Ellie Garratt's Story Collection Launch & the Apocalypse Blog Hop Continues!

I've got two events: the continuation of the apocalypse blog hop and the launch of sci-fi and horror writer, Ellie Garratt's story collection, Taking Time.
For those who hopped over for the apoc-hop, scroll down to the awesome prizes and the Rafflecopter!!!

A blurb about Ellie Garratt's Taking Time:
Science fiction stories of time and space...

The future of humanity must be decided in Next Phase. Winning the Planetary Lottery is not as lucky as it first seems in Schrodinger's Gamble. An apocalypse and its aftermath threaten to tear one couple apart in Daiker's Children. In Life As I Know It a reclusive man finds both his heart and home invaded during an alien harvest. In Taking Time a demon seeking shelter on a distant planet finds himself facing a very different kind of demon, after answering a frontier settlement's plea for help. Stories range from flash fiction to novelette in length.

Amazon, Amazon UK, Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Ellie's website
About Ellie:

A life-long addiction to reading science fiction and horror meant writing was the logical outlet for Ellie Garratt’s passions. She is a reader, writer, blogger, Trekkie, and would happily die to be an extra in The Walking Dead. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and online. Passing Time: Nine Short Tales of the Strange and Macabre was published in March 2013 and contains nine previously published stories. Taking Time and Other Science Fiction Stories is her second short story collection.

As far as apocalypse goes, one of my favorite writers, Don DeLillo posits in his novel, Point Omega, we have an irrepressible urge to become “dumb as stones”, to unburden ourselves of our consciousness in one great, cataclysmic endgame explosion? What happens after the Omega Point—the rising timeline that rushes to the point of maximum complexity, after which the universe will become unrecognizable due to its enormous changes?

Or is it more an urge to reconstruction and reinvention—to a re-virgined world, fresh and exciting in its newness? Why else would we keep creating these explosive “ends”?

In DeLillo’s Point Omega, his characters who discuss the state of the world, have a very personal omega point after a shocking turn of events.

In Ruby’s Fire, my post-apoc fantasy, the world has already experienced a fiery sort of death, and is in the infant stages of reforming—that perilous place that could tip to metamorphosis or final death.

In Jonathan Maberry’s Rot and Ruin, the world is being overrun by Zombies.

In this blog hop, I'm giving away a copy of each of these books (and more), to the person who leaves the most insightful and creative comment about their take on apocalypse. That and entering the Rafflecopter suggestions. Get your apocalypse on, and after you’re done here, visit other great sites in the apoc-hop.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winners, winners, WINNERS!

Ruby's launch party might be over but the announcement of the prize winners has just begun!

Robyn K won the $40 Amazon card

Ariel S won the illustrated book illustration

Jennifer C won a signed copy of Ruby's Fire

Jess H won ebooks of Ruby's Fire & Fireseed One

Jak C won an ebook or paperback of Ruby’s Fire

And now, the winner(s) of the most creative guess as to what that Red flying critter is..... drum roll please... ta dum!

A detail of the Reds by Catherine Stine

Maureen won for her creative guess that the Red is Ruby's hallucination (not necessarily correct).
Debbie also won for her equally creative guess that the red critter is a manifestation of Ruby's inner desires (also not necessarily correct) Curious now? You'll have to read Ruby's Fire to really find out what that thing is!).

Thank you all for Liking my new author page, and subscribing to my shiny, new newsletter. Or if you haven't yet, here's the link.

For anyone who won copies of Ruby, a review is certainly appreciated if you're inspired to. I'll give you virtual hugs and chocolate.
Also, stand by for the Apocalypse Blogfest coming up from July 13-20, where I'll be running another Rafflecopter that includes a bunch of bad*ss apocalyptic novels, including a signed copy of Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry!

What hijinx have you all been up to during July?

Sizzling Ruby & Blane encounter, how to brainstorm & MULTIPLE PRIZES & freebies as Ruby's party blazes on.

Ruby's party blazes on with links to my posts on brainstorming, excerpts on Ruby's drug struggles, hot character sketches of Blane and Ruby and more. Enter the Rafflecopter for prizes! Plus there's a bonus prize for the most creative guess as to what the Red critter is in the picture below. But first, here's where you can find Ruby. Big hugs to all who buy, read, review and tweet about her, because readers make the world go around for us indies.

