Book Release Schedule for 2014 + SHARD OF ICE Goodies Giveaway!

Yar. You read that right, matey. Head ter shore for and find the hidden chest, for thar be where the booty rest!

(I'm only talking like a pirate because apparently I'm like Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time, or so says some Facebook quiz. Kind of digging it. Might rock some eyeliner and write a pirate novel for giggles. Kidding. Sort of?)

Last week, I promised all you scoundrels a post on all the release schedules and details on each book releasing in 2014. And of course, if you were hanging out on my Facebook page last night, you'd know I also promised a chance to win some more of those neat little collector cards for A Shard of Ice, the very same ones that have a unique website on the back to an upcoming website for the new series. 

So I thought, why not put the two together? Yar? YAR! 

So without further adieu, here's a release schedule with details you can sink yer teeth into;

February 17th - An Ice Princess Kiss: A Shard of Ice Novella #2

- This one has been pushed back twice. Once by me being sick, and once by me realizing it needed editing, badly. You think the first draft of Illumine was bad (it was, it really was) you did not want to read this in the state it was. February 17th it will release (finally) and you'll get to read so much more than the first draft carried.

SYNOPSIS (from Goodreads): The first time Lilix Morgan met Kyle Ambrose, she knew her life would never be the same. Captivated by his gentle charm and curious itch to know about her shrouded past, she struggles to keep him at arm's length before he discovers her true nature. But when a power outside force seeks to end Kyle's life, Lilix may have to do more than reveal herself if it means saving his soul.

March 4th - An Ice Princess Symphony: A Shard of Ice Novella #3

- Following the second novella, this one I had to re-work a little bit, so it was pushed back twice, too, for the same reasons. A lot more was added to this one, giving readers a chance to see not just who Lilix is, but also see the other four primary characters that haven't had much time yet. 

SYNOPSIS (from Goodreads):  Nearly a year has passed since the events that transpired between the five Originals in Ice Princess Kiss, and Lilix is still no closer to finding their missing link than the day she began to look. One evening while returning home, she stumbles across a girl in the street, a girl who cannot remember the last year, only the frightening knowledge that she was held captive by an immortal enemy Lilix had thought long dead.

March 25th - An Ice Princess Dream: A Shard of Ice Novella #4

- Still on schedule as planned! 

SYNOPSIS (from Goodreads): When Lilix begins to experience frightening nightmares of their tragic deaths, she races against the clock to save them all from a final fate. But the unlikely turning of someone closest to her will put all five of them in jeopardy in ways she never thought possible. 

April 14th - A Shard of Ice (The Black Symphony Saga #1)

- I have been getting asked a ton about ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) for this book, both in paperback and ebook (and some in hardback), so I'm here to let you all know what is up with that. I will have a really tight number of paperback ARCS, and they will be going strictly to bloggers who agree to review and sign up for the ASOI Blog Tour that will be running all April. Readers have the chance to win two ARCs currently on Goodreads here, and I will probably have one more to give out with a signed swag pack mid-February, but that will be it. No hardback ARCs. Ebook ARCs will also only be given to bloggers who agree to review and sign up for the ASOI Blog Tour. The sign-up sheet for the A Shard of Ice Blog Tour will go up in a blog post at the end of this week; bloggers are encouraged to sign-up immediately if they want to be considered for an ARC, but more details on all of that will be posted in the blog post this week. 

May 20th - Alacrity (Illumine #4)

- I've been very hush-hush about this until I posted that little teaser picture on Facebook for the new banner, and I still have to be pretty hush-hush, but here's what I can share with you:

1- Alacrity is NOT the final book to the series. 

2- There will be several chapters from Kayden's POV, and it is very important. 

3- Someone to the central point of the plot WILL die.

4- Alacrity will be released with two different covers at the same time.

