Last Chance to Win Scavenger Hunt Swag!

Last Chance to Win Scavenger Hunt Swag!

Thank you everyone who participated in my Cover Reveal Scavenger Hunt--whether you posted a piece or were hunting through to win one of the awesome prizes!

If you haven't yet entered, let me remind you of what's up for grabs:

Prize 1:

A beautiful oval fused glass necklace on an antique backing featuring a kelpie--or, well, a scary looking black horse.  It matches the MacArthur tartan, color wise! Made by Renee of Stained Glass Creations!

  

Prize 2:

More beauty + jewelry! A necklace featuring Vic Caswell's actual art of the kelpie in a beautiful setting by Art by Stefanie. 

Prize 3:

For the non-jewelry inclined: An 11x6 poster of the cover art, signed by the author and artist, plus a set of trading cards based on the scavenger hunt pieces--the characters featured on the cover!

How do you play?  Go to the various blogs below and collect the words from the novel excerpts within each of the posts!  To make it extra easy, here are the permalinks with the words you need to collect:

Visit the Faery Castle at Kate Kaynak's blog: http://thedisgruntledbear.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-kelpie.html

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, 10th word

Hop over to Scotland at Stained Glass Creations and Beyond: http://stainedglasscreationsandbeyond.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/a-walk-in-scotland-scavenger-hunt/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, 12th word

Check out the artist rendition of Heather MacArthur's family tartan with Aimee Weinstein at http://tokyowriter.com/2013/03/26/scavenger-hunt-contest-author-and-friend-trisha-wooldridges-new-book-cover/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, first word

Bonus Art!

Meet Heather's dad, Michael MacArthur, at Valerie Hadden's blog: http://valeriehadden.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/family-should-be-a-safe-place-where-you-could-have-your-worst-days-and-still-be-loved-an-interview-about-depression-and-family/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, 12th word

Cast your eyes upon the kelpie, itself, with Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert at http://suzannereynoldsalpert.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-kelpie_28.html

Scavenger Hunt Goal: 2nd sentence, 2nd word

And feel the snark of Monkey, the fey cat with Justine Graykin at http://justinegraykin.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/monkey-the-fey-cat/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, 3rd word

Meet Heather's best friend, Prince Joseph at, who's hanging out with author Darby Karchut at http://darbykarchut.blogspot.com/2013/03/cover-reveal-kelpie-by-tj-wooldridge.html

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, 17th word

And finally meet Heather, herself, who's hanging out with one of Trisha's editors, Laura Ownbey at http://redpenreviews.blogspot.com/2013/03/editing-kelpie-study-in-nuance.html

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, first word

Besides catching the awesome art and some sneak-peaks at the novel, some of my hosts have written their own messages about the novel, about some of the topics in the novel, and (thank you, Laura), about their experience editing the novel.  Take a little time to look around these blogs; you may enjoy what else they offer!

Happy Hunting!

THE KELPIE: Cover Reveal and Scavenger Hunt

ZOMG!! MY COVER! MY COVER! MY COVER! Ahem… er…

This week, Spencer Hill Press unveils the cover for The Kelpie! You can help us by posting the information for the Scavenger Hunt, as well as the book’s cover, on your blog! Post any time between March 25^th and April 1^st! When your post is up, feel free to tweet it to @kendrybird or @spencerhillp

I can't honestly say I was joking when I suggested to my best friend, Joe – Prince Joseph, eldest son of England's Crown Prince – that we could probably find something the police had missed in regards to the missing children.  After all, eleven and twelve year olds like us did that all the time on the telly and in the books we read…

            When Heather and Joe decide to be Sleuthy MacSleuths on the property abutting the castle Heather's family lives in, neither expect to discover the real reason children were going missing:

            A Kelpie.  A child-eating faerie horse had moved into the loch "next door."

            The two barely escape with their lives, but they aren't safe. Caught in a storm of faerie power, Heather, Joe, and Heather's whole family are pulled into a maze of talking cats, ghostly secrets, and powerful magick.

            With another child taken, time is running out to make things right.

To go along with sharing the simply gorgeous cover, author T.J. Wooldridge has enlisted several of her friends who have helped her in the journey of writing this novel to put together a special treat for you!

Each day of the week, search for individual components of the cover--with a bonus piece of art on Wednesday--at these blogs.  Collect the right words per the instructions, and unscramble the line of poetry to be entered to win one of three prizes!

