Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and participated in the YA Scavenger Hunt! What a fun event and it was great ‘meeting’ you all on my blog. Perhaps someday we will meet in person!
So the winner of SILVERN + a signed poster of both books is: (drum roll)
Hey guys! I’m Christina Farley, your hostess for this leg of the hunt. I wrote the GILDED series, contemporary fantasies about a Korean-American girl with a black belt and a deadly proclivity with steel-tipped arrows who discovers an ancient Korean demigod has been kidnapping the first-born daughters of her family for generations. And she’s next. The third book in the series, BRAZEN, releases September 29, 2015!
On this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team- that’s a ton of books! Plus, at the end of this post, I’m giving away the sequel to GILDED, SILVERN, as well as signed posters of both books!
But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are EIGHT contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the RED TEAM –but there is also a blue team, a gold team, a purple team, an orange team, a red team, and a pink team for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books! If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the red team , and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday, Apr. 5th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
SCAVENGER HUNT POST
Today, I am hosting LEIGH STATHAMfor the YA Scavenger Hunt!!!!
Leigh Statham was raised in the wilds of rural Idaho, but found her heart in New York City. She worked as a waitress, maid, artist, math teacher, nurse, web designer, art director, thirty-foot inflatable pig and mule wrangler before she settled down in the semi-quiet role of wife, mother and writer. She resides in North Carolina with her husband, four children, five chickens and two suspected serial killer cats.
Leigh is also a founder of QuantumFairyTales.com and is currently serving a life sentence there as senior editor and gnome driver. She loves all things sparkly and strange that go bump in the night.
Lady Marguerite lives a life most 17th century French girls can only dream of: money, designer dresses, suitors and a secure future. Except she suspects she may be falling for her best friend Claude, a common smithie in the family’s steam forge. When Claude leaves for New France in search of a better life, Marguerite decides to follow him and test her suspicions of love. But the trip proves more harrowing than she had anticipated, revealing secrets and testing her strength as well as her heart. Love, adventure and restitution await her in Canada, but only if she can survive the voyage.
“The writing is solid and the world-building – that clever combination of historical detail and Ms. Statham’s imagination – is excellent.” ~The Australia Times Books
This book sounds awesome! Now for….
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT!
Top Five Ways to Ruin Your Dress in a Steampunk Novel
The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl
by Leigh Statham
5. Dance with a smithie
Known for their extremely large muscles and soul piercing eyes, smithies can be alluring, but also quite hazardous. Especially to the finest cloth from Paris. Their physique is largely due to all the time they spend working at the forge over smoldering fires with heavy tools. This also lends a general air of dirt and grime which can be hard to scrub out. Even when the boy wants to impress you, and will try his hardest, his hands will most likely still be black from gear oil and will leave incriminating evidence on your gown. Best to steer clear altogether.
4. Follow someone into a cellar
There can be many hidden wonders in a cellar. There can also be many creepy traps. Anyone you don’t know very, very well who wants you to follow them into a cellar probably isn’t worried about you ruining your dress. Plus, cobwebs, ew. Be very cautious.
3. Run away from home
It’s generally best to run away from home in the middle of the night by cover of dark. This will prevent supervising adults from catching you and grounding you for all time and eternity or forcing you into a hasty marriage to an undesirable count. However, to avoid said count, you must also not bring a lamp, as strange lamps in the wilderness in the middle of the night tend to draw attention to themselves and give old ladies heart attacks. This will leave you stumbling around in the dark as your only option. If the way is clear, you will most likely run for fear of being caught, and you will also, most likely, fall and ruin your dress. If the way is under cover of bush and tree, you will then most likely catch your gown on said shrubberies and tear it anyway.
2. Get shot at
Guns have a very bad habit of leaving holes in things. Even if the said firearm does not kill you, but grazes your arm, it will make a nasty hole in your garment, thus leaving you bleeding and in a bad mood. This could also leave you with nothing suitable to wear to the next party without a fitting. Quite inconvenient.
1. 86 the sucker
Gowns, although elegant and quite flattering to the female figure, can also get in the way of many necessary opportunities (see above). It is therefore advised that you wad your gowns up and toss them in the rubbish heap. Dump them. Burn them. Chuck them in the channel, feed them to the fowl, generally destroy them in any way that seems fitting to your situation. This will, undoubtedly leave you with a ruined dress, should you decide you need one after all. But we are certain after trying a nice pair of aviation trousers, you will never go back to the frothy, frilly ways of maidenhood again.
