#SPFBO 2016

What is it, you ask? It is the “Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off”!

Last year, organized by author/blogger Mark Lawrence, 10 brave bloggers took on the responsibility of reading and reviewing 273 self-published fantasy novels, with the ultimate goal of choosing one ring to rule them all. Er…one winner. You can read all about last year’s competition here!

It was such a huge hit that they’ve decided to do it again, and guess what, I’m participating! I’ve submitted The Music Box Girl, one of 300 entries into this year’s contest. (that’s right, 300 entries. They had to cap the submissions because it was so popular). Now, we (the authors) don’t win anything, other than some good word of mouth, but I’m really mostly excited about learning about OTHER people’s books. My new favorite might be in there, and I don’t even know it yet!

My book got slotted into the group to be read by The Qwillery, and if you didn’t already know about them, you should totally check them out. They do really good book reviews, as well as fascinating interviews, and I’ve found quite a few new reads through them.

If you want to see a list of all of the submitted books, as well as the bloggers who have taken on the herculean task of wading through 30 books a piece, you can visit Mark Lawrence’s blog post about the contest. He keeps a running list of posts there as the bloggers talk about their assigned books. He has also started another post where each blogger picks their three favorite covers, and it will be updated as they all respond.

SO, if you see the hashtag #SPFBO, that’s what I’m talking about, and I’m hoping to be able to read a few of the submitted titles as well over the course of the summer.

Happy reading, everyone!

Second Olympus: The Movie

Only in an author's fondest fantasies are their books actually made into movies.  But that doesn't mean that we can't dream. I mean, c'mon. Imagining stuff is what we get paid for!

So imagine with me, people!  In the comments below, leave your ideal cast list for the characters listed below.  They can be past or present, you can specify young or old (for example, young Marlon Brando is very different than older Marlon Brando).  If you need more inspiration, check out this earlier post featuring my Second Olympus Playlist!

I'm limiting everyone to ONE entry per person (yes, I know that there are a several married couples who may be competing, so it's up to you guys if you want to enter as one, or as individuals)  ((I may have just ruined a couple of marriages))

Because I know there are folk who are busy this weekend (*waves hi to the Malice Domestic crowd*), I will leave the contest open through next Wednesday (5/6).  I'll post the 1st and 2nd place winners that evening.

1st place winner gets a $25 Amazon gift card, and 2nd place gets $10!  Woohoo!

Remember, only the first 12 characters are must haves (and if you truly can't figure one out, it's okay to leave it blank. I've got a few I haven't cast yet, too).  If you want to put some names to the "Others" section, you can do that just for fun.

Olympus Tower:
Heracles
Artemis
Persephone
Demeter
Hades
Hephaestus

Deeptown:
Geoff
Lia
Ambert
Jon / Rik (they're twins, remember?)
Keras
Raffa

Others:
Art forger
Old Stan
Young Stan
Fons
Drones
Hunstmen

And....GO!  (Have fun, folk)

Your Mission

Should you choose to accept it, and I really hope you do, or this will be the lamest contest ever.

So, people often tell me (usually in reference to the JJD books), “Hey, this would make a great movie/TV show!”  Well, in all honesty, I’ve never believed that the JJD books would translate well to film.  There’s too much internal introspection in dear Jesse’s head that I think would be lost on the big (or little) screen.

However, I have always believed that Second Olympus would be my “movie book”.  I have a soundtrack picked out and everything.  And occasionally, I amuse myself by daydreaming about who would play who in that movie.

So here’s what we’re going to do!  I want YOU to cast my Second Olympus movie.  I’ve got a list of main characters below, and I’d love to know how YOU picture them.

Now, you’re thinking, “As fun as this is, this seems like it could take some time! What’s in it for me?”  I’m so glad you asked!  I will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift card to my favorite cast list.  Second place will get a $10 Amazon gift card!  To win, I want casting for the 12 “main” characters. (the “others” listed at the bottom are just for fun, if you have someone perfect in mind)

Since this kinda requires that you have READ the book, and not everyone reads super fast, I’m announcing this today, and then NEXT Friday (May 1st), I will put up a new post and THERE you will list your answers.  That gives you a week to read and ponder.

