was her infatuated younger sister, Laurel.Laurel was only seventeen when she gave her innocence to Jack—and paid a steep price. She might be overjoyed about her reunion with little Melody, but Laurel won’t surrender to her desires again. Jack, meanwhile, has no wish to give up the daughter he never knew he had. Nor will he part with the sensual woman who makes him feel alive with longing. He intends to use any means possible to convince Laurel to stay. After all, all’s fair in matters of seduction—especially to a scoundrel in love…
The Surrender of a Lady
by Tiffany Clare (for review) ~ Sold. With one word, Lady Elena Ravenscliffe’s destiny changes forever. Forced into Constantinople’s slave market to pay off her late husband’s debts and 
save her son, Elena reinvents herself as Jinan—a harem girl adored by the rich lords who bid on her favors. But one man instantly sees through her façade.Griffin Summerfield, Marquess of Rothburn, let Elena slip through his fingers years ago. When he recognizes her on the auction block, he pays an outrageous sum to possess her even if it is for a short period of time. But when his deadline looms, Griffin will risk all in a desperate bid to make her his—and his alone…
Scared to Death
by Wendy Corsi Staub (ARC) ~ A Mother’s Worst Fear…Elsa Cavalon—petrified that the nightmare from fifteen years earlier is beginning all over again…Marin Quinn—hiding with her daughters in their concrete fortress…her storybook marriage over…Perfect strangers whose
once-perfect lives were cruelly shattered, they’re bound by a long lost child , a fragile strand of newfound maternal hope—and mutual loneliness. Yet Elsa and Marin are never truly alone. Someone is always nearby, watching them and their children. Someone driven by vengeance and the simple poetry of nursery rhymes…Someone who must satisfy dark need with innocent blood. And now time is running out for two mothers stalked by a cunning mastermind who wants to leave them…SCARED TO DEATH - Release date: Jan 1, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
