Author: Katie L. Carroll (Page 92 of 142)

Giveaway Winners

October 2, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

A huge thanks to everyone who took part in the (very long!) Elixir Bound in paperback blog tour! I had a blast posting on all your blogs and responding to your comments and just sharing fun stuff with all of you. Elixir Bound is up for pre-order on the MuseItUp bookstore and should be shipping later this month and up on other vendors then as well.

In case you missed any of the fun, the full list of posts can be found here! I originally planned on ending the tour with the exclusive reveal of the trailer, but I’ve decided to save that goody for the day when the book is fully launched (should be later this month). So you’ll just have to come back to check that out!

We had an awesome turnout for the giveaway, which means in a addition to one person winning the big prize of the Elixir Bound signed paperback and swag pack, a second winner will receive a signed copy of Elixir Bound. And here’s Rafflecopter to announce the winners:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats to Bobbye H., who won the grand prize with the signed book and swag pack, and to Beverly S., who won the bonus prize of the signed book. I’ll be contacting both of you later this week via the emails you provided through the Rafflecopter.

And for all of you sobbing quietly to your computer screens for not winning, just purchase the book when it’s released. I’d be happy to send you a signed bookplate and a bookmark. Use the contact me form on my webpage to send me your mailing address.

PODs by Michelle Pickett Playlist

September 26, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Michelle Pickett, author of the YA dystopian PODs, and I are doing a blog swap today and talking our writing playlists. Check out my Elixir Bound playlist over on her blog. Welcome, Michelle!

First, thank you for hosting me today and allowing me to share a little about my creative process through music. I have a fairly long playlist for PODs. I’ve listed the songs for you, but I’ve picked a few of my favorite songs/scenes and included some explanation of how the song fit in the scene or the character’s feelings at that time in the story. I hope if you’ve read the book it gives you a little better insight into the workings of the mind of the character, and if you haven’t read the book it’ll make you curious enough to want to. 🙂

PODs Playlist

Theme Song: If Today Was You Last Day, Nickelback

David and Eva’s Song: End of The World, Blake Lewis

Burn it Down, Linkin Park
Can’t Let You Go, Adam Lambert (David: Chapters 18 & 19)
Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You, Muse
Catalyst, Linkin Park (Chapter 25)
Crawl Through the Fire, Adam Lambert (Chapter 26)
Daylight, Maroon5 (Chapters 3 and 14)
Dream a Little Dream of Me, Mama Cass (Chapters 17 and 18)
First Light, Adam Lambert
Get Here, Justin Guarini
Here with Me, Dido
If I Ain’t Got You, Alicia Keys
I Miss You (slipped away), Avril Lavigne (Chapter 4)
I’m Only Me When I’m with You, Taylor Swift
Kick In The Teeth, Papa Roach (Eva: Chapter 23)
Kiss Me, Sixpence None The Richer
No Matter What, Papa Roach (David: Chapter 24)
Savin’ Me, Nickleback (Eva: Chapter 22)
Tangled Up in You, Staind (Chapter 13)
The Kids From Yesterday, My Chemical Romance (Chapter 5)
The Only Hope for Me is You, My Chemical Romance (Chapter 19)
The Truth, David Cook (Chapter 19)
This Means War, Nickelback (Eva: Chapter 26)
To Make You Feel My Love, Kris Allen (Eva: Chapter 9)
Twilight Time, The Platters (Chapters 17 and 18)
Until I Find You Again, Richard Marx
Want, Adam Lambert
When You’re Gone, Avril Lavigne

Music inspires many people. I find that sometimes a certain song has lyrics that describe a scene, or maybe the song evokes a certain feeling that I find moves me as I write. Some songs in the PODs playlist have chapters listed next to them and some don’t. Some fit so well with a scene that every time I hear the song I immediately think of that scene in the book (even now when I hear the song I still think of the book!). Some songs just give me a general feeling of the book or chapter as a whole, or the relationship between David and Eva.

I think the theme song of the book and David and Eva’s song are pretty self-explanatory. So I’ll skip them and share a few of my favorite songs and the scenes they coincide with.

(If you haven’t read the book the following contains mild spoilers).

