Amazon pimps After The Virus

Amazon flexed its algorithms last night and this was in my inbox this morning … here’s hoping Amazon decides it likes pimping After The Virus for me, and this appears in many other inboxes!!

Skyping with Irene…

So I just finished a great Skype chat with Irene Langholm, who is the brilliant artist who has done all the covers for my books. While the chat ended very well – we were discussing the cover for the soon to be released Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic – it started out a little embarrassingly … for me. You see, Irene requested I send her a sketch of my basic idea for the cover.

Ahem.

I cannot sketch, or draw, or paint … but – in the spirit of cooperative creation – I made an attempt.

Yes, this my attempt to sketch a book cover idea ... — Yes, this my attempt to sketch a book cover idea …

Note all the fine details I included – the figure is obviously female, one of her hands is caressing the Y of the word deadly … the glowing ‘door’ is hanging on some sort of grid and the woman appears to be standing (on her heels) on water … um … that’s not right …

I’m surprised Irene didn’t fall over laughing. Well, perhaps she did, it would be difficult to tell during a text based chat, but she was very understanding about my perspective issues, and even thanked me.

I have a feeling the finished cover will be a bit more … hmmm … what do I want to say here … well, perhaps we’ll have to do a comparison when Irene sends me what I know will be a work of art.

At least I spelled everything correctly … beside that ‘D’ … I guess I had trouble with that.

Ah, it’s good to know your shortcomings, no?

Good Book Covers

Gertie, the moderator of the Apocalypse Whenever group over on Goodreads, started a topic about the importance of good book covers a few days ago, which I’d missed seeing until this morning. In the post, Gertie gives a huge shout out to my covers by Irene Langholm, which reminded me of this fun post Irene did for the After The Virus cover release last year. (Phew, that is a lot of links for two sentences!)

Here’s just the image for all of you who don’t want to click through to the full post:

The Anatomy of a Book Cover, by Irene Langholm

What are some of your favourite book covers? Do you think that a great book cover helps bring the story alive for you? Have you ever read a book for its cover alone?

Time Walker – Chapter One

Happy Release Day for Time Walker!! Here is a sneak peek at the first chapter. Want more? The ebook is currently available on kindle and kobo, with iTunes, B&N and others soon to follow.

View this document on Scribd

Price Reduced!! Spirit Binder available for .99c

From November 30 to December 14, 2012 the Spirit Binder ebook will be available for $.99c in anticipation and celebration of the upcoming Time Walker release (ebook available December 7, 2012).

So far the reduced price is in effect at the following stores:

Amazon (all stores): Amazon US & Amazon UK – $.99

iBooks (all stores): iTunes Preview – $.99

Kobo – $.99

So if you haven’t read Spirit Binder yet why not grab yourself a pre-holiday treat? Dig into the world of the Cascadian Chronicles before the Time Walker release.

Introducing Time Walker

My young adult fantasy novel, Time Walker, is out to the beta readers, and I’m gearing up to publish it as an ebook and paperback on December 7, 2012. Time Walker is set ten years after the events of Spirit Binder, but it’s not necessary to have read Spirit Binder before you read Time Walker (though I, of course, recommend it – ha!)

Once again, the brilliant and ever so talented Irene Langholm worked her magic and came up with this gorgeous cover. I know I say this every time, but this one might be my favourite. It’s just so full of magic.

Synopsis: Beth was sneaky. No lock could hold her. No cage could confine her. No door could bar her way. But, when your adoptive mother is a Spirit Binder, and all your siblings are elementals, being sneaky doesn’t really rank. That is until the devastation of a city draws her omniscient mother’s attention, and her siblings go missing one by one, then Beth’s sneakiness is the only thing standing between her, her loved ones, and the worst enemy she’ll ever face: herself.

Just for fun A Book Vacation is running a countdown to publication over on her blog until December 7, 2012, so, if you want to win the paperback, enter over there!

I will be running a .99c promo with Spirit Binder for the week before and week after Time Walker’s publication … a little pre-Christmas present for anyone who hasn’t read it yet, and wants to read it ahead of time.

**ARC is now available for book bloggers**

Spirit Binder Blog Tour

Starting today Spirit Binder will be on a one week blog tour hosted by Bewitching Book Tours. I’ll update with direct links as the posts go live.

Here is the current schedule:

July 20 Behind A Million And One Pages

Guest blog – Post 1: What Inspired Spirit Binder: Opening Scenes

July 21 Book Nerd Revealed

Promotional Stop – Excerpt

July 21 Crossroads

Promo and review

July 22 Reader Girls

Guest blog – Post 2: What Inspired Spirit Binder: The World

July 22 Happy Tails & Tales

Review & Interview

July 22 Coffee Addicted Writer

Promo

July 23 Book on the Bright Side

Guest blog – Post 3: What Inspired Spirit Binder: Character Names

July 23 Mila Ramos, Paranormal & Contemporary Romance

Promo & Excerpt

July 24 It’s A Hardcover Life

Guest blog – Post 4: What Inspired Spirit Binder: Settings/Locations

July 25 A Bibliophile’s Thoughts on Books

Guest blog – Post 5: What Inspired Spirit Binder: Theme

July 26 Chapter by Chapter

Promo

July 27 Manga Maniac Café

Interview

GIVEAWAY!!! {Review} Spirit Binder by Meghan Ciana Doidge (The Cascadian Chronicles #1)

GIVEAWAY!!! {Review} Spirit Binder by Meghan Ciana Doidge (The Cascadian Chronicles #1).

Check out the first (4-star! YAY!) review of Spirit Binder by A Book Vacation, and enter into a giveaway of the ebook at the same time.

The Anatomy of a Book Cover

Irene Langholm recently re-envisioned the book cover for After The Virus and the amount of work she put into it was crazy and amazing at the same time. So I thought you all might like to see what an artist does when pitched a basic plot from an author … through concept … to completion.

I am absolutely infatuated with the finished product, BTW (in case there was any lingering doubt). Click the image to get a closer look:

Anatomy-of-ATV — **The Anatomy of a Book Cover – After The Virus – by Irene Langholm**

Finished cover and sources:

http://irenelangholm.deviantart.com/art/After-the-Virus-310887976

Spirit Binder – book cover reveal

Here is the cover for my next novel, Spirit Binder. I absolutely LOVE it. Irene Langholm, the artist, is currently working on a cover for the print version of After The Virus (hopefully available in July 2012).

Spirit Binder is a fantasy set a thousand years after spirit (aka magic) rises to take back the world in an apocalyptic event. It is book one of the Cascadian Chronicles. The second book, Time Walker, is a young adult novel and will be released in the fall of 2012.

Available as an ebook June 2012 and in print July 2012

Synopsis: Theo woke severely injured, covered in blood, and missing ten years of her life. Just to complicate matters further, Theo was born under a prophecy — one that has rabid followers with three different interpretations, all of whom are willing to sacrifice her in order to fulfill it. Not knowing if she can trust the stranger she’s betrothed to, the warrior visiting her dreams, or even her own mother, Theo tries to piece together her past only to find that her present is far more dangerous. It’s the power of her own blood that scares her most of all. This is a responsibility Theo never wanted, and a destiny she cannot deny, “all because of a prophecy she was trying not to believe in, but kept fulfilling.”

ARCs currently available for reviewers upon request

ETA: May 28, 2012 – we changed up the font treatment. Here is the updated version.