REMEMBER:  Don’t leave your answers on THIS post, wait til next Friday and we’ll do it then.

Now, you may have see me mention a few actors that I see in a couple of the roles, but don't feel like you're bound to that!  I want to know what YOU picture.  So get reading, and on May 1st, have your cast list ready!

Second Olympus Cast List

Olympus Tower:
Heracles
Artemis
Persephone
Demeter
Hades
Hephaestus

Deeptown:
Geoff
Lia
Ambert
Jon / Rik
Keras
Raffa

Others:
Art forger
Old Stan
Young Stan
Fons
Drones
Hunstmen

And the winner is...

As promised, as of 5 p.m. today, I have chosen a winner (with the aid of a handy-dandy random number generator). And believe it or not, today, it pays to be fast!

Our winner of A SHOT IN THE DARK's ARC is: (drum roll)

Commenter #1 - Trey!

Trey, congratulations! Please email me your address at kari(dot)stewart21(at)gmail(dot)com. Also, let me know how you'd like it signed.

I'm hoping to be able to do a another give-away once my author copies come in, so anyone who didn't win, stay tuned!

The ARC, the ARC, the ARC is on fire!

Okay, no the ARC is not on fire. That would be sad, considering that I only have one to give away. (I did, however, set my back yard on fire over the weekend, but that's a story for another time)

But, I am hoping that someone considers an ARC of A SHOT IN THE DARK a smokin' hot commodity.

So here we go, folk! Leave a comment here on the blog (Sorry, Facebook and Twitter do not count) to enter. That's it. So simple! Tell your friends, get them to enter, that way if they win, they might let you borrow it too!

The contest will go until 5 p.m. NEXT Monday evening (5/16) because I think more nice things should happen on Mondays. And what could be nicer than finding out you won an ARC of A SHOT IN THE DARK!!!

(I'll leave it to you to imagine me saying that in an appropriately epic monster truck rally announcer voice)

Remember, all you have to do is leave a comment HERE, on this post. Easy as...oh...selling your soul.

A Quandary

Once again, I have been remiss in my bloggerly duties. However, since I have been in the midst of writing Book 3 (as yet untitled), I hope you'll forgive me.

And speaking of upcoming books... I have ARCs of A SHOT IN THE DARK! Well...more precisely, I have one that I'm willing to part with.

But how? By what esoteric method can I choose the recipient of this one and only single lonely ARC? And therein lies my quandary.

So let me know, folks! What kind of give-away do you want to see? Just a random commenter chosen? Something you have to work for? Let me know what kind of things you like to see in online contests.

Monday Heads Up!

You have a chance to win a copy of A DEVIL IN THE DETAILS here at Secrets and Obsessions! Winner is chosen on Wednesday, so get a move on, leave a comment!

Also, it's October and do you know what that means? It means that November and NaNoWriMo are just around the corner!! Do you have your NaNo idea yet?

I'm currently working on the research portion of mine. My participation of course depends on my edit schedule with Book 2, but barring that, I'm planning busting out my words like everyone else!

If anyone wants to be my friend on NaNo, leave your user name in the comments so I can add you to my list!

Does she ever shut up?

No, no I don't. So there.

Currently, I have about eleventy billion people in town, all of them eager to go to my very first book signing tomorrow! Anyone in the Kansas City area, you are so welcome to come to this signing. Please. Somebody show up.

But anyway, that's why this blog post is going to be short and sweet.

I'm popping up all over the internet this week. You can read an interview with me, and enter to win a copy of A DEVIL IN THE DETAILS over at The Oddshots! You can also find out my favorite girly drink.

I've also popped up over at Dark Faerie Tales, where I confess my villain love and you can enter to win yet another copy of the book!

Ooh, and I just got word of another interview up with me here! This is the one that is posted in the World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto! So for those who don't live in Toronto, here's what you were missing.

I have to say, it's amazing, getting feedback from people I don't know. So many people have emailed me, or messaged me on Twitter, to say how much they're enjoying it. That makes me so happy. I mean, that's all most writers want, really. Just to have someone else love their characters, live in their world for a little bit. It's awesome.

