Mythology Monday: Christmas

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He sees you when you’re sleeping,
he knows when you’re awake,
he knows if you’ve been bad or good
so be good….

Or Else

For over a century this menace to society has been breaking into homes at night, and apparently watching you sleep. Even mice are paralyzed in fear by his presence.

No it’s not Edward Culllen, it’s Santa Claus. Nowadays we are not bought off by his gifts, and our children know better than to take candy from strange men.

What can you do to protect yourself from this holiday horror? Follow the simple instructions below and you can enjoy a silent night.

1) Write a letter pleading for your life. Explain what makes you valuable to society and why you should be passed over. Better yet, have your kid do it. Santa may have a soft spot for children. It worked on the Grinch. You can send Santa and email, call him, post to his Facebook page, or twitter.

2) Be on the look out for his misunderstood twin brother Krampus. Every year on the fifth of December this deformed creature roams the Alps ringing bells and dragging rusty chains as a harbinger of Santa’s arrival. (Go on, google it).

3) Know his whereabouts. Modern science allows us to track Santas movements. Simply type Santa into google maps or google earth to find up to the minute details on his location.

4) Deck the halls with boughs of holly: M Night Shamalan taught us that the beasts do not care for the color red. Red of course is the most proven way to deter Mr. Claus, but science has proven any bright color will do. Pay special attention to your roofs as strings of lights sometimes have the unintentional benefit of getting tangled in his sled.

5) Light the fire and hang your old socks. The heat and the smell may be enough to frighten Santa away from your abode.

6) Leave milk and cookies. If it doesn’t slow him down it may eventually lead to diabetes, protecting future generation from this night of terror.

Good luck! And have a safe and Happy Holiday Season!

Happy Release Day!

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Happy release day!

Today, the sequel to Persephone, and second book in the Daughters of Zeus story has been released!

Below is a never before seen, extended excerpt! Want to win a copy of Daughter of the Earth and Sky? Answer the trivia question below in the comments. For additional chances to win, follow me here, or twitter, or Facebook, linked in, google plus, tumbler, Pinterest or anywhere else you can think of! Be sure to comment for each follow!

One lucky winner will be chosen at midnight to tonight! Good luck!

“Your mom’s shop is right around here, isn’t it?” Joel motioned out the window, though all we could see from our vantage point was the gravel parking lot and a steady stream of cars flowing down South Lumpkin Street.

“Yeah, just up the road. Don’t tell me you’ve never been.”

Joel laughed. “I’ve seen her work. You guys do all the centerpieces for school stuff, right?”

I nodded and fiddled with my necklace.
“But I haven’t been to the shop. As much reason as I’ve had to buy flowers…”

I kicked him lightly under the table. I knew he didn’t have a girlfriend, but flowers weren’t just for couples. “What about your mom or aunts or something?” I didn’t know if Joel had any sisters. None had attended Athens Academy, but he could be the youngest child.

Joel hesitated. “I don’t…My mom’s not…” He scowled at the table, rubbing at a spot with his thumb. “She was murdered. Forever ago.”

I gasped. “I’m so sor — ”

Joel cut off my apology with a wave of his hand. “Don’t. I never mentioned it to you before. I just don’t like to talk about my family. I’d send flowers to the extended members, but I don’t think they’d appreciate the reminder I still exist.” He shrugged and changed the topic. “If I were to get someone flowers, what would you recommend?”

“My favorites are daisies. But most people prefer something more elaborate.”

He gave me an easy grin. “Daisies, huh? I’ll keep that in mind.”

A movement in the corner of my eye caught my gaze. A man stepped through the door of the Smoothie King. No one else seemed to notice his entrance, but that wasn’t surprising. The light fractured around him, bending oddly and seeming to absorb into his black robes.

The Reaper met my gaze and stood behind Joel, hand hovering over his shoulder.

“Stop it.”

Joel followed my gaze past the Reaper. “Stop what? What are you looking at?”

I smiled brightly at Joel. “Being such a shameless flirt. I’m not impressed.”

“Still got a boyfriend?” Joel asked.

I eyed the Reaper, and he gave me a malicious grin. I turned my attention to Joel. “I have…you know, it’s kind of complicated.”

Joel looked at me over his cup. “Is it exclusive?”

I did my best to ignore the Reaper’s hand hovering over Joel’s head. I had no idea what Hades and I were right now. Everything had gotten so weird. “I’m not interested in anyone that isn’t him.” I shrugged. “I’m flattered, really, but I don’t want to lead you on.”

Joel folded his straw paper into a tiny accordion. “It was worth a shot. Still running buddies?”

