Friday, September 16, 2011

Friday Freebies 9

I'm really bummed. It was my birthday yesterday, and a bunch of stuff was stolen from my car. Important things too. So I found a bunch of giveaways, but I did not have as many as I like to have. There are even some probably that I read about this week that I missed. Can you guys forgive me? It's my birthday, and I'm inviting you to my pity party. Who doesn't like someone begging for pity? Oh...wait...heh. Okay, who can forgive a girl begging for pity? Some of you! Maybe all? We hope so. Anyways, the contests.

Win Books or Agent Prizes : This new blog is celebrating by offering prizes from agents and some cool books. All my favorite things.

Free Books : My lovely friend Cherie is giving away a couple books. I do like free books.

Author Spotlight : My last post (thus the lack of link) has a chance to get spotlighted on my blog. Not a big thing, but with so few comments on my blog entries your chances are high.

Okay, well I'd keep my pants on but someone stole them...you guys do it for me. Good luck in all you're working on, because your good news would cheer me up. Do you have any for me?

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Automatically Awesome Author (with prizes :O )


Why is this author automatically awesome? Because he's on my blog of course. I've offered as a consolation prize in my blog contest: an author spotlight. Yay!

So first we have a bit about our special guest: TIM CODY

Tim Cody:

Hopelessly optimistic; bright and sunny coating with a dark and twisted interior.

A lot of writers claim that they aren't “typical writer-types,” but Tim Cody has yet to meet a fellow writer as into the nerd trifecta as himself. Video games, anime, and comic books are as much his passions as writing, and as such he uprooted his life in 2009, moving from Delaware to Seattle, Washington to pursue a day job in the video game industry.

After working at the likes of Nintendo, Microsoft Games Studios, and Sucker Punch Productions, he considers himself to be one of the very few, if not the only, optimists in the video game industry. He firmly believes that if you work hard a

nd truly attack your dreams head-on, you may eventually achieve some of them—hopefully some of the better ones, too.

Many don't suspect that such a sunny disposition would be capable of weaving tales so wicked they infect and warp kind souls' dreams for weeks on end. The tragic, heartbreaking protagonists and the terrifying, twisted demons that roam the pages of his books betray his outward appearance, often catching readers off guard. But soon they all learn the truth: Lurking just beneath the friendly smile and lighthearted humor is a truly surreal and twisted carnival of visceral and fear-inducing images sure to rob your nights of many winks.

The first installment of his young adult supernatural horror series, Crimson Soul, was published in April 2011. He is currently working feverishly on its sequel and would very much like for you to read it. :)

Next up, we have a bit about what Tim's writing and other projects.

Every writer needs their muse. Mine happens to be a PlayStation 3 named Sebastian Mk.II.

I haven't encountered many writers as willing as myself to admit that a primary source of inspiration for their writing comes from video games. Perhaps it's a belief that video games aren't for serious storytelling, or perhaps there just aren't too

many serious writers who are also serious about video games.

However, a bulk of my inspiration for writing horror does indeed come from horror video games—as opposed to other horror books, or films. Games such as Silent Hill, Siren: Blood Curse, Fatal Frame, they're terrifying video games that tell amazing stories. They get horror right, they know their themes: The fear of isolation, abandonment, the sense of absolute panic you experience when something normal is suddenly weird—there's so much in them to inspire a writer, especially of horror. Incorporating these classic and ever-important themes into my own writing in a way that is fresh and exciting is always a good time.

Video games may be easy for a lot of writers to overlook since they're not exactly a “traditional” medium, but the stories they weave rival that of any novel. The deep lore of the sleepy town of Silent Hill, the often heartbreaking yet awe-inspiring war story of Valkyria Chronicles—interactive storytelling at its absolute best; a great, largely untapped source of inspiration.

There's something peculiar about responding to fear by moving toward it instead of away, and something special to be said about those who can elicit such a reaction. I'll never forget the sense of fear inspired by those key scare moments in my favorite games. Standing in a bathroom in Silent Hill and watching the walls bleed and decay all around me; the eerie feeling of absolute discomfort that was a result of watching a woman staked to a sacrificial altar as children sung a creepy nursery rhyme. It's that moment for which horror writers strive. For that moment

when someone says “This is terrifying and going to give me nightmares, but I have to know what happens next.”

These moments, when the audience is captivated and uncomfortable, disgusted yet they can't look away despite the fact they have complete control, this is what I strive for in my writing—to lure the reader willingly ever deeper down a dark and twisted road, inhabited by that which we fear most.