Thanks, everybody. You're awesome too.

Fingers and toes accounted for?

Hope everyone had a good 4th! Ours was pretty much rained out, fireworks-wise, but we still got to spend the day with family and that pretty much trumps anything else. Also means that we're saving all the fireworks for next weekend, and my book release party.

Yes, this is the midwest. We need very little excuse to blow stuff up.

And today I invade the internet!

First, Smexybooks has reviewed A DEVIL IN THE DETAILS. Then, they let me babble on about stuff! Oh, and there's a giveaway there, so check it out!

Ack, had to edit to post a great review from an equally great writer. (seriously, watch this one, she's going places) Dealing With Demons reviews my book!

Contest Winners!

In the immortal words of The Doctor (or is that words of the immortal Doctor? Anyway...) Nobody dies today!

Er..wait... Not quite what I meant.

Ok, here's the really cool part of entering this contest, folks.

EVERYBODY wins!

You heard me. Everybody who entered this contest before my last comment on that post is going to get one of the Ace/Roc samplers!

Email me your addresses at kari (dot) stewart21 (at) gmail (dot) com. Include your handle here on the board, so I can keep track of who is who.

I will be holding onto these until after July 10th, so that Kasey can sign them too, and then I'll get them sent off! (yes, even to Australia)

Congrats, everyone!

Quick Note

You can find an essay (by me, of course!) over at the Ace/Roc website! Down at the bottom, there's also a link to read an excerpt of A DEVIL IN THE DETAILS, but since ya'll already bought the book, you've probably read it already. (this is me, winking)

And if you happen to hit the main page of that very same website, you'll see an interview with Kasey MacKenzie, too!

Contest entrants, listen up! I will post the winners tomorrow, so if you haven't entered, why not? If you have, be ready for it.

Editing to add: A link to another review! They like me!

They're everywhere, they're everywhere!

Run for the hills!

Ok, first off, tomorrow (Thursday, July 1st) is the LAST day to enter my contest! Remember, you can get a sampler of seven different upcoming Ace/Roc releases, several of them MONTHS before the books hit shelves. Enter! Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Also! Please remember the signing that will take place on July 10th! Details are in this post, and Kasey and I would love to see folks there.

And now! More wild book sightings from all over the country!

From Columbia, Missouri!


From Amherst, NY!


From Manhattan, NY!


And from Pasadena, CA!


Thanks to everyone who has tracked down these pics for me, you guys are all amazing! I hope you're all enjoying the book, too!

Contest Time!

You know you guys love it.
First off, the obligatory reminder about the joint book signing coming up in July! Be there, folks!

Ok, what I am giving away this time is 5 (that’s FIVE) copies of the Ace/Roc summer sampler!

And you’re saying “I don’t want a sample, I want the whole book!” Ah ha, but see what we have here:

You get an excerpt of my book, A DEVIL IN THE DETAILS. You get an excerpt of Kasey MacKenzie’s book, RED HOT FURY. Both of these books are released within the next week or so.

BUT! You also get excerpts of five more books that aren’t due out until September and October! Lo, I give you summaries:

DUST – Joan Frances Turner


Nine years ago, Jessie had a family. Now, she has a gang.
Nine years ago, Jessie was a vegetarian. Now, she eats very fresh meat.
Nine years ago, Jessie was in a car crash and died. Nine years ago, Jessie was human.
Now, she’s not.
After she was buried, Jessie awoke and tore through the earth to arise, reborn, as a zombie. Jessie’s gang is the Fly-by-Nights. She loves the ancient, skeletal Florian and his memories of time gone by. She’s in love with Joe, a maggot-infested corpse. They fight, hunt, dance together as one—something humans can never understand. There are dark places humans have learned to avoid, lest they run into the zombie gangs.

But now, Jessie and the Fly-by-Nights have seen new creatures in the woods—things not human and not zombie. A strange new illness has flamed up out of nowhere, causing the undeads to become more alive and the living to exist on the brink of death. As bits and pieces of the truth fall around Jessie, like the flesh off her bones, she’ll have to choose between looking away or staring down the madness—and hanging onto everything she has come to know as life…

I’ve been eyeing this one for quite a while, and when I got these samplers, I turned to this one first! Had to find out if I could make it through the excerpt without putting the book in the freezer. And hey, I did! This is going on my “zombie-phobia therapy” list, for sure.

