Updates, blogs, and news

First things first, Of Breakable Things is up for pre-order on Amazon!!! Click here to go the page:

Also, last week I had the opportunity to share my OBT playlist at one of my favorite blogs, FICTION THE NEW REALITY! There's also a giveaway for one of the OBT bracelets, so be sure to check it out and enter the giveaway before it's too late!

And finally, the Month9Books 2014 preview is live! Check out all the amazing titles and GORGEOUS covers. Click on the pic below to go to the YouTube video.

True or False?? FALSE.

Happy New Year!! It's officially 2014! Woot! By the way, I never posted that the winner for the #OFBREAKBLETHINGS button promo contest was Jaime R. from Maryland!!! Congrats to Jaime, and I hope she's enjoying her gift card!!! (save some of that $$ for April 8!!) And save those buttons folks. If you post a picture on any social media just be sure to link it to me or OBT, and your name stays in the drawing for next month!!!

I've been getting some frequent questions about the plot for OF BREAKABLE THINGS, so I thought I'd ring in the new year with a little T/F. Well more of just a False.

What Of Breakable Things is NOT.

A love triangle. It’s more of a straight line. Sorry.

Chase has brothers. They are major characters. There is one brother in particular who could be considered a piece of a triangle, but if you read the story you’ll realize that he never stood a chance in the first place. He’s just a selfish guy who wants to beat out one of his brothers for once in his life. If that means stealing a girl, then so be it. Does he love Alex? Sure. He grew up with her. But this character loves himself more than anyone else. The series will show his growth, but selfishness is something that rarely changes in anyone.

Supernatural meets natural and falls in love. No.

There is only one living character in OBT (unless you count flashbacks). The story is not about the living interacting with the dead. Far from it. It’s about a mental world that exists between body and spirit. The ‘mind’ part of us consists of the memories, the emotions, and the intelligence we gather throughout our lives. The story explores the things we can finally see and feel once we allow our minds to be free.

Horror.

Although there are seriously horrific aspects to the story (when a psychotic mind finds its way into world dictated by mental activity, it poses a problem), it is not horror. Technically, the genre is YA paranormal, but it certainly isn’t your typical ghost story. I will share that there’s an old asylum- next to the one where Alex is committed before her death- and the minds lurking there are nothing like Casper.

Sometimes it’s easier to say what a story is NOT, especially when trying not to give too much away. If you were banking on a love triangle or staying up all night from fright, this won’t be the book for you. But I do think readers will enjoy thinking about the things that may exist beyond our realm of comprehension. 

Hope you rang in the new year in style!!!! I know I personally have a virtual hangover from the #NYE14reads fun. Cheers!

CONTEST!!!!!!!!!!! (test run)

So, I've been a very negligent blogger recently. I could chalk it up to editing deadlines, but really it's life getting in the way. Between moving houses, a broken foot, the fall season, and the looming holidays, I'm lucky if I remember to bathe my children.

Juuuust kidding.

Kind of.

Anyway, with the holidays approaching who doesn't love having some extra cash to spend? How about a gift card giveaway (and I'll encourage you to save a bit of that cash to buy a copy of OBT in April yeah right)

Below are the fabulous little buttons I am giving away to promote Of Breakable Things. These are really for the new year, but I figure we might as well conduct a test run! December marks the FOUR month mark before the release of OBT, and four is my lucky number. I'm visiting some schools during the next few weeks, and so the contest rules are as follows:

Your fabulous name will be entered to win a gift card on DECEMBER 15th if you share a picture of yourself (or others... animals count and are actually encouraged) wearing the OBT button

 on:

1. Twitter
2. Instagram
3. Facebook

And if you wear the button during a YouTube video, you're entered twice. Just be sure to link me, so I can enter your name.

If I am not visiting your school or if you've seen me recently and haven't gotten a button, email me at ALyndenRolland@gmail.com, and I'm happy to send one to you.


Also, hold on to the those buttons. You'll need them come release day.

Happy Monday!

OF BREAKABLE THINGS book trailer

"What is your book about?"

This question is agonizing. I can't seem to condense the plot of my novel into less than five minutes of explanation. Well, I can, but it doesn't seem to do it justice. And then I begin to jump around. My main character has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Most of the characters are dead. The characters can't see things until they are looking for them. Being 'spirited' is hereditary. There are so many aspects that make Of Breakable Things unique, and usually my synopsis ends up zigzagging from wall to wall like a ping pong ball.

I'm working on it. I promise. Until then, the easiest way to get a gist for what the book is all about? Check out the new book trailer on YouTube!

OF BREAKABLE THINGS book trailer.

You can also check it out on my Goodreads author profile.

Happy Friday (the 13th)!!!

