Welcome to the Internet Book Fair Blogfest 2011!!

Aloha readers, friends, and book browsers, and welcome to the Internet Book Fair Blogfest, or IBFB (I am tired of typing it out, lol)!

I hope you enjoy your browsing experience today. I know I have so far, and I'm not even CLOSE to done looking.

Without further ado, let me introduce my corner of this fine book fair...

 The Curse Girl ~ a YA paranormal/fantasy

What readers are saying:

"I stayed up till 3 in the morning to finish this book and then wanted to read it again as soon as I was done! I loved everything about this book--the heroine, the Beast, the magical elements, mystery and delightful romance." ~J. Jane, reader

"I bought this on impulse ... I'm SO glad I bought it and I loved the book." ~ Stacey Joy Netzel, reader/author

“This book has a little bit of everything in it and I absolutely loved it! There is the mystery of the riddle, intrigue, good vs. evil, love, betrayal, and no small amount of fantasy.” ~ The Caffeinated Diva review

Summary:

When Bee is imprisoned in a magical, cursed house because of her father's selfish choices, she has just one plan... escape! But she must solve a riddle and help her fellow prisoners break the curse that binds them all before she can leave, and that is proving more difficult than she originally thought thanks to the bitter young master of the house, Will.

Will wants nothing to do with Bee or her help (and he certainly isn't planning on falling in love with her), but he might have underestimated just how determined and clever--and irresistible--she can be.

A Super-short Excerpt!!!

He raked his gaze over me once. I felt like a package that had come in the mail, one in which the contents had turned out to be a slight disappointment.

“So you’re the Curse Girl,” he said finally, after a long pause. “The words of the curse spoke about a girl called Beauty, but I thought the line meant a beautiful girl.”

You can buy The Curse Girl for $2.99 at:

AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE, or SMASHWORDS!


But wait, there's more!

My newest book is a collection of linked short stories, Once Upon a Beanstalk. Think fairy tales with a dash of whimsey and a sprinkling of snark!

What readers are saying:

"If you like Shrek or any kind of fairy-tale mash-up, you'll enjoy this book. It's a quick read - I read it in one sitting. I love how the stories (there are three of them, the second one my favorite) blend together via reoccurring characters so you never feel you have to reboot, like you do with some short story collections." ~ J. Teekell

Summary:

In this humorous collection of fairy tale mashups combining modern day technology with fairy tale sensibilities, Rumpelstiltskin and Red Riding Hood are married and running a royal wedding planner venue, Rapunzel has been rescued from her tower and is about to start her happily ever after, and the Grimm Brothers are a group of notorious thieves who are forced to rescue a kidnapped princess in order to avoid execution.

A Super-short Excerpt!!

Nobody had thought Penelope would be capable of much when she’d first started with the police force (since she was technically a princess and all) but she’d proved everyone wrong. She was the best undercover agent they had now. Just last week she’d broken up a corrupt fairy godmother crime ring that was scamming hopeful girls into arrangements that were supposed to let them fall in love with princes. 

Penelope wondered—how many princes did people think were wandering around the kingdom, looking for love with every girl who lost a shoe in front of them?

You can buy Once Upon a Beanstalk for $0.99 at:

AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, or SMASHWORDS!



And lastly, here's a few of my fellow IBFBers whose selections I've browsed and found intriguing (so far):

The Weaver by Kai Strand

Chronicles of Caleath by Rosalie Skinner


Silent No More by Krista K. Hatch


Happy reading, and enjoy the rest of the Internet Book Fair Blogfest!!

Free Copies For Review and MORE!

YAY FOR FALL!

Happy Wednesday, all!

First things first:

Well, it's finally happening. Fall is circling Atlanta, trying to decide if it wants to stay or not. The days are getting darker, the humidity is beginning to dissipate, and the air is beginning to feel freshly laundered. My lawn is punctuated with a few golden leaves, the first of the season.