Ruby with a Dragon Lizard, by Catherine Stine

Ruby on Kindle, the illustrated paperback, on Nook

Today (Friday's) revelers! 
Donna Galanti has a scary Ruby medical excerpt
Book Whirlwind has a Ruby excerpt on her drug struggles
Beth Fred has my post on brainstorming
Kelly Hashway has a sizzling Ruby & Blane encounter Mom With a Kindle has a Ruby & Blane character sketch Twilight Sleep has a snippet of Ruby's first frightening encounter at The Greening & an extra prize! Always Jo Art has two special giveaways! Buried Under Books is a cool blog too, A Chick Reading has two mega-giveaways! The Bookish Owl, an extra Owlish giveaway!

Thursday's blog revelers: Oops, I Read a Book Again & Hot off the Shelves
Wednesday's Ruby blog revelers: Crystal Hicken Collier (where you guess which of my three "truths" is a big fat lie), Alex J Cavanaugh, Whimsically Yours, Wintry Words, Fresh Pot of Tea, Eclipse Reviews, Katie Clark Writes & Michael Ventrella.

Can you guess what this red critter is? Hint: it's NOT a bird. Most creative answer gets you a special, bonus prize!

Lastly, which of these Ruby lines most intrigues you? It's fascinating to know what others feel about our characters and stories.

#1: I reach for the velvety sack in my cloak and feel the reassuring give of the powder. It’s diminishing with every dose, and I won’t be able to make more here. I need to ration it carefully. My heart hammering, I flutter into the bathroom, inch open the drawstring and shake a line onto my wrist. I inhale greedily, desperately.

#2: When the man sees my face and my electric haze of hair, his eyes soften. That spark of wonder that men get whenever they gaze at me is in his eyes. That spark I almost always hate. Somehow with this stranger, it fills me with unexpected lightening.

#3: My arm is smarting. I turn it over gingerly to survey the damage, and gasp. It’s not bleeding red—rather some thin, greenish liquid. My insides freeze. “Armonk, I need to find that doctor now.” 
He rushes over. His pale, frightened expression tells me he agrees.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day Two of Ruby's Fire launch, win great swag & meet Ruby!

Ruby's Fire is out! To celebrate, we're having an epic Ruby launch celebration! We've got cool Rafflecopter prizes, and fun quizzes on blogs. Thanks to all of you amazing bloggers who are hosting features, and thanks in advance to anyone who buys, reads and reviews Ruby, and walks with her on her perilous journey. Props to all who tweet and RT about the book.
After all, readers make the world go around.

Where to find Ruby:

illustrated paperback, Kindle ebook, Nook ebook

Tuesday, June 25th revelers: The Warrior Muse, From the Writer's Nest, Amy Kathleen Ryan, Share my Destiny, Teen Blurb, Kordugum Hayalle & Yorum Duragim (two Turkish blogs, who would've thought?!)
About the novel:
“Seventeen year-old Ruby and her little brother Thorn, have only known a life blighted by the extremist Fireseed Cult. The night Ruby is set to be claimed by one of its cruelest and oldest leaders, she makes a bid for freedom. With Thorn in tow, she stumbles into the world beyond, and finds an opportunity for a fresh start in Skull’s Wrath under the guidance of Nevada Pilgrim, a woman who may not be all she seems. Ruby's new life could bring her friendship, love, even fortune, but nothing comes without a price. Is Ruby's talent for elixirs keeping the roof over their heads, or do some of her associates have a more sinister and lucrative interest in them? Life outside a strange cult isn't without its dangers, and the experience leaves Ruby transformed and communing with the Fireseed more closely than she ever would have imagined. Stine delivers a thrilling adventure led by an exciting cast of characters, and the romance is really well handled.”   -YA’s The Word

Here are Monday's revelers: Meradeth Houston's blog, Laurel's Leaves, M Pax, The Write Game, The Story of a Writer, Books for YA.

Before you hop off, please copy a tweet to tell friends about Ruby! Catherine will give you a big, grateful virtual hug.