YA Valentines Cover Reveal (part one)

2013 is halfway over, which means exciting times for 2014's debut authors! If you haven't already checked out the fun over at the YA Valentines clubhouse, you're missing out on GIVEAWAYS (yes, free stuff!!!), interviews, cupid's arrows, poems, videos, and cover reveals.

*record screeches to a stop*

Yes, that was cover reveals... plural.

It is my pleasure...

...to show you

...the amazing new cover for the lovely Sara B. Larson's debut novel, DEFY! (You can get your hands on an actual copy this January!!)

Here's a bit about DEFY:

In the novel, the fiercest member of a prince's elite guard is actually a girl disguised as a boy, who gets embroiled in a deadly game of thrones while keeping her secret, and realizes she has far deeper feelings for the prince than she thought.

I know. Amazing, right??? And so, without further ado...


*Drum roll please*

Isn't it gorgeous???

So excited! Come on '14!

Check out DEFY on Goodreads!

Click here to send Sara B. Larson a tweet, and let her know how much you love it!

PRETTY DARK NOTHING Release!!

Seventeen-year-old Quinn hadn’t slept a full night in twenty-three days. She’s terrified of the demons that stalk her dreams, pull her into a deep dark nothingness and whisper hauntingly of her death. Exhausted, Quinn dozes off in the school hallway, and Aaron, an amnesiac with a psychic ability, accidentally enters her nightmare. If Quinn can learn to trust her heart, and Aaron can discover the secret locked away in his fragile memory, their combined power could banish the darkness back to the underworld for good. That is, unless the demons kill them first.

 

I'm so lucky to have Heather Reid on the blog today because it's her RELEASE DAY!!! PRETTY DARK NOTHING has officially hit the shelves!!

 

ALR: Heather, thank you so much for being here. I don't usually do this, but I have to begin with the cover. Absolutely breathtaking. Was it what you envisioned for PRETTY DARK NOTHING?

HLR: Yes, but better! I can’t tell you how much I love the cover. Mette Breth Klausen was the designer, and she captured the book perfectly. I actually cried when I saw it; it was so beautiful.

ALR: Can you tell us anything about PRETTY DARK NOTHING that isn't in the blurb?

HLR: Pretty Dark Nothing is full of demons, and I don’t mean the hot fallen angel, bad boy types. These demons are the evil, hairy, sulphurous kind, bent on manipulating and destroying Quinn’s life. Throw in some romantic sparks with a psychic amnesic, an ex-boyfriend she can’t quite get over, and suspension from the cheerleading squad for failing grades, all while the demons are pushing her to the brink of madness, and I hope it’s a recipe for something darkly paranormal and not quite typical.

ALR: My type of recipe. What was your inspiration for the novel?

HLR: I think the spark of inspiration for Pretty Dark Nothing has been brewing my whole life. As a child, I suffered from night terrors and sleep walking. Although I eventually grew out of the sleep walking, the nightmares never went away. I would dream of faceless entities and demons on a reoccurring basis. I spent my pre-teen years trying to rationalize my fear while I spent my nights huddled under my covers with a book and a flash light afraid to fall asleep for fear of what would greet me in my dreams. I kept this a secret from my friends and afraid of what they would think. The dark torture of my imagination lasted through three years of middle school and finally faded. I still don’t think my mother knows how terrified I was of falling asleep, and I have no idea why the nightmares stopped, maybe they were my way of coping with the stress of adolescence. I don’t know.

When I reached college, I went through a particularly bad time in my life, suffered from depression, illness and the nightmares returned. I wasn’t frightened like I was when I was young; I recognized them for what they were. We all have inner demons we battle, those voices that tell us we’re not good enough, taunt us, paralyze us with fear. That’s when the idea for a novel started to form. I asked myself what would happen if those negative voices, those inner demons, weren’t imagined. What would happen if they were real, and they started to manifest outside the dream world? What if they influenced things around us, and what if you were the only one that could see them? That’s when Quinn and the idea for Pretty Dark Nothing were born. I didn’t start writing Pretty Dark Nothing right away. I did some character sketches and jotted down some notes, while I spent the next several years writing short stories and articles. But Quinn’s story wouldn’t let me go. When I finally decided to give my full attention to her, she blew me away. Quinn and I battled the demons that tortured her together, and in the process, she taught me how to battle my own.

ALR: Can you tell us a bit about the road to publication?

HLR: At the age of four, I started dictating stories to my mother, who would illustrate them for me. By the age of nine, I was writing plays for friends and binding my own picture books with cardboard and string.  At eleven, I tried my hand at a first novel. (No, you can’t read it. It’s buried in a deep dark hole somewhere in the Tasmanian Outback and guarded by a three-headed dingo.)

ALR: HAHA!

