Indie Jane Awesomeness

I have been just a little bit MIA the last week.

Why?

Because I have been almost totally consumed by the awesome new project I've started with fellow author and Janeite Nancy Kelley.

Allow me to introduce Indie Jane - the premiere independent Austen community!

About Indie Jane in bullet points:

* We are awesome (of course).

* We are an online community that supports independent publishing of Austenesque novels, shorts stories, and other literature.

* We are a great place to hang out if you are a reader of either of the above two categories (indie pub or Austen).

* We are a great place to hang out if you are considering becoming a writer of either of the above two categories.

* We have an amazingly kick-butt logo (above) drawn by my friend Victoria. No really, isn't it the coolest thing you've ever seen?

* We have an amazing site & blog button courtesy of my hubs.

* We are giving away a Kindle.

What? What was that last? Yes! We are giving away a Kindle! Our launch was yesterday . . . and today in appreciation of everyone who visited yesterday, and to celebrate our opening month we have posted a Kindle giveaway! Head on over and enter!

We will have weekly giveaways for our first month as well. The excitement is overwhelming!

Also, there is still time to enter to win an ebook of Absolute Liability (for kindle, nook, or as a pdf to read on your computer), please make sure to enter!

E-book Giveaway! Five Copies of Absolute Liability by Jennifer Becton

I reviewed the awesome new thriller from Jennifer Becton last week (read my review here), and this week I am giving away five (5) e-book copies!

Yes, you heard that right!

Five lucky winners are going to get to read Absolute Liability for free! Yay you!

Meet Julia Jackson. Apparently, she's been abducted....

A woman is taken at gunpoint from the downtown office of Southeastern Insurance, and the police believe the victim is Special Agent Julia Jackson. Only it isn't true.

Now, with the help of her new partner Mark Vincent, state fraud investigator Julia Jackson must find justice for the woman who was taken in her place.

As Vincent and Julia begin to unravel the multimillion-dollar frauds that led to the abduction, they encounter a cast of quirky characters, one of whom will go to desperate lengths to hide a deadly secret.

Things only become more dangerous as bodies begin accumulating around town, and Julia must discover the truth before the abductor comes to rectify his mistake.

I am able to give away Kindle copies (for your Kindle or Kindle app) through Amazon, and in other formats (pdf, for your Nook), through Smashwords.

Remember, if you want to read it right away Absolute Liability is on sale right now! And through July 16th, Jennifer is donating 10% of her proceeds to Ride 2 Recovery, a charity that helps wounded warriors recover through cycling.

To enter just leave a comment below letting me know why you'd like to read Absolute Liability! And please, if you are a no reply blogger make sure I have a way to contact you!

Extra Entries:

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Be sure to link back to this post! You can use this suggested tweet if you'd like:

Win an e-book copy of @jenniferbecton's thriller Absolute Liability on @narniamum #ebook #giveaway ends 7/15 http://bit.ly/pSYaWs

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Entries will close 7/15 at 10pm MST. I will notify the winners by email by 7/16.

Thanks and happy entering!

A Fairytale Challenge!

There are a ton of reading challenges out on the web right now, and honestly I really want to do all of them. I also really want to be Wonder Woman, but we must be realistic.

This, however, is a challenge I can do! One of the reasons is because I am already reading a lot of fairytale books because of my work on Sleeping Beauty. I heard about this particular challenge from Rebecca at A Word's Worth. It is the 5th annual Once Upon a Time Challenge hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. The nice thing is it doesn't run all year (year long challenges translate to "11 months to procrastinate" in Jessica speak), but instead from March 21st - June 20th. So, there is still time to join in if you'd like!

There are several different "quests," the easiest of which is The Journey in which you don't commit to reading a certain number of books, nice and low pressure . . . but also very easy for procrastinators like myself to get away with doing nothing. Therefore, I'm committing to the next level which is Quest the First. I am promising to read 5 fairytale related books by June 20th. Lack of bullet proof bracelets and Lasso of Truth not withstanding, I am pretty sure I can do this!

I have ONE book on my list so far - Thornspell, a Sleeping Beauty variation juvenile fiction which I just picked up at the library. I am contemplating adding a Kiss in Time to the list as I have it reserved at the library, but wondering if I should add some non-Sleeping Beauty to the list to round me out (although if you are interested in a SB variant, I cannot recommend Spindle's End by Robin McKinley strongly enough! I know it is on Rebecca's list as well!)

I'm also reading a non-fiction about the Grimm's, and while that fits with the theme, it just doesn't seem very fun!

Here is my list thus far:

1. Thornspell

2. A Kiss in Time (yes/no/maybe)

3.

4.

5.

Any suggestions? (You should probably know if Robin McKinley's written it, odds are I've read it, so while I encourage you all to read Beauty & Rose Daughter, etc., I think the point of the challenge is to read things I haven't read yet.) Are you a part of any reading challenges this year? Interested in joining us in this one?

Just the Facts Ma'am

There is still time to enter my CSN Stores giveaway. Just scroll down or click here.

It's official, I am a card holder at the Lewis and Clark County Public Library! Woot woot! Which is great because I have finally started working on Sleeping Beauty again and I've been able to take advantage of the library's general peace and quiet (and Ed's day off) to get some writing done and to check out some fun research materials that pertain to my story.

Here is the fact-laden goodness I am currently reading. Yum!

A couple of odd facts:

1. The juvie non-fiction is interfiled with the adult non-fiction at ye ol' Lewis and Clark County Public Library, which means that picture book of Sleeping Beauty is on the same shelf as the "Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairytales," which spends quite a bit of time highlighting the lovely subjects of rape, incest and cannibalism. However, I suppose you could argue so does the original versions of the Grimms' tales which I wouldn't be surprised to see filed in Juvie. Still, it's weird to me.

2. My many, many years volunteering, and working, in the Los Angeles County Public Library systems have permanently damaged my brain. I apparently have the Dewey Decimal system still random access memory filed away in my noggin. I didn't have to look at the catalog once, I just went directly to the 398s for fairytales and the 535s for the gemology - like a homing pigeon that's been set free in a forest of non-fiction. Bing! There I was in front of the right section without much conscious thought. It was actually disconcerting. I don't have room in my brain for this nonsense. I forget things that have actually happened to me and yet, I've got a whole numeric filing system in there? Couldn't that space be used for more convenient (like spelling words I've long forgotten) or romantic (foreign language anyone?) purposes?

I did, however, manage to get about 2,000 words our of my head and onto a page on Friday, so here is hoping new scenes of Sleeping Beauty can take up residence in my head and wait for their turn on the page.