Thank You Bunches!

I don’t know about you, but I had a fantastic Halloween! So, my day started off by giving a “treat” to interested readers. A free copy of The Queen of Crows from DriveThruFiction.com. Sending out those e-mails today; I hope those of you who signed up for a copy enjoy it!

Later that night, we had our first reading of HAUNTED: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror at a library. First? Librarians are awesome. They put out a bunch of treats for the reading and made up a huge poster of the event. So, combined with my bags o’ goodies, there was a lot of sugar to be had.

When I got home? A five star review!

The editing is sharp and the flow of stories is good throughout. I like to be able to digest a story after reading it but found myself turning to read the next story, so whether you like the genre or if you fancy a break from the latest glut of average books then I can highly recommend this one. — HAUNTED Review on GoodReads

I’m happy that readers are really digging this one. So thank you a whole bunch for contributing to a very memorable Halloween!

Free Copy of The Queen of Crows for All Hallows Reads

The Queen of Crows e-Book | Alternate CoverHappy Halloween! In honor of my favorite holiday, I’m participating in All Hallows Reads. I had every intention of offering you a library of spooky books to pick from, but sadly time and deadlines have caught up with me. So, instead of a contest? I’m going to do something I’ve never done before.

Anyone who comments on this post will get a coupon to download a free copy of The Queen of Crows. All you need is a valid e-mail address or an account on DriveThruRPG or DriveThruHorror. That’s it! I will follow up with you tomorrow or Wednesday to get everything situated.

I hope you enjoy my treat today, and encourage you to check out other author’s blogs and websites. There are a ton of give-a-ways. You can find quite a few by checking out the Twitter hashtag #allhallowsreads or visiting www.tor.com. for more give-a-ways. Other sites are participating, too, but I don’t have the full list. Go readers go!

Before you get too excited, I also want to share that Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror is $2.50 today at DriveThru.

Eleven spooky ghost hunting stories for less than what you’d pay on a bag of candy. Yep, that’s right. It is calorie-free but oh, so good.

Alex Bledsoe, Chuck Wendig, Jess Hartley, and many others will scare you silly and be kind to your waistline, too. I hope you will do me the honor of checking it out. Um, I won’t take responsibility for nightmares or ghostly visitors. Just in case.

Happy Halloween! Wheeeeeee!

EDIT: The free copy of The Queen of Crows lasts until midnight, or when all the pumpkins roll back into their beds. I was so excited I forgot to tell you when it ended!

Give a Book This Halloween! I’ll Be Participating in All Hallows Read

All Hallows ReadMany of you know that I am an advocate for all things reading. As a writer, avid reader, and fan of TOO many authors to count any program that promotes literacy is awesome in my book.

This time, author extraordinaire Neil Gaiman posted an idea about giving a scary book to someone on Halloween. Dubbed All Hallows Read, terrify your fellow trick-or-treaters with a haunting tale.

In that spirit, I will have a post that will go live on Halloween reminding people about this event. I can offer you a list of titles I’ve written to pick from — including the new ghost hunting anthology dubbed HAUNTED: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror — or you can get a gift certificate from DriveThruHorror.com. It’s your choice! All you have to do is this:

1) Be one of the first to comment on my Halloween blog post and
2) Be willing to do the same for someone else.

You don’t have to buy a book or a gift certificate for someone like I am. It can be a library book or something out of your own collection, too. And yes, this is the honor system. My spies aren’t everywhere. Yet.

That’s it. Easy, eh? Together, I’m pretty sure we can scare the world. Let’s give this TERRORific cause our best shot.

Otherwise, I’ll continue to regale you with bad, bad puns and dry sarcasm.

Happy Haunting Reading!

Going to New York Comic Con?

I’m going to be going to New York Comic Conwhile John from Dork Tower takes the opportunity to work on the Tao of Igor. All the pieces are coming together for a brand, new trade. We’ve got a killer introduction and are awaiting a bonus essay for the back of the book. There’s also some great stories that John has planned. (And no, I’m NOT going to spoil it for you… Though, you’ll be happy I didn’t…)

I’ll be tracking down publishers as well for the fiction side of DriveThru. I’m handling the publisher relations over at that site a few hours a week and am doing some consulting for the retail end of things.

From what the Exhibitor List looks like I’ll be running around a lot during the show. Just in the Comic Pavilion alone there are over 500 booths set up. I hope to run into Phil Reed from Steve Jackson Games, Tim Seeley from Hack/Slash, Anton Strout from Penguin and authorial fame, and George Vasilakos from Eden Studios. (I say “hope” because it’s going to be crazy busy, even with cell phones…) But we’ll see!

This’ll be my first time but it’s mostly a business trip for me. I’m going to keep writing, even during the show, but I’ll be wrapping up some fun drafts and a new project outline for TBA before we leave.

Going? What are you planning on doing?

Need Feedback on Speak Out with your Geek out

Speak Out with your Geek Out began with a single drop of creativity. Today, from where I sit, I’m floating happily along in an ocean of laughter, smiles and friendship. For that? I thank you muchly. (See: the answer to why is a raven like a writing desk.)

The majority of the responses have been overwhelmingly positive. There have been a few critical conversations that highlighted deeper issues within the community but that is to be expected from an event that got a lot of attention. Speak Out got a signal boost earlier in the week which amplified people’s knowledge about it. Geek Dad on Wired.com blogged about it, John Kovalic from Dork Tower drew a strip about it, Matt Forbeck interviewed me for GeekDad and Jennisodes podcast hosted me for a special chat.

In my mind, what has happened here can and should happen again. Many people would like this to be an annual event. There have been other conversations about going above-and-beyond what this event is. For that? I need your help.

Everything that was done: interviews, comic, writing, hosting, logo, etc. was donated or done on a volunteer basis in an extremely short span of time. Please keep that in mind when you’re answering my questions. You can either comment below or answer these on your blog and link to them in the comments.

(1) Do you feel Speak Out was a positive experience? Why or why not?

(2) Would you like this to be an annual event?

(3) Did you understand participation was voluntary? That there was a reason why “geek” was never defined?

(4) Is there anything that can be done differently for next year?

(5) If your answer to (4) was yes, how would you feel about a Kickstarter to help fund those goals?

Previous Posts Next Posts




Looking for Monica’s books and games that are still in print? Visit Monica Valentinelli on Amazon’s Author Central or a bookstore near you.

Archives

Back to Top