LOVE Statham’s fun, witty voice!
And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Christina Farley, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 7.
Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the red team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
NOW FOR THE BONUS GIVEAWAY!
Enter this rafflecopter to win a copy of SILVERN and signed posters of GILDED & SILVERN!
For the last two weeks I had the honor to travel to Korea and tour 6 international schools! The schools were: Seoul International School, Korea International School, Seoul Foreign School, Dwight International School, Chadwick International School, and Dulwich College Seoul.
This tour was a dream come true!
Here’s a video recap of my time:
Each day I was able to teach about writing and how storytelling can apply to all aspects of a student’s career. I loved talking to the students and hearing about their journeys in pursuing their dreams.
I’m so excited to be a part of the Spring YA Scavenger Hunt!
There are eight outstanding teams this season. I am going to be a part of #TeamRed! The Scavenger Hunt runs from April 2nd through April 5th beginning and ending at noon Pacific time on those days.
If you’ve never been a part of the hunt before you should give it a try. It runs like a giant blog hop, introducing you to new YA authors and books along the way. There are tons of prizes including a grand prize for each team. If you win one of the grand prizes you will get a book from each author on that team! For more information and to make sure you get hunt updates, sign up for news on the #YASH website.
I’m super excited to be hosting LEIGH STATHAM. Not only will I be reading and showing a video clip of an exclusive sneak peek of BRAZEN on VICTORIA SCOTT’s website, but I will also be holding a giveaway on my site for a copy of SILVERN and posters of both books!
You don’t want to miss out on this fabulous and fun event, but play fast because the hunt is only live for three days.
Last week I was honored to attend the Riverdale Literary Festival at Riverdale High School. Let me tell you, this school is passionate and pumped about reading. Nearly every door in the school was decorated with themes from the books that were highlighted at the event. The students created book trailers, new covers, and banners of the books. The school raised thousands of dollars from grants and bought and handed out 1800 books!
As you may have remembered from my previous posts, a portion of all my earnings from my books go to charity. I’m thrilled to share with you a video that shows the results of the funds donated to Seoul Foreign School’s Dongdaewon campaign!
Every year Seoul Foreign School partners with the Eugene Bell Foundation to raise funds for MDR (multiple drug resistant) TB patients in North Korea. In SFS’s Hearts to Serve campaign they do plays, dares, bake-offs, and concerts to make this happen. A donation from every book in the Gilded Series that has been bought is also contributed to this endeavor. All funds raised go directly to buy medicine for individual patients since every patient’s medicine is unique.
If you purchased a copy of any of my books, thank you for making a difference in someone’s lives!
Today is the day! BLACKOUT by Meredith McCardle releases! I’m so excited about the sequel to the heart-pounding, fast-paced thriller of THE EIGHTH GUARDIAN. In fact, I’m so anxious to share this with you that at the bottom of this post, you can enter to win an autographed hardcover!
I absolutely loved book 1 of the Annum Guard series so it was hard to wait for BLACKOUT to come out. THE EIGTH GUARDIAN not only had interesting and unique characters, and not only was the world building so intricate and finely woven, but it was one of those books you just can’t put down until you reach the last page.
I know I’ll be devouring BLACKOUT the moment it arrives in my mailbox. If you’re looking for a unique, well-written time travel book, then you won’t go wrong with this series.
Here’s the blurb on Amazon:
Seventeen-year-old Amanda Obermann (code name: Iris) has more on her mind than usual. As a member of a covert government organization called the Annum Guard, which travels through time to keep history on track, Iris has been getting some particularly stressful assignments. Plus, Jane Bonner, the Guard’s iron-fisted new leader, seems determined to make life as hard as possible. Thankfully, Iris has Abe (code name: Blue), her boyfriend and fellow Guardian, who listens to her vent—and helps her cope with her mentally ill mother’s increasingly erratic behavior.
When Guardians start to disappear on their assignments, Iris makes a terrifying discovery: a “blackout” squad is targeting anyone who gets in the way of a corrupt force that’s selling out both the Annum Guard’s missions and Guardian lives. Together, Iris and Blue must go undercover to untangle the Guard’s elaborate web of secrets and lies. But when Iris discovers that the terrible truth may involve her own father, a former Guardian undone by his own greed, she must decide how much she’s willing to risk to rescue her friends…and how dangerous the consequences will be for all of humanity.
