Blitzen in a Cup is one of my most requested cupcake recipes, but when I first tried to make them – easily five or six years ago – Michael didn’t think they tasted like coffee or eggnog, just chocolate and butter, so I shelved the recipe.
Move forward to the upcoming release of Gemstones, Elves, and Other Insidious Magic (Dowser 9) during the ‘eggnog’ season and Blitzen in a Cup felt like the perfect recipe to release alongside the book. So more tweaking and test baking went into the cupcake combo, and Michael finally gave them a thumbs up.
The recipe will also be featured on the Dowser 9 recipe card (the ones going into the swag boxes are already on order) and I will update the Dowser Series cookbook PDF as well. I’ll add a link to the newest edition of the cookbook in my new release newsletter on December 4, 2018 (so make sure you are subscribed).
Without further ado, Blitzen in a Cup! Chocolate, and coffee, and eggnog. Oh, my!
As always I’d love to see your pictures if you decide to bake Blitzen in a Cup (or any of the Dowser series cupcakes). Please tag me on your preferred social media site. I’m @MeghanCianaDoidge on Facebook and Instagram. And @mcdoidge on Twitter.
I asked my beta readers to share favourite quotes (if they came upon any) from their read of Gemstones, Elves, and Other Insidious Magic (Dowser 9). This was one of Theresa’s from Chapter One.
Dowser 9 releases on December 4, 2018. The preorder is now available. Make sure you’re signed up for the New Release mailing list so you get a reminder in your inbox on release day.
Mory jogged back into the room, sliding through the doorway and past Rochelle on the hardwood floor in her hand-knit striped socks. “I almost forgot,” she cried, thrusting her hand toward me.
She was holding a chocolate bar. A dark-chocolate bar with pistachios and dried cranberries, to be exact. From the ever-delectable, soul-fueling Chocolate Arts, to be even more exact.
“Oh my God,” I whispered reverently, gently prying it from Mory’s grasp. “Where have you been, my beauty?” I was practically cooing.
“In my bag,” Mory said. “I picked it up for you this morning. I have another one.” She looked at Rochelle. “In case things get really bad.”
The oracle stifled a chuckle.
The misfits were totally laughing at me. But, as I carefully slipped the paper wrapper off the bar and lifted the clear sticker sealing the flap, I didn’t care one bit.
Then the full implication of Mory’s words actually sunk in. “Wait!” I cried. “You were holding out on me?”
Mory laughed — apparently unaware that I was not freaking joking.
Update: I’m now running a wait list for the swag boxes. Email me the info I requested below to be added to the list. First come, first served, if I have any extra boxes.
Since I didn’t manage to make it to any signings or conferences in 2018, I floated an idea about a week ago in the Facebook reader fan group about a ‘Dowser 9 swag box’ and a number of readers expressed interest. I checked in with Chocolate Arts about getting a bulk order of the chocolate bars, and they also said yes. Yay!
Obviously I don’t have a picture of the actual box yet, but each box would include:
an autographed paperback of Gemstones, Elves, and Other Insidious Magic (Dowser 9)
the actual chocolate bar mentioned in the book – a cranberry and candied pistachio bar from Chocolate Arts
nine Dowser recipe postcards
four Cake in a Cup stickers
Three butterfly temporary tattoos
Not pictured: autographed paperback and ninth recipe card
Cavets:
Shipping: Unfortunately I’ve discovered, after weighing a ‘mocked’ up box (since I don’t have all the items yet) that the shipping (remember I’m on the West Coast of Canada) is more expensive than I originally thought, so I decided to limit the ‘swag’ so I could lower the estimated price by five dollars. The shipping is NOT trackable.
Timing/Delivery: I need to get the chocolate bar count into Chocolate Arts on November 9, 2018, so I’ll only take orders until November 8. But the earliest I’ll be able to get my hands on paperbacks will be early December. Which means the likelihood of you receiving the box before the holiday season is slim. I’ll try my best and some Canadian or USA address might get the box before the 25th. But there is absolutely no way the international boxes will make it in time. In fact, the last time I mailed a giveaway to New Zealand it took FOUR months for it to show up.
No substitutions or additions. I’ve set the shipping rate as low as I can, and therefore need all the boxes to weigh the same. Also packing different packages for different readers would be crazy time consuming. Every minute I’m working on the swag boxes I’m not writing.
Chocolate bars: for countries that are currently experiencing or going into their hot season – or for international countries in general – I cannot guarantee the quality of the chocolate. There is a reason why most companies don’t ship chocolate internationally, and of course I’m no exception. Readers in Australia and New Zealand might want to wait for the next opportunity to get an autographed book.