If you're down with the nerd trifecta, writer or non, or if you just want to check out a writer who tweets at least one random thought a day, feel free to drop me a line at @Tim_Cody. You can also help to expand by burgeoning ego by visiting my

blog, www.tim-cody.blogspot.com. Thanks for tuning in, everyone, and remember: Stay scared!

Crimson Soul, by Tim Cody (also available via Barnes and Noble and Smashwords): http://www.amazon.com/-

/e/B005ETT36E

Just to wrap it up, I asked my new pal Tim (he doesn't know we're pals yet, but we are.) what kind of suspenders he would have and what he thinks that says about himself. So here's where the prizes come in. I'll tell you what kind of suspenders he picked, and you tell me what that says about him. Whoever gets either a) the closest to his answer or b) the most creative, gets their own author spotlight. Hopefully, that's awesome enough for you guys to come up with something really great. So what did Tim answer?

"My suspenders would be made out of taffy."

Okay guys, have at it. What does taffy suspenders say about Mr. Cody?

Friday, September 9, 2011

Friday Freebies 8

Books, books, books. Gotta love free books. And I've found some for you. Lots of em. Good luck my pantslings. Ugh, no, that's a bad name for you all. How about my B.S-err no. Just no. I'll think of something. In the mean time, I hope you win (but not enough to give you my books if I do! MINE!)

GIFT CARDS, BOOKS, ETC. : She's got a lot of prizes. And a rafflecopter widget! So she must be cool.

TWO BOOK GIVEAWAYS : I want The GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS sooooo bad. So you can enter the other one. Or give me your copy if you win! :D

MORE BOOKS : I dunno which books you get, but free books are always awesome. Plus, I'm biased towards this contest (this is the blog that got me a full request. <3 )

NOOK COLOR : Okay...I want this for my birthday. Also books to put on it. All good.

1000 FOLLOWERS : Am I jealous? Yes, yes I am.

600 FOLLOWERS : Still jealous. Though, I do love you guys who do follow me. Can you increase by a factor of ten somehow?

SHATTER ME : I dunno why, but I'm susceptible to advertising. I think this book will be good. So winning it would also be good, and I like good. So...umm...good!

As always, your pants should stay on people. I'm looking at you pants-less guy.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Episode 4: Breathing Underwater


SUMMARY OF SCENE

Someone's pounding on the door. They probably heard the fire alarm. I grab my burned cards and dive out the window.

I seem to have forgotten this bar is on a boat. SPLASH! Oh well, I can hide in the water. I grab a reed and dive down. If the movies have told me anything, this should be super easy.

MY HYPOTHESIS

I figured the hardest part would be being deep enough to be hidden and not be seen. I never imagined breathing would be the biggest pain in the butt. (The straws aren't long enough to cause suffocation at least.)

ACTUAL OUTCOME

Yeah, as I said. Breathing was a huge pain in the butt. Figuring out how deep I was and how deep I could go was a pain in the butt. Staying under was a pain in the butt. Basically, my butt was sore!

CONCLUSION OF SCENE

I dive under and try to breath through my reed, but water keeps going up my nose. I start to panic and breathing becomes harder and harder. Great, now I'm panicked and I have a crappy hair cut. Could this day get any worse?

DETAILS

Whenever I went under, I got water up my nose. So the best way to breath was to bend the straw and start breathing through it BEFORE I went under. The other issue was how visible I was. Seriously, I needed some real reeds to hide.

To be honest, I got a little panicky with so little air, focusing on so much, and trying to stay underwater. Normally I have no problem sitting underwater, even when holding my breath. This time I did. I'm ashamed. But at least my little bro was there, so he showed me up.

Keep your pants on guys!

P.S. My bro is AVAILABLE ladies.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Friday Freebies 7

Well, I think my first contest was a big success! Thanks to everyone who participated. We're going to have TWO author spotlights coming up. So look forward to those (squeal in girlish delight if you're into that sort of thing; I know I am.)

Unfortunately, I've been away and mostly without Internet, so I haven't found as many freebies for you this week. And I'm late. Can you forgive me? Please?

I did find the following:

HUGE PRIZE PACK GIVEAWAY : They're giving away a ton of books, crits, and other goodies. With owls on them! Awesome.

A NEW YA BLOG : And they're giving away stuff. This is YA Contemporary only (though they still love us other YA writers. They just aim the blog at contemp. stuff.)

On the plus side, both of those giveaways should be big enough to make up for my slacking. Right? RIGHT?