When I hesitated, he looked me in the eye. “I can date other girls. Friends are harder to come by. Plus, running alone is dangerous. I could fall and break my ankle, or some random stalker could push me off the path. You never know what kind of crazies are out there. Please?”

I laughed. “Yeah, okay. So what classes are you registered for?”

When he launched into his answer, I dropped a shield so Joel couldn’t hear me and raised my smoothie in front of my mouth. “If his name was on the list, he’d be dead by now.” I kept my voice calm as I addressed the Reaper. “Thanatos doesn’t want to attract attention by taking the wrong souls, so you can cut the theatrics.”

“Thanatos sends his regards,” the Reaper said softly. His threat was completely undermined by his puppy-dog brown eyes. I frowned, trying to focus on his soul instead of the light bending around him. He was not much older than me. How long had he been dead? Why did he decide to become a Reaper instead of just spending his afterlife in the Underworld?

“Bring me to Thanatos,” I demanded.
It was a long shot, but I was Queen of the Underworld, and that included Reapers. He might listen to me. I just needed one second of eye contact to charm Thanatos, and I could uncharm this mess. But so far I hadn’t been able to get near him. Each time I’d gone to the Underworld, he’d managed to be elsewhere.

The Reaper gave me a cutting glare and meandered behind the counter. The brunette girl who’d made our smoothies shivered as though she sensed his presence. He touched her shoulder and she collapsed.

Joel swore and sprang from his seat, rushing behind the counter to check on the girl. I forced myself to stay in my seat and ignore the scream of rage and horror that threatened to erupt from my chest. I buried it and kept my face impassive as I stared down the Reaper. I couldn’t show any weakness. Not to him.

“Your move, Queen.” His lips curved in sarcasm as he gave a shallow bow and vanished.

Trivia question: why doesn’t Persephone think the Reaper will kill Joel?

Thursday Review: Mark of Athena

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I was planning on doing the Maze runner series today but then I realized I had somehow missed this one!

I love Rick Riordin. I made myself wait until I completely finished Persephone and had an outline of the series complete before I let myself read Percy Jackson, just in case it was too similar. It was worth the wait. The first few books in the series were alright, but It really picked up in the middle then just kept going.

I was nervous about the new series. I didn’t care about Jason, I liked the old camp, and I didn’t think anything could top the epic battle that ended the original series

I was wrong. The Lost Hero, the Son of Neptune and the mark of Athena have been fantastic. I love the new characters, it’s fantastic to see them all together (finally!). It was really great getting to finally experience Annabeth’s point of view.

I really love these books but they are also the few young adult books that make me feel too old for YA. Every time things start to get heavy, some extremely silly thing happens (monsters chasing Percy with cheese balls?). But I’m not then intended audience, middle grade boys are. Riordin balances the needs of his actual audience with telling a great story really well.

I can’t wait for the next one to come out. Sadly, it’s going to be a long wait.

W…W…Wednesday

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WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. All you have to do is answer these 3 questions:

1) What did you last read? The Death Cure by James Dashner and Amityville Horrible by James Dashner

2) What are you reading now? The Kill Order by James Dashner

3) What are you reading next?
I don’t know! Any suggestions? I’m out of books.

Couch to 5k- running from zombies

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Persephone started couch to 5k in the Underworld about the same time I started it on the surface (crazy coincidence, that). I’m really glad I gave this program a shot. Basically, how couch to 5k works is you download the app, or set a timer, and run/walk for thirty minutes. The further along in the program you are, the more you run and less you walk.

From the get go it’s great excerise. You start walking for a minute and a half and running for one minute.

I started couch to 5k for similar reasons as Persephone. She wanted to be able to run away from people that meant her harm.

I wanted to run away from zombies.

Yeah, I’m actually serious. Zombies terrify me. So do pod people. I think it’s the vast, hopeless them against us numbers. I can rationalize away a serial killer. What are the odds one would come after me?

Global disaster? I live in Georgia, it’s typically the safe zone in climate/tornado/earthquake horror things. Besides, if you get wiped out in a disaster it’s quick. You can’t watch it chasing you.

But zombies… that’s a whole different thing. You don’t die fast. You die a slow death getting chewed on. And they come after everyone.

I came to a sad conclusion about zombies a few years ago. I probably wouldn’t become part of that rag tag team of survivors. I’d probably get killed before anyone even realized there was a zombie invasion. I suck at running, even after couch to 5k, I still run at about the same speed as I walk, but one day…

I don’t have any special skills that would make me useful and thus necessary for the plot.

I don’t have inexplicably reappearing make up, or styled hair, even when there’s not an invasion. I don’t look like a zombie apocalypse provider if you catch my drift.

