Cover Reveal--THE RECKONING

Alright, y'all, I am so excited to do this reveal!  I feel like I've been waiting forEVER!  First, I want to tell you a little bit about how this AMAZING cover came to be.  One of the most incredible bloggers I've ever met, Amy Jacobs over at My Overstuffed Bookshelf, did a piece of fan art for The Reaping in the form of an alternate cover.  I absolutely adored it.  I'm posting it at the end of this reveal because this is all about The Reckoning.  Anyway, she did one for the sequel to The Reaping and it is by far my most fabulous cover ever!  I am so grateful to her for her kindness, her good humor, her talent and her sheer awesomeness.  I'm humbled to call her my friend.  Without further ado, I'm so proud to present to y'all the cover for THE RECKONING (available via Amazon and Barnes & Noble October 31, 2011)

Well??  What do you think?  Is that not the BEST COVER EVER??  I love, love, LOVE it!!  Can you tell?  hehe

THANK YOU SO, SO MUCH, Amy, for this amazing piece of art and for providing me with my most compelling cover yet. 

You can also see another of Amy's delicious gifts on my sidebar in the form of Sam and Dean Winchester.  RAWR!  You all should totally go check out her blog and follow this marvelous blogger, artist and person:)

Here's the one she did for The Reaping.  If I had seen this first, I would TOTALLY have used it!

YA Indie Carnival Post- My Favorite Character

It's that time of the week again, folks!  Open up because it's time for your much-needed dose of Carni fun again.  Strange how that happens on a regular basis, isn't it?  Hmm.  Just remember that our particular brand of delicious fun costs you nothing, is fat free AND calorie free, and it won't embarrass you in front of your friends.

Today's topic is :

Who is my favorite character to write about?

Well, of course I like writing about most of my characters, even the bad ones.  It's fun to slip into the mind of a villain sometimes--to deviously plot revenge, to be the one to throw a monkey wrench in the works and, most importantly, they always get the good evil laugh.  That can be amusing at times, especially if used appropriately.  But overall, if I had to pick one character that I enjoyed writing about the most (and I'm only including completed works, not WIPs or planned works) I would have to say...Bo. 

Bo is the male lead from my vampire series, Blood Like Poison.  I know he is most of my readers' favorite character and I think one of the reasons for that is how easily I can slip inside his head and write what he's feeling and how he would react to something.  I know how much he loves Ridley.  I know the lengths he would happily go to for her.  I know that he can't live without her.  I know that she makes him laugh and ache and grit his teeth and sigh. 

As I was thinking about Bo, I knew I wanted him to be a bit tortured, a bit conflicted and a lot in love.  I wanted him to be able to give Ridley that unconditional, whole-hearted love that we all dream about and that Ridley so desperately lacked yet needed.  I wanted her to know that he would walk through fire for her, that he would swim the oceans and search the world for her, that he would fight lions and vampires and zombies for her, and all because he loves her far more than he loves himself.  I wanted him to be incredibly selfless without being a martyr.  I wanted him to be intensely emotional without being a pansy.  I wanted him to be a warrior without being ruthless.  I wanted him to be all man, but all about love, too.  All about Ridley.  And I think, for the most part, he nailed it.  

To me, Bo is the ultimate guy--he's always the gentleman, the consummate lover, the fierce protector, the sweet comforter and the knight in shining armor.  Bo is like the most delicious dessert ever made.  And the cherry on top of it all?  He's HOT!  Like, so-hot-it-hurts hot:)  But why would he not be?  I mean, if I'm going to write about the perfect man, he might as well be perfect, right?  Right! 

If you've never met Bo, you really should.  And in the course of getting to know him, you can meet Lucius, the soon-to-be hero of my next book in that series.  He's shaping up to be just as fascinating as Bo, but in a totally different way.  He's a charmer and I think if I have to do a post again a year from now, he might be the character I would pick.  We'll see;)

Now for some announcements:

Rachel Coles has a new anthology called Beyond The Veil: A Ghost Story Anthology that will be available today on Amazon and Smashwords.

Darby Karchut's book, Griffin Rising, is a nominee for the 2011 Cybils Awards (YA fantasy).

Dani Snell will be having an interview with fellow carnie Kimberly Kinrade and a giveaway for her first book in the Forbidden series, Forbidden Mind.  Find that here http://refractedlightreviews.com/?p=2580

Our own Laura Elliott will be on tour with The Rain Boots Required Young Adult Authors talking about "The magic of magical realism."  She'll also be at Wordstock Oct 8-9.

