Interview with Laura Diamond author of YA paranormal sensation Shifting Pride

Housekeeping first: my drawing for the free ebook of your choice had 14 entries out of 70 views: In order, they were E.J., Denise, Alex, Em, Tonja, Andrew, Joy, David, Elise, Cherie, L.G., Morgan, Susan, and Danette. And that's for any ebook which should have a broad appeal to most people. What do I get from this? Well, I think about 20% of the people who read my blog have electronic readers (or prefer reading ebooks). That's interesting, and I caveat that the percentage could probably move up by 5% if you factored in repeat visits (or those who are just swamped by books). Does 25% of blog readers owning e-readers or reading e-books jive with the national average? I have no idea, but it's food for thought.

Anyway, the winner of the great ebook giveaway is number 7. That person is Joy Campbell.

So Joy, when you read this, just leave a comment below as to what free ebook in the whole wide world (under 10 bucks) you want emailed to you from Amazon (that's Mobi format for the kindle, and I'll send it to your email as a gift). I'm sure I'll get around to pestering you on your blog about it. Alternately, you can choose just a $10 Amazon gift card if you want to say, buy a book that costs more than ten bucks.

Enjoy!

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Now, to my interview with Laura Diamond author of YA paranormal sensation Shifting Pride (I'm putting this up a day early as I don't blog on the weekend). My commentary/responses/questions are written in bold black print.

Blurb for Shifting Pride: Sixteen-year-old Nickie Leone has proof that
her missing (presumed dead) father is still alive. Receiving his watch in
the mail is the first in a line of clues bringing her closer to discovering his
whereabouts. But clues aren’t the only new thing in Nickie’s life. There’s the
Memorial Banquet her mother insists she help prepare for, there’s the new
kid/hottie, Xavian, and…well, the growth of whiskers and a tail!

Filled with secrets and a new love of tuna fish, Nickie must partner
up with Xavian (don’t you know he’s a shape-shifter also?) to rescue
her dad before she loses him forever. Oh, and she needs to figure
out how to be a cat, too. This guy on the cover is really good looking LOL-
stares at it some more. *Facepalms

CLICK>>>BUY IT ON AMAZON FOR $5.99 <<< CLICK

Hi Michael! Thanks so much for hosting me today. I had a lot of fun answering your questions, and hey, you gave me some ideas for the sequel! ;) You're welcome, Laura. I'm good for a few ideas here and there.

Q: How did you hear about Etopia Press? One of the editors, Rachel Firasek, held a pitch contest on her blog. I’d heard of Etopia through Twitter, but didn’t know they accepted YA submissions until the pitch contest. I submitted my pitch, and Rachel asked for the first chapter that day. Then she asked for the full manuscript!

Q: Just to verify, are you a cat person or a dog person 'cause you seem like a cat person O.o? LOL! I’m probably more of a cat person. I have four: a ragdoll and 3 rescues, but I also adopted a Corgi last spring. She’s adorable and brought me much joy.

Q: If you were the MPAA, what rating would you give your book and why (I asked this question because I have Mormon friends who are 40 and have never seen an R-rated movie)? You know, at first I was going to say PG…then I remembered the scenes where the characters shape-shifted  When they have the time, they prefer to undress first so that a majority of their income doesn’t go to wardrobe replacement. Therefore, because of their, ahem, nakedness, I’d rate it at PG-13.

Q: Does the whole "cats have nine lives" thing come into play in your book? I'm curious because I don't think I could write a werecat book without doing the nine lives thing. Seems almost necessary. Hmm, that’s a good idea! It may come up in the sequel! ;) No, my shape-shifters don’t have nine lives, but they have extraordinarily long ones—like centuries. They tend to keep their teenage countenance until they find a mate, then they mature. Even then, the aging process is slow. They’re more likely to be killed in a battle than to die from old age, though. They like to fight too much.

Q: How would the cats in your book view the whole domestication of cats, cat shows, and cat groomers of the world? LOL! I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask. Actually, they’d probably say that they like pets. Nickie tried to help a stray kitty, but got into trouble. Also, some of the shifters in the book may be insulted if someone equated them to domesticated animals.

Q: Are you drawing any connection back to a cat goddess in your book? No cat goddess in the first book, Shifting Pride, or in the prequel, New Pride. However, I’m still developing a sequel and there may be something to that goddess thing. Stay tuned!

