Universally Yapping

Happy Hump Day! The middle of the week is always nice -- the uphill struggle to get to mid-day on Wednesday, and then the lovely downward slide towards the weekend begins. But, as always, we have a lot going on, so let's hump on over to it.

For today's stop on the Universal Alien Top 10 Blog Tour, we have something a little different. Head over to Lu's Buchgefluester where there's a new interview with yours truly. She asks some new questions, too, so don't miss it even if you've read the yap before. As with all the other stops, you can win a copy of any one of the first 9 books in the Alien series, signed and personalized, and open internationally. This is a German blog, but the interview and giveaway portions are in English, so don't give up when you hit the first paragraphs (unless you also read and speak German, which many of the Alien Collective do, in which case, enjoy it all) and keep on down to the interview and contest entry information.

There are still more Tour stops to come, and you can still get entered to win at the prior stops as well. Some of the contests end SOON, so hurry up and get entered to win so you don't miss out!

Top 10 Blog Tour Stops
11-10 Pearls Cast Before a McPig, contest ends Nov. 28th
11-11 Larissa's Bookish Life, contest ends Nov. 18th
11-11 Feeling Fictional, contest ends Nov. 30th
11-11 Gizmo's Reviews, contest OVER, winner announced
11-12 A Buckeye Girl Reads, contest ends Nov. 18th
11-13 Bibliognome, contest ends Nov. 18th
11-14 boeklogboek, contest ends Nov. 25th
11-17 Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell contest ends Nov. 30th
11-18 I Smell Sheep, contest ends Nov. 25th
11-19 Lu's Buchgefluster, contest ends Nov. 28th
11-20 Under the Covers
11-21 Word of the Nerd
12-01 Books-n-Kisses
12-01 Readaholics Anonymous
12-02 Smart Girls Love Sci Fi

Speaking of contest ending soon, today is the last day to get entered for the fantastic prizes that awesome author Caris Roane (http://www.carisroane.com/celebrate/) is giving away for her big Celebration Event. Prizes are from a host of cool authors, including moi, Erin Quinn, Erin Kellison, and Jennifer Ashley, to name only about a 1/3 of the authors who have bookie wookies up for grabs. So don't miss out, get entered to win right now!

Sensational Six is available now, for the amazingly low price of $0.99, for a limited time, anyway. Yes that means it won't stay this price forever. So don't delay, get your set today! And remember, at this price, it's a great way to give someone a Thanksgiving or early holiday present that they'll love without killing your own wallet.

What's in the set? Six great stories from seven authors -- Six Gals and a Guy -- including The Night Beat, Necropolis Enforcement Files #1, along with an extra-long excerpt of Night Music, Necropolis Enforcement Files #2. And right now, this boxed set is the only place where you can get both The Night Beat and the Night Music excerpt, and since you can get them both AND five other awesome stories for less than a dollar, there's really no reason not to race out and grab them right now! And to make it easy for you, here are all the buy links ('cause I'm a giver, me).

Kobo
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon Canada
Amazon Australia
iTunes
Barnes and Noble

Speaking of Night Music, and just to prove that it's really coming to you in early 2015, head on over to my Premieres page where you can see the worldwide unveiling of the cover! Yes, once you have a cover, you know it's real, and it's really real!

The Sensational Six Blog Tour is also in full swing. Details for all stops are here at the Blah, Blah, Blah, Blog (see posts below). Every stop has prizes and there's a gigantic grand prize, too, so definitely get entered to win. And if that's not enough, there's a big party on Facebook this Thursday, Nov. 20th, aka tomorrow, starting at 3pm EST. RSVP now so you don't miss out because, of course, there's going to be authors chatting and prizes being handed out the entire time!

Already got Sensational Six? Already read some or all of the stories in the set? Do all Six Gals and a Guy a favor and leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, or Goodreads. Review (like pre-orders) help books and authors tremendously, and right now, Sensational Six needs reviews!

That's it for today but, as always, more's on the way. So enjoy the beginning of the downward slide to the weekend, and let's be winning and reviewing readers out there!

Love,
Gini

Thursday's Lovers

Made you look. (See? I don't pull the double entendres out JUST on Hump Days. You've been warned.)

Well, the downward slide towards the weekend has really begun. But before we get there, there's still lots going on. So, let's get to it!

First off, head over to the next stop on the Necropolis Blog Tour. Check out the latest excerpt at Book Lovers Inc. and while you're there, be sure to enter to win a copy of The Night Beat.

Speaking of winning, the first blog to announce a winner is Bibliognome. Check it out to see if you're the lucky winner!

Then see what The Peasants Revolt thought of The Night Beat. 

Be sure to hit all the other stops on the Tour -- you can enter to win a copy at each stop, and increase the ol' odds of winning exponentially. If you've missed a stop, get caught up at Invasion of the Blog Tour, including: Stop 5/Ex Libris, contest ends Sept. 21; Stop 6/Pearls Cast Before a McPig, contest ends Sept. 29; Stop 8/A Buckeye Girl Reads, contest ends Sept. 28; Stop 9/Hanging with Bells, contest ends Sept. 25; Stop 10/The Peasants Revolt, contest ends Sept. 27; and Stop 11/Sara's Urban Fantasy Blog, contest ends Sept. 29.

Now it's time for my belated CopperCon recap. CopperCon happened over Labor Day weekend, and while goes for four days, it's a smaller, relaxed con, so it's very vacation-like. For a smaller con it was loaded with panels, meaning I didn't get to panel with everyone I'd have liked to. BUT, I did get to panel with Marsheila Rockwell, Jordan Summers, Saul Garnell, and Thomas Watson, along with non-authors Brian Duncan aka the Movie Whiz, and Geologist and bio-hazard waste specialist Kay Pannell who you want with you when the zombie apocalypse hits -- all of which were tons of fun. I also got to hang out with a variety of cool authors including David Lee Summers, T.L. Smith, and Janeen O'Kerry, and some wonderful Members of the Alien Collective in Very Good Standing.

