Q+A with Nina Post (One Ghost Per Serving)

Please welcome today's paranormal guest author Nina Post.  Nina is the author of The Last Donut Shop of the Apocalypse, The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse, and One Ghost Per Serving.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Nina:  I began writing when I was seven, when I wrote little stories (probably about ghosts and monsters) for my parents. By the time I was fourteen, I had decided that I wanted to be a writer, but sometimes these things get away from us. I didn't really focus on writing until 2011, which was when I started The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse. My husband encouraged me to submit it, and it turned out that several publishers were interested. I encourage any writer to prioritize their writing and focus on it. Determine what's important to you, ignore any external influences that try to discourage you, and work on it consistently.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Nina:   I've always loved books and movies in that genre, and was especially influenced by movies like Ghostbusters in writing my debut novel, The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse. At the time, I lived in a frequently odd high-rise condo tower, filled with residents and employees who were by turns annoying, grotesque, or endearing. I imagined this setting with fallen angels bound to the building and monsters who got sucked into the city through the building's unusual HVAC system.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Nina:  Invisibility, like Rex in 'Ghost'! To be sneaky and gather information.

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Nina:  My second published book, One Ghost Per Serving, is a fun story about a self-doubting father who embarks on a quest to win a seemingly impossible contest, and discovers he's the only one who can stop a supernatural pathogen from spreading throughout the food supply.

I think that readers will enjoy reading about Eric struggling to overcome his flaw of not believing in himself, to regain the respect of his wife and his acerbic twelve-year-old daughter, and to win this yogurt contest despite the best efforts of a pathologically self-absorbed rich guy. I think they'll also like Eric's daughter, Taffy -- an aspiring scientist who does not suffer fools and is obsessed with zoonotic diseases and foodborne pathogens. And I hope they like my spirit support group, inspired by Japanese yokai.

I think readers will also enjoy it because even though there are paranormal elements, you'll also be asking yourself, could this happen? How far away from reality is this, really?

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Nina:  I would want to cast Ian Somerhalder as Eric Snackerge, because he quickly came to mind when I began fleshing out the character. And I would cast Amy Sedaris as Willa, because she's amazing and physically similar to the petite, bellicose HVAC professor in my book.

One Ghost Per Serving by Nina Post.

Eric Snackerge has had a rough time lately. After being possessed by a mischievous spirit, he lost his scholarship and got blamed for a scandal that left him blacklisted from the legal profession. Now he’s working two minimum wage jobs and is desperate to show his wife and daughter that he can put his life back together — before his best-friend-turned-enemy swoops in and steals his family away.

When Eric learns about an unusual contest, he realizes that winning the grand prize will help him make his daughter’s dreams come true. But he’ll have to overcome his own self-doubt — not to mention the seemingly impossible odds — in order to achieve that goal.

However, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill sweepstakes. Everyone who eats the product develops an insatiable craving for more. Plus, the people behind the contest are dispatching everything from spy cameras to attack helicopters to make sure that Eric doesn’t get any further.

As Eric soon learns, the contest was only the first phase of a much larger plan. If the villains are successful, they will spread a dangerous supernatural pathogen throughout the food supply. But with distribution of the tainted products already underway, does Eric have what it takes to stop their plan and protect his family from being the next victims?

Thank you Nina for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Nina Post and her books, please visit her website.

Authors Against Bullying Giveaway Winner

Congratulations Ashley Koep winner of our Authors Against Bullying Giveaway at From the Shadows.  Ashley will receive ebook copies of She Smells the Dead, Spirit Storm, Legend of Witchtrot Road, and Brush with Death the first four books of the Spirit Guide young adult series.

Thank you to all who entered.

*All winners selected using Random.org*

The Month Before Halloween Giveaway Hop

It is time for a spooktacular blog hop.

Here at From the Shadows we are celebrating The Month Before Halloween Giveaway Hop with a Halloween gift bag from Undead Con 2012.  We snagged one of these goodie bags filled with swag before it was sent to New Orleans.

One lucky winner will receive a Halloween goodie bag stuffed with signed Spirit Guide and Ivy Granger swag, creepy skull rings, candy, and more.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post (include your email address so we may contact you if you win).  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Giveaway ends October 31, 2012 midnight EST.

