2009 Debutantes

To celebrate the posting of my brand-new book trailer for CANDOR (also below), I am hosting a Spread the Message contest!

Winners can score signed ARCs of CANDOR, signed hardcopies of CANDOR (when released), a $20 iTunes gift certif, and the CANDOR t-shirt of their choice.

Come check out the rules and the prize list at my website. Enter early and often! Contest closes at 8 PM ET on Saturday, July 25.

There are only a few weeks left until DONUT DAYS hits bookshelves, and to help aid the countdown I started a "six writers for six weeks until August sixth" series on my blog. Today, the lovely and talented Sarah Quigley, author of TMI, stops by to talk about redefining the exotic. And by redefining we mean Minnesota.

Yes, that Minnesota.

Leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 Dunkin' Donuts gift card, and stay tuned in the next few weeks for more authors and more prizes! Here's the lineup:

• July 16, Peter Jurich, author of the memior TYPING WITH ONE HAND, will talk about the process of self-publishing. With authors like Paul Young (THE SHACK) finding big success with their self-published books, Peter will give us insights on the pros and cons of making your book happen without a publishing house behind you. Comment for a chance to win a $10 Dunkin' Donuts gift card!

• Following that, on July 23, will be Jon Yang, the charismatic author of EXCLUSIVELY CHLOE. Jon is a dude. He’s cool. He plays basketball. He likes Star Trek. And he created the most girlie character I’ve read in a long time. So how’d he do it? And why? Well, Jon will tell you in his post about finding and following your true writing voice. And one lucky commenter to Jon’s post will win a free copy of EXCLUSIVELY CHLOE! And a $10 Dunkin' Donuts gift card!

• Then, you'll never guess who's next. Here’s a hint: her name starts with Melissa and ends with Schorr. That’s right, one of my fave authors evah, who penned the awesome book GOY CRAZY, will be part of the blog spotlight! Yay! And you guessed it, another $10 Dunkin' Donuts card is up for grabs.

• Last but not least is Rhonda Stapleton, author of STUPID CUPID, which launches in December 2009. Her witty, fabulous post will have you laughing, I guarantee. Girlfriend is hi-larious. Another $10 Dunkin' Donuts card giveaway.

Hope to see you over at larawrites.com! :)

I am so excited to share my book trailer with everyone!
The Uber talented Andie at Air Productions made it for me!! I <3 it!!





Please feel free to repost!! 

Just fyi that I'll be tweaking the Debs site for the next few days-- apparently changing the layout lead to it eating a lot of the customizations I did. I'm in the middle of drafting SWEETLY so it'll be a few days before things are shiny and new again, but nothing should be unusable :) Just quirky.

About Eyes Like Stars

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater. She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents. She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own. That is, until now. Where real fairies fly on wires and pirates sail the painted seas, Beatrice Shakespeare Smith will have to take Center Stage so that the next curtain call won't be the last.

About Lisa Mantchev

Lisa Mantchev wrote her first play in the fourth grade, and has been involved in the theater ever since. She has published numerous short stories, but Eyes Like Stars is her first novel. She lives with her husband, daughter, and four hairy miscreant dogs on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state.
 

Happy Debut 2009, Lisa!

 

About Secrets of Truth & Beauty

Secrets of Truth & Beauty -- When Dara Cohen was little, she was crowned Little Miss Maine. That was then. Now Dara's seventeen and she's not so little anymore. That's just one of her many problems. Another is that her control-freak mom won't get off her case about anything. Yet the one that hurts the most is the family secret: Dara has an older sister her parents tried to erase from their lives.

About Megan Frazer

Megan Frazer studied English literature and creative writing at Columbia University. She lives with her husband and baby in Maine, where she is a high school librarian. She loves cheese and cooking, and both of these make their way into Secrets of Truth & Beauty. She was not, however, ever in a beauty pageant.

Hey Debs Watchers!
If you're viewing this on the Debs domain site (www.feastofawesome.com) you may notice most of our images are down. This is because Photobucket is buckets of fail. Unfortunately, I'm at the beach being a pirate till Saturday evening, so if everyone could grin and bear it and visualize beautiful, luxurious images on the site until then, I'd be a happy pirate. Sorry for the inconvenience!


-Pirate Jackson SparkleBoots the Mighty

ETA: I changed the "style" of the site just to hold us over till Saturday! That elephant is for you. Just for you. Enjoy it.