I cannot WAIT for October and November, for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because I have a few new books coming out at the end of this year.

(Okay, I have this weird thing were I don't like to talk about things because I worry that they won't happen, which is why I'm not going to go into great detail at the moment. Also, I am a fickle little author who changes her mind on projects a lot. That doesn't mean they won't *ever* happen, they just might happen later than I'd planned.)

But these books are both already written. I'm just ... tweaking them.

In the meantime, I would like to offer a free (digital) copy of Once Upon a Beanstalk to anyone who promises to write an honest review somewhere.

This offer is good for one week, so don't worry about who else might have contacted me. If you're interested, feel free to do so!

SOMEWHERE = Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, your blog, etc.*

Now I know some people prefer not to write reviews that can't be nice--that's fine too, although let me reiterate the honest thing. You are allowed to not like it. But I'm not going to hunt you down and force you to write a review if you read the book and decide you'd rather not. BUT I would really like you to consider it.

*Some sites do prefer it if you note that you received a free copy for review, so do note that if that is the policy. Also, if anybody wants to read my 1st book The Curse Girl free in exchange for an honest review, let me know and I will totally hook you up with a copy of that as well, because I'm feeling like giving stuff away right now for some reason! That offer is also good for 1 week.

These copies can be gifted through 1) Amazon (Kindle/PC reader) or 2) Smashwords (any format--epub, PDF, adobe reader, etc).

On to other things now! 

I read this great post by author Michael J Sullivan, and it made me laugh and go awwww all at the same time, which is rare and special. I think what he says is so true, especially the part about how one's spouse can really provide much-needed support for an author. OF COURSE not every author has a spouse, and not everybody needs that support, maybe. But I read this aloud to my husband because he's been there for me every step of the way, and I couldn't have done it without him.

This post by Amanda Hocking is from a few weeks ago, but it is so good that I wanted to share it anyway. I 100% agree with these sentiments (even though I'm not always upholding them, which must change) and I applaud her for expressing them so eloquently. I freakin' love Amanda Hocking, btw. She is so classy and cool and inspiring, and fame and fortune doesn't seem to have gone to her head at all. Anyway.

ALSO

This is the funniest thing ever.

Once Upon a Beanstalk is LIIIIIIIIIVE on Amazon!

The Amazon news:

*Tosses confetti*

Well, I'm excited.

Once Upon a Beanstalk appeared for sale on Amazon at $0.99 late last night. Today it was #53 in the top 100 Fantasy Anthologies on Amazon, which was pretty fun to see (but by the time I took a screenshot it had dropped to #59... boo).

So anyway, if you have a Kindle and like funny, twisty short stories ... head on over and check it out. Feel free to like it or tag it too ;-)

Anyway, it isn't available on Smashwords or Barnes and Noble yet (those files have not been formatted, but hopefully they'll be ready for upload by the end of the week!), but when it is I will be giving away a few free copies in exchange for honest reviews. I'll have more info about that later.

Other announcements:

I have gone ahead and changed my name to Kate Avery Ellison on GoodReads, Twitter, this blog, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords. I think that about covers it ... I am still searchable as Kate Ellison, of course, but this way the other author's books aren't showing up in the lists of mine.

Cover reveal of my new book!

I'm always a bit nervous to reveal cover art, because I have some followers on here who are professional artists and designers, and I've never taken a design class in my life.

Nevertheless, I AM pretty excited to share with you the cover art for my new book!

Once Upon a Beanstalk (And Other Fairy Tale Mashups) is a collection of humorous short stories. Rumplestiltskin and Red Riding Hood are married and running a royal wedding planner venue, Rapunzel has been rescued from her tower and is about to start her happily ever after, and the Grimm Brothers are a group of notorious thieves who are forced to rescue a kidnapped princess from a mobster giant. 

All the stories take place in the same world and involve characters met in previous stories.

I've truly enjoyed writing them and I can't wait to get the book formatted and released!