Two covers?! Yar, two covers, matey. Readers who have the older Illumine style cover with the blue fire and white pendant will be able to continue their series with the same set of covers, and readers just getting into the series with the newest covers courtesy of Mae I Design will be able to collect them steadily as well. I'm not leaving any one hanging on this, promise. 

June 16th - Lucid Echelon (Dream Chronicles #1)

- This is going to be a new, but short, trilogy releasing steadily over the summer. I can't share too much information on this one, either, but what I can tell you is that it involves Elves in a different twist then you typically see, and takes a curious approach to the idea of dreams and how we interact with them. Each book in the series will release one month apart, so readers will be able to devour this series in a very short time with no wait at all. At this time, the second and third book do not have titles, and will be released July 17th and August 18th, respectively. 

November 17th - Untitled (Illumine #5)

- Yes, you're reading that right. Six months after Alacrity, the newest book in the Illumine Series will release. It is NOT a novella, and it is NOT a spin-off novel; it is a full-length novel following what happens in Alacrity continuing with the center cast. 

December 12th - The Unwanted (Unwanted #1)

- I know, I know. What about Unwanted, it released in July, right? Well, yes and no. Some of you might have noticed, but Unwanted was pulled from all areas shortly after release. To make a very painful story short, I didn't think it was ready, the story is a little out of my element for my pen name of Alivia Anders, and it was more than a stand-alone. I decided to take this back to the drawing board, work on it a little bit, and re-publish it under a separate pen name called Silver Roxen. I'm not going to hide the pen name, I'm just not going to tie it directly to my Teen YA writing because the divide is so great, a lot of readers were confused by the obvious difference in style and reader level. Expect to see this in December. 

Looking back, that's a heck of a lot of think about in the near future. But hey, it'll be so worth it, right? Now, you made it this far, and I promised some Shard of Ice cards, right? 

This time, I have 50 cards to give out for US and INT! 

This is what you need to do to get one of those cards:
Go to Facebook (specifically here) and read the pinned post! 

Now off with ye! Walk the plank! Swab the poop deck! Why is the rum always gone? Oh right, because I found this scalliwag on me way out of port...

SNEAK PEEK: Shard of Ice Website (And Goodies!)

So all this week, I've been half tempted to munch on my fingernails and show you all of this awesomeness, and half tempted to fling myself into a stampede if I could ever find one in PA. Thankfully, I have a horrible phobia of both being trampled to death and putting my hands in my mouth, so we're safe for now. 

What is this awesomeness that I speak of? Well, I'm not exactly the best with words when it comes to blog posts (unless I plan them out months in advance and recite exactly what I'm going to say while washing the dishes at 2AM), so I think I'll just show you instead.

But first! There's a blog post winner to be had here. Drumroll....

Yay Ashley, super congrats! I have a whole pack of bookmarks, special cards, magnets, and more coming your way!

And now, back to the other super surprise at hand. I know I promised you guys a post on book releases and stuff, but I figured no one was going to tie me to a tree and hold me hostage if I released this information first instead. The book post will go up probably Tuesday, and have details on all the series, including a new one called the Dream Chronicles, which is... well, you'll see. I'm giving away too much already as it is! 

Back to the surprise. Y'all are going to want to mark your calendars for February 6th. Why, dare you ask? Some of you already know what I'm hinting at; a good handful of readers have been getting their hands on some special Shard of Ice cards I had printed ages ago. On the back side, there's a pretty little website to follow to. But it's what's going to be on that website that's going to get everyone's knickers in a welcomed pinch. (That sounded weird.)

The website will give the chance for everyone, both from bloggers to book lovers and more, to get their hands on signed goodies, paperback ARC chances for ASOI (and I only have a few, so these will be a limited batch) early reads of the first few chapters, insight to the characters, and a whole bunch more. 

So again, FEBRUARY 6th! Check back here, and you'll see a post with a nifty link. I'll share the heck out of it on Twitter and Tumblr too for you non-blogger and Facebook peeps. 

