Congrats to Cynthia Borgmeyer Clubbs! You are the winner of a signed copy of “The Canticle Kingdom”.
The author survey contest has also ended. I have emailed the winner of the $10 Amazon gift card (Karlene Browning) and three other author services. When I have compiled a report, I will send all those who participated a copy. Thank you all for helping me further my education. Now to go write the paper!
Come back on Friday for the cover reveal of my next anthology: Carol of the Tales and Other Nightly Noels. Everything is coming together nicely.
The contest held by BigWorldNetwork.com for The Canticle Prelude is over. But don’t let that scare you away from their contest page: http://bigworldnetwork.com/site/contests/. There will surely be more.
How would you like to read the complete compilation of The Canticle Prelude? It includes all the serial chapters from the series “Canticle of Night”, “Canticle of Dawn” and “Canticle of Twilight”. It is a great read to start before you read “The Canticle Kingdom” or even after you have. This compilation includes a bonus chapter linking the serial stories and the novel previously unreleased, as well as the sheet music for piano of the song that the music box plays, which I also wrote.
Small town girl, Molly Bennett, moves to Los Angeles where she becomes an outsider while attending Beverly Hills High School. It seems life cannot be any more dreadful. Then one day after school, something magical happens. On a secluded hike in the Hollywood Hills, Molly chases her disobedient mutt and only friend into a hidden cavern. She stumbles upon a strange glimmering gateway that transports her to Arkana, a planet that is the cradle of an advanced human race. There, teenagers navigate amazing flying vehicles, compete in perilous games for glory, and possess supernatural powers. While Molly tries to wrap her mind around this unbelievable discovery, she meets the alluring and mysterious Victor Sorren. He is a Sentinel Apprentice, whose hatred toward people from Earth is beyond understanding. Yet every time Victor unpredictably saves Molly’s life, his heart draws closer to hers, no matter how much he tries to fight against it. It further complicates things that their growing friendship is strictly forbidden. Earth people are prohibited in Arkana, yet Molly continues to cross through the portal to Arkana to see Victor. Torn between their double lives, they go down a dangerous path, from where there is no return and multiple endings.
Fields of Elysium is a suspenseful, romantic tale full of forbidden secrets, unimaginable danger, deception, and the never-ending fight for true love.
“The novel’s take on otherworldly travel is a compelling one, and the romantic plot will likely appeal to Twilight fans.” – Kirkus Reviews
“I expected a good love story with a paranormal twist. I got so much more. I think you should take the chance and read it. Let this book take you on the adventure, fall in love.” – Young Adult and Teen Readers
“Fields of Elysium is a fabulous read. … Whelan paints her faith into the fabric of her story with deft, light brushstrokes, making her work accessible to all, no matter their spiritual beliefs or background.” – Readers Favorite
“I escaped into this fantasy world, author, A.B.Whelan, created and I didn’t want Molly to go. From detailed descriptions, to sweet romance, and to all the twist and turns in the story, it had me captivated from page one.” – Mary Ting, author of the Crossroads Saga
“Whelan’s writing is very vivid and descriptive. It’s more formal than the average YA novel, but I enjoyed the lyrical and mesmerizing quality to it. I thought the overall story read like a fairy tale–very sweet.” – Megan Thomason, author of Daynight
Author A.B. Whelan
A.B.Whelan is a Hungarian born, American writer. She currently lives with her husband and two children in Southern California. While growing up in a wealthy Eastern European family, she had a chance to travel Europe. Later as an adult, she visited Africa and the Middle East and lived in Ecuador and in Crete.
$50 Book Blast Giveaway $50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash plus a gift bag of one signed copy of Fields of Elysium, a scrabble-tile pendant with a butterfly image on a chain necklace, and a fridge magnet.
Ends 3/11/13
Gift Bag open to US only. If winner is international they will receive only the gift card or paypal cash. Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
Here I am wearing a pair of glasses I ordered from Firmoo.com. I really like them, and so I’d like to share the wealth.
Firmoo is an immensely popular supplier of eyewear, both prescription and non-prescription. They have a huge selection and reasonable prices. After discovering I needed glasses, I had a great experience ordering my glasses from them.
Fill out the form below for a chance to win a free pair of Firmoo glasses if there are more than 30 different people who enter. I’m also giving away six $30 vouchers that can be used towards purchasing designer eyewear on the Firmoo.com site. This only runs through Feb 22nd, so be sure to sign up and share!
