Halloween Treat x

Happy Halloween!

Please accept this Halloween Treat from me to you x

Free short-story for your e-reader.

#Goblins #Fairies #YA #Edwardian #Love #Horror.

Just click the cover to collect.

Sneak off for half an hour, curl up with a cup of tea, snuggle under the blanket and read this haunting little tale of love and loss.

Oh, by the way, before you sit down, do make sure you cover up the mirrors!

Wishing you all much love and fun during the Halloween Holiday.
Keep Safe

x

Kristy Berridge: Author Spotlight and Interview.

This weekend it is my great pleasure to introduce you to Kristy Berridge; a wonderfully talented writer of YA Paranormal fiction. I bumped into Kristy on Twitter and took a nosey around her website - I was really impressed and immediately invited her to do a spotlight interview on my blog. I think you are going to think she is as wonderful as I do.

Official Bio: (Taken from website) Born in Perth, Western Australia in 1982, Kristy Berridge was ushered into the world in a decade of bad hair, parachute pants, and blue eye shadow. Fortunately, she managed to avoid all three influences by immersing herself in the business of growing up, and hitched a ride with her fun-loving, and adventure-filled parents to the sunny state of Queensland. Here she completed most of her education.

Besides learning that boys don't have cooties, and that algebra wouldn't kill her, she pointedly set the path of her high school career towards success in Art and English-based subjects, and won numerous awards for her efforts.

After high school she went on to study Graphic Design and Illustration at James Cook University, and then furthered her studies at the local TAFE college with an Interior Design course. With this knowledge under her belt, she also decided to undertake a three year Design course at Rhodec International in London, to complete her education and propel her towards the successful career she now enjoys.

She currently resides in Cairns with her husband Navaro, who is her biggest support and a constant source of motivation to finish the next novel...

When did you start writing and why?
I started writing a little over four years ago. I don't include scribbling short stories at school or late night chat sessions on the internet when I was fifteen. I started writing because I had a story to tell. I'd read and watched so much supernatural fiction throughout my life that I simply believed there was room for one more.

Which writers influence you the most?
I can't choose a favourite, I find something special in every book I read. It could be a character, the plot, the language, the emotional connection - varied reasons that inspire me all of the time in smallish ways.

What was your favourite book as a child?
I loved the R.L Stine Goosebumps books and the choose your own adventure books.

What is your favourite book of all time?
That's virtually impossible to answer. I go through phases, but recently I have read Stacia Kane's The Downside Ghosts series and could not put it down.

Where do you write? Do you have any funny rituals?
I sit at my laptop in our study by the window. I'm often distracted by social networking and the view outside, but it's all part of the process. My only ritual is making sure I back up everything I do as soon as I'm finished. I think I'd cry if I lost a days worth of writing.

Tell us in 6 words what your book is about?
Vampires, Werewolves, Magic, Self-discovery, Determination, Love

Describe your lead characters in a sentence each.
Elena is bold and defiant, but determined to achieve goals, conquer self doubt and annihilate her enemies.
William is Stubborn, charasmatic, vague and a romantic heart, but considerably disolutioned when it cames to Elena's affections.

Are you a plotter or a freestyler?
Definite freestyler. It means I do more editing, but I can't work with a structed idea in my head, I just like to let it come to me.

What is your favourite writing music?
I don't really like to listen to music when I write, I find it distracting, but if I do, it has to be fast paced.

What is your WIP? (Work in progress)
I am currently writing my fifth book in The Hunted Series, but the second and third book are due for release hopefully early next year.

SYNOPSIS: The Hunted.

Elena Manory is by no means an ordinary teenage girl. Being born with the ability to heal herself from any injury, and with the knowledge that on her eighteenth birthday
she will become a Vampire, Elena is aware that she is more than a little different from other girls her Age.

It isn't until she meets William Granville, an alluring and impossibly handsome vampire, that she begins to question her destiny and what secrets the Institute of Magical Intervention and her adopted family have witheld-secrets that could change the fates of not only her own life, but of the lives of all the immortals.

As events spiral out of control, William may be the only person Elena can place her trust in. He, and Elena's magical family, must fight to save her, joining forces to defeat a common, deadly foe. For William, it is his chance to save the girl that he has searched eternity to find.

Visit Kristy's website HERE

Buy a copy of 'The Hunted' HERE

Follow on Twitter HERE

Six Sentence Sunday

The Forest of Adventures: Book One of the Knight Trilogy

1) "He came with the snow."

2) "It was a rough and rugged beauty; a colouring of the skin, a face that had been hewn from a wild cliff face, a darkness of the eyes, full of latent storms and solitude."

3) "Snow began to fall and, whether it was the blood rushing to my head, or the effect Blake had on me, I had the sudden feeling of being turned slowly upside down in a snow-globe."