Visit Death Books and Tea, host of The Month Before Halloween Giveaway Hop, for more spookalicious giveaways!

All Hallow's Read Giveaway

This year we are giving away an ebook copy of Shadow Sight, the first novel in the Ivy Granger urban fantasy series, by E.J. Stevens.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post (include your email address so we may contact you if you win).  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Giveaway ends November 2, 2012 midnight EST.

Touching the Surface Giveaway Winner

Congratulations Holly winner of our Touching the Surface Swag Giveaway at From the Shadows.  Holly will receive a Touching the Surface swag pack from Kimberly Sabatini.

Thank you to all who entered.

*All winners selected using Random.org*

Brush With Death Release Party + Giveaway

Today is the official release of Brush with Death, the fourth book in the Spirit Guide young adult series by E.J. Stevens.  Time to PARTY!

Keep reading for a chance to win Brush with Death by E.J. Stevens.

Brush with Death (Spirit Guide #4) by E.J. Stevens.

Samhain was scary, but graduation is downright terrifying.

Yuki and Emma's recent brush with death has unexpected consequences.

Until last winter Yuki could only smell the dead, but the touch of death's embrace has awakened latent powers. With the help of her friends, Yuki must face her new abilities. Will her psychic powers become the curse they all have feared? Curse or gift, Yuki's new vision begins leading her down an unknown path, but is it a road that only she can follow?

Emma's close encounter of the death kind has her questioning her future as well. Until now she had it all; brains, beauty, conviction, fabulous friends, and a scholarship to Tufts Veterinary School. She knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it. Emma had a plan for everything, but she never bargained for her own traitorous emotions. When graduation comes, will Emma follow her dreams...or follow her heart?

Add to Goodreads

 **Brush with Death Giveaway**

We are giving away a signed trade paperback copy of Brush with Death by E.J. Stevens, Spirit Guide series trading cards, and a signed Brush with Death postcard to ONE lucky winner and an ebook copy of Brush with Death and signed Brush with Death postcard to TWO lucky winners.  Three winners total!

To enter, please leave a comment on this post (include your email address so we may contact you if you win).  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Giveaway ends November 6, 2012 midnight EST.

Looking for more ways to win?  Don't miss our Brush with Death Twitter Party.  We'll be celebrating and giving away Brush with Death books and swag all day October 23rd.

Brush with Death now available in trade paperback and ebook editions at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other fine retailers.

Amazon / Amazon UK / Smashwords / Barnes & Noble 

Teen Read Week Giveaway Winner

Congratulation Shadow winner of our Teen Read Week Giveaway at From the Shadows!  Shadow will receive ebook copies of She Smells the Dead, Spirit Storm, and Legend of Witchtrot Road, the first three books in the Spirit Guide young adult paranormal series by E.J. Stevens.

Thank you to all who entered.

*All giveaway winners selected using Random.org*

Cover Reveal: Bitter Consequence

Time for a cover reveal!  Feast your eyes on the cover for Bitter Consequence by Andrew Valentine.

Bitter Consequence by Andrew Valentine.

In order to save her husband and herself, Michelle slays an ancient undead queen, inheriting her power, her people and her progeny.   What Michelle can’t know is that her triumph sends violent ripples through the supernatural world.

Across town, in a nightclub dedicated to dark desires and pulsing sexuality, the ancient blood-goddess Kali is struck down as a result of Michelle’s instinctual act of self-preservation.  Kali survives and awakens, with a physical need for revenge and an immortal thirst for power—the death of the ancient queen gives Kali’s own nefarious plans a chance for new life.

Michelle and this new, cunning immortal are thrust against each other, not in a battle for survival alone, but for the power to rule an unstoppable army of the dead.

Now she is entangled in a web of deceit where lives, loves and destinies are changed forever or lost completely—and all actions produce bitter consequences.

Bitter Consequences available October 22, 2012.

Teen Read Week Giveaway

Happy Teen Read Week 2012!  We are celebrating Teen Read Week at From the Shadows with a book giveaway.

