AFTERGLOW Cover Reveal!

And the cover for AFTERGLOW (Wildefire #3) is....

 

And if you want to see the progression between the covers of the three books...

All three of these covers are thanks to the ever-brilliant Laurent Linn at Simon & Schuster. In case you're wondering, all of those flowers are real (photographed by Ashton Worthington); for AFTERGLOW, Laurent actually had fresh plumeria flown in from Hawaii.

What I love most about Laurent's work is that, rather than just settling for a cover that looked "cool," he went the extra mile to actually tell a story as you progress from panel to panel. Each flower also parallels Ashline's journey in that particular novel:

The lone black calla igniting in a field of ordinary lilies, just as Ashline experiences her own awakening as a goddess amongst mortals in WILDEFIRE.
One orchid struggles not to succumb to the primordial, earth-rending chaos around it, just as the scheming of a villainous trickster tears Ashline's world apart in EMBERS & ECHOES.
And finally the plumeria, still burning bright against the smoldering remains around it, just as...well, I guess you'll have to wait to read AFTERGLOW to get this connection.

Finally, I'll leave you with the tagline we've chosen for the inside cover of AFTERGLOW, along with the previous two, so you can see the progression from book to book.

WILDEFIRE: Every flame begins with a spark.
EMBERS & ECHOES: Every flame casts a shadow.
AFTERGLOW: Every flame can be extinguished.

AFTERGLOW hits bookstores November 12, 2013 (11/12/13), but you can catch up on the rest of Ashline's journey from mortal to reincarnated volcano goddess with WILDEFIRE and EMBERS & ECHOES.

EMBERS & ECHOES hits Bookstores; My Cat Hits the Bottle

So my new novel EMBERS & ECHOES, the sequel to WILDEFIRE, hits bookstores today. To celebrate, rather than blabber on about what the books are about for the 21,000th time ("Blah blah reincarnated Polynesian volcano goddess blah blahbaty blah"), I've decided to use a new method of self-promotion, and guilt trip the living shit out of you. That's right. For the purposes of this blog, I'd like to in all seriousness explain to you--

THE 5 REASONS WHY YOU'RE A DEPLORABLE HUMAN BEING IF YOU DON'T READ THESE BOOKS.

1) My cat can't afford a good substance abuse rehab program.
It started with him sniffing envelopes and eating old photographs as a kitten. Then he turned to catnip, which we all know is a gateway drug. We didn't truly acknowledge that he had a problem until we found him passed out and cuddling with a bottle of sangria at 9am. For every copy of WILDEFIRE and EMBERS & ECHOES we sell, he gets one paw-step closer to getting the help he needs.

2) I hid a penis joke in the acknowledgements.
No, I'm not kidding. Yes, it's there. But you have to know Norse mythology to get the joke.

3) If you don't read this book, you hate babies.
I dedicated this book to my adorable baby niece Victoria. If you refuse to read this book, Victoria is going to transform into the Hulk baby, throw her singing stuff octopus across the room, and up-turn her jumperoo. Do you want to be responsible for that kind of mayhem?

4) I have survived numerous attacks by bloodthirsty animals.
Some people think I can't possibly be bad-ass because I write young-adult fiction, but to them I say, "Oh really? Then how is it that I've survived attacks by

Bears

Inanimate Green Tigers

And a Lasercat invasion?"


















If you don't read these books, then the Lasercats have won.

And finally
5) I was recently traumatized by a roving gang of teenage girls.
It was late at night. I was walking alone in downtown Boston. And I encountered a group of feisty teenage girls who were playing a game where they would dare each other to run up to a random guy and whisper, "I want to carry your fetus!" into his ear. Then they would all run away giggling.

Traumatizing. Is this seriously the demographic I write for?

So there you have it. If you don't read these books, then you're just encouraging my cat's addiction to spiral out of control, and babies will transform into raging Cloverfield monsters, and tweens will roam the streets giggling about fetuses, and the Lasercats will win, and worst of all, obscure Norse mythological penis references will go unread. Is that the kind of world you want to live in? Then click the pictures below or the retailer links to the left.

EMBERS & ECHOES, Early Release?

So EMBERS & ECHOES doesn't technically come out for another week, but for those of you getting antsy... Barnes & Noble is already shipping it!

I'll do a more formal post and video next week, but for now here's the summary of EMBERS & ECHOES (Wildefire #2):

Every flame casts a shadow.

Ashline Wilde is about to discover that when you’re the reincarnation of a Polynesian volcano goddess, “new beginnings” are just a myth.

Leaving the fiery ruins of her sophomore year behind her, Ash travels to the sizzling beaches of Miami, hot on the trail of the little sister she’s only seen in visions. But her happy family reunion isn’t all palm trees and paradise. A cult of evil gods-on-earth, known as the Four Seasons, has kidnapped her sister to use in its terrifying new religion. Soon, the streets of Miami erupt in chaos and violence…and Ash gets caught right in the tropical crossfire

Ash isn’t without help, however. Unexpected romance arrives in the form of Wes, an Aztec god of night with his own vendetta against the Four Seasons. As memories of Ash’s previous life begin to flicker into her dreams, the boundaries between ally and enemy, life and death, and love and hate all bleed together. And when a mysterious trickster from her past reappears to derail her new quest, Ash must choose between the echoes of a once-forgotten yesterday and the embers of an uncertain future.

Because when old flames return from the dead, even a volcano goddess can get burned.

And for any new readers, you can find links to WILDEFIRE to the left!

Dear Teen Me or Deer Teen Me?

The folks over at Dear Teen Me invited me to write a letter to teenage Karsten. You can read the advice I gave myself here.

But let's be honest--you're really just clicking the link to see the awkward high school photos.