But until then, I leave you with this sneak peek! Here's the header to the site, maybe you can fish a few clues out of it. ;)

2014 (AKA The BEST Year EVER)

I'm officially dubbing 2014 the best year ever. It's not too soon, right? I might sound I had one too many pretty drinks, but when you read the rest of this post, you'll probably join along with me in the cheerfest.

When I first published in 2012, I originally drafted up this lengthy and wild idea for some 5-year plan to success. It was a pretty little chart, decorated in fancy font and strategic points of attack to achieve world domination a-la Loki. You know, minus the fail, but plus the hot Hiddleston.

If 2013 taught me anything, it's that not only do I feel like the biggest stick in the mud for hiding new books from you, but that 5-year plans are lamer than no birthday cake on your birthday. So, I tossed that whole 5-year shiz out the window in favor of a new plan. The plan where I will do whatever I please. This means more books, less wait time, and a few more neat things. 

Like what, you ask? I shall tell! 

1- Hello, new blog layout! (And you know, other cool bloggy things.)

In the next week or so, you'll see a whole new layout on the blog. My goal is to make it cleaner, easier, and not have parts of it un-updated since 2012. Because not updating is lame. I'll also be posting a heck of a lot more, from cool things like giveaways, to random thoughts, announcements of ARCs or upcoming book releases, you know the drill. I used to do a huge chunk of this on Facebook, but their stupid algorithm crap sort of makes it impossible for me to reach everyone the way I want to. 

Which brings me to #2! 

2- MOAR BOOKS! 

Remember how I said I had a 5-year plan? That plan sort of went like this; 

2012- Release books. Make one new friend.

2013- Hoard ALL THE MANUSCRIPTS.

2015- Take over world. Possibly get RDJ in on it for the giggles. 

Well, I tossed out that plan. Sorry, Robert. We'll need to work something out later. (I'll have my people call your people.)

You're going to see a book schedule unlike anything I've ever done. There are at least 9 books that will release this year. That's probably me being generous. The list is more like 15, give or take a few. My next blog post will give you all the crazy details on the multiple releases of both known and unknown series coming to bookstores and e-readers near you.

Oh, and one more thing.

3- One website to rule them all. (MWAHAHAHA!)

Many of you have been patiently waiting for some news on A Shard of Ice. Specifically, some of you got those neat little cards with a certain something-something on the back. A website address. It hasn't gone live yet, but it will shortly. Once it's open, both readers and bloggers alike will be able to get their hands on a ton of ASOI swag, some early reader copies both in paperback and ebook, and other neat surprises I have in store for you all. 

Since you're all so awesome for making it to the end of this blog post, and no one's given me the stink eye yet, let's start this off with a bang, shall we? Leave a comment below on what you're looking forward to most out of the three things I mentioned above. I'll pick a winner next blog post, and they'll get a signed swag pack full of coveted goodies! 

TTFN, ta ta for now! <3

Guess What's Getting A Cover Re-Vamp?!

I feel like this blog post would best be described in a combination of Minion and RDJ gifs.

When I first published Illumine in 2012, there wasn't enough feel-related pictures or quotes to show how excited I was to dive head-first into the tricky waters of indie publishing. I had waited so long to share this story to the world, that I ended up growing pretty impatient and, well, shooting myself in the foot with the first things readers see when they check out a book.

The cover.

How was Illumine's original cover? Good, right?

To be perfectly honest, the original cover really, truly, stank. It was cute... for an 8-year-old learning an above-average program similar to MS Paint. But I still wasn't quite ready to go cover artist hunting, so I kept the cover, only to later run into the problem of the second cover not matching the first. As an indie author, branding early means ALL THE THINGS. It's like if Apple didn't brand with an apple, but a pear, and still called themselves Apple. Can you say 'hello confusion'?