**Teen Read Week Giveaway**

We are giving away ebook copies of She Smells the Dead, Spirit Storm, and Legend of Witchtrot Road, the first three books in the Spirit Guide young adult paranormal series by E.J. Stevens, to one lucky winner.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post and include your email address so we may contact you if you win.  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Giveaway ends October 19, 2012 midnight EST.

A Dawn of Dragonfire Giveaway Winner

Congratulations Matthew Napier winner the A Dawn of Dragonfire Giveaway at From the Shadows!  Matthew will receive an ebook copy of A Dawn of Dragonfire by Daniel Arenson.

Thank you to all who entered.

**All giveaway winners selected using Random.org**

Q+A with Kimberly Sabatini + Touching the Surface Giveaway

Please welcome today's paranormal guest author Kimberly Sabatini.  Kimberly is the author of Touching the Surface.

Keep reading for chance to win fab Touching the Surface swag!

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Kimberly:   I can't remember when I started to write, but I remember how I stopped. Somewhere between high school and adulthood I became fearful. I was afraid of people reading my words and finding out what was going on inside my head and heart. I was terrified of not fitting in and I stopped writing things that were authentic to me and the writing suffered because of it. Without my voice in my work--it wasn't very good and it wasn't inspiring. So I sort of let it drift away from me. Unfortunately my father died in 2005, but the silver lining was that what I felt inside could no longer be contained and I began to write again. Losing my dad gave me some extra courage to find my voice again.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Kimberly:   I arrived at the paranormal genre by accident. I needed to write an afterlife story after my dad died and I had no idea what it would be labeled--just that it was what I needed to write.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Kimberly:  Without a doubt, I would fly. I'm fascinated by birds, there is nothing better than a flying dream and I'm still not convinced that I can't do it. I just have to concentrate a little bit harder....

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.
 
Kimberly:  I think they'll enjoy it because I wrote the book that I needed to write and the reader might be on the same kind of inner journey that I was. I believe that when the right book comes along, we find exactly what we should between the pages. I don't know what will happen when you read my words, but I'd love the opportunity to see if my voice resonates with your voice. I love the idea that I might deeply connect with a person I wouldn't normally have access to. I guess what I'm saying is, I think you should read it because it's loaded with all kinds of unique potential. We might do great things together.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Kimberly:   If my book was made into a movie--honestly--I'd probably wet my pants LOL! I'm not sure I can say with certainty who I'd want to be cast because as a newbie trying to break into the book biz, I'd want to give everyone a chance to play that role--define themselves.

Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini.

Experience the afterlife in this lyrical, paranormal debut novel that will send your heart soaring.

When Elliot finds herself dead for the third time, she knows she must have messed up, big-time. She doesn’t remember how she landed in the afterlife again, but she knows this is her last chance to get things right.

Elliot just wants to move on, but first she will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed…and people she’s killed.

As she pieces together the secrets and mistakes of her past, Elliot must find a way to earn the forgiveness of the person she’s hurt most, and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

Thank you Kimberly for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Kimberly Sabatini and her books, please visit her website.

**Touching the Surface Swag Giveaway**

We are giving away a Touching the Surface swag pack to one lucky winner! (ie, bookmarks, stickers, origami cranes)

To enter, please leave a comment on this post (including your email address so we may contact you if you win).  This giveaway is to US mailing addresses only.  Giveaway ends October 24, 2012 midnight EST.

Q+A with Faith Hunter + Haints Excerpt

Please welcome today's paranormal guest author Faith Hunter.  Faith writes the Urban Fantasy Skinwalker series, featuring Jane Yellowrock: Skinwalker, Blood Cross, Mercy Blade, Raven Cursed,  Death's Rival and two short story compilations, Cat Tales and Have Stakes Will Travel. Her Rogue Mage novels, a dark, urban, post-apocalyptic, fantasy series—Bloodring, Seraphs, and Host—feature Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage.  A role playing game based on the series, Rogue Mage, is due out in the fall 2012.  Under the pen name Gwen Hunter, she writes action-adventure, mysteries, and thrillers.  As Faith and Gwen, she has 20+ books in print in 27 countries.