But my husband is another story. He’s fast, and has medical training, and is looking into becoming a police officer. So he might survive. If he survives than my daughter and I  have a shot at being a background character with no dialogue. Background characters need to be able to keep up, because no one notices when they’re left behind.

Hence couch to 5k.

I have found many tools to aid me on my outrunning zombies quest. I run with an app called Zombies, run! An audio adventure. While running I collect supplies to build up my base and get chased by zombies.

I also run in the run for your lives! Zombie apocalypse 5k every time it’s offered in Georgia.

It’s silly sure, but I’ll be ready…

Top Ten Tuesdays: Favorite books of 2012

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Top ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s list is favorite books of 2012. This shouldn’t be hard. I spend every free moment until mid October reading classics for the GRE Literature test, then I got so wrapped up in student teaching that I sometimes forgot to breathe, so most of what I read was within the last month or two.

1) The Calling, by Kelley Armstrong. I love Kelly Armstrong! I am really enjoying her YA books, it’s everything I like about her grown up books, without the sex scenes. I’m just not a sex scene person. There are things I like to read, and that just isn’t a reading thing.

2) Thirteen, by Kelley Armstrong. This book finishes up the Women of the Otherworld series. I’ll admit to not loving it as much as I thought I would, but the end of series are hard. They really can’t live up to every expectation because no matter how good the book is, you’re still sad it’s over at the end.

3) Amityville Horrible, by Kelley Armstrong. Last Kelley Armstrong one, I promise. This novella was awesome. Loved it.

4) Lamb by Christopher Moore. I think this may be my new favorite book. It was so funny, and so well done. He walked a very tight line writing this book and he didn’t seem to falter once.

5) Pale Demon, by Kim Harrison. Possibly the best book in the Hollows Series. I really regret waiting so long to read it.

6) A Perfect Blood, by Kim Harrison. Not as good as Pale Demon, but still much much better than most of what I’ve read this year. It’s not that I don’t like the classics, but reading them is work. I read for fun.

7) Everything I read by Cassandra Clare. I can’t rank these and they’d take up the rest of my list. But I really like the new Infernal Devices series, and City of Lost Souls was good too.

8) Normalish, by Margaret Lesh. Really compelling and good book.

9) The Maze Runner Series, by James Dashner. It was fast, it was fun.

10) The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. This is an amazing book. Love it.

Thursday Review: Dirt

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Isn’t that an awesome cover? I shamelessly begged for an ARC of the upcoming novel, “Dirt,” by K. F Ridley. Shamelessly. I LOVE changelings. Seriously, one of my favorite children’s books (right after Ella Enchanted) is The Moorechild. I’m also a fan of Tithe, the Trylle series, and pretty much any other YA novel about changelings. They’re fascinating.

So without further ado, here’s the dirt on “Dirt”

Blurb:

Ashe has lived for eighteen years never knowing that she’s half human, half faery. Living in a small Montana town is safe and predictable until she finds out that her bithling blood is the elixir of immortality and the Dark Thorn needs a sacrifice. Now that Ashe is being hunted, her Dad’s homemade drug and her sentry aren’t enough to keep her alive
Her protector is the most beautiful guy she’s ever seen, Rowen, a faery from her dead mother’s world. Their forbidden attraction jeopardizes Ashe’s life, but she’s willing to take the risk. Longing for love and her own identity, she’s determined to have what she wants. Ashe faces her fears and insecurities, breaking all the rules.
Ashe brings present-day, young adult issues into a world of fantasy. This protagonist is forced to face guilt and isolation while fighting for the right to exist and protecting the ones she loves.

There’s a cool book trailer on the authors website here:

http://www.kfridley.com/

I only have one question about the trailer, and it has nothing to do with the book. What makes something an original story in terms of marketing? Dirt obviously is an original story, but would a remake of Cinderella or, say, Persephone, be unable to claim that headline? That would make sense, but I’m just really curious now.

The book:

I finished Dirt very fast. It was impossible not to, the book moved SO quickly that by the time I’d finished, I felt like I’d run…. well, I’d say a marathon, but I’ve never attempted that, I’m strictly a 5k kind of girl, but you get the idea.

The beginning was a bit slower, but that was good. I felt grounded in Ashe Leigh’s normal life. I was kind of surprised she was in college, because this is YA, and the school was in so little of the story it seemed to take more set up to establish it as a college than a high school, and the protagonist seemed much younger than a college student in terms of voice, but it wasn’t a bad surprise, it was a neutral one. It just threw me for a second. But in any case, I got a firm handle on Ashe Leigh, her friend, her family, and her fondness for art before the story went into hyper drive, which made me happy.