I went back to the drawing board, only this time with a few more tricks under my belt, errr, up my sleeve. Hours of screaming matches at the computer, music that never fit my mood, and I-lost-count how many microwave burritos and coffee later, the second and current cover to Illumine was finished. It matched the second book, the third cover that I had been silently prepping between writing the first two books, and the novella I had drafted.

This cover was better, right?

Well, sort of. It was good, definitely a step up, but nothing a crowd of wild minions would go ape-nuts over. That's probably when the epiphany struck me right over the head. Illumine would forever be one of those books, one of those series, that I simply could not un-attach myself from. As a result, I couldn't create a cover worthy of describing the tale inside its flap. 

So I went cover artist hunting, and contacted one woman who's name was whispered in alleyways, traded like gold in a tight market, a woman who's work reached so far and wide you can see her work on shelves in B&N. (Ahhh, the dream spot.) 

Who? Regina Wamba, aka miracle worker of Mae I Design. 

We talked, and within seconds of Facebook messages, I knew she was the one. Deposit down, time booked, and some emails later, and I got the cover of my dreams in my inbox. 

Want to know how a minion would react upon seeing the new cover? 

And inside I'm like- 

That's not even the best part. Best part? The entire series is getting a re-vamp of super shiny, smoldering, oh-my-goddess covers. 

When will you get to see them? Uber soon. How soon? Well, how about as soon as we get some sign-ups on this awesome series cover reveal sheet right here? Then you'll see them everywhere! 

Illumine's massive, explode-all-over-the-place cover reveal is set for December 6th, 2013!

Want to take part in the cover reveal and see it before everyone else?

Here's how:

You must be signed up by 9:00PM EST on December 3rd, 2013 in order to join the cover reveal!

And now, we wait for December 6th!

Cover Wars: Vote for A Shard of Ice!

Twitter tipped me off this morning that The Sirenic Codex has a cover war going on between 3-week winner Undertow and A Shard of Ice! Make sure to head over and vote for which one you think deserves the crown. 

Will Undertow hold the title for the fourth week in a row, or will A Shard of Ice freeze out the competition? 

Click the link, and scroll down to vote!

I AM JUST JUNCO Series Cover Reveal + Giveaway

How's this for a Monday surprise? JA Huss' I Am Just Junco series got a facelift, and she's having a massive punch-pack of a reveal! Plus, a giveaway to boot.

I Am Just Junco by JA Huss
NA Epic SF/Dystopian
Series: I AM JUST JUNCO
Books: Clutch, Fledge, Flight, Range, Magpie Bridge, Return


Synopsis:
Picture yourself standing at the edge of a dock.

Now picture being lost in your own head, utterly unsure of yourself, surrounded by people who want to use you, take you away, or simply kill you.

This is Junco Coot, aged 19, year 2152, daughter of the Rural Republic’s ranking commander. Assassin, semi-famous athlete, and on the run.

In front of you is your future...

A future filled with secrets so heinous and truths so outrageous, it will push you past the edge of sanity.

…and behind you is a life of lies.

Lies that will rip apart the threads of reality barely holding you together.

Congratulations, soldier. Your life is over, but your mission has only just begun.

Welcome to my twisted, messed-up life. No one’s getting out alive, so we might as well kick some ass on the way down.

I Am Just Junco is a dark, epic SF/fantasy that spans five full-length novels and one novella. It is NOT young adult.

The final book in the series, RETURN, will be released on December 2, 2013!

Buy CLUTCH on Amazon

Buy CLUTCH on B&N

Add I AM JUST JUNCO to your Goodreads TBR!

AUTHOR BIO:

J. A. Huss likes to write new adult books that make you think and keep you guessing. Her favorite genre to read is space opera, but since practically no one reads those books, she writes new adult science fiction, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, and books about Junco (who refuses to be saddled with a label).

She has an undergraduate degree in horses, (yes, really–Thank you, Colorado State University) and a master’s degree in forensic toxicology from the University of Florida. She used to have a job driving around Colorado doing pretty much nothing but shooting the breeze with farmers, but now she just writes, runs the New Adult Addiction and Clean Teen Reads Book Blogs, and runs an online science classroom for homeschoolers.