Interview with Faith Hunter:

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Faith:  In tenth grade, a teacher told me I had a talent for writing, and that I should make my career. I believed her, and started researching the writing life immediately. It still took a lot of years to find an agent and a publisher, but all the prep time was worth it because, frankly, it took that long for me to hone my craft. Very few of us go into writing with all the skills that the art form requires. By the way: I tracked that teacher down a few years ago and thanked her. She has meant a lot to my life, probably one of the top 5 or 6 people to influence the person I am today.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Faith:  I always wanted to write fantasy, but I couldn’t find the voice. As Gwen Hunter, I wrote mysteries and thrillers and suspense for nearly 20 years. And then urban fantasy came along, and a tough female character voice—like that in thrillers—was perfect for the genre. Urban fantasy is a thriller, with vamps and weres and witches. Such fun working with twisty story arcs with magic in them.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Faith:   Healing. So I could (sounds corny) help people.

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Faith:  Death’s Rival will be out in October 2012, and it takes Jane deeper into her own Cherokee past as well as introduces a new story arc for the series. The cover copy says it all!
Jane Yellowrock is a shapeshifting skinwalker you don’t want to cross—especially if you’re one of the undead…

For a vampire killer like Jane, having Leo Pellisier as a boss took some getting used to. But now, someone is out to take his place as Master Vampire of the city of New Orleans, and is not afraid to go through Jane to do it. After an attack that’s tantamount to a war declaration, Leo knows his rival is both powerful and vicious, but Leo’s not about to run scared. After all, he has Jane. But then, a plague strikes, one that takes down vampires and makes their masters easy prey.

Now, to uncover the identity of the vamp who wants Leo’s territory, and to find the cause of the vamp-plague, Jane will have to go to extremes…and maybe even to war.

The Rogue Mage World Book and Role Playing Game has been Kickstarted and is in production as I write this. I have 2 more Jane Yellowrock books to write, and then I have nothing. No contracts. But I want to do a few more Jane books, and maybe a couple of standalone spinoffs, one with Rick LaFleur as main character and one with Molly Everhart’s witch family. If I can find a publisher for them. The market trends will guide that, of course.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Faith:   I have no idea. I fear I don’t watch movies. Yeah I know. Gasp gasp gasp. But I’m open to any female actress Hollywood can find who is 6 feet tall, Cherokee, and has mad fighting skills. Oh – and yellow eyes.  (rolls my own)

Death's Rival (Jane Yellowrock, #5) by Faith Hunter

Jane Yellowrock is a shapeshifting skinwalker you don’t want to cross—especially if you’re one of the undead…

For a vampire killer like Jane, having Leo Pellisier as a boss took some getting used to. But now, someone is out to take his place as Master Vampire of the city of New Orleans, and is not afraid to go through Jane to do it. After an attack that’s tantamount to …a war declaration, Leo knows his rival is both powerful and vicious, but Leo’s not about to run scared. After all, he has Jane.

But then, a plague strikes, one that takes down vampires and makes their masters easy prey. Now, to uncover the identity of the vamp who wants Leo’s territory, and to find the cause of the vamp-plague, Jane will have to go to extremes…and maybe even to war.

Haints Excerpt:

Haints is a short story taken from the e-book compilation released in September 2012 HAVE STAKES WILL TRAVEL. It is written from Molly Everhart Trueblood’s point of view, the story giving us a vision into who and what Jane is, early in her career. 

Haints

by Faith Hunter

“Nothing unusual here, Molly,” she said.

I watched Jane Yellowrock as she crawled across the floor of the old house on all fours. Most adults looked foolish or ungainly when crawling, but Jane was graceful, her arms lifting and moving forward with feline balance, her legs raising and lowering, toes pointed like a dancer, even in her western boots. My friend moved silently in the hot, sweaty room, easily avoiding the bird and mouse droppings, the holes in the old linoleum, and avoiding the signs of recent reconstruction—the broken plaster walls, large holes in the floor, and the shattered remains of the toilet, tub, and kitchen sink in the corner. Her shoulder blades lifted up high with each crawling step, visible beneath her thin T-shirt, her head lowered on the thin stem of her neck, moving catlike. I envied her the grace and the slenderness, but little else. Jane was more alone than anyone I had ever known.