Prize 1

A handmade fused glass kelpie necklace from Stained Glass Creations and Beyond

Prize 2

A handmade necklace from Art by Stefanie of Vic Caswell's rendering of the kelpie from the cover!

Prize 3

An 11x16 poster of the cover of the Kelpie signed by T. J. Wooldridge and artist Vic Caswell

5x7 cards of all the cover aspects featured in the Scavenger Hunt

So, how do you take part in the Scavenger Hunt?  Here are the details:

Monday 3/25

Visit the Faery Castle at Kate Kaynak's blog: http://thedisgruntledbear.blogspot.com/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, 10th word

Tuesday 3/26

Hop over to Scotland at Stained Glass Creations and Beyond: http://stainedglasscreationsandbeyond.wordpress.com/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, 12th word

Check out an artist rendition of Heather MacArthur's family tartan with Aimee Weinstein at tokyowriter.com

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, first word

Wednesday 3/27

Bonus Art!

Meet Heather's dad, Michael MacArthur, at Valerie Hadden's blog: http://valeriehadden.wordpress.com/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, 12th word

Thursday 3/28

Cast your eyes upon the kelpie, itself, with Suzane Reynolds-Alpert at http://suzannereynoldsalpert.blogspot.com/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: 2nd sentence, 2nd word

And feel the snark of Monkey, the fey cat with Justine Graykin at http://justinegraykin.wordpress.com/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, 3rd word

Friday 3/29:

Meet Heather's best friend, Prince Joseph at, who's hanging out with author Darby Karchut at http://darbykarchut.blogspot.com/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, 17th word

And finally meet Heather, herself, who's hanging out with one of Trisha's editors, Laura Ownbey at http://redpenreviews.blogspot.com/

Scavenger Hunt Goal: first sentence, first word

Collect all the words and put them together in a poetic sentence, and enter them into the rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win one of the three prizes: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/MTBiNjRkMDYwN2U2MWZjNzBmNmM4YWEwNTEyODI0Ojc=/

Broad Universe at Annie's Book Stop, March 2013

BS_Mar_2013.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Annie's Book Stop in Worcester MA, owned by Broad Universe member Patty Cryan,  held a Celebration of Teachers in March 2013.  On Saturday, March 16, Patty's store welcomed members of the New England Chapter of Broad Universe, who discussed celebrating women genre authors in the classroom.  The panelists were Trisha Wooldridge, president of Broad Universe, Rachel Kenley, and Inanna Arthen.  Thanks to  Morven Westfield for recording the event for Broadly Speaking.

Editor's Perspective: Finn Finnegan

This month I get to celebrate the release of another of my editing "god-babies"!  Finn Finnegan by Darby Karchut!  This one I got to share awesome co-editor, Vikki Ciaffone, who now heads the Spence City imprint of Spencer Hill Press.

xx

Finn (not bleedin' Finnegan) MacCullen is eager to begin his apprenticeship. He soon discovers the ups and downs of hunting monsters in a suburban neighborhood under the demanding tutelage of the Knight, Gideon Lir. Both master and apprentice are descendents of the Tuatha De Danaan, a magical race of warriors from Ireland. Scattered long ago to the four corners of the world, the De Danaan wage a two thousand year old clandestine battle with their ancient enemy, the Amandán, a breed of goblin-like creatures.

Now with the beasts concentrating their attacks on Finn, he and his master must race to locate the lost Spear of the Tuatha De Danaan, the only weapon that can destroy the Amandán, all the while hiding his true identity from his new friends, Rafe and Savannah, twins whose South African roots may hold a key to Finn’s survival.

Armed with a bronze dagger, some ancient Celtic magic, and a hair-trigger temper, Finn is about to show his enemies the true meaning of "fighting Irish."

xx

Vikki and I were going through the slush pile when we both fell in love with this manuscript.  Irish mythology! Adventure! In the suburbs!

Only… it was skewed a bit young for what, at that time, we were familiar with as the type of book SHP went for.

At first, unbeknownst to each other, we each still individually jumped on Kate to expand the SHP vision to include mid-grade.

Kate, in her usual awesome-Kate-ness, said something to the effect of, "Sure, I think we can do that!" and then informed us we each had asked for it, and wouldn't it be nice for us to co-edit the manuscript. 

Lots of fun ensued.

