“The wind woke me,” he said and as if to back him up, the invisible force outside made a long shriek, rattling the windows.
“The wind woke me,” he said and as if to back him up, the invisible force outside made a long shriek, rattling the windows.
I love YA, dystopian, and books with a kick butt female character. This sums up the E series in a nutshell!
“Give that to Jason for me!” I yelled, cupping my hands to my mouth as the boat came to life and we lurched off into the ocean.
At the release party for Eden, I unveiled my plan to hold a very special giveaway for the release of Jason and Lily. I wanted to do something special this time. Something amazing. Something… you know… geeky. I had a long think about what I could do, and decided to make Lily’s journal. Yes. The journal. Which happens to be Jason and Lily, for those of you who haven’t figured it out yet.
I also mentioned at the party that the giveaway would be FANS ONLY, which was met with great support. The reason for this is simple: This book is special to me, and I wanted it to go to someone who would not just kinda like it. But to someone who would LOVE it. Someone who had read the stories and lived in them for a time. Someone who could connect with it.
It’s possible that that someone is you.
Have a look at this little video, and then I’ll ramble at you about it some more. 😀
You’re probably thinking…
That’s a very good question. The number one thing is, you have to prove you’re a fan. You might notice that there is a required entry option on the Rafflecopter giveaway. You have to take a quiz. It’s not hard, and you can retake it if you mess up. But you have to have read E in order to pass. Or be incredibly good at guessing. Hopefully you’ll find it somewhat amusing.
Bonus entries once you’ve passed??? Oh, you know. The usual. Tweet that you’re a fan, follow me on Facebook and Goodreads, post a selfie with an E on your forehead. To be fair, here’s one of me.
OK, I cheated. It’s Photoshopped. But only because my husband couldn’t find the one he took of me at our first crrrrazy little release party in which it was really Sharpie. If you want, you can Photoshop yours, too! So yeah, it’s all in good fun. I’ve added lots of bonus point options to the giveaway so you can fangirl/fanboy to your heart’s content.
FYI, some of the bonus point options involve posting to my blog, which I’ve installed a neat little plugin so you can all have at it! It’s new, obviously, and only tested briefly. I’m thinking it might work best if you’re not on mobile, so if you have the option, it might be better to post from a “real” computer. If you don’t see your post up within twenty-four hours and you know you haven’t written anything profane, etc, then please send me an email or contact me through the “Contact” page. I want to make sure that you all get your entries, and like I said, it’s new.
The journal in question was handmade, handbound by me, the author. It’s dimensions are approximately 9″ in height, 6″ in width, and a whopping 4″ in depth. Why is it so incredibly thick? The pages are made of high-quality parchment paper, which is a bit thicker than in a normal book. Acid-free, archival quality, and so on and so forth. The book is printed in a handwriting-style font, which was made big enough to appear as though the whole thing was really handwritten. And that takes a lot of paper! In an effort to preserve the illusion that this is indeed Lily’s journal, there is no title page. You will only find the title on the copyright page, along with a quote, my signature, and the labeling “1 of 1”, as this is the first book in a series of one. Meaning it is the only one of its kind.
The cover is high-quality bookboard covered in mottled blue bookcloth. You might recognize it. This book was used for the background photo of the official cover of Jason and Lily. It’s already famous, see.
The binding was hand sewn by Yours Truly, using traditional bookbinding methods. It’s called a coptic binding or perfect binding.
The pages are individually folded, then arranged into groups (or signatures)…
Holes are poked, then each signature is sewn to the next one, one at a time.
I also included some decorative knot work in the middle of the binding, which you might remember is how Lily’s journal was described. The binding was sewn with 5-cord waxed thread in brown.
Forever. Oh, OK, about a week. Like a full week of my life, actively working on it. Not including writing the story, of course.
At least seven.
Because I love you guys! I wanted to give something back.
Well, get on it! You have until August 8th to enter.
Sadly, no. And the reason for this is… international shipping is too unreliable. Since this is a one-of-a-kind item, it would be a tragedy if it got lost in customs or something like that. Therefore, with a heavy heart, I made the decision to keep this giveaway open to the US only. Check out the official contest rules:
Uh… I made it. So, no. I am not now nor have I ever been a professional bookbinder. Its handmade quality means there are minor imperfections. But it’s pretty damned awesome, anyway.
I have an arsenal of impressive skills I keep around for times of need.
*snorts coffee through her nose* No.
Probably some tiny bits of me, minor German Shepherd fluff, and a few itty bitty sparkles of pink glitter (kids, psh).
Alrighty then. If you have further questions, feel free to ask them in the comments. Now get out there and be a fan! May the biggest fan win.
Well, here’s an awesome book, and it’s free July 14th and 15th, 2015. I would personally recommend this book, and not just because the author happens to be my friend. The Dark Citadel is an amazing amalgamation of dark, gritty dystopia and vivid, hopeful fantasy. I’ve just never read anything like it before. AND, it’s the first book in a series, so if you like it, your reading list is sorted for a while. Since it’s free, there’s no reason not to grab a copy, right? Without further adieu, I’m turning it over to Jane to tell you about her work:
There is a secret in Deborah’s past she has only heard in whispers. Her present is a nightmare—shunned and feared, they call her Serpentspawn. The future is a forced marriage to a disturbed, twisted boy. Escape from Providence into the desert wastes is the only way out. But this is the demon’s realm, and Abaddon has her in his sights. One rampart, one shield stands between Deborah and destruction—his name is Jonah.
Together, Deborah the pariah girl and Jonah the dog boy will change the world. Or die in the attempt.
The Dark Citadel, first volume of The Green Woman trilogy, is the story of Deborah’s flight to find her mother, the Green Woman, to offer humanity an alternative to the evil nourished by the Elders. It is a story of courage and the overwhelming power of love.
The Dark Citadel is the gateway to a world of fear, hatred and ignorance, beset by evil and rotten to the core. But there is hope in a green girl, a runaway boy, and the handful of ordinary people who believe in something better. The Green Woman trilogy tells how they build the dream. If you care to follow Deborah and her wild chase, her story starts here.
As an added bonus, the short story, Midnight Visitors, will also be free from the 14th through to the 18th. Like Deborah, Aisha refuses a forced marriage. Unlike Deborah, she has nowhere to run, but she does have an almost unique gift in loveless Providence, a family that cares about her. The secret police might be on her tail, but the Green Woman is moving, the regime of the Elders is faltering, and Aisha dares to hope in a better future—if only her brother is proved wrong, and they are not destined to become the first martyrs of the revolution.
Amazon has glitched and has not put this one free today, so Jane has set it up to be free tomorrow, July 15th. Hopefully it will work this time!
Midnight Visitors
Midnight Visitors on Amazon US
Midnight Visitors on Amazon UK
Feel free to share! Thanks! 🙂
“At the eastern tip of the island, they were playing pirates. I fell in with the freckled boy and his crew. We called him ‘Captain Blood’, and terrorized the eastern shore together for a couple of hours. It was the best kind of pretend—the kind in which I could completely lose myself to my imagination.”
“Our fury was so thick it dove into seething silence. We glared at each other, both of us breathing like bulls.”
“When he finally stopped laughing, there was a pause, and then a groan. I hadn’t known that a boy could make a noise like that—soft, wordless, but rolling inside me like thunder. My thoughts were ricocheting wildly inside my skull, but the first one I could make sense of was, Oh, shit. There was no way that any of this could end well for me.”