The first song that really resonates with me is Avril Lavigne’s “Slipped Away” or “I Miss You” (I’ve seen it referred to by both names). I listened to it over and over while I wrote the scenes, especially the flashback scene, when Eva is saying goodbye to her parents. There is also a scene in quarantine when she is lying in bed thinking of them and parts of her life with them—I listened to the song while writing that, too. I have to admit, I cried writing those scenes. I’ve had some readers write to me and say they cried while reading it, which makes me feel like I’ve done my job.

One of my favorite scenes in the book between David and Eva is the picnic scene. I won’t go into too much detail about what happens in case there are people reading this who haven’t read the book yet, but it was a scene I included to show what a sweet, good guy David is and how much he genuinely loved spending time with Eva. The song that goes along with that song is Staind’s “Tangled Up in You.” The song could easily have been their theme song.

A song that I thought conveyed how the fights between the survivors and the Infected might feel is Adam Lambert’s “Crawl Through the Fire.” I listed it as a song for chapter 26, but, actually, it could be applied to any fight scene. The same goes for “Catalyst” by Linkin Park.

Okay, there’s one thing that I keep hearing from readers: “David became so sexist after the PODs.” Okay, well, I can see how one might think so, but the song you need to listen to in order to understand a little about what was going through his head is Papa Roach’s “No Matter What.” Eva had just left the safety of the village to be with him. He felt responsible for putting her in danger, and, therefore, became a little (a lot) obsessive about keeping her safe. “No matter what, I got your back; I’ll take a bullet for you if it comes to that; I swear to God that in the bitter end; we’re gonna be the last ones standing”(Papa Roach, No Matter What). David felt those lyrics and would have died to keep Eva safe—without question.

The Second thing I hear from readers is that they are glad Eva didn’t put up with David’s sexist crap. Score one for Eva. And “This Means War” by Nickelback is her song and it shows in Chapter 26 when she screams to the other woman to fight with her and stop cowering behind the men. She started to feel empowered and realized she could take some control of her life back. And even though it freaked David out (because it scared him, not because he’s sexist), she started to bulldoze her way through the Infected.

Lastly, a song that really speaks to how a character was feeling during a time in the book is “Can’t Let You Go” by Adam Lambert. This song belongs to David during chapters 18 and 19. I’ve caught a lot of flak from readers about his “dumping” Eva and then watching her every night when she’d go to the meadow looking for him. What they’ve seemed to miss was WHY he went to the meadow. And WHY he dumped her. Does someone just break-up with someone and then for kicks tread through zombie filled forests to go sit and watch the person he broke up with? Not unless he has a good reason. And what was David’s reason? Well, listen to the song. I think it explains his pain. He wanted Eva to move on…have a normal life. And he knew he couldn’t give that to her. But, he couldn’t quite let go.

If you’ve read the book you know what happened after the break-up in the meadow…what stunt Eva pulled in chapter 22 (Savin’ Me by Nickelback goes with this scene). Which was exactly what David was afraid she’d do, and that brings everything back to David’s sexist, over protective behavior mentioned above.

Thank you so much for having me today. I appreciate you opening your blog to me. I’ve really enjoyed sharing how music helped shape the characters and story of PODs.

~Michelle

Buy Links for PODs:

Amazon ׀ Barnes&Noble ׀ Books-A-Million The Book Depository ׀

Buy Links for Milayna:

Amazon ׀ Barnes&Noble ׀ The Book Depository

Buy Links for The Concilium Series

Amazon ׀ Barnes&Noble ׀ MuseItUp

My work includes:

Young adult books in paperback and ebook format:

The Amazon Bestselling young adult novel “PODs”

Milayna, March 2014

Milayna’s Angel (Milayna #2), September 2014

The Infected, a PODs novel, November 2014

The Innocent (Milayna #3), April 2015.

Adult Urban Fantasy in ebook format

Concilium, available now

Concilium: The Departure, available now

I always love to hear from readers, bloggers and other authors!

Find me here:

Website: www.Michelle-Pickett.com

Email: Michelle@Michelle-Pickett.com

Blog: www.Michelle-Pickett.com/blog

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/michellepickettauthor

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/michelle_kp

Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/michelle-pickett

About the Author:

I’m a wife, mother, reader and writer, although not always in that order. Between helping my twin eight year-old daughters with their second grade homework and my twelve year-old son with his sixth grade homework (which I’ve recently learned I am NOT smarter than a fifth (or sixth) grader, thank you very much Jeff Foxworthy), and being a football mom (GO BULLDOGS!) I write young adult urban fantasies, science/fiction and paranormal romances and have recently started dabbling in young adult and new adult contemporary romance.