It was then that I told my parents I wanted to be published by the age of sixteen. I also told them I wanted to be Wonder Woman, a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, a Broadway star, and an archaeologist. Those dreams faded. I never did get that invisible jet, and I would be a lot older than sixteen before I got a publishing deal, but the dream of being a writer stayed with me. After college I decided to stop dreaming and start getting serious. I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, joined a writer’s group, read books on writing, went to conferences, workshops, and most importantly, I started writing every day. Some of it was crap. Ok, at first, a lot of it was crap, but writing takes work. After over twelve years of studying, writing, and querying, my first young adult novel, Pretty Dark Nothing, sold in a two book deal to Month9Books. It’s been an amazing journey, and I’m still learning.

ALR: I've been waiting (not so) patiently for April 23rd to finally arrive. How do you plan to celebrate your release day?

HLR: I’m going to the Cheesecake Factory with my family to celebrate.

ALR: What projects are you working on now?

HLR: I’m working on the sequel to Pretty Dark Nothing, along with another YA and a dark fantasy trilogy for the adult market. I have so many ideas running around in my head that I wonder if I’ll ever get around to getting them all on paper.

ALR: Since your debut is YA, what books inspired you as a teen?

HLR: A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L Engle was a huge inspiration. (ALR's eyes fondly drift over to A Wrinkle In Time, sitting five feet away on her shelf.)

I also loved Christopher Pike Novels, VC Andrews, and Jean M Auel. I also read a lot of ‘true’ ghost stories and books about haunted places. Oh, and let’s not forget Tolkien.

ALR: We would get along marvelously. Okay, now for some random questions... 

If you could meet one book character, who would you choose?

HLR: Mr. Darcy

ALR: What's your kryptonite?

HLR: Ice Cream

ALR: One thing you can't live without?

HLR: My Kindle

ALR: Complete the sentence: Writing is...

HLR: ...some days it’s like walking naked through a thorn bush. Other days it’s like  getting a new puppy and winning a lifetime supply of chocolate at the same time.

ALR: Complete the sentence: Reading is...

HLR: ...the best way to see the world, both real and imagined.


Well said.
 
Heather, thank you so much for taking the time to swing by the blog! Best of luck, and congratulations!!!


Heather L. Reid is both American and British and has called six different cities in three different countries, home. Her strong sense of wanderlust and craving for a new adventure mean you might find her wandering the moors of her beloved Scotland, exploring haunted castles, or hiking through a magical forest in search of fairies and sprites. When she’s not venturing into the unknown in her real life, she loves getting lost in the worlds of video games or curling up by the fire with good story. For now, this native Texan is back in the Lone Star State, settling down with her Scottish husband and dreaming up new novels to write.

You can visit Heather's website or blog or find her online via Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook.

ABOUT MONTH9BOOKS:

 

Month 9 Books is a publisher of speculative fiction for teens and tweens… where nothing is as it seems. Month9Books will donate proceeds from each of its annual charity anthologies to a deserving charity. Individually, authors may donate his or her advances and royalties to a charitable organization. Month9Books will also release 10-12 non-charitable titles annually. GABRIEL STONE AND THE DIVINITY OF VALTA is Month9Books’s first Middle Grade release. Month9Books is distributed by Small Press United, a division of IPG. You may visit www.month9books.comfor more information.

Goodreads Month9Books: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/67761-month9books
Month9Books Blogger Central: http://month9booksblog.com/?page_id=477 

 WANT A FREE COPY OF PRETTY DARK NOTHING?? ENTER BELOW FOR A CHANCE TO WIN!

 

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READ ACROSS AMERICA

What I learned from Read Across America at CHS...

 

 

 

 

-Kids will do anything to get out of class. This includes wearing a giant Clifford costume.

 

-There are amazing teenagers out there, ones who volunteer to write articles, who participate in book clubs even though it's "social suicide"(their words, not mine) and who spend their afternoons making goodie bags for presenters.

-Many teens prefer to read (and write) Fan Fiction. Especially because it's free.

-So many teenagers enjoy writing, but they are afraid to share it. They create personas on writing websites like Wattpad and FanFiction.

-People ridicule Twilight while secretly wearing their Team Edward shirts under their clothes.

-Storytellers steal the spotlight. I suppose animation is in their job description, however.

(The amazing Ming Diaz painting faces in between storytelling performances)

-Horror is in.

-Teens love free stuff! (Who doesn't??)

(Students with their Month9Books swag)

 

-When participating in a panel at a school, include students. They offer fresh and honest opinions.

 

-I'm out of shape when it comes to adding an entire school day to my life. Exhausting.

 

-Meeting other authors is so refreshing. Much love for Brigid Kemmerer. She rocked her presentation. (And she was smart enough to bring candy for the kids...)

 

-School still begins way too early in the morning.

 

-I will always miss teaching.

 

-And finally: Media Specialists deserve higher salaries. (Shout out to Geri Cvetic at Chesapeake High School. She's the real deal. Those kids are incredibly lucky to have her.)