YA future thriller, Ruby’s Fire is out! Come on her perilous journey. http://tinyurl.com/l6y6qem  #YA #kindle #hotread #romance #beachread


She escaped a dangerous cult, but why is Ruby’s blood turning green? http://tinyurl.com/l6y6qem #hotreads #beachreads #YAscifi #lovetriangle

Ruby's Fire, love triangle, escape from cult, bad drugs, mutations. http://tinyurl.com/l6y6qem
 #pageturner #YAscifi #kindle #newreads #romance

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal for Cherie Reich's Men of Foxwick

Men of Foxwick by Cherie Reich is now available! This fantasy short story collection features five men from the Kingdom of Foxwick.

A blind teen seeks a place in the kingdom. A dragon seer journeys to Wintermill to spy on the queen. A sword master’s worst fear comes true when he fails to protect the royal family. A king falls in love with an herb witch, but will she feel the same way? A hunter will rise to the challenge to hunt down a man-eating monster.

Short stories in this collection: Blind Scribe, Dragon Spy, Sword Master, Courting Magic, and Monster Hunter

To purchase: Amazon / Amazon UK / Smashwords / Kobo / Nook

Click here to add on Goodreads.

About the Author: A self-proclaimed bookworm, Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction writer, freelance editor, book blogger, and library assistant living in Virginia. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies, and her books include the horror series Nightmare, a space fantasy trilogy titled Gravity, and the fantasy series The Foxwick Chronicles. She is Vice President of Valley Writers and a member of the Virginia Writers Club and Untethered Realms.

Her debut YA Epic Fantasy novel Reborn, book one in The Fate Challenges, will be released on May 23, 2014.

For more information, please visit Cherie’s website and blog.

Also, Cherie has a special announcement for her email newsletter subscribers. Click here to sign up for her updates and receive a coupon for a free copy of Women of Foxwick.

Indie Life Wednesday-the art of revision

Today, for Indie Life, I'm talking about revision, that dreaded word, or not. As for me, I love it. I'd rather be polishing a draft than banging out the first, rough one. You need to learn to love it, ESPECIALLY as an indie author, because anything you put out into the world needs to be flawless--the plot, the grammar and punctuation, the characterizations.

Tools to help in this regard:

Scrivener: I love their virtual corkboard where you can endlessly rearrange a set of virtual Index cards that you create. If your eyes cross while staring at the cards, you can toggle between this and a more traditional line-by-line plot outline.

Upload your daily revision to your Kindle and read it with new eyes: It looks like a book, it reads like a book (well, an ebook), and you'll notice errors that you never saw when you read it on your screen or paper manuscript.

Nanowrimo: National Novel Writing Month, where you bang out a novel length manuscript in 30 days. It'll either break you or make you super strong (Or both?). You'll be amazed at how much you can write. No really! Now they even have July and August summer camp with virtual bunkmates.

Your writing group: get in one, trust them, and run everything by them. Only choose authors whose work you love and respect.

I'll leave you with a few awesome quotes from authors on the revision process:

“By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.” — Roald Dahl

“Don’t look back until you’ve written an entire draft. Begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in the edit.” — Will Self

“Mostly when I think of pacing, I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggests cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do.— Stephen King, On Writing

Wishing you a productive and creative revision process!
What's your most helpful revision tool?

Help celebrate Ruby's Fire launch, June 24-28

I've been busy, busy, busy getting Ruby's Fire illustrated, formatted and sent to my book designer. Now, it's time to plan the launch celebration! This is where you come in. If you'd like to help get the word out, sign up on the Simply Linked form below and I'll get you all of the elements for a post anytime during the launch week of June 24-28 (or even a few days later if you're booked that week). I'll be very happy and grateful to you! A giveaway of a Ruby's Fire ebook is part of the launch if you'd like to offer one to your readers. I'll have mobi and ePub files for Kindle and Nook. Just let me know who won what so I can send them their swag. On the launch week I'll post the links to the bloggers who are helping celebrate so people can go say hi. For book reviewers and book bloggers who are not around during June, consider signing onto my July/Aug tour through Xpresso (Banner link's on upper right side of this blog).
Sign up here to help celebrate the Ruby's Fire launch!