I also got to get to know awesome author James A. Owen better. Yes, it's true -- he really IS the nicest man in the world, and that's saying something, because I know a lot of nice men. (Insert whatever joke you want here.) If you get a chance to see him, don't miss it. Though I don't recommend seeing him right before you have to do a panel (especially not a Writing Erotica panel) because your audience looks at you funny when it appears you've been crying over someone's awesome life story. Hey, it's a really moving, follow your heart and your gut story. *sniffle*

Because of scheduling, I missed the opening ceremonies, which was disappointing because my friend Colette Vernon won CopperCon's short story contest and I'd wanted to cheer when she got her prize. (I had her sign my program and she forgave me.) I also missed the masquerade, meaning that I've seen a total of 1 masquerade -- at the first con I ever attended -- in all the time I've been going to cons (um, about 3 years). I liked the one I saw. One day, perhaps I'll get to see another one, but CopperCon was not that day.

Bottom line: a lovely time was had by all and I left the con feeling refreshed and ready to get back to writing, and really, you can't ask for more than that.

Well, that's it for today, but more's on the way. So keep your eye on the weekend prize and let's be readers out there!

Love,
Gini

Releasing the Roundup

Happy Release Day!

Yes, today's the big day for Alexander Outland: Space Pirate by G.J. Koch. If you didn't get a pre-order, get an early release copy at Phoenix Comicon, or score a free copy somewhere during the first part of the Blog Tour, now's the time to get those ebooks or head to the bookstore to get your copies!

But as my Hook Me Up! subscribers already know, there's more going on than just the release of Alexander Outland: Space Pirate. Much more, as a matter of fact.

First up, let's check out some reviews. Head over to Ramblings From a Chaotic Mind to see what she thought of Alexander Outland: Space Pirate, go to A.B. Keuser to see what she thought of Alien Tango, and then check out My Not So Vacant Shelves to see what they thought of Alien in the Family.

For those of you on Goodreads, Member Buddy Reads is starting Touched by an Alien this month. And for those of you on Library Thing, check out what Roni 'ncats Relishes is reading and has read for 2012.

Speaking of new releases, My Bookish Ways has a good listing of books releasing this month.

Speaking of older releases, Long and Short Reviews is having a contest for the book that sounds the best from their reviews done in March, April and May. The Disciple by Jemma Chase (yes, as with G.J. Koch, that's moi) is trailing a distant third *sniffle* so if you can spare a moment to go over and do your girl a small solid by voting, it'd be most appreciated.

Now it's time for my Phoenix Comicon roundup. The con was, in a word, awesome. I was on 8 panels, and they were all well attended with really interesting and involved folks in the audience. My favorite was probably Evening Erotica, which I did with Jordan Summers, because we played The Euphemism Game and it was so much fun, with a really involved, fun, and funny audience.

The Balancing Humor and Action panel was also fun, but I'll let the gang over at I Smell Sheep tell you all about that one. I also quite liked the audience participation in the Beyond the Fangs panel (and I must give a wild shout out to our Official Gangsta Fairies, Edward and Joseph, whose quick wit and reactions really made that panel for me).

The Space Pirates panel with David Lee Summers was also very fun. And if you haven't checked out David's space pirate books, you really should. I got to panel frequently with Jordan, my BFF Marcy Rockwell, and Kris Neri, hey, 8 panels means you get to hang with your homegirls, which was a lot of fun for us and for those in the audience. I also got to meet and panel with totally fun dude Joe Nassise for the first time.

Marcy and I also participated in a critique session that was really great -- some awesome aspiring authors read from their works and got us basically saying they were, um, pretty darned awesome. LOL It was a real joy to see how good everyone's pieces were, and how professionally they accepted constructive criticism. There will be some great new voices coming up in SF/F in the not-so-distant future.

There were tons of great costumes, too many to list here, but the con has them all and more besides at the website and Facebook page. And it was awesome to see so many of the Alien Collective -- including but not limited to Adrian, Lisa, Raul, Terry, Hal, Dee, Rachel, Shannon, "Hundred Dollar Bill", Heidi, Joanne, Mariann, Colette, "Delicious", Saul, Joel, Casey, and so many more I'm not able to list them all without making this double in size, but love you ALL and so glad you came and stopped by the booth, attended my panels, and hung out! And extra special love to all of you who bought books (oh, so many books!), swag, and Royal Poofs (who are all very pleased with their new homes).

To sum up, I'm going to let the chicklet, via 2DrinkMinimumShow tell you all about it. (Yes, she is a chip off the old block!)

UPCOMING IN PERSON REMINDERS:
June 12, Queen Creek Writer's Group, Queen Creek, AZ: SF Worldbuilding, 5-8pm
June 20, Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, San Diego, CA: Split Personality Summer Solstice Signing, 7:00-8:30pm
July 11-15, San Diego Comic-Con, San Diego, CA:
     Saturday, July 14, Guerrilla Marketing, 8pm, Room: 9
     Sunday, July 15, Stunted Fools and Scary-Ass Clowns, 10:00-11:00a.m., Room: 25ABC
     Sunday, July 15, BOOK SIGNING, 11:30am-12:30pm, Room: Under the Sails (final location TBD)

Whew! That's it for today, but never fear, more's always on the way. So, get those copies of Alexander Outland: Space Pirate, and enjoy the reading!

Love,
Gini