About Fairy Tale

Morgan Sparks and Cam Browne are a match made in heaven. They've been best friends since birth, they tell each other everything, and oh yeah- they're totally hot for each other. But a week before their joint Sweet Sixteen bash, everything changes. Cam's awkward cousin Pip comes to stay, and Morgan is stunned when her formerly perfect boyfriend seems to be drifting away. When Morgan demands answers, she's shocked to discover the source of Cam's distance isn't another girl- it's another world. Pip claims that Cam is a fairy. No, seriously. A fairy. And now his people want Cam to return to their world and take his rightful place as Fairy King.

Determined to keep Cam with her, Morgan plots to fool the fairies. But as Cam continues to change, she has to decide once and for all if he really is her destiny, and if their "perfect" love can weather an uncertain future.

About Cyn Balog

Cyn Balog is a normal, everyday Jersey Girl who always believed magical things can happen to us when we least expect them. She's also the Race & Event Manager for several national fitness magazines. She lives outside Allentown, Pennsylvania with her husband and young daughter. Both are 100% human, or so she thinks. FAIRY TALE is her first novel.

We have the winners for our widget contest! Thank you to everyone who entered-- I was very excited to see the response. Must be all those great books, eh? I wanted to enter the contest myself.

The first place winner--and thus, the lucky one who gets first choice of the three prize packs:

http://floatinglush.blogspot.com/

(Sorry, I don't have your name!)



The Second Place winner--and thus, gets the choice of the two remaining prize packs is:

Wendy at http://omgitswendy.blogspot.com



And our Third Place winner, who gets the remaining pack of Awesome is:
Jess, at http://bookreviewsbyjess.blogspot.com/

Congrats, guys! I will be emailing you shortly.

We fired up the random number generator and the Random Number Gods have spoken!



branquignole

Congratulations! I will be contacting you for your mailing address shortly so we can get this Debsness bag into your hot little hands!

If you didn't win, don't despair! July 15, 2009 at 12:01am EST is your next chance to win. Who will get the bags with the bonus Tabasco lollies? What new treats will be added as the year goes on?

Stop back next 15th and find out! And thank you again for celebrating with us!!

I finally got Silver Phoenix in the mail and my gosh it is BEAUTIFUL! I had no idea it was going to be a green case, and really it is just lovingly put together. I keep patting it approvingly.

Plus I twittered about the three books I got, and seeeeveral people twittered me back that I simply must read Silver Phoenix first. Soooo, I think I shall.

Just some random Debs love for y'all! I am so far away but it is excellent when the post finally arrives - or when I get to go down to the shop and buyyyyyyy one. C'mon, UK publishers, hand me over more Debs...

Welcome back, friends! It's that time again- the time when the YA and MG authors of Debut 2009 give you a party in a bag- a Debsness bag! Each one is packed with more than thirty-five treats, delights, novelties and oddities! We keep getting new Debs, so we keep adding more prizes! Want to take a peek?

( Take a peek! )

And an extra sweet, ONE of these bags has a Bonus Tabasco Lolly in them. (We awarded the other one in May!!) If you're lucky enough to receive a Bonus Debsness bag, you'll win a FIFTY DOLLAR GIFT CERTIFICATE to the bookstore of your choice- as long as the bookstore of your choice sells gift certificates online!

Enter by leaving a comment in this entry. Anonymous and OpenID entrants, please include your name and an e-mail address where we may contact you if you're the winner. The winner will be chosen at random from all the entrants- but don't hesitate!

This post will be open from 12:01am EST until 11:59pm EST, June 15th, 2009 only! Your next chance to win one of these exclusive bags is a month away, so enter now! The winner will be announced Friday at noon!

Good luck, Happy Debsness, and thanks to all of you for celebrating our debut year with us!

***

Boring Small Print:

Anyone, anywhere is eligible! Entrants must be 13 years of age, or have their parents enter the giveaway for them. Debs and their immediate families are, sadly, ineligible to win. This means you, Snoop and Baxter, sorry. You may only win ONE Debsness bag, but winning a Debsness bag does not disqualify you from other Debs giveaways during the year.

About Prada and Prejudice

Fifteen year old Callie just wants to impress the popular girls when she buys a pair of Prada heels on her class trip to London. She didn’t plan on tripping, conking her head, and waking up in 1815! Now she’s wearing corsets with her designer pumps, eating bizarre soups, and breaking up engagements. If only the nineteen year old Duke of Harksbury wasn’t so bloody annoying, she might have a little fun in Austen-Era England…

About Mandy Hubbard

Mandy Hubbard grew up on a dairy farm outside Seattle, where she refused to wear high heels until homecoming—and hated them so much she didn’t wear another pair for five years. A cowgirl at heart, she enjoys riding horses and quads and singing horribly to the latest country tune. She’s currently living happily ever after with her husband (who, sadly, is not a Duke) and her daughter (who is most definitely a princess). Prada and Prejudice is her first novel.

