Bake, Love, Write Halloween Scavenger Hunt

Moonday Mania

Happy Dark Huntsman Birthday

 

This isn’t it. The answer is hidden somewhere else on the site. Keep hunting!

Hello Folks, and Welcome to our Halloween Scavenger Hunt!!!!

How this works. You have until October 23rd to go to each of these authors websites and hunt down where they’ve hidden their Halloween graphics (courtesy of Google) . Don’t forget to look for mine hidden somewhere on my site! Use the link HERE and type in your answers to enter to win. Each site you visit and provide the right answer equals one entry. We have an exciting list of prizes including lots of fun books!

The list of prizes and the dates they will be given away is here.  

Here’s the IMPORTANT part — once you’ve filled in your answers, you must email the document to sloanmcbride@gmail.com.  She’s going to review the answers and will enter the names into the Rafflecopter so…  

Good luck, and happy scavenging!!!!!  

Below is a list of participating authors. Feel free to click through from here and carry on your search.

And don’t forget the IMPORTANT part — once you’ve filled in all your answers, please email your document to Sloan McBride at sloanmcbride@gmail.com.

And if you haven’t checked out Bake, Love, Write, now’s your chance! 105 authors, their favorite desserts and lots of advice about love and writing. I put in The Dark Forest Fruitcake, gluten free!

PARTICIPATING AUTHORS

Jessa Slade  http://jessaslade.wordpress.com/

Kathryn Jane  http://kathrynjane.com/

Sloan McBride http://www.sloanmcbride.com/

M.L. Guida  http://www.mlguida.com/

Lois Winston  http://www.loiswinston.com/

Skye Taylor  http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_at_the_beach

Cathryn Cade http://www.cathryncade.com/

Victoria Adams  http://victoriaadams.blogspot.com/

Sharleen Scott  http://www.sharleenscott.com/

Erin Farwell  http://erinfarwell.com/

Kathleen Kaska  http://www.kathleenkaska.com/

Daryl Devore    http://myeroticnotions.blogspot.com/

Chantilly White        http://authorchantillywhite.blogspot.com/

Cynthia Luhrs    http://cluhrs.com/

Ayers http://ayersbooks.wordpress.com/

Molly MacRae    http://www.mollymacrae.com/

Jessica Aspen    http://jessicaaspen.com/

L.C. Giroux    http://www.lcgiroux.com/

Stacy Juba    http://stacyjuba.com/blog/

B.V. Lawson    http://inreferencetomurder.typepad.com/

Ruby Merritt    http://www.rubymerrittauthor.com/

Kay Manis        http://kaymanis.com/index.html

Ashlyn Chase    http://www.ashlynchase.com/index.html

Barbara Phinney    http://barbphinney.blogspot.ca/

Alicia M. Dean    http://aliciadean.com/

Haley Whitehall        http://haleywhitehall.com/

Melinda Curtis    http://www.melindacurtis.net/

Elizabeth Rose    http://elizabethrosenovels.com/

Terry Shames    http://www.terryshames.com/

Shelia Seabrook    http://sheilaseabrook.com/

Lynn Cahoon    http://lynncahoon.wordpress.com/

Debra Goldstein    http://www.debrahgoldstein.com/

Brenda Novak    http://www.brendanovak.com/

Caridad Pineiro        http://www.caridad.com/

Renee Field    http://reneefield.blogspot.ca/

(Need a hint? It’s ghostly!)

Halloween Treats 2011 Grand Prize Giveaway Today!

Moonday Mania

a blog about the craft of writing

Today is the day I announce the  Halloween Treats Grand Prize Winners for the entire month! Three lucky people will win a swag bag with wonderful Jessica Aspen Swag and a Barnes and Noble $15 Gift Certificate! But hold your horses, I have to gab for a minute first.

This has been a whirlwind October for me, and believe you me,  I have enjoyed riding the whirlwind. From running my first big contest, Halloween Treats, to exploring the world of Flash Fiction with Rach Harrie’s Third Writing Campaign, it’s been one new experience after another. I feel like I’m at the amusement park on my game board of life.

And I expect the rest of the year to continue to be filled with wonderful and scary new experiences. I’ll be working on my first professional edits, with my new editor from Passion in Print Press. I’ll be researching my options for my first professional blog tour. And I’ll be doing all this while running CRW’s Award of Excellence, our amazing contest for romance authors with books published in 2011.