GHOST OF A CHANCE – Simon R. Green


A brand-new series from the New York Times bestselling author of the Nightside novels!

The Carnacki Institute exists to "Do Something" about Ghosts-and agents JC Chance, Melody Chambers, and Happy Jack Palmer will either lay them to rest, send them packing, or kick their nasty ectoplasmic arses with extreme prejudice.

A new series from an author I love anyway. How does this get any better?

QUEEN OF SHADOWS – Dianne Sylvan


Meet Miranda Grey-music and magic are in her blood.

Overwhelmed by her uncanny ability to manipulate people's emotions through her music, Miranda Grey comes to the attention of vampire lord David Solomon. Believing he can help bring her magic under control, David discovers that Miranda's powers may affect the vampire world too...

THE SILENT ARMY – James Knapp


The pulse-pounding sequel to State of Decay
Federal agent Nico Wachalowski must stop Samuel Fawkes from awakening his own private army of zombies even if it means killing the woman he loves-now resurrected as a "Revivor"-permanently.

I haven’t read the first one of this series, but I most certainly will now. (Consider it more therapy for my zombie phobia)

GRAVE WITCH – Kalayna Price


Not even death can save her now.

As a grave witch, Alex Craft can speak to the dead-she's even on good terms with Death himself. As a consultant for the police, she's seen a lot of dark magic, but nothing has prepared her for her latest case. When she's raising a "shade" involved in a high profile murder, it attacks her, and then someone makes an attempt on her life. Someone really doesn't want her to know what the dead have to say, and she'll have to work with mysterious homicide detective Falin Andrews to figure out why...


And there you have it folks, you can get little peeks at all of these mouth-watering choices.

I will, of course, sign my portion, and if you can wait until after July 10th to receive your prize, I will have Kasey sign her portion too! (It’s up to you to stalk the other five authors to get their John Hancocks)

So! To enter, leave a comment. No tricky questions this time, just let your shout-out be heard. On Friday, July 2nd, I will use a random number generator to pick five lucky winners.

Reviews & Contests!

Been an interesting week!

My first reviews are starting to trickle in (well, ok, two) but one of them is a starred review in Publisher's Weekly! (starred reviews are big deals) Here's the link, scroll to the very bottom of the page.

They like me, they really like me!

And as for contests, skip on over to the Dear Author blog for the ACE/ROC Summer Giveaway! In addition to 3 (count it, THREE!) ARCs of A DEVIL IN THE DETAILS, they're also giving away a TON of other great upcoming books. There's gotta be something there for everyone to love.

In writing news, almost done getting beta notes back, gonna start writing all that up this weekend I think. Dr. Gita is helping me (read: taking charge of, and bless her) set up a launch party and there may or may not be a book signing to go with it! I'll keep you all posted.

And the winner is...

Well, after I eliminated my beta-slaves’ answers (sorry guys!), and added one who couldn’t log into the blog, we had a total of 22 entries. I have to say that there was an amazing diversity in everyone’s soul-selling plans. We had everything from steamy nights with movie stars, to rather fabulous spinning wheels. It seems that most everybody wants more time and/or money, and either one is a good way to get the other.

I’m so glad you all came out to play for my very first ever blog contest! So many new people stopping by, excited about my book! Hopefully, I’ll be able to do more things like this as time goes on. Y’know, when I get cooler.

Now without further ado, our winner is: Kait Nolan, who wants to be independently wealthy so that she can write full-time. Trust me, I feel your pain.

Kait, please email me your mailing address at kari(dot)stewart21(at)gmail(dot)com, and I’ll get this out in the mail to you! Also, let me know if you’d like it personalized in any way.

It’s currently morning as I write this (will probably be noonish by the time it’s posted) and I have a rough guesstimate of 1500 words left to finish Book 2. Crossing my fingers that I can get this done today. (only two weeks after I’d intended to, but why get picky?)

Book Signing!

No, not mine, silly ducks. But I digress...