I was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. I’m now live in a sleepy suburb of Houston, Texas with my extremely supportive, not to mention gorgeous husband, three school-aged kids, a 125 pound labradoodle that thinks he’s a lap dog, and a very persnickety cat.

Elixir Bound Blog Tour Giveaway Sneak Peek

September 25, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

The Elixir Bound in paperback blog tour is in the home stretch! Thanks to everyone who’s been following. As I announced last week, Elixir Bound in paperback is up for pre-order on my publisher’s website. You get a free ecopy of the book when you order it through MuseItUp!

Today, I’m at Behind a Million and One Pages talking about strong females in YA (those of you who have been following my Females in YA series might be intersted in this post). There’s also a small giveaway going on at Tina’s Book Reviews for an ecopy of Elixir Bound. And, of course, there’s the big giveaway that’s been going on throughout the whole blog tour!

Now for your sneak peek at some of the items that might be included (disclaimer: the items in the picture may only be representative of the actual items!). We’re close to having 200 entries…if we get to 200, I might even throw in a bonus signed copy to a lucky winner! So please feel free to spread the word about the giveaway. So without further ado (do people still say that?), here’s the sneak peek!

In addition to the above items (the signed book, bookmarks, your very own Elixir bottle, a map of the Great Peninsula, and a sticker for my picture book app The Bedtime Knight), I’ll probably throw in some Elixir inspired recipes, some bonus bookmarks for books by some of my favorite authors, and a few more surprises! Here’s how to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meet the Kings of The Palace of Twelve Pillars Books by Christina Weigand

September 24, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Have you missed any of my Elixir Bound in paperback blog tour visits? No worries, stop here to get the full schedule (and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!). While I’m off on tour, Christina Weigand and the kings of her Palace of the Twelve Pillars books have stopped by for an interview. Welcome, Christina and your highnesses!

King Brandan and King Joachim requested an interview. I’m not sure this is a good idea, but when a king summons it behooves one to listen.

King Brandan: Welcome to the Dragon’s Lair at Palace of the Twelve Pillars. I hope your trip wasn’t too stressful.

King Joachim: Yes, welcome. I am so happy you could join us today. We know you have a lot going on in your life, so your visit is much appreciated.

King Brandan: Now that you are here we have a few matters to discuss with you. First: Magic. What’s with all the magic rules? There is so much that can be accomplished with just a little spell.

Chris: Yes, but more can be accomplished when humans, Kningrad and Mantion partner with Asha. Use of magic is tied to emotions and too often it is used selfishly for power and subjugation of others. Feelings of hatred, anger, envy and other negative emotions can be manipulated to do evil. The rules are there to prevent that.

King Brandan: Well I disagree with your decisions as well as the rules. Ramajadin would be better off without the limitations.

King Joachim: Better off for whom? You maybe! I’m not so sure about the rest of us.

Chris: Look at the chaos use of magic has wrought. Your Father is dead because of it, your mother is missing, your family and countries devastated by war and illness. Is that really best?

King Brandan: Father’s death was unfortunate, but considering the position he took, defying Waldrom, it became necessary. Mother made her choice and if she disappeared because of it, this is no concern of mine. The countries: if they submit to my rule there will be no problems. I will rebuild them.

King Joachim: What of Asha?

King Brandan: Asha is of no consequence. I can do without Him and His preposterous cabal.

Chris: Brandan, when did you become so jaded?

King Brandan: A better question: why didn’t you make Joa more like me? I love my brother, but his outdated, rose-colored glasses ideals are in the way of my plans.

King Joachim: Brandan that’s enough harassing the dear author she was kind enough to create us and let us live, even with the grief we gave her in the second book, refusing to follow the outline she plotted. We owe her our gratitude not our disdain.

King Brandan: Why did we ask her to come if not to answer our questions? I have more to ask and she will answer to me.

King Joachim: Brandan I think that is enough for now. Can’t you see you have upset her with all your disagreeable statements?