Questions asked and answered:
Is PayPal the only way to pay? Yes. That is the only way I have to send international invoices and accept payments. But you can pay through PayPal with a credit card without having an account.
When do the invoices need to be paid by? November 8, 2018. So I can place the order with Chocolate Arts. It doesn’t really make sense for me to order way more than I actually need for the swag boxes. But again, I will run a wait list in case I have any extra boxes.
Is the chocolate dairy free? The bar is marked VEGAN on the front and says, “created in a facility that handles peanuts, tree nuts, and eggs” on the back.
To order:
Email me at info@madebymeghan.ca with your mailing address, email address, and phone number (for customs). Please don’t send me abbreviations (I’m from Canada, I don’t know all the abbreviations for all the States, etc 🙂 ). I will send you an invoice via PayPal.
Price: $30 plus shipping
Shipping:
Canada/USA: $17
United Kingdom (including England, France, Germany): $21
Australia and New Zealand: $22
OTHER INTERNATIONAL: please email for a quote.
ORDERS CLOSE ON NOVEMBER 8, 2018 at 8pm PST. I will start a waitlist but I cannot guarantee I will be able to fulfil orders submitted after November 8 – items need to be ordered and getting them shipped to me also takes time.
[Deleted long blog post. Then distilled it down to the important beats].
It is with joy in my heart but tears in my eyes that I share the cover for Gemstones, Elves, and Other Insidious Magic (Dowser 9). And yes, it is the last book – for the foreseeable future – in the Dowser Series.
The preorder will start to appear on all retailers in the first week of November. But there is no preorder giveaway for this release. Make sure you are on my new release mailing list so you don’t miss the release and any other ‘goodies’ I decide to include. 🙂
I haven’t been sharing as many teasers as I usually do while writing Dowser 9 because the entire book, practically every single line, is a freaking spoiler, ha! But I really felt like sharing something today, so here is the unedited opening of Gemstones, Elves, and Other Insidious Magic (Dowser 9).
A man hung suspended in a whirlwind of magic above me.
No … not just a man.
A dragon.
I crouched on the back edge of a six foot wide, foot high white platform over the elvish tech I was tasked to repair, fiddling with a gemstone I’d previously removed. Pretending to work while peering through the maelstrom of golden-tinted magic that fueled the gateway.
The golden-tint of the dragon’s magic.
Of his life force.
Energy … magic … life … that was slowly being siphoned away through the tech.
Something was wrong, terribly, terribly wrong with that … scenario, that situation. But whenever I tried to grasp that thought, to fully articulate it in my mind it hovered just beyond my understanding.
I glanced to my right, then left. The center section of the stadium grew smaller and smaller each day as the elves erected sections of walls, closing in on the gateway. If I tilted my head, I could still see the upper rows of seating that rose almost all the way to the domed ceiling. There were less rows than there had been the last time I’d counted. Not that I could remember the exact number. Or why that mattered.
We, the dragon and me, were surrounded by elves, including my liege.
But … we weren’t a ‘we’.
We’re we?
And why would being surrounded by elves matter?
I’d repaired the tech.
I’d created a pathway at my liege’s command.
Opening a rift between dimensions so that the elves could cross into the earth’s dimension from their own.
That I knew for certain.
That I remembered doing.
Except, yesterday — if my sense of time could be trusted — something else had occurred, something that upset my liege, disrupting our connection for a moment that lasted long enough for me to remember … other things, other ideas.
Ideas that fluttered just out of my reach even as I gazed up at the dragon fueling the gateway with his life force.
Though my liege’s hold on my mind kept slipping, through her I came to understand that the witches who claimed this territory, this city, had somehow reined the elves in, curtailing my liege’s plans.
For the moment.
The stadium was slowly filling with restless warriors as one elf at a time stepped through the gateway. Then waited.
Everyone was on the edge of violence, caught in the waiting.
Me especially.
– Gemstones, Elves, and Other Insidious Magic (Dowser 9), fourth draft (unedited, unproofed)
Me (yesterday afternoon): the third draft of Dowser 9 is done!
The muse (late last night): Hmm … what about [insert unresolved minor plot point].
Me: Now is not the time to worry about that. I’m trying to fall asleep. Scott (aka the editor) will flag it if it’s an issue.
The muse: it is totally an issue! One we need to spend the next hour fussing and fretting about until you eventually can’t sleep at all.
Me: well … I could do [insert mention of plot point], then in the final conversation with [name redacted] she could [action redacted]. Or maybe … Oh! What about …
The muse: my work here is done.