About Paris Pan Takes the Dare

Twelve-year-old Paris Pan's life is a mess. She's just moved to a tiny town in Nowheresville, Oklahoma; her family life is a comical disaster; her new friends are more like frenemies; and the boy she has a crush on is a dork. Things couldn't possibly get worse, until she discovers that a girl mysteriously died years ago while taking a seventh-grade rite of passage–the Dare– right near Paris's new house. So when Paris starts hearing strange noises coming from the creepy run-down shed in her backyard, she thinks they could be a message from the ghost of a girl. But while she has no plans to make contact with the great beyond, her two new friends have other thoughts. Everyone who's anyone takes the Dare, and now it's Paris's turn.

About Cynthea Liu

Cynthea spent her formative years in Oklahoma and Texas where she was a Whiz Quiz member, an Academic Decathloner, and a spelling bee champion. (Yes, she was very popular.) After attending college on the East coast, she worked at a corporate job where she mastered PowerPoint and racked up thousands of frequent flyer miles. Eventually, she traded in her suit for sweats to do the fun stuff–writing for children.

The basics: Entrants host a Feast of Awesome widget on their blog, myspace page, website, etc. They comment on this entry with a link to where the widget is hosted, and are entered for one of three prize packs. (the first randomly drawn entrant will get first pick at their choice of prize pack.)


The Prize packs-- signed books/arcs, gift cards, and more!! 

The Big Paranormal/Fantasy Prize Pack:

 
Signed Books
DULL BOY by Sarah Cross
THE FOREST OF HANDS & TEETH by Carrie Ryan
THE DEMON'S LEXICON By Sarah Rees-Brennan
PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS by Michelle Zink
MUDVILLE by Kurtis Scaletta
SHADOWED SUMMER by Saundra Mitchelle
SILVER PHOENIX by Cindy Pon
YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME by Stacey Jay
GIVE UP THE GHOST by Megan Crewe
WINGS by Aprilynne Pike
GIFT CARD:
$15 iTunes Gift Card Donated by L.K. Madigan (FLASH BURNOUT)
 BONUS: 
A YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME T-Shirt (Size Large)
 



Contemporary or Realistic Fiction Prize Pack 1:

 
Signed Books:
MY BIG NOSE by Sydney Salter
HATE LIST by Jennifer Brown
MODELS DON'T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES by Erin Dionne
BREATHING by Cheryl Renee Herbsman
SLIDING ON THE EDGE by C. Lee McKenzie
THE GEEK GIRL'S GUIDE TO CHEERLEADING by Darcy Vance and Charity Tahmaseb
THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA by Cynthea Liu
SECRETS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY by Megan Frazer
STRUTS AND FRETS by Jon Skovron
Gift Cards
For the online book retailer of your choice
$10 donated by Erin Dionne(MODELS DON'T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES)
$10 Starbucks card from Kristina Springer (THE ESPRESSOLOGIST)
$25 donated by Kim Derting (THE BODY FINDER)
$15 iTunes Gift Card Donated by L.K. Madigan (FLASH BURNOUT) 



Contemporary or Realistic Fiction pack 2:


Signed Books:
PARIS PAN TAKES THE DARE by Cynthea Liu
PRADA & PREJUDICE by Mandy Hubbard
WINNIE'S WAR by Jenny Moss
JANE IN BLOOM by Deborah Lytton
WAITING TO SCORE by J. E. Macleod
THE SEASON by Sarah MacLean
LIPSTICK APOLOGY by Jennifer Jabaley
TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler
ONE WISH by Leigh Brescia
Gift Cards:
To the online book retailer of your choice: 
$20 from Lauren Bjorkman (MY INVENTED LIFE) 
$10 From Rhonda Stapleton (STUPID CUPID)
$10 Starbucks card from Kristina Springer (THE ESPRESSOLOGIST)
$15 iTunes Gift Card Donated by L.K. Madigan (FLASH BURNOUT)

The Rules and the Fine Print: Because our debuts happen throughout the rest of 2009, we must ask that you place your widget in a permanent location and keep it there until December 31st, 2009.

Sidebars on a blog work nicely, or if you are on livejournal and are not able to place it in a sidebar, the profile page or a static intro post at the top of your blog also works.