Today we have Margie Jordanfrom Writer’s Cubed to tell us about the Teen Author Boot Camp:
There is a famous line from a movie that says, “I was always a band geek. I just never joined the band.” I could relate. When I was in high school I was a president of the dance team, a singer in the choir, a hang-out-with-my-boyfriend-until-mom-and-dad-forced-me-home kind of person. But in my heart, I was a writer. This is why I tell people all the time, “I was always a writer. I just always hated English.”
Because I was a closet writer, I didn’t have anyone to bounce ideas off of, no one to tell me when I stank, no one to teach me how to craft a really great story. My teachers were the millions of books I read (not in a closet—but hidden away when my friends were around). And I WISHED I could have had someone to talk to about my hidden obsession.
If this sounds like you…. Then I’m happy to say there is a solution.
The Teen Author Boot Camp, founded by the Utah-based group Writers Cubed and sponsored by Utah Valley University is one of only a few writing conferences nationwide geared solely for teenagers who have a love for the written word. For the first time ever, Writers Cubed is offering the conference to anyone who wants to attend through Live Stream.
Interested? Here are the deets!
When: Saturday, March 16, 2013
From: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (MST)
Where: Worldwide via the internet
Who: Teens, teachers, librarians, book lovers
Cost: $4.99 for the Live Broadcast; $9.99 for the All Pass
The keynote address by Newbery Winning Author Shannon Hale will be free for anyone to watch. It will be on March, 16th, 2013 at 9 a.m. MST. A subscription to the Live Broadcast costs $4.99 and includes the following:
9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.—Writers Cubed: Welcome
9:15 a.m. to 9:55 a.m.—Keynote by Newbery Award winner Shannon Hale (Princess Academy)
10 a.m to 10:45 a.m.—Tyler Whitesides (Janitors) Class: Imagine and Create.
10:55 a.m. to 11:40 a.m.—Janette Rallison (My Fair Godmother) Class: Bad dialogue can kill a story.
12:50 a.m. to 1:35 p.m.—NYT bestseller Kiersten White (Paranormalcy) Class: Plot Like a Villain.
1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.—J. Scott Savage (Farworld) Class: Finding Your Voice.
2:50 p.m. to 3:25 p.m.—Journey to Publication Panel: Agent Amy Jameson & authors Chad Morris, Tess Hilmo, J. Scott Savage, Cindy Bennett
3:35 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.—NYT bestseller Aprilynne Pike (Wings) Class: World-building is the invisible foundation to your book.
4:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.—Writers Cubed: Winner of the First Chapter Contest and closing remarks.
If you just can’t get enough of TABC, there is also an All Pass Subscription to the rest of the conference (including more than fifteen awesome presentations, including mine–haha). That only costs $9.99 and, as if it wasn’t a sweet enough deal already, you can watch the whole conference whenever you want for an entire year.
To register to watch Shannon Hale’s Keynote for free, visit www.teenauthorbootcamp.com and click on Livestream. It only takes a minute. While you’re there, check out the other presenters who will be teaching at the conference under the tab “Drill Sergeants.”
Stay tuned for details on how to win a subscription to the TABC Live Broadcast for FREE on this blog
Margie Jordan is a co-founder of Writers Cubed, a group of Utah writing activists who created
the Teen Author Boot Camp in 2010. In her spare time, like when she isn’t writing, she is a Literacy specialist for her local school district. Please visit her website at www.writerscubed.com.
What’s more fun that two Presidents and a Groundhog? That’s right! The annual LDStorymakers Conference Show Your Love contest! Here is the post reposted from the Conference blog, thanks to author Don Carey. We’ve held this contest for several years now, and those who participated will tell you – it was fun and the prizes were well worth it. So let’s break this down a little bit. What’s at stake here? What are we playing for? Prizes: Three lucky people will win seats at a star-studded VIP table for Friday night’s dinner. Dust off your best manners, because you could be breaking bread with the special-est of our special conference guests. We’ll post the full list once we’ve gotten confirmation from everyone, but trust me-it’s going to be awesome! But that’s not all – let me break it down for you. First Place Prize: Seat at the VIP table, a query critique, and two-page manuscript critique Second Place Prize: Seat at the VIP table and a two-page manuscript critique Third Place Prize: Seat at the VIP table Fourth Place Prize: Query critique and 10-page manuscript critique Fifth and Sixth Place Prizes: Query Critiques So, what must you do to enter to win? Rules: Blog about the LDStorymakers Writers Conference and link tothe conference site. And be sure to mention to your non-writing friends that we haveKeynote Onlyadmission seats available to hear international best-selling authorAnne Perry. This is worth 5 entries.