First off, if you're looking for the contest, it's here. 2 more days to enter, and the odds are heavily in your favor so far!

Second, spent tonight at Jim Butcher's book signing, and had a ball! (even if I did stand through the signing line twice. Long story) It was of course held on neutral ground as governed by the Accords:



Made some new friends, had a good time with old ones. And yes, here is the obligatory picture, complete with kiddo photo bomb.



Ok, so it's not a wonderful pic of me, but kiddo and Jim look great! Notice that part way through the evening, they had to ice Jim's wrist down. See, THIS is what I'm trying to avoid with my fancy schmancy wrist braces! The wrist, a writer's Achilles heel... Or Achilles wrist, really. I mean, why would you call a wrist a heel in the first place.

Ok...it is possible that I'm up too late at this point. I should quit while I'm ahead.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

That’s right, folks, it’s Wednesday!

“What’s so great about Wednesday,” you say. “It’s too far away from Friday to be cool, languishing in the middle of the week like that. And really, ‘hump day’? What kind of nickname is that?”

What’s so great? WHAT’S so great?! Why, today is the day we start my first ever blog contest!

You, yes YOU, could win the one and only ARC of A Devil in the Details that I’m going to give away. This stunning piece of literature will be signed by me and… well… That’s kinda my selling point right there. (please, PLEASE, somebody want this thing.)

The contest will work thusly:

You go to THIS blog (right here, where you are anyway). You go to THIS post (conveniently, also right where you are anyway). You leave a comment below answering the following question. What would YOU sell your soul for?

And that’s it. That enters you in the contest, and at the end of it all, I will use a random number generator to pick the lucky winner.

The contest will run until midnight Central time NEXT Wednesday (April 14th). Any entries received with a time stamp later than that will not be considered. One entry per person, please, since we only have one soul to sell. (At least, I think we do. Hubby technically owns one of his high school chum’s souls, sold for a buck twenty-five in lunch money (we still have the contract) but I assume that’s an unusual circumstance.)

The winner will receive one ARC, signed (and personalized if you like) by me! Guaranteed to cure baldness, erectile dysfunction, eyebrow mold, and remove soap scum from your bathtub.* The only request I’d like to make is that you please come back later and let me know if I sucked or not.

Comments left on Twitter or Facebook will not count, so make sure you come here, to this blog, this post!

Sadly, Beta-slaves, I must exclude you from the contest, since, y’know, you guys kinda read it already. You get the joy of reading it early, but the anguish of not getting the chubby mandolins. (Y’know, fat loots? Seriously, am I the ONLY gamer here?)

Let the contest begin!

*Disclaimer: Will not cure baldness, erectile dysfunction, eyebrow mold, or remove soap scum from your bathtub.

Random Assortment of Stuff

So... In the ongoing water-in-the-driveway saga... The lady from the city said that the water is not city water, but a natural spring. Said it's not the city's problem. The insurance company says the water is coming from city property, therefore it IS the city's problem.

I figured I was going to have to take weapons of mass destruction and storm somebody's office over this mess.

But when I get home tonight, I see that someone has been here, spraying the location of all the underground power lines, etc. along the street/driveway/yard where the water is leaking. Is it possible that someone is going to deal with it? Dare I hope?

Also, my friend Cindy is having a contest to give away ARCs of her upcoming YA fantasy Silver Phoenix. So please, head on over to her blog and fess up to your favorite kind of Chinese food! Also, surf around her website and check out her gorgeous artwork.

And on a similar note, my other friend Kim is also giving away an ARC of HER upcoming book, The Unbreakable Child. Visit her blog and reveal your favorite comfort food.

And wow, that may be the most links I've ever put in one post.

Still trying to finish Project NaNo. I am about 1/3-ish into the final chapter, and I figure even if I'm just puttering along, I should finish it by next week. I'm anxious to get it finished, I want to do some basic revisions, then get it out to my betas.

Waiting to hear back from The Agent on the revisions I sent him. This effort may be hampered by the fact that my "professional" e-mail address seems to have borked itself. I'm waiting for word from the Intrepid Auggy on what has happened and when/if it can be fixed.