Author Links:

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hi. I'm Alivia Anders, and I'm a Terrified Writer.

I wish this was a happy, giddy, ridiculously funny blog post. You know, the kind that you share to your friends and snicker over the subtle innuendoes or nod in approval at the brave message woven into the text. But it's not. 

My name is Alivia, and I'm a terrified writer.

There comes a time in your life when things get... hard. I use the term hard lightly, because I know there are plenty of others in this world that have it really hard. When I say hard, what I mean to say is that something has changed, something large enough that made me scramble into the nearest dark corner and hide. I'm sure you've all noticed the lack of posts, both on here, Facebook, Twitter, some of the Goodreads groups I circle. 

I'm getting sweaty and shaky just trying to type this mess out in a way to make you all understand what I'm trying to say, probably without actually saying it. Never in my life have I been good with confrontations, be it to other people, or myself in a private room. So the thought of owning up to this has me wanting to sprint to the bathroom and lean over the tub in case I heave dinner back up.

Guys, I'm terrified. If fear was ever a tangible thing like, it's definitely here with me. It's a black pit you can't claw out of no matter how deep you sink your fingers into the sides. It's a choker someone strapped too tight, and you can't so much as gasp out for help as you grasp at the air before you. It's as if someone took my heart and decided it would make a lovely tennis ball, and right now they're playing with it on the local courts, beating it back and forth, laughing. 

When I first started writing, I used to think those blog posts from authors talking about pressure and fear of failure were silly things. Why would someone who crafted such beautiful prose worry about not being good enough? They had legions of fans clamoring at their doors, enraptured by the very words they feared weren't good enough. Yet, the author panics, and anxiety and fear creeps from the shadows to strike. It all sinks downhill from there. 

But right now, that's exactly where I am. The idea that people are reading what I've written, are waiting for stories I'm still writing or waiting to publish, it leaves my stomach in knots like no other. Some days, I honestly would rather run to the dentist and have them do work than think about the idea that someone in the world is reading the words I poured onto pages, crafting tales of characters that feel as real to me as my own family. 

Every morning I wake up, the first thought that hits me is, "Do I write? Do I bring myself one step closer to letting another read these characters?" My gut rebels, and I feel sick. My heart beats a million miles a minute until the head rush kicks in, and I go weak all over. 

So for a while there, I stepped back. Stopped visiting my Facebook, stopped popping on Twitter to chat, vanished from my inbox because one more email would send me over the edge. I numbed out with music and sleep, cover design and food, an ungodly amount of coffee and some really bad fights with friends. But it never stopped the flow of words in my head, the images of characters waiting patiently for me to find my footing in this chaotic mess in my head. They waited until I gave the green light today, and like oxygen to a flame, they roared to life in an overwhelming rush. Essallie and Kayden are fighting in battles, Emily and Ben are scrambling for safety, and Lilix and Kyle are finding themselves all over again in the first brush of love. 

I think that's the best thing about this job- some people write for the idea of publication, big contracts, and movie deals. Me? I write because I need to create. It's a passion, a core piece of me so deeply rooted in that if I wasn't writing, I'd go freaking insane. No matter how many times I walk away, or 'take a break' from the madness that comes from writing, it always waits for me to return. Because writing is the darkness to my light, the insanity to my sane. It's like vanilla ice cream to chocolate-peanut butter candy pieces; separate they taste good, but together they make a heavenly treat. 

So to recap, yes. I admit it, I'm an overwhelmed, terrified, somewhat unhinged storyteller. But I'm here, and no matter how hard some days are, I'm never going to quit. I'm here to stay, and one day I'll get to all the emails lingering in my box, and the items I need to mail out or gift online. If you're patient with me, I'd appreciate it endlessly, as would Kayden and Essallie, or Emily and Ben. 

<3