This year not only was the beginning of this blog, but it also marked the beginning of Paranormal Freebies. A blog and ezine that I share with ML Guida, Hillar Seidl and Marilyn Wigglesworth. We’ve had great fun creating a place for paranormal readers and authors to converge.

My latest ride on the whirlwind came on Monday, October 24th with the opening of the Choose Your Own Adventure blog hop, Ahoy Sea Serpent. If you havent tried it start at  Kerri Cuevas’s blog and find out what happens when a group of random bloggers get together to write a story, and make you, the reader, the decision maker. Thanks Kerri for a wonderful opportunity.

This month I’ve given away a book with every blog post and today is the grand prize drawing! If you’ve been hanging out here you know that I’m running the contest in celebration of my novella Little Red Riding Wolf’s acceptence from Passion in Print Press. Little Red Riding Wolf will be available February 18th, 2012. 

My last giveaway book winner from Saturday’s blog is Gloria! WOOT!

I will be doing a whirlwing blog tour during January and February and promoting Little Red Riding Wolf‘s release date. And I’m thinking I just might run another contest in February. It’s not only my release month, but it also contains romance’s biggest holiday, Valentine’s Day. So don’t forget to check back during the month of February and find out what fun prizes are being given away. Who knows? I might even have copies of Little Red to give away.

So, on to what you’re really here for…

Drum roll please!

And the winners (you had to have commented during the month of October during my blogs to win) of the three amazing Jessica Aspen Swag bags complete with Barnes and Noble gift certificates are…..

CASEY W!

KT HANNA

JEN

Congratulations! Send me your contact info through the contact page and I’ll get your prizes to you! Any prizes not claimed by November 30th will be forfeit.

And for everyone who dropped by and commented this month, thank you very much. I’ve enjoyed getting to meet each and every one of you and hope to keep hearing from you on a regular basis.

Who’s Lurking in the Shadows?

Thursday’s Bite

a paranormal Blog

Welcome to Thursday’s Bite! Today’s Halloween Treats guest blogger is Hillary Seidl. Hillary is a regular contributor and team member at Paranormal Freebies and will be blogging there on Friday at her regular blog, Hillary’s Haunts. Hillary also has the novella Sia debuting in the anthology Finding Mrs. Wright with fellow authors Lori Corsentino and ML Guida. ML Guida will be here as my guest on November 3rd, so you can check out Hillary’s fellow author. Thanks for being here Hillary!

            Thank you so much for having me, Jessica!  I’m very excited to announce that my paranormal novella, Finding Ms. Wright: Sia, is being published by 5 Prince Publishing November 15^th in e-book format and November 25, 2011, print on demand.  The world of the paranormal has always fascinated me.  Writing about it is so much fun!

            Sia was inspired by what ghost hunters call “shadow people”. Seeing dark figures out of the corner of your eye, quick blurred figures that you see and do a double take.  Ghost hunters have documented this phenomenon of shadow people in several hauntings.  Most of the shadow people are perceived as dark, malevolent beings.

            Sia starts out being tortured by these shadow figures and hushed voices whispering in her ear.  Needless to say, she’s freaked out.  Poor girl!

            Enter Andrew Grant, sexy stud.  He can find supernatural objects but finding his brother, Ben, is his main concern!  The town of Grand Rock is a hotbed of paranormal activity and Andrew and Sia are smack in the middle of it!

Here is an excerpt:

Sighing wistfully, she rose and grabbed her empty coffee cup. And to her incredible joy the lunchroom was empty. She poured herself a cup of coffee. She saw something out of the corner of her eye. It was the dark shadow figure. Her hands stilled and her heartbeat increased.

She closed her eyes. This was not happening. It was her imagination. Slowly, she opened her eyes and another shadow darted from right to left.

“No!” she said to the empty room. Forgetting her coffee entirely, she set the cup on the table and walked quickly. She looked back over her shoulder — and ran right into Hailey, sending them both flying.

Sia hit the wall, but Hailey landed on her butt hard. “Ooommpphh!”

Sia bent down and offered her a hand. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry!” As much as Sia thought she was a snooty bitch, she was horrified at actually knocking her down.