Now she breathed in with a strange sucking hiss. Flehmen behavior, she called it, using her hypersensitive senses to smell things the way a cat would, the way a mountain lion would, sucking air in over her tongue and the roof of her mouth, her lips pulled back and mouth open. Mostly, she did it only when she was alone, because it sounded weird and looked weirder—not a human action at all. But because I had asked her for help, and because no one but me would see her, she did it now, scenting for the smell of . . . of whatever.

As I watched, Jane crawled out of the half-renovated kitchen and into the dining room beyond. We were both dressed in old jeans and T-shirts, clothes that could get filthy and be tossed into the washer, and already Jane looked like something the cat dragged in, which was funny in all sorts of ways. Jane Yellowrock was a Cherokee skinwalker, and her favorite animal form was a mountain lion. She called it her inner beast, which I still didn’t understand, but I figured she’d tell me someday.

I’d met Jane in the Ingles grocery store, when a group of witch haters caught me in the frozen foods section and harassed me. None of us Everharts were officially out of the closet then but most townspeople were okay with my family maybe carrying the witch gene. It was the out-of-towners who had the problem—a group that wasn’t from the religious right, but were just as rabid. I still don’t know what Jane did—she stepped in front of me so all I saw was her back—but the haters departed. Fast. I gave her my thanks and a card to my family café and we parted ways.

The next morning Jane came into the Seven Sassy Sister’s Herb Shop and Café, and nearly cleaned us out of bacon, sausage, and pancakes. The appetite of that morning was because she had just changed back from an animal form and needed calories to make up for the shift, but I didn’t know that then. I just thought it was a crying shame that a woman who was so skinny could eat like that. If I tried to shovel in that much food, even half that much food, I’d weigh four hundred pounds. I think I gained three pounds just watching her eat, that first day.

And then the group of witch-haters from the day before started picketing out front. I guess they were in town and figured they should make the most of it. They were carrying signs about not suffering a witch to live—the usual crappola—and chanting, “Save our children! Save our children!” Two cars pulled by and slowed, as if to turn in, and then pulled on away. This kind of attention was going to be damaging to business.

Jane paid her bill, went outside, and revved up her bike. And revved up her bike. And revved up her bike again. At which point I realized she was doing it on purpose. Then she did something to the engine, and revved it up again. And black smoke came out. So Jane rode in circles around the parking lot, shouting to the witch haters, “So sorry about the noise! I have engine problems!” After about ten minutes of noise, the witch haters left. It was so cool! I thought the twins, Boadacia and Elizabeth, were going to have twin cows.

That’s Jane. A loaner with a cause. Any cause, as long as it’s protecting someone.

She sneezed, bringing me back from my daydreams to my friend crawling around on the floor of a deserted, possibly haunted house.

Thank you Faith for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Faith Hunter and her books, please visit her website.

Cover Reveal: Blood and Mistletoe, An Ivy Granger Novella

Time for a cover reveal!  Feast your eyes on the cover for Blood and Mistletoe, a novella in the Ivy Granger urban fantasy series by E.J. Stevens.

Blood and Mistletoe (Ivy Granger #1.5)

Holidays are worse than a full moon for making people crazy. In Harborsmouth, where many of the residents are undead vampires or monstrous fae, the combination may prove deadly.

Ivy Granger, psychic private investigator, returns to the streets of Harborsmouth in this addition to the bestselling urban fantasy series.

Holidays are Hell, a point driven home when a certain demon attorney returns with information regarding a series of bloody murders. Six Harborsmouth residents have been killed and every victim has one thing in common--they are fae. Whoever is killing faeries must be stopped, but they only leave one clue behind--a piece of mistletoe floating in a pool of the victim's blood.

The holidays just got interesting. Too bad this case may drive Ivy mad before the New Year. Heck, she'll be lucky to survive Christmas.

Blood and Mistletoe is an Ivy Granger series novella.  For more information visit the Ivy Granger series website.

Blood and Mistletoe available November 20, 2012.