My books take place in Portero, TX, and in Portero, everyone carries these silver keys. Well I bought some silver keys to give away to readers, but they’re sitting here collecting dust. Mostly because I hadn’t found the right sort of creepy keychain for them. Until now.

I found some memento mori keychains that have a little vial inside that you’re supposed to fill with the ashes of the departed, and I thought, how morbidly perfect is this! It’s just the sort of thing Porterenes would carry because they often lose the people they love.

It’s such an old-fashioned thing to do, carrying the physical remains of a loved one on your person. People used to do that during the Victorian era–make a dead person’s hair into a ring and wear it or arrange dead people on couches and then photograph them. Strange little keepsakes. But you know me, I don’t judge.

I will, however, have a contest. Since I have to turn in my dedication and acknowledgments pages for Slice of Cherry pretty soon–like real soon–I figure I’ll give one of you lucky so and so’s the chance to not only win one of these memento mori keychains, but also the chance to see your name in print–at least on the acknowledgments page.

I kind of like putting these elements together. Slice of Cherry is about life and death, memento mori means “remember that you will die”, but getting your name in print is like becoming immortal. As long as the book exists, so do you. Your name, anyway. See, it all makes a weird kinda sense. ;p

So if you want a keychain and your name in my book, and all the glory and fame that comes with it ha ha, just leave a comment about life or death–any comment you want, as long as it isn’t lame. All lame comments will be disqualified. The winner will be chosen at random, but I will pick a personal favorite who will also get a keychain. Clear enough, right? This contest only lasts until a week from today so tempus fugit, children.

Tags: giveaway
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According to the random thingy chooser, the winner is:

KELLY!

Congratulations; you have successfully cheered up my book. Email me your address, as you have 24 hours to claim your prize or it will go to a different book cheerer-upper.

For my personal favorite, I choose:

Aik!

It was pretty close between Aik and Jessica who introduced me to that fabulous weirdo anthem “All My Heroes Are Weirdos”, but I had to go with Aik. Based on her comment, she sounds like a really cool, confident, super-nerd. Love that! Super-nerdiness must be encouraged.

Honorable mentions:
Steve and Lacey for great quotes, although Ninefly’s was the best: “Creativity is a mental disorder“. Soooo getting that on a tee shirt someday.

sbklinda and Thuy for knowing how to twist logic until it screams, “Uncle!”

Yan for having the most educational comment.

Emilee and Kay whose posts always make me feel normal.

Statements I must comment on:
Mike Jung – name one thing badminton players ever did to contribute to society. Exactly.

Ari - I don’t think it would be boring if people walked around naked. It would be the opposite of boring.

And Susan, what can I say? I like the irony :p

Thanks for playing, y’all!

Tags: Bleeding Violet, giveaway
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It’s official, folks. Bleeding Violet is finally out and about in the world–the REAL world, not just the world in my head. Talk about surreal.

Anyway, I thought I’d do something nice for my book today, you know, show her how very loved she is. (People keep saying she’s weird and dark and creepy, and I think it’s starting to give her a complex, poor thing.) So I’m going to do a Release Day Giveaway that’s open to everyone from everywhere. Yes, even Philadelphia (joke between me and my football archnemesis Josh Berk).

If you want to enter, all you have to do is leave one comment for my book explaining why being a weirdo isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’ll pick a winner at random, using the random chooser thingy, but I’ll also pick a personal favorite. The winner gets a signed copy of Bleeding Violet and the personal favorite gets a BV bookmark and a Porterene key (you have to read the book if you don’t know what that is). This giveaway will end next Monday, and on the following Tuesday, I’ll announce the winners. 

So that’s it, and I really hope you guys can make my poor little book feel good about herself. Good luck!

Tags: Bleeding Violet, giveaway
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Okay, here it is folks. I crunched some numbers (well, the computer did) and the randomly chosen winner of the Bleeding Violet *Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza is:

Kay!

It’s almost 11 a.m. my time, so I will give you til 11 a.m. tomorrow to claim your prize or it will go to the next random person on the list.

As for the comments, I have to give a few special shoutouts:

Ari MissAttitude for the Edith Beale quote. Grey Gardens is one of the best documentaries EVER!

Emilee for being the most like the main character in the story. xD

Kay and Stacy W for their strange attempts to actually describe the color violet.

Yan for adding to my storehouse of useless but fascinating trivia.

and finally:

Kelly B and her awesome inability to keep a secret.

Be sure to check back again on my actual release date, January 5, for another BV giveaway. Thanks for playing!

Tags: Bleeding Violet, giveaway
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* Or whatever holiday you celebrate–I don’t judge. ;p

I got two finished copies of Bleeding Violet today from my favorite editor Emilia, and I’m feeling this urge to share the love and/or holiday spirit.

Guess which one is mine? Ha! Here’s the cookie on the back:

(By cookie, I mean a teasy little excerpt, not an actual snack treat). And here’s the spine without the jacket:

I know this has crossed the line into dork city, but don’t judge me. I don’t judge you for not celebrating Christmas. :p

Anyway, about the Bleeding Violet *Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza, let’s just keep it simple, shall we? If you comment on this post (just once, please, for the sake of simplicity), consider yourself in it to win it. Don’t do anything stupid, though, like putting your address in the comments. I’ll use some random name thingy to choose a winner, so it’s only the winner’s address I’ll need, which I’ll get through email. And it has to be an interesting comment not something lame like, “I’ve commented”. All lame comments will be automatically disqualified. How do I know if my comment is lame, you ask? You don’t. I’m the sole judge of both “cool” and “lame”. That’s just the way the world works. Sorry. :p

What do you win, you ask? The prize is a signed copy of Bleeding Violet, plus some swaggish type stuff. I have a purple lock box with some stuff in it. Here’s a pic: 

What is that stuff, you ask? Some Lipsmackers (I’m a Lipsmacker junkie), purple mini-Sharpies, an iTunes card, a bottle of aubergine nail polish (aubergine is actually a lot darker than that polish is, but whatever), and a silver key. The key is a nod to Bleeding Violet; all the Porterenes carry little silver keys. There are also bookmarks, but not for BV (I might get some made, someday; I’m still relatively young enough to get around to that):

I’m sure none of these authorly folk mind me giving their bookmarks away. And if they do, tuffers (and no, that’s not a typo; it’s a nice way of saying tough sh*t).

So that’s it. If you win, you get all this stuff. I thought about doing the whole first, second, third place rigamarole, but screw that. In my world, it’s all or nuthin’.

The giveaway starts now and ends…I dunno…Christmas Eve. I’ll announce the winner the day after Christmas, and whoever wins will have 24 hours to claim the prize or I will send thugs to your house to thrash you. Hahaha, just kidding. The prize will just go to some other random person. Okay that’s all. Merry *Christmas!

Tags: Bleeding Violet, giveaway
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