Hailey stood up, ignoring Sia’s hand. She flipped her vibrant red hair, totally dyed, over her shoulder and starred daggers at Sia. “Ugh! You’re so clumsy!” She tugged her short skirt back down.

Sia’s back straightened at the angry words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.”

Hailey sighed. The anger was clear in her eyes.  “Yea well, just get out of my way.” Hailey walked by, her shoulder hitting Sia’s as she stormed past.

Sia stood there trying to get a hold of her temper. The anger made her shake. She tried to breathe.

“What happened?” Delina’s nasally voice shrieked when Hailey went into her office. Both of them stood while a red faced Hailey pointed at Sia. The more Hailey talked the more she got dirty looks from Delina.

It was all that Sia could take. 

Sia’s hands clenched at her side while the helplessness and anger boiled inside of her. “I said, I was sorry,” she whispered. Her hair lifted as a great wind came out of nowhere and she watched as a cloudy line went from her through the office.

Sia watched in fascination, and horror, as the wind rose up and blew papers everywhere in Delina’s office. Books flew of the shelf, the chair was knocked over, and Hailey and Delina screamed as the intense wind continued.

Grayson came out of his office. “What’s happening out here?”  Sia’s concentration broke as Grayson ran past her. Delina’s office was now calm. No wind just a few papers settling. Delina and Hailey were standing close to each other, starring at Sia.

“I d-don’t know,” Sia sputtered, still trying to understand what had just happened. As Grayson rushed into the main room, Sia ran back to her desk and yanked the drawer open, quickly grabbed her purse. With everyone yelling and running around, she slipped out of the office quickly and quietly headed for the safest place she could think of.

The library.

At twenty-five it seemed to be, as she feared. She was losing her mind just as her mother had. The hallucinations were getting more intense and soon the darkness would claim her mind, body and soul.

Thank you so much for having me on, Jessica!  A lucky commenter will win a $10.00 Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!

Hillary Seidl
hillaryseidl@yahoo.com
www.hillaryseidl.com

Find me on Twitter!  http://twitter.com/#!/HillarySeidl

Join me on Facebook!  http://www.facebook.com/aaronhillary

Check out my monthly blog at http://paranormalfreebies.com/

“Where the paranormal world meets extraordinary love.”

When you leave a comment to enter today’s Halloween Treat’ book from my fellow Passion in Print author Lizzie T. Leaf, Beyond Magic you’ll also have the chance to win Hillary’s Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Gift certificate. And don’t forget to come back on Monday for my final Halloween Treats giveaway of three swag bags and B&N gift cards!

Monday’s winner is Kelda! Send me your address through my contact box and I’ll send your book out.

Final Challenge of the Third Writing Campaign

Thursday’s Bite

a paranormal blog

Newsflash: I just found out that my sensual paranormal novella, Little Red Riding Wolf will be released on February 18th, 2012! Thank you Passion in Print Press!

Today I am posting my attempt at the final challenge of the Third Writing Campaign. It’s been fun and exciting to try to not only write extremely short, but to make it interesting, add a twist and incorporate weird words into my efforts. Here are the parameters for this weeks challenge:

Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:

• that it’s morning, 

• that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach

• that the MC (main character) is bored

• that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting

• that something surprising happens.

Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: “synbatec,” “wastopaneer,” and “tacise.”   (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).

Tacise at the Beach

Cerise sat and extended her long bare legs in front of her, pushing her fingers high into the sky. Reaching for the streaks of iridescent color that heralded the dawn, she strove for enlightenment. It was elusive.

She bent at the waist. Bowed to the flat early morning ocean till her nose scraped the black sand between her thighs, and yawned.

This should be sacred time. Time to prep for her day as a synbatec. Without this time she knew she would lose it, as she applied the syntha-skin to each victim’s body.

But it wasn’t working. The repetitive lap, lap, lapping of the waves seemed repressive. Day after day the bright sun started as a glow, billowing out into a glorious sunrise that did nothing for her. And today was even worse.

Usually she could ignore sounds and scents that distracted her from her early morning tacise exercises, but today the stench of something caught between dead fish and excrement teased her senses.

She attempted ignoring the smell, but the best she could achieve was a flat un-involvement with her environment. This wasn’t working.