UPDATED RULE: This contest is open to residents of the US and Canada only, unless you have a US/Canadian shipping address available for the mailing. We are okay with international entries, as long as we are still shipping the prizes domestically-- so if you have a friend in the US to play middleman, you're in business. We apologize for this, but because of the sheer number of prizes we are awarding, postage will get out of hand quickly.

The winners will be determined by a random number generator.  Because this is a seperate giveaway from Debsness, you are not excluded from one if you win the other, so prior winners of debsness, please feel free to enter! 

To get the HTML code for the widget below, click the "share" button, and it will take you to a page with the embed code.

If anyone is having technical trouble, please feel free to comment with your question. The comment will be deleted prior to the drawing.

Contest is open until Noon PST on June 22, 2009!

And Finally, The Widget:

Hey Watchers!

Keep an eye on this space on Monday to find out how you can win one of three prize packs.

Check out this Feast Of Awesome!!!


The Big Paranormal/Fantasy Prize Pack:

 
Signed Books
DULL BOY by Sarah Cross
THE FOREST OF HANDS & TEETH by Carrie Ryan
THE DEMON'S LEXICON By Sarah Rees-Brennan
PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS by Michelle Zink
MUDVILLE by Kurtis Scaletta
SHADOWED SUMMER by Saundra Mitchelle
SILVER PHOENIX by Cindy Pon
YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME by Stacey Jay
GIVE UP THE GHOST by Megan Crewe
GIFT CARD:
$10 iTunes Gift Card Donated by L.K. Madigan (FLASH BURNOUT)
 BONUS: 
A YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME T-Shirt (Size Large)
 



Contemporary or Realistic Fiction Prize Pack 1:

 
Signed Books:
MY BIG NOSE by Sydney Salter
HATE LIST by Jennifer Brown
MODELS DON'T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES by Erin Dionne
BREATHING by Cheryle Renee Herbsman
SLIDING ON THE EDGE by C. Lee McKenzie
THE GEEK GIRL'S GUIDE TO CHEERLEADING by Darcy Vance and Charity Tahmaseb
THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA by Cynthea Liu
SECRETS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY by Megan Frazer
STRUTS AND FRETS by Jon Skovron
Gift Cards
For the online book retailer of your choice
$10 donated by Erin Dionne(MODELS DON'T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES)
$25 donated by Kim Derting (THE BODY FINDER)
$10 iTunes Gift Card Donated by L.K. Madigan (FLASH BURNOUT) 



Contemporary or Realistic Fiction pack 2:


Signed Books:
PARIS PAN TAKES THE DARE by Cynthea Liu
PRADA & PREJUDICE by Mandy Hubbard
WINNIE'S WAR by Jenny Moss
JANE IN BLOOM by Deborah Lytton
THE SEASON by Sarah MacLean
LIPSTICK APOLOGY by Jennifer Jabaley
TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler
ONE WISH by Leigh Brescia
Gift Cards:
To the online book retailer of your choice: 
$20 from Lauren Bjorkman (MY INVENTED LIFE) 
$10 From Rhonda Stapleton (STUPID CUPID)
$10 Starbucks card from Kristina Springer (THE ESPRESSOLOGIST)
$10 iTunes Gift Card Donated by L.K. Madigan (FLASH BURNOUT)

From my frosting to yours, Happy National Donut Day this Friday, June 5. Nom nom nom!

About The Demon's Lexicon

Nick and his brother, Alan, have spent their lives on the run from magic. Their father was murdered, and their mother was driven mad by magicians and the demons who give them power. The magicians are hunting the Ryves family for a charm that Nick's mother stole -- a charm that keeps her alive -- and they want it badly enough to kill again.

Danger draws even closer when a brother and sister come to the Ryves family for help. The boy wears a demon's mark, a sign of death that almost nothing can erase...and when Alan also gets marked by a demon, Nick is des-perate to save him. The only way to do that is to kill one of the magicians they have been hiding from for so long.

Ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Nick starts to suspect that his brother is telling him lie after lie about their past. As the magicians' Circle closes in on their family, Nick uncovers the secret that could destroy them all.

This is the Demon's Lexicon. Turn the page.

About Sarah Rees Brennan

Sarah Rees Brennan was born and raised in Ireland by the sea, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it's not called Gaelic) but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead. The books most often found under her desk were Jane Austen, Margaret Mahy, Anthony Trollope, Robin McKinley and Diana Wynne Jones, and she still loves them all today.

After college she lived briefly in New York and somehow survived in spite of her habit of hitching lifts in fire engines. She began working on The Demon’s Lexicon while doing a Creative Writing MA and library work in Surrey, England. Since then she has returned to Ireland to write and use as a home base for future adventures. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it.