Chris: Thank you, Sire, for you defense. Although King Brandan’s questions do not bother me, I do have some other characters that need attending too as well as edits on the end of your story. So if you don’t mind I will take my leave now.

King Joachim: Yes that’s fine. I am so glad you could stop by today. Thank you.

King Brandan: This is not finished yet, but I understand your time constraints, besides I have some Mantions to torture. You will hear from me again. Thank you and goodbye.

Chris: Thank you Sires. It has been an honor and a privilege to visit and work with you. I look forward to our continued endeavors.

The adventures of Kings Brandan and Joachim can be read in Palace of the Twelve Pillars released April 26, 2013 and continued in Palace of the Three Crosses to be released in September 2013 and Sanctuary of the Nine Dragons set to be released in February 2014.

Palace of the Three Crosses blurb:

Brandan and Joachim have returned from the brink of Hell, but everyone questions if they are truly healed and one with Asha.

As each prince tries to readjust to life, they must face the funeral of their father and their missing mother.

They each take on the responsibility of ruling a country with new wives by their sides, but can they and the countries survive the trials that will ensue because of their choices?

Brandan and Joachim survived the war, but can their relationship and their countries survive the aftermath.

Palace of Three Crosses is available at the MuseItUp bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and Kobo.

About the Author:

Christina Weigand’s a writer, wife, and mother of three grown children and a middle school daughter. She is also Nana to three granddaughters. She lives with her husband and youngest daughter in Pennsylvania, returning there after a short sabbatical in Washington. Currently, she’s working on fantasy novels and inspirational writing. Through her writing, she strives to share the Word of God and help people young and old to realize the love and mercy He has for everyone.

When she’s not writing, she’s active in her local Church as a lector, Bible Study, or with the church theater group, volunteering at her daughter and granddaughter’s school in the library as well as helping the children develop a love for reading and writing. Jesus fills her home with love as she shares Him through her writing.

Blog: www.weigandchris.com

Twitter: @CAWeigand

Facebook: www.facebook.com/caweigand

Email: palaceofthetwelvepillars@gmail.com

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/chris_weigand

Amazon: amazon.com/author/christinaweigand

Elixir Saved Sneak Peek

September 20, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

First off a bit of news: I have received my print galley of Elixir Bound from the publisher and it’s up on my publisher’s website as available to order! Still no firm date on when I’ll be able to hold it in my hot little hands, but the galley and order option means we’re getting close. Yay!

So as the Elixir Bound in paperback blog tour continues (full schedule here), I’ve got a sneak peek at the companion novel (still a work-in-progress…and it’s kind of terrifying to be putting this out there at the this stage, but figured I’d be brave) Elixir Saved. In this next book, Kylene, Zelenka (both of whom you might know from Elixir Bound), and Devon (new character here!) have all been saved the by the Elixir. Now they must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice with their second chances at life.

As you can see from the description, Elixir Saved will feature many of the characters from Bound, but will also introduce some new characters. With three POV characters and new quests, Saved is even more epic than the first book.

I’ve mentioned before how I originally wrote Bound as a fantasy adventure after my sister Kylene passed away at the age of 16. I tried writing the story from her POV, but it was too hard at the time. I’m happy to say one of the POV characters of Saved is the character Kylene. This sneak peek is the first few pages from her POV (keep in mind this is an unedited version :)). Enjoy!

Kylene Kase waited in the wings for her big moment on stage when lightning struck. It hit a giant oak behind the outdoor stage, which split down the middle with a loud crack and caught on fire. The upper half of the tree toppled over and smashed through the backdrop, shooting sparks out toward the crowd.

The whole production—written by, directed by, and starring Kylene—flashed to a halt. A message, brought by the higher beings, filled her head. The implications of the six terrible words paralyzed her.

Kylene regained her senses and jumped off the nonstage side of the wings, tumbling to the hard ground covered in browning grass. The wood used to construct the stage served as kindling and the whole thing billowed with smoke and flames in a matter of minutes. She ran from the stage to escape the ashes, but acrid smoke curled toward her and burned her throat.

From a safe distance, she watched props of faux golden pillars melt and distort into shapes reminiscent of grotesque faces. As the stage collapsed in on itself, she sank to her hands and knees and sobbed. A strong hand pulled her to her feet. Her younger, but much taller brother, Bhar, grasped her hands. His blue eyes turned hazel as they reflected the orange flames.