Once the action picked up, pretty much a scene or two before Ashe Leigh heads off to fairy land, also known as Durt, there wasn’t as much time for character development. The plot just had so much happening. It was exciting, and fun to read, but there were times when I wished it had slowed down just a little so I could really feel the impact of everything that was happening. There’s this big deal thing that happens to one of the characters, a tragic transformation I won’t go into by providing spoilers, and it should have been SO sad, but I couldn’t muster up the proper emotion because I met and lost that character in what felt like an eye blink. SO much happened in this book, and it was good stuff, great plot developments and twists, I just wanted more time to react and for the character to take more time to react.

But then again, pretty much every negative review of “Persephone” said I slowed it down too much in the middle, so wanting things to slow down is probably just personal preference, not a writing flaw (I hope). I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy when it comes out because I really am interested in the world Ridley has created here, and I love Ashe Leigh, and her best friend, and I want to get to know everyone else that much more. I just want to be clear that this isn’t a character development problem (it’s not a problem at all, it’s a preference). The characters are there. They are fully fleshed out and very clearly three dimensional. If they hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have cared one way or another how much time I got to know them. There’s a definite sense that the characters are there to get to know. It’s just that our main character doesn’t know them very well yet. This book takes place in less than a week (I think). The tragic thing with the character happened like the day after the protagonist met him. So the disconnect I felt, the sense of not knowing anyone other than the characters that were established in the very beginning, was very realistic. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing to put a book down and want more. That’s how sequels sell, right?

W…W…Wednesday

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WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. All you have to do is answer these 3 questions:

1) What did you last read? Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

2) What are you reading now? The Death Cure by James Dashner

3) What are you reading next?
The Kill Order by James Dashner

When did I decide to become a writer?

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This blog was originally posted at Kayla’s read and reviews here:

I hate it when people ask me when I decided to become a writer, because to me it was never a conscious decision. I’ve been writing all my life. Before I could read I called it make believe, but the same basic components were there. Plotting, developing characters, dialogue. It’s all there.

I developed much of my writing style through reading. I would read my books with a black marker and a pen in hand, so I could change anything I didn’t like. If the next book wasn’t coming out soon enough, I’d create my own version.

I did that with shows too. As soon as Sailor Moon went off I’d start acting out the next episode. I was so proud of myself, because I was almost always right.

Took me awhile to realize the show had a rather repetitive formula…

While I was in middle school I wrote my first book. It was terrible. I still have it on a floppy disk, and I’m too terrified to open the file because it was that bad. In high school I was able to take creative writing classes and learned how to critique the work of my peers.

I enjoyed writing so much that when I ran out of creative writing classes in high school, I begged my school councilor to let me take it at the college through joint enrollment. In the summer between eleventh and twelfth grade I took English 1101 and 1102. During my senior year I took introduction to creative writing, advanced fiction writing, advanced non fiction writing, advanced poetry writing, and screenplay writing. The next year I took my core classes and even more creative writing classes. Including autobiographical writing, science fiction and fantasy writing, technical writing, and every other writing class I could find. Once I ran out I moved to Atlanta to get an English degree with a concentration in creative writing. I’m finishing up my masters now, and am applying to the Phd program with a creative writing dissertation.

Despite my lifetime commitment to writing, my personal writing didn’t really take off until I joined my writers group. I was familiar with the workshop format through my schooling, but there’s something different about a group of people who willingly spend Saturday nights away from their family and friends to talk about their writing that just can’t be replicated in a classroom.

I’m very excited for my first book, Persephone, to be released. It’s been a long journey to publication, and I can’t really tell when it started. Did it begin when I penned my first draft? Or was it in college when I was learning everything I could about writing? Was it before then when I was acting out the next episode of Sailor Moon? Each of those little moments were important because of where they led. Now my book is out of my hands and into the readers.

Time to start the next one.
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Free Read!

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Musa Publishing is offering 12 free stories for the 12 days of Christmas, and they picked one of my stories to offer for free. It is the LEAST “Christmasy” story EVER, so if you’re sick of the Holidays already, you can still benefit from the free without choking on the Christmas Cheer. Check it out:

 

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What do you do when your parents join a suicide cult?

Christen thought her life was over when her mother sold her house and all her belongings to join a suicide cult. But life in the commune wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be. Not since she met Peter. 

Armed with nothing but a phone and a plan Christen and Peter have to gain the trust of the fanatical reverend if they want to get out of the commune alive. But what about their parents? Will they be able to save them from themselves?

 

Download it now for free: http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=490