Q: What's your favorite book not written by you featuring cats? I like Rachel Vincent’s Shifting series. Her MC is in college in the first book, so it’s more new adult or adult urban fantasy, but the cat hierarchy is there…and so is the action! In Nine Lives of Chloe King, Chloe dies and then develops her feline qualities…kind of harkens back to your earlier question about nine lives. Such a great concept!

Thanks for answering all of my quirky questions, Laura!

For those of you who do not know Laura, here's a little about her:

Laura Diamond is a board certified psychiatrist and author of all things young adult paranormal, dystopian, horror, and middle grade. Her short story, "City of Lights and Stone", is in the Day of Demons anthology by Anachron Press (April 2012). Another short story, "Begging Death", is in the Carnage: After the End anthology volume one by Sirens Call Publications. Her Young Adult Paranormal Romance novelette New Pride and novel Shifting Pride debuted late 2012 from Etopia Press. She has just signed with Pugalicious Press to publish another Young Adult novel, Zodiac Collector. When she's not writing, she is working at the hospital, blogging at Author Laura Diamond--Lucid Dreamer, and renovating her 225+ year old fixer-upper mansion. She is also full-time staff member for her four cats and a Pembroke corgi named Katie.

Wow...you live in a 225 year old mansion! I want to know about that!

Where to find Laura Diamond on the web:

Her Blog is HERE
Her twitter is HERE
Facebook is HERE
Facebook Author Page is HERE
Website is HERE

Amazon author page is HERE
Author’s Den page is HERE
Goodreads author page is HERE

DRAWING: I will be gifting one lucky person who comments on this post with Laura's ebook (it's in Adobe pdf format) New Pride, which is the jumping off point for this series.

As of this blog writing, Laura's book has six five-star ratings on Goodreads with an average of 4.86 % (that's frickin high). Have a great weekend!

Congratulations to Cindy Borgne for being our 10 Lords A Leaping winner, the Prometheus trailer, and Jedi Ninjas

At the end of November, blogger Sarah Belliston organized the 12 Days of Christmas giveaway. Well the day that I was told to announce my winner is today.

Huzzah Cindy Borgne

You have been chosen by random.org to win $10 to Amazon.

If you don't already know Cindy, she's an award-winning author of science-fiction. You can find her website located here.

UPDATE...Here is the Prometheus trailer I've been waiting all week for (it gives me shivers):

And here's a video of the greatest Star Wars tribute ever. Jedi Ninjas.

I found this video last week and it only had 315 views. It's since gone viral.

I tweeted about it, so you may have already watched it.

I'm a Pied Piper and the Easily Flushed Blog Hop

L.G. Smith over at Bards and Prophets bequeathed me with the Pied Piper Blog Award created by the Geek Twins (I guess Alex infected her a few days ago)...anywho...thank you L.G.!

The rules are simple:

1) List three of your favorite followers and why.
2) Pass the award onto three bloggers that you feel deserve their followers the most.

I'm going to break the rules a little and pick out some followers that don't get a lot of comment love (and I hope that changes):

1) Benoit Lelievre has a cerebral book blog called Dead End Follies where he analyzes books that he reads and talks about serious film. I hope that you go and visit and partake of some of his wisdom because the man is smart smart smart.

2) Mr. Briane Pagel who keeps several blogs. The one I visit the most is Thinking the Lions. It's mostly about his journey through life as a middle-aged lawyer who has one set of grown kids and another set of babies who just happen to be autistic and run like perpetual motion machines.

3) Ms. Marjorie who sometimes writes on her blog Upwards Over The Mountain. She says in her latest post that she is considering another blog. What I really like about Marjorie is how worldly she is. She's incredibly young, speaks multiple languages, has been to China and Taiwan, lives in New York City...I mean...sheesh...just incredible. So whenever she chooses to breeze on by I think it's wonderful. I feel like Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City has recognized me for just a moment.

Okay, so now who do I pass this award onto?

1) Patrick Dilloway who blogs at Grumpy Bulldog's blog. Patrick's personality is similar to my own so I think
 it's natural that we are blogging buddies.  He's not afraid to say what he thinks, and I appreciate that honesty.

2) Brooke R. Busse because I promised Brooke that she would from now on be the recipient of blog awards that got passed onto me. Aside from that though, she's just a really smart writing person/woman/teenager. Brooke's blog is at Paper Mountain. Get to know her now before she is famous. Famous people don't ever look at you anymore.