Before you go, take a spin on the merry-go-round and check out some of my fellow carnies:

Dani Snell Refracted Light Reviews
Patti Larsen Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, The Hunted Series and the Hayle Coven Novels
Courtney Cole Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Nicole Williams Author of Eternal Eden, and Fallen Eden. She is also a contributing author in the Glassheart Chronicles
Fisher Amelie Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Laura Elliott Author of Winnemucca as well as 13 on Halloween, book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
Amy Jones Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Rachel Coles Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Whistles, Beergarden, Plagues, Bees of St. John, and Mushrooms
T.R. Graves Author of Warriors of the Cross
PJ Hoover Author of Solstice, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, The Necropolis
Alicia McCalla Author of the upcoming science-fiction novel Breaking Free
Heather Cashman Author of Perception
Abbi Glines Author of Breathe, and the upcoming Existence and Vincent Boys
Cheri Schmidt Author of Fateful, Fractured, and Fair Maiden
Lexus Luke Author of Manitou, The Sky People Saga
Suzy Turner Author of December Moon and Raven
K.C. Blake Author of Vampire Rules
Gwenn Wright Author of Filter
Kimberly Kinrade Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind
Darby Karchut Author of Griffin Rising and the upcoming Griffin's Fire
Madeline Smoot Author of Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
Cidney Swanson Author of Ripple series

TGIF and, as always, happy reading:)

YA Indie Carnival Post- My Dream Cast

Step right up, folks!  Come get your daily dose of carni fun!  No cabbage here, but some of us have small hands.  I thank you!  (That was my tribute to Austin Powers, for those of you who don't get my strange humor)

First of all, let me tell you that I'm so glad to be back on the merry-go-round!  Woohoo!!  I enjoy participating in these posts and I'm determined to make plenty of time to do other things this fall, things that don't include stressing about sequels:)  So, here I am!  LOL  These posts are always so much fun to write.  Well, except this one.  This topic, the first back-to-the-funhouse question, is probably the hardest thing in the world for me to write about. 

Who is my dream cast for the book I'm currently working on?

What a loaded question!  Currently, I am working on the sequel to The Reaping.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to title it The Reckoning.  Now, for those of you who haven't read The Reaping (you should go get it right this minute!!  hehe), it is a bit darker than my usual and the characters are always into something, which makes me think that they'd need to be played by actors capable of pulling off action-packed scenes.  But these guys are also HOT!  Carson is beautiful and strong-willed, determined and, at times, very self-less.  Derek is loyal and protective, but he's also breathtakingly handsome and fully loaded with that devil-may-care, dangerous bad-boy charisma.  Do you know how hard it is to find someone in Hollywood to fit that bill?  It's very, very hard!  And I've tried.  I've been asked this question a million times about all my books and I never have good answers. 

In the beginning, I picked people who were hot enough to play the roles, but I was just never happy with those choices.  There is so much more depth to Carson and Derek, depth that I simply can't pinpoint by looking at headshots and watching actors play other roles.  I've often laughed about copping out of this question in interviews, stating that I would leave it up to the worldly casting director (as long as I had veto power, of course).  I think they, in all their infinite wisdom, often see things that the rest of us don't.  At least not initially.  I've often thought, "What?  That's a terrible choice for__________!"  But almost just as often, I find that I'm thrilled with the decision after I've seen the people in action. 

So, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to disappoint you.  I have no clue who could bring star power and life to Carson and Derek.  I believe it can be done.  I also believe that I'd know it when I saw them.  I think they would jump right out and grab me by the front of the shirt and never let go.  And that's all that I ask of my characters.  That's all!  hehe.  No pressure.

Before you go, here's a sneak peek at what I'm working on:

Shadows flexed all around me as I made my way down the deserted street.  Long, black fingers stretched into the light—reaching for me, straining toward me—only to shrink quickly away, receding into the ocean of darkness.  They could no longer touch me, no longer get close to me.  They just didn’t know why.

Instinctively, I knew they wanted to hurt me, to envelope and smother me.  They wanted to curl their dark digits around my throat like a collar of death and squeeze until there was no life left in my body.  But they couldn’t.  My light, though not visible to the human eye, was too bright.  The shadows could not hold their form against it, against me.   They could not abide the white, shining soul of Heaven’s reaper.