Stay tuned next month, when I'll be writing a letter to my teenage Bambi on "Deer Teen Me."

Author Seeks Valentine; Readers Seek Hiding Place

Hello friends.

Will you be my Valentine?

What if I gave you flowers and then let you spend time beneath my covers?

...Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm talking about book covers, you saucy minx.

In celebration of Valentine's Day, I've been given the green light to reveal not one, but TWO covers for you.

So without further ado, I give to you the cover to the WILDEFIRE paperback, and even more exciting, the cover to Wildefire's sequel, EMBERS & ECHOES.


























As you can see, the WILDEFIRE paperback remains mostly unchanged from the hardcover, but it has beautiful (and much larger) new font. And I'm absolutely in love with what Laurent has done with the EMBERS & ECHOES cover. The lonely orchid* maintains the flower theme from the original, while the igneous rock and scalding lava really say, "Hey, this book is about the reincarnation of a Polynesian volcano goddess. Read it or she'll burn you."

*Disclaimer: I am not a flowerologist, so I am only guessing that this is an orchid. For all I know, it could be a tumbleweed or a banana tree or a reclusive hamster rose. What I do know is that it's beautiful and exotic, and if I didn't have a track record of involuntary herbicide with every house plant I've ever owned, I would keep one on my desk.

Now that you've seen the cover, you're probably curious at this point where EMBERS & ECHOES will take Ashline Wilde, so a sneak peek at the flap summary...

~~~~~~

Every flame casts a shadow.

Ashline Wilde is about to discover that when you’re the reincarnation of a Polynesian volcano goddess, “new beginnings” are just a myth.

Leaving the fiery ruins of her sophomore year behind her, Ash travels to the sizzling beaches of Miami, hot on the trail of the little sister she’s only seen in visions. But her happy family reunion isn’t all palm trees and paradise. A cult of evil gods-on-earth, known as the Four Seasons, has kidnapped her sister to use in its terrifying new religion. Soon, the streets of Miami erupt in chaos and violence…and Ash gets caught right in the tropical crossfire

Ash isn’t without help, however. Unexpected romance arrives in the form of Wes, an Aztec god of night with his own vendetta against the Four Seasons. As memories of Ash’s previous life begin to flicker into her dreams, the boundaries between ally and enemy, life and death, and love and hate all bleed together. And when a mysterious trickster from her past reappears to derail her new quest, Ash must choose between the echoes of a once-forgotten yesterday and the embers of an uncertain future.

Because when old flames return from the dead, even a volcano goddess can get burned.

~~~~~

WILDEFIRE comes out in paperback August 21, 2012.

EMBERS & ECHOES hits bookstores August 28, 2012.

KARSTEN KNIGHT takes you out for a candlelit dinner on February 14, 2012...in your dreams.

Did He Just Say "Snealthily?"

After three months spent buried in revisions, I return to vlogging. I'm a little rusty. [Squeaky-squeaky-squeak]



As usual, this vlog will probably only make sense to parrots, dark matter particles, or members of the gourd family.

The Awkward Things We Say in Gchat: Part Two

So for the last four weeks I've been working hard to a) finish revisions on Embers & Echoes (Wildefire #2), which were due to my lovely editor Courtney last week, and also revise a side project I've been working on. All this revision has broken my brains and encroached on my blogging time, so to make up for my absence on here, I present to you more out-of-context awkward conversations I've had over Gchat and text this past month.

On Dreams
Me: Last night I had a dream that involved a cat/gazelle hybrid
Me: Like it was the size and general shape of a cat, but it had stripes and horns and long legs
Me: Also, it was the beginning of the apocalypse
Jill: There were monkeys in mine last night
Jill: And i was shopping for Chanel nail polish

On Partying like an Adult
Jessica: We should have been in a circle
Jessica: and introduced ourselves
Me: with nap mats
Jessica: and Motts
Jessica: they could sponsor the event

On Beauty Sleep
Me: I took four naps today
Me: Three of them were unintentional

On Mixology
Me: Did you just compare my favorite cocktail to a celebrity sex tape?
Holley: Maybe.

On Unusual Curses
Me: I hope you choked on the bread
Me: and that your ginger ale was flat

On Intentional Accidents
Me: I think that's one of the emails I accidentally ignored
Scott: You're mixing up "accidentally" and "intentionally" again
Me: I never can keep them straight...

On Decorating Elephant Saddles
Me: Can we decorate our own elephant saddles
Me: with glitter lace and sequins
Me: and rhinestones
Jessica: sounds like a lot of work
Jessica: but yes
Jessica: I mean you trust me with a hot glue gun?

On Accidental Grand Theft Auto
Me: I panicked on my walk back to the car because I thought it got towed
Me: but I just parked farther away than I thought
Me: either that, or I drove the wrong car home last night
Me: which is very possible

On French Braids
Jennifer: they do that because it'll hold her hair back during combat, not because it's an acceptable prom style

On Britney Spears
Me: No judgment
Me: You're talking to the guy whose beer pong theme song is Break the Ice

On Working Out
Jessica: You pick things up and put them down
Me: I pick things up and drop them on myself
Jessica: Why would you do that
Me: New fitness craze
Jessica: Oh like Cross Fit

On Power Tools
Me: I don't want to be anywhere near you when you are wielding a jigsaw

On Responsible Drinking
Me: You can take a shot of milk.
Lydia: With a cookie as a chaser.

On Being a Supportive Friend
Me: You would suck at online dating
Jessica: How are you so sure?
Me: Because you suck at it in real life
Jessica: Valid point

On Being Tall
Me: Let’s go to a bar where I don’t feel like Gulliver’s Travels when I sit down