Including Vikki snickering at me searching through tissues for this one particular scene I was editing at her kitchen table.  Because snark and teasing so don't fit with the things we adore about Darby's characters. Noo… not at all!  Finn is such an angel… no, wait, that's Darby's other books (also awesome.)

So, with the ups being the immediate emotional ties we had to the characters, our love of the humor and dialogue, our appreciation of the story… what was there left for us to edit, you ask?

Well, there was a big chunk of "No, you need to write even more about this, this… and definitely more Gideon!"  (Seriously, wait till you meet the knight!)

Since this is also written in third person, mostly through Finn and Gideon's eyes, we also played around with the point of view, which is a lot of fun to play with because it can both offer some excellent insight to the characters, but get confusing if it gets away from you… as writing often does in its journey.

Also, for my part, my roommate-at-the-time and I experimented with my collection of daggers, dirks, and knives to ensure the plausibility of using one's jeans to hold a blade (notsomuch, boy/girl-butt shape regardless). Vikki picked up on the specifics of knife sharpening (whetstone needs oil) and set me to work helping her sharpen some kitchen knives for missing something I should've caught. ;).  Of course, in my geek world, any excuse to (safely) play with blades and talk about them makes me a happy camper.

As I said, much fun ensued.

Furthermore, because having so much fun editing wasn't enough, I managed to hook Darby up with one of my favorite Celtic bands, Emerald Rose, who let us license their music for the wicked cool trailer!  Darby loved them so much, she also asked about licensing to quote their lyrics to "Fire in the Head" in the novel. Way cool!

While I have not had the chance to hug Darby in person for this release, I'm happy to direct you to her page where, if you're out west-ish, you might get to do that for me.  She's got an excellent tour planned with her boys (Finn and Gideon… and possibly Griffin and Basil might make a showing), that, if at all possible, you must check out.

At the very least, you have to get yourself your own copy of Finn Finnegan to love and hug.

And be tortured by as you wait for its sequel, Gideon's Spear, coming out next year.

March 2013: Rapid-Fire Reading

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One of the benefits of being a member of Broad Universe is participation in our Rapid Fire Readings, group readings that take place at conventions and offer samples of our members' work.  Here's an example, recorded at Arisia in Boston in 2013.   You'll hear readings from three of the eight Broads that participated:

GAIL Z. MARTIN, the author of ICE FORGED in her new The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books), plus The Chronicles of The Necromancer series (THE SUMMONER, THE BLOOD KING, DARK HAVEN & DARK LADY’S CHOSEN ) and The Fallen Kings Cycle (THE SWORN AND THE DREAD).

ROXANNE BLAND, a genre-bending author of fantasy, science fiction and romance. Her first book, THE UNDERGROUND, has just been released. Her motto: Reality is highly overrated.  Find out more on her blog, Of Werewolves And Other Strangers.

KIMBERLY LONG-EWING'S work focuses on fantasy themes. and finding the unusual in ordinary objects. Her short stories have appeared in Crossed Genres, New Myths, and anthologies such as No Man's Land ( Dark Quest Books), UnCONventional (Spencer Hill Press) and the up-coming Holiday Magick (Spencer Hill Press).

Hosting the program is SUZANNE REYNOLDS-ALPERT who lives in Massachusetts with her tolerant husband and two awesome kids. She writes speculative fiction, dark fantasy, and poetry in between driving her kids around and meeting the incessant demands of her feline overlords.

Listen in, and look for us at your next convention!

Posted via email from The Broad Pod

Cover Reveal: Holiday Magick

My short story, "Finding Fire," is part of this anthology. :)  I had a wicked amount of fun writing this one, and I was so pleased that Rich and Jess liked it!  Sexy men, fire, Spring Break, Valencia, Spain's celebration of Las Fallas... and magick - all things I love.  Watch for it coming out May of this year!

Also, look at the cool artwork just for my story!

Holiday Magick: 20 Holiday Stories with a twist

People don't usually question holiday traditions or their origins, but maybe they should. Over centuries, explanations of how and why holidays exist may have been lost or changed.
Some holiday histories might only be known by a few individuals. Ancient magic spells could have influenced how we celebrate today. Fairies, zombies, or demons may have shaped our holidays.
Consider the following...
Why do people give red roses and cards on Valentine's Day?
Is there more to the story of Purim than is traditionally told?
Why do people wear green on St. Patrick's Day?
What happens to spirits that are captured during the Japanese Doll Festival?
Where does Santa get his helpers?
You may think you know the truth, but you can't be too sure.