--The Reckoning, coming October 31, 2011

Lastly, there are a couple of announcements about my fellow Indies and they are:

Gwenn Wright's The Von Strassenberg Saga. Dani just released (and designed!) the official cover for BlueStocking Girl! Here's a link to Gwenn's awesome video:
http://hereventuality.blogspot.com/2011/08/von-strassenberg-sagaa-reading.html

Laura A. H. Elliott's 13 on Halloween new release! Book trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksO8iGOhc5s
Excerpt here:
http://laurasmagicday.wordpress.com/13-on-halloween-excerpt/

Don't miss all the other carnies.  You can find them here:

Dani Snell Refracted Light Reviews
Patti Larsen Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, The Hunted Series and the Hayle Coven Novels
Courtney Cole Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Nicole Williams Author of Eternal Eden, and Fallen Eden. She is also a contributing author in the Glassheart Chronicles
Fisher Amelie Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Laura Elliott Author of Winnemucca as well as 13 on Halloween, book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
Amy Jones Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
Rachel Coles Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Whistles, Beergarden, Plagues, Bees of St. John, and Mushrooms
T.R. Graves Author of Warriors of the Cross
PJ Hoover Author of Solstice, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, The Necropolis
Alicia McCalla Author of the upcoming science-fiction novel Breaking Free
Heather Cashman Author of Perception
Abbi Glines Author of Breathe, and the upcoming Existence and Vincent Boys
Cheri Schmidt Author of Fateful, Fractured, and Fair Maiden
Lexus Luke Author of Manitou, The Sky People Saga
Suzy Turner Author of December Moon and Raven
K.C. Blake Author of Vampire Rules
Gwenn Wright Author of Filter
Kimberly Kinrade Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind
Darby Karchut Author of Griffin Rising and the upcoming Griffin's Fire
Madeline Smoot Author of Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls

Come Spend a Weekend in Savannah!

Several other Indie authors and I are going to be spending the weekend of October 28-30 in Savannah, GA.  We'll be hanging out with fans, doing a meet-and-greet dinner, enjoying a haunted tour, signing books and having a great time in general.  There is a website that is in the process of being established for the event.  You'll be able to find out all the information there.  Until then, below I'm posting the other authors who will be attending, the hotel where we'll be staying (you can use the link to make reservations for yourself because you'll be eligible for the group discount, too) as well as the haunted tour we're going to take.  The event website will have an itinerary and more information, but I thought I'd go ahead and post a few things so that any of you who would like to come can begin making arrangements to do so. 

Okay, so far the authors are:

Me;)
Fisher Amelie
Abbi Glines
Tiffany King
Wren Emerson
Laura Elliott
Amy Jones
CA Kunz
Trisha Wolfe

The Marriott that has been gracious enough to host us and give us the group discount is HERE

The haunted tour page is HERE.  They are giving our rowdy group, including all of you who want to come with us, a private tour at a discounted rate.

The Pirate House for the meet-and-greet dinner is HERE

You should really consider coming on down and joining us!  I foresee 48 hours of pure fun and awesomeness!

Until we can get the website up, if you have questions e-mail me at m.leighton.books@gmail.com.  Hope you can come!!

BLP 3 is available for download!

Because both Amazon and B&N allow themselves 24-72 hours for publication, I always upload early just in case it takes the full 72 hours.  Well, in this case, Amazon is totally on the ball.  I uploaded it last night at 10 or 11 pm so that it would be ready by Monday morning, but this morning I started getting e-mails that some of y'all had already found it and downloaded it.  It's LIVE, y'all!  WOOHOO!  So,below is the link for Amazon and I'll update this post with the B&N link when it goes live there. 

Update:  It went live on B&N in the late afternoon.  The link is below.

Happy reading!  I hope you enjoy all the Bo:D  Squeeee!

Amazon and B&N

Blood Like Poison Book 3 Cover Reveal

Well, I had so many questions about the cover for BLP book 3 that I decided to go ahead and do it early. I'm unveiling it today with the announcement that the book will be available for download on September 5, 2011 at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Sooooo, *drum roll please*  here it is!

Please leave me your thoughts via comment or e-mail.  Y'all know how much I love to hear from you:)

Have an awesome Sunday, a great week and, as always, HAPPY READING!

Giveaway Winner

Congratulations, Brianne Smith!! 

The winner of the Day of the Giveaways contest was randomly selected yesterday and the recipient has claimed her prize, which means that the contest is officially over. 

I'd like to thank everyone who participated.  I was thrilled to get so many e-mails and comments.  Y'all are the best!  THE BEST, I say!  I SOOO appreciate your support, your enthusiasm, and your encouragement.  I never would have dreamed that I'd have so many wonderful readers and I'm incredibly humbled by and thankful for every single one of you.  I love, love, LOVE getting your comments and messages.  Keep 'em coming and I'll keep the books coming:)

Happy reading!  I'm off to see a man about a vampire:D