4) "The unstoppable collision of wills and destinies had been triggered, and only Death would now put an end to it"

5) "He stepped forward and as if tripping a wire, the whole scene errupted into a frenzied cacophony of steel on steel."

6) "Oh, sounds complicated," he said suspiciously."

Currently just 99c on Kindle at Amazon.

http://www.theknighttrilogy.com/

Beautiful Freaks: Due out Spring 2012

1)"Both the century and its Queen were dying."

2)"The city had become a landscape of monsters both of flesh and brick."

3)"It was amongst this labyrinth of sorrow that Kaspian Blackthorne walked."

4)"When he looked closer at her, he could see she wore a monocle in her left eye and was at least ten years younger than he’d guessed from the first impression."

5)"He was expecting horror; the sight which greeted him was nothing short of beautiful."

6)“They’re calling you a witch.”

ART AND POETRY ANTHOLOGY: INSPIRATION SPEAKS

Earlier this year on a whim, I followed a tweet by the wonderful twitter friend @jesskristie (author of Dreaming in Darkness). It led me on a magical writer's journey and helped me rediscover my poetry.

The link was to a website called Art Platform; an awesome website where artists sell their work with a hefty percentage going to a charity of their choice. Go check it out, some of the art work is just stunningly beautiful and an attainable investment.

Art Platform and Winter Goose Publishing were establishing a Writers in Residence program with the thoughts of compiling an anthology of the written word and the printed image. The aim was to raise money for the charity Cola-Life.

It was a simple premise. Choose an artwork from the collection which spoke to you the most and then write a poem about it. There were so many to chose from but their was something so essentially raw about the human emotion shown in Saeed Azish's piece called 'Sounds of Us' that it inspired the words to literally flow out of me.

I wrote the poem 'Sounds of Us' in the space of under twenty minutes and even when I had slept on it and ran it past several of my critical friends, it was agreed that it was as it should be.

This is not my usual style; normally it takes at least a month for me to retweek, rework and fiddle with a poem. Even then I tend to set them aside (like a good casserole or wine) to mature. When it was accepted to be part of the publication, the boost to my writing confidence was immense and I want to thank Jess for having such faith in me.

It also taught me that there is a purity in the expression of poetry which sometimes does better for not being over tightened.

You can SUPPORT THESE AMAZING ARTISTS, WRITERS and CHARITY by purchasing the antholgy of work called 'Inspiration Speaks' published by Winter Goose Publishing.

OverView (Taken from The Barnes & Noble website) #

Inspiration Speaks is a perfect coalescence of the beautiful worlds of art and literature by the not-for-profit organization ArtPlatform.org. Step inside these pages where heartfelt emotional writing collides with breathtaking art to produce a captivating world of imagination. A large portion of all profits will be going to benefit ColaLife; dedicated to helping remote communities in need. So open your heart – then open your mind – and allow inspiration to speak to your soul. .

BUY YOUR COPY HERE for $7.99 e-book edition

Published by Winter Goose publishing and edited by Jessica Kristie

SOUND OF US by Saeed Azish is available to purchase for £1,2oo with 50% of the proceeds going to the charity KIDSCOMPANY.

It can be purchased HERE

Do you want to be featured in Book 3?

So here it is, my crazy idea. Book 3 of The Knight Trilogy, named at present as 'StarFire' is due out in April 2012.(After all, April is the cruelest month)Currently it is 3/4 written and I'm in denial at having to end the adventure. I've known in my heart how it will end from the very first line I wrote, and yet writing it down is so difficult.

I've been overwhelmed by the amazing people I have met along this journey and truly touched by the support of fans and readers - I thought it would be nice to somehow show my gratitude to them in this final book.

Sadly I can't acknowledge every single one of my awesome readers and supporters but I would like to make a gesture and so I thought of this crazy idea.

ONE OF YOU WILL FEATURE IN #3

One of my readers will be randomly selected to have their name featured in Book Three of the Trilogy. Not only will I use their name, I will also contact them in order to make certain artistic decisions about how their character develops. At the moment I have a vague idea of how their character is a part of the plot - it will be an important scene in which the character interacts with Blake Beldevier.

I hope you are as excited by this 'contest' as I am. To enter all you have to do is complete the following tweet and post it on your twitter or facebook page. PLEASE INCLUDE @KnightTrilogy so I can keep a track of entrants.

Dates of contest OPENS Sunday 9th October AND CLOSES Monday 31st October.

TWEET: (I LOVE THE KNIGHT TRILOGY SERIES www.theknighttrilogy.com BECAUSE............. @knighttrilogy)

Everytime you tweet this you will get an entry into the hat.

Any questions then contact me @KnightTrilogy on twitter or via the contacts page on the website.