A thrilling time-traveling adventure that spans from Abraham Lincoln’s assassination to the Cuban Missile Crisis and back to the present day, this pulse-pounding sequel to The Eighth Guardian reveals that playing with time can turn into a deadly game.
First of all, a HUGE thanks to all the students, teachers, and schools who participated in this contest. It was an honor for us, SkYAuthors, to read the amazing work of the next generation’s writers. You all blew us away at your talent! Thank you for putting yourselves out there and for sharing with us your beautiful stories.
Now, as a refresher, here are the winning categories:
One winning school with the most entries (which will win a pack of thirty (30) Kindle Paperwhites).
One winner for each grade 6-12, which makes 7 total grade winners (who will each receive: One (1) Kindle Paperwhite; One ($20 Amazon Gift Card); and all six (6) of the participating Skyscape’s authors books.
Two Overall runners up for all grades (who each win One (1) Kindle Paperwhite; One $20 Amazon Gift Card; and all six (6) of the participating Skyscape’s authors books).
One Overall First Place Winner (prizes listed below)
Without further ado, here are the winners:
School With The Most Entries:
Northwest Technical And Career Academy
(Which is extra super exciting because a few of us SkYAuthors were able to visit this school!) Way to go, NWTCA students and teachers!
6th grade winner: Mia Ottaviano
School: Woodstown Middle School
Teacher/Mentor: Mrs. Collins
7th grade winner: Emmeline Song
School: The Avery Coonley School
Teacher/Mentor: Michelle Schaub
8th grade winner: Juliana Morell:
School: Woodstown Middle School
Teacher/Mentor: Mrs. Jennifer Kelly
9th grade winner: Kayla Stuhlmann
School: Basic High School
Teacher/Mentor: Mauseth
10th grade winner: Madison Matthews
School: Panther Creek High School
Teacher/Mentor: Daria Johnson
11th grade winner: Kelly Litts
School: St Thomas Aquinas High School
Teacher/Mentor: Amy Schaak
12th grade winner: Emily Espanol
School: Northwest Career and Technical Academy
Teacher/Mentor: Debbie Olsen/Josh Symmonds
Runners Up:
1. Kai Garrison
School: Coronado High School
Teacher/Mentor: Mr. J. Watkins
2. Emilee Resop
School: Northwest Career and Technical Academy
Teacher/Mentor: Debra Olsen
And for the OVERALL FIRST PLACE WINNER … drumroll please….
Juliana Gessner
School: Ronald Reagan IB High School
Teacher/Mentor: Ms. Weinfurter
Juliana, come on down…
You have won Two (2)Kindle Fires HDX
(One for yourself and one for your nominated teacher-mentor, Ms. Weinfurter).
Also if you choose to complete your story/short story, the SkYAuthors will assist in getting the story published.
Congratulations, Juliana! Your entry totally blew us away. The odds of you winning this contest were less than .01%…and you did it! This is how…
There were four of us in that dank little cell: the doctor, the nurse, the dead man, and myself. The doctor was etching an escape plan in the dust while the nurse looked on with eyes full of practiced admiration. The dead man sat slumped in the corner, his chains rattling ominously. Beneath us the floor rocked and swayed with the swell of the waves, obeying the commands of the never-ending storm. It had been raining for days now. It was like the sky was trying to drown the ocean, and succeeding.
“Those nasty brutes may look tough,” said the doctor, his voice hoarse and strained, “but they’re poorly organized, and the storm should’ve worn ‘em out by now. If we could just break that lock–” his plan was interrupted by a bone chilling scream from above deck. There was a frantic scramble of stomping boots, followed by shouts, screams, begs for mercy. The ship rocked back and forth with more force than ever before, throwing us around like rag dolls, until–
Deathly silence.
I opened my mouth to speak, but it like my words had been stolen. We waited for a sound, any sound to indicate the survival of the pirates who’d captured us.
Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick…
My eyes slid to the watch on the dead mans wrist. Its face was shattered and the minute hand was missing. It was the only clock in the room.
Again, thank you to all who participated.
***All winners must contact Jessie Humphries at jessiehump(at)gmail(dot)com within thirty (30) days, to claim their prize and provide mailing information.***