She stood, focusing her attention on the salty ocean smell, but it proved elusive, drowning under the putrid stench that wafted through her open mouth and choked her throat.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“That’s it!” Cerise whirled around, hitting the button on her mini-holo sythiziser. The beach disappeared. Her apartment balcony burst into view, a wastopaneer lurching its way down the alley below.

“I’ve had it!” She slammed into her apartment. Shut the door on the noise of the automatic trash collector as it sucked up her roommate’s corpse from the alley pavement.

This wasn’t working. She’d thought getting rid of Tanya would help, but she still couldn’t get into the rhythm.

She’d have to move.

If you enjoyed the post, please vote for me at Rach Writes, I’m number 74. And be sure to check out some of the other fabulous entries and vote for them as well. All of us have worked very hard during the campaign to not only keep up, but write interesting content. And check back on October 24th for the first day of the Choose Your Own Adventure Bloghop, starting at midnight EST on Kerri Cuevas’ blog HERE.

While you’re here, don’t forget to leave a comment to enter today’s Halloween Treats Contest celebrating my contract for my sensual novella Little Red Riding Wolf. Comment to enter the drawing for a copy of Rebecca York’s Dragon Moon.

Congratulations to Sharon Clare for winning Monday’s book! Send me your address through the contact box and I’ll mail your book.

 

During the entire month of October I’m giving away awesome books and everyone who leaves a comment will be entered into my final grand prize drawing on October 31st for three swag bags filled with goodies and a B&N gift card! Leave a comment to enter today!

Update: Thursday’s winner is Nicole Grueber! Send me your address and I’ll send you your book! Congratulations!

 

 

 

 

 

 

HALLOWEEN TREATS GIVEAWAY!

Sensational Saturdays

where i blog about anything and everything

It’s here! October is here!

I wanted to do something fun on the blog for the month of October and to celebrate the acceptance of my novella Little Red Riding Wolf, (soon to be out from Passion in Print Press0and here it is! Fun giveaways for every blog post during October, the paranormal holiday month. If you post a comment your name will go into the drawing for that particular posts FREE BOOK! For instance, all the commenters on today’s blog will go into the drawing that will be announced on Monday. Monday’s drawing will be announced on Thursday. Etc, Etc, Etc.

On Halloween I will enter everyone into the drawing for the Jessica Aspen Swag Bags, with promo items and a $15 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble!

So comment away! And I want to thank everyone who tweets or comments on FB or follows my blog, so a big THANK YOU! to you all.

click HERE for contest details

Thursdays Bite Book Review

this book review is usually the last thursday of the month, but due to the second writing campaign challenge (click here for a peek) I have undertaken to post my review today instead.

Today I am reviewing another author who I had the luck of meeting at Rom Con, Kimberly Frost. Kimberly’s third book in her Southern Witch Series is entitled Halfway Hexed and is another pleasurable read from a talented author. And it’s funny! Which is one reason why it earns four out of five omegas. ΩΩΩΩ

I still haven’t read book one in the series, Would-be Witch, but I fell in love with Kimberly’s writing and her terribly troubled character Tammy Jo Trask when I opened up her second novel, Barely Bewitched. Tammy Jo grew up in small town Texas thinking she was the only one in her family without any witch powers, but in the first book she discovers she is totally wrong. She has powers, but they do not work like anyone else’s. Magic backfires around poor Tammy Jo.

Although I did catch up quickly when I read Barely Bewitched without reading book one, and I have thoroughly enjoyed both of the books I’ve read, I would recommend reading Would-Be Witch first. But these books are such fun you are going to want to read all three. I won’t give away too much about the other two books (still waiting to read number one), but Tammy Jo’s adventures are hilarious and sexy. Kimberly keeps the reader guessing and engaged. I’ll share the opening lines from Halfway Hexed:

“The reason I don’t normally bother to plan my schedule is that something unexpected always seems to come up and throw it of. That Friday when I got kidnapped was a prime example.”

And she then proceeds to not tell you about the kidnapping. I was turning page after page waiting for the kidnapping, and when it happened, I was so unprepared! From the plague of frogs unleashed on the good Texas ladies who have it out for witches, to the complications of not wanting to fall in love with the one man who she can work magic around, you’ll find Halfway Hexed a fun fast paced read.

Leave a comment to be entered in today’s free book drawing for Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Night Play. To be announced on Monday, October 3rd.