Blog about the Show Your Love contest and link back to this post. This is also worth 5 entries. Become a fan of the LDStorymakers Conference Facebook page and invite 5 friends to become fans. This is worth 1 Entry (limit 5 entries). Mention the conference, the contest, and Anne Perry’s keynote on Twitter. Either post the link in your tweet, or use the hashtag #storymaker13. This is worth 1 entry per day, up to 5 per week. (NOTE: The correct hashtag is #storymaker13 – without the trailing ‘s’ to give you use of that one extra character!)
Post the conference attendee badge on your site or blog. This is worth 3 entries. You can get the code for this on the sidebar, to your right. Here’s what the badge looks like:
Leave us a comment in the original blog’s comment trail (http://ldstorymakerauthors.blogspot.com/2013/02/ldstorymakers-2013-show-your-love.html) and tell us everything you’ve done. You have from now until the stroke of midnight Utah time on February 28th to rack up as many points as you can. You must be a registered attendee of the conference to participate – and if you haven’t registered yet, you can do it right here. Attendees and presenters are eligible. We will announce the winner at the beginning of March. If your e-mail isn’t accessible through your Blogger profile, please leave it with one of your comments so we can contact you. Winning, and not knowing it, would be pretty rotten.
All right, people! Get busy! Win the dinner of a lifetime! Show your love, help us spread the word about the conference and Anne Perry’s Keynote! I’ll be there, teaching classes and signing books. Hope you can be too!
In addition to my own anthology, Sing We Now of Christmas, I have the honor of being in this wonderful Christmas anthology put out by LDS Publisher. It doesn’t hurt that they named the anthology after my story “Checkin’ It Twice”.
These stories really are the creme of the crop and will make an excellent addition to your Christmas. The variety also strikes me as huge plus, with some more lighthearted and others more serious, but all of them uplifting. It is literally an effort years in the making and quality shows.
If you order before December 15th from Amazon, you’re eligible for all sorts of Christmas goodies. Simply email your proof of purchase to: citbonus@rosehavenpublishing.net. For details, click here: http://bit.ly/UgfMTi
Here are some links where you can order this festive anthology:
Randi Spurling Paperback copy of “Life is Like a Unicycle”
Mercedes Murdock Yardley Paperback copy of “The Canticle Kingdom”
Candice Maudsley Paperback copy of “Toys Remembered”
Bobbie Gross Inexpensive gift ideas from Janet Olsen
Wendy Hauer Paperback copy of “The Hidden Sun”
Shauna Wheelwright A book by Brian Ricks
Tara Pennington PDF copy of “Sing We Now of Christmas”
Roberta Purvis Hulse PDF copy of “Sing We Now of Christmas”
If you are a winner, please send me your shipping address to thecanticlekingdom@gmail.com to claim your prize. If you won one of the PDFs, don’t worry about sending me your address.
Please continue to spread the word about the anthology. It is still available for purchase here: http://amzn.com/1479266248
I feel like I have arrived as an author. A company has put up a non-literary piece of merchandise based on my books. (See the picture above, which is put on a mug) Next stop, action figures!
Thanks to all of you who stopped by during the LDS Authors Blog hop. I’m happy to announce that the winner is: Tobi H. If that’s you, please shoot me an email at thecanticlekingdom@gmail.com to claim your prize.
Sad News
Let’s get this out of the way first—my hard drive could not be recovered. Everything I had on there is gone forever. If you are reading this, go back up something precious to you now. This blog post will still be there when you get back.
I firmly believe things happen for a reason. Perhaps I was simply meant to rewrite the stuff I lost. The phoenix that rises might be better than what I had before. I’m going to go with that train of thought.
Canticle Kingdom eBook
In case you didn’t hear the great news before, “The Canticle Kingdom” is now available as an eBook! You can get the Kindle edition here: http://amzn.com/B007TWN5KY and on the Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-canticle-kingdom-michael-young/1018964936. Many of the Canticle Kingdom prequel stories are going eventually to be in eBook form as well, and the two sequels I am writing will be in eBook form as well, so this makes me very happy.
All the stories are in for the Christmas Anthology, and one of the major steps that now needs to be made is to name it.
To this end, I’m announcing a contest. Send me in your best name suggestions and we’ll take a vote. If you suggest the winning name, you’ll get credit in the anthology, a free copy of the anthology when it comes out and your choice of one of my books or a free three-chapter edit from me if you’d rather.
Keep in mind the nature of the anthology, which is that it is comprised of short stories based on Christmas songs. Please keep all suggestions family friendly, and be creative as you can be. Send all submissions to: thecanticlekingdom@gmail.com.
‘Til I see you again, live bravely and write well!
Books by Michael D. Young 