He grasped her shoulders. “You okay?”

Kylene nodded; she was fine physically, if not mentally. She searched the frenzied crowd for the rest of her family, face stricken as she suddenly realized one of them might be hurt.

The list of her closet family members tumbled from her dry lips. “Ma, Pop, Katora, Lili, Ariana and the kids?”

“They’re all fine!” Bhar yelled over his shoulder as he ran to the perimeter of the disaster. “Pop says go home. I’ll see you there.”

He peered into the flames, presumably searching for anyone trapped in the ruins of the stage. A crowd of spectators, actors, and crew—some screaming—ran past. An old man fell in the chaos. Bhar lifted him up, offered him a shoulder to lean on, and escorted him to the road, disappearing into the throng.

Kylene stood, frozen in place, while her dreams of a successful production burned to the ground with the stage. The last support beam creaked and groaned, giving itself to the inferno. She fled for home, the early autumn leaves crunching underfoot in rhythm with her hiccupping sobs. Her white-blond hair flew wildly behind her and tears flowed from her bright blue eyes, obscuring her sight. Not that seeing mattered; her feet automatically knew the way down the dirt road to home.

It wasn’t the failure in front of her whole family and the entire town of Tussar that made her cry as much as the six words resonating in her head. In the Great Peninsula, higher beings—sometimes even Mother Nature herself—communicated with humans through the weather. The messages were often cryptic, hard to interpret. However, the message brought by the lightning came through clearer than the transparent bottles that held the essence—a renowned beverage in the Great Peninsula—brewed by her family.

Kylene sprinted straight through the front door of her family’s old, wooden farmhouse, up the rickety stairs, and into the room she shared with her sister Katora. She flung herself onto her bed and sucked in heaving breaths. Even with her face buried deep in her freshly laundered pillow slip, all she smelled was fire.

Before long, a warm hand caressed her back accompanied by Katora’s soothing voice. “Shhh. It’s okay. Don’t cry, Ky.”

Easy enough for Katora to say. She never cries.

She knew her whole family thought she cried too much, but surely the shocking message justified her distress. Eventually the sobs abated and Kylene’s body quieted. She sat and smiled at Katora, one of her three older sisters, the one closest in age to Kylene.

Katora’s blue-green eyes sparkled in her flushed faced. “You heard the message too. Sounds like another quest.”

Kylene rubbed her eyes and frowned. She shared neither her sister’s interpretation of the message nor her enthusiasm for quests. The last and only quest she had been on had nearly killed her. It had been Katora’s job to pick the flowers that contained the nectar for their family’s secret healing Elixir and take over as the Elixir’s guardian. Kylene, merely there to accompany her sister, received a deadly wound from a poisoned spear as a souvenir. If not for the Elixir, she likely would not have recovered.

Lately, nightmares of her loved ones, cold and blue-lipped, haunted her sleep. Would that be her fate if she went on another quest? She pushed away the thought as tears prickled the corners of her eyes.

“The message for the last quest to pick the flowers for the Elixir…” Kylene paused, not sure how to phrase what she wanted to know. “Did you hear it?”

“No.” Katora’s brow furrowed as she gazed at her. “I only saw the snow. The message was for Pop—he was still the guardian of the Elixir then.”

“Did Pop tell you what he heard?” Kylene asked.

Katora stared past Kylene to the wall, but she didn’t really appear to be looking at anything in particular. “I don’t know if he heard a specific message last time. What was it he said? Something about how the greater beings aren’t always clear on what they mean. He told me the snowstorm came as the Elixir’s supply was low, so he took that as a message we needed to retrieve more of the nectar.”

Kylene frowned. The message she heard as the lightning struck held no such ambiguity.

“But you heard a specific message this time?” she asked.

Katora smiled. “Oh, yes. It was like someone speaking right inside my head. No guessing games this time.”

The experience sounded the same as Kylene’s. Tears squeaked from her eyes again, blurring Katora’s face so much it reminded Kylene of the ugly shapes of the melting columns. Perhaps she misinterpreted the message and someone else would be made to fulfill it. She shivered. She didn’t want the message to be true for her or anyone else.