So yeah, I didn’t sleep terribly well (though that’s not particularly unusual) and I’ll be doing a bit more fiddling with the third draft of Dowser 9 today. 😂
I celebrated the one week anniversary for Graveyards, Visions, and Other Things that Byte (Dowser 8.5) by finishing the third draft of Dowser 9. Then I remembered I usually do so by sharing some early reviews, so I quickly popped around online and collected some pull quotes (see below).
Thank you to everyone who has had a chance to read the three novellas and taken the time to review on your retailer or favourite review site. Your reviews are welcomed and appreciated!
Overall, most of you seem to have enjoyed getting a glimpse at the Dowser Series from a different point of view. Well, three, to be exact. And that pleases me, because I really loved writing these bridge stories. The one draw back to writing first person POV is that I cannot show you what is happening ‘behind the scenes.’ And, for rather obvious reasons, in this particular case Dowser 8.5 contains important information and plot points that Jade herself is not privy to.
5 stars – Fun read with cheers and tears! – iBooks reviewer
5 stars – Great read! Another sweet treat for the fans. – Barnes & Noble reviewer
5 stars – Laughter, tears, heart palpitations, random audible cuss words, and fist pumps. – Amazon USA reviewer
5 stars – A riveting read. Do all your work and chores before you begin these books as nothing gets done after. – Amazon UK reviewer
Thank you all for hanging on for the ride as it now barrels onward toward Dowser 9!!
Living on the west coast of Canada means that I often wake up to find that a few voracious readers (in other timezones) have already consumed a new release while I slept, and Graveyards, Visions, and Other Things that Byte (Dowser 8.5) hasn’t been an exception. I’m so, so glad that so many of you have enjoyed hearing from Mory, Rochelle, and Jasmine. I very much enjoyed writing their novellas, exploring Mory’s and Jasmine’s voices as well as getting a chance to speak through Rochelle again.
I stumbled upon this picture two days ago, a long-time friend found it among his collection, scanned it, and sent it to me last year. And, after exclaiming for some time about being SO young and SO slim, I filed it among my digital photos without another thought.
I don’t often share personal photos (of myself), but I thought you might find it fun to see a tiny little bit of my life experience bleeding into the character of Mory. Allow me to present Narissa, my inspiration for Mory’s turtle, Ed.
MCD, age 20 (?), with a red earred slider semi-aquatic turtle, aka Narissa.
I also thought that today was an opportune time to mention that writing Dowser 8.5 has spawned numerous ideas for more side stories and that the Misfits of the Adept Universe series, starting with a Mory book, will be coming your way in 2019.
As always, thank you for reading. Without you it would just be me in my tiny writing shed wondering if the words I spend hours a day typing were ever going to be read by anyone else.
Okay. I’m making fudge marshmallow bars now. Then later there will be homemade pizza!!
To help celebrate the week leading up to the release of Graveyards, Visions, and Other Things that Byte (Dowser 8.5), I’ve put together three giveaways (not including whatever I cobble together for my live reading over on Facebook on release day, August 23 at 4pm PDT). I’ll keep all three giveaways open through release day so everyone has a chance to enter.
In the third and final novella of Dowser 8.5 we get to hear directly from Jasmine, but she was first introduced through Wisteria’s eyes in the Reconstructionist Series. So I thought the trilogy would be a fitting giveaway for the golden-haired vampire.
The third giveaway is for a set of Reconstructionist series autographed paperbacks, three temporary tattoos, and a pretty postcard.
So … are you interested in giving this pretty set of paperbacks a home?
Yes? Yes!
Comment below to enter to win three autographed Reconstructionist Series paperbacks.
Fun! Fun!!
Likes and shares are always welcomed and appreciated.
Notes/Rules: OPEN INTERNATIONALLY. One entry per person. One winner will be selected by random number generator. Email addresses are not collected for any purpose other than to contact the winner. No purchase necessary.
Giveaway closes THURSDAY AUGUST 23, 2018 at midnight PDT.
To help celebrate the week leading up to the release of Graveyards, Visions, and Other Things that Byte (Dowser 8.5), I’ve put together three giveaways (not including whatever I cobble together for my live reading over on Facebook on release day, August 23 at 4pm PDT). I’ll keep all three giveaways open through release day so everyone has time to enter.
The second giveaway is for a set of Oracle series autographed paperbacks, three temporary tattoos, and a pretty postcard.
So … are you interested in giving this pretty set of paperbacks a home?
Yes?
Well, then!
Comment below to enter to win three Oracle Series autographed paperbacks.
Fun! Fun!!
Likes and shares are always welcomed and appreciated.
Notes/Rules: OPEN INTERNATIONALLY. One entry per person. One winner will be selected by random number generator. Email addresses are not collected for any purpose other than to contact the winner. No purchase necessary.
Giveaway closes THURSDAY AUGUST 23, 2018 at midnight PDT.