3) Charity Bradford because Charity is going to win the Hugo, and I want to say that I predicted it here first. Find this awesome future award winning author at her blog Charity's Writing Journey and ride her coattails of success.

I've joined the Easily Flushed Blog Hop that is the brainchild of Cassie Mae. It takes place all day today. The prize is a $10 Amazon Gift Card. All you have to do is comment and post this polar bear on your blog and tell people/tweet about the contest. Please follow the link and go win a gift card. :))

>>>>>Eeep! I forgot the easily flushed story so here it is <<<<<<

I went to a house to fix a computer internet issue. When I got there, I discovered that the people used wireless. I asked them to take me to the router so I could reset it. Well the router was in the basement behind some sex toys. I said, "Hmmm, I can't quite reach it. Could you get it for me." It was very awkward.

Have a great Tuesday.

I want you to win seventy dollars for almost nothing.

This post is about good cheer and what you can do that is absolutely free that will make someone happy.  With December just starting and nano ending for many of the bloggers, there is a lot of loot up for grabs in the blogosphere.  I'm highlighting some of this free loot for my weekend post.  

Seriously guys and gals...we're talking

like ten minutes of your time max.

First off, my contest for the $10 Amazon gift card is still going.  You can find my post located here.  All that you need to do is leave one comment. That's it and you are in for the drawing.  It's the easiest way to earn ten bucks.  I'm not making you follow anything, subscribe to anything, I don't even care if you never come back to this blog again.  I received instructions from Sarah Belliston who is running the Twelve Days of Christmas thing and she told me to pick a winner on December 22. So that's when the contest ends.

Also Charity Bradford is giving away a $15 gift card to Amazon as well as a one chapter critique. Charity is an INCREDIBLE writer. I've read some of her sci-fi book and I tell you, it was a page turner from beginning to end. I couldn't get enough. I'm so excited for the day when she lands a huge book deal and movie contract and whatever else that she can get her hands on because with talent that big, she has to succeed. But that being said, a one chapter critique from Charity is like OMG so awesome I cannot even describe it. She will set you straight. She will tell you if your story is working. She's got the chops...she's a hair's breadth away from landing an agent as she's pitched to them and they've requested full manuscripts from her, etc.

As if that weren't enough, Mr. Briane Pagel is giving away a $20.00 Amazon Gift Card for just going to a non-profit website and wishing some conjoined twins a Merry Christmas. Seriously, this is easy money. And look at these darling kids...think of how they will smile knowing that strangers are wishing them well. I know that I would. So please go and do so and get in this drawing for $20 bucks.

And the generosity

doesn't end there!

Up comes author Patrick Dilloway with an amazing blog hop. I'm posting my entry for it on Monday. But Mr. Dilloway is outdoing me, Charity, and Mr. Pagel with a $25 Amazon gift card for one lucky participant!

Like seriously...$25 and all you have to do is make one entry for the bah humbug blog fest before December 15th, 2011.

So yeah...that's $70.00 up for grabs on just a handful of blogs not to mention the stuff that Sarah Belliston is giving away on her blog.

Stop being lazy, go and make a few comments, and earn some dough for yourself for Christmas.

Have a great weekend. Ho! Ho! Ho!

The 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop and an Amazon Gift Card

I missed you guys! First off, thank you for all the support on Goodreads in hitting "to read" on my upcoming book. I spilled over to page-2 sometime during the long weekend and that made me squee just a little.

Today's post is a giveaway.  Blogger ==> Sarah Belliston <==has organized a 12-days of Christmas blog hop.  If you go to her website, she has a list of twelve blogs that are all giving something away for the month of December.  If you like free stuff, then visit the 12 blogs, comment on them, and you may win something if you're lucky.

So which day am I? I'm the "Ten Lords A Leaping" day of Christmas.

To celebrate my role in the festivities, I will be giving away one $10 Amazon Gift Certificate to celebrate the Christmas season (Ten Lords A Leaping--$1 for each lord--I thought I was being clever).

I would hope that whoever the lucky winner may be, that they would consider buying one of the fine Indie books that I have reviewed on this blog to help out a fellow author.

Okay, so how do you win? Easy.

All you have to do is comment on this post and on the chosen day detailed by Sarah's blog, I will use random.org and select a winner and send you the gift certificate through the email. It's that simple :)

So comment away and have a great Monday. I hope your long weekend was great and that you didn't get "pepper sprayed" at Wal-Mart on Black Friday.

UPDATE: Sarah Belliston now has the post up. So please go check it out!