Teaser Tuesday - Soulless

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme that was started by MizB from Should Be Reading.

If you would like to participate in Teaser Tuesday, all you have to do is take the book that you are currently reading and open it to any page. Then you choose any two (2) sentences from that page to share with the rest of us!

*Be careful not to include spoilers and make sure to include the book title and author.



Soulless by Gail Carriger (pg. 162)

"That is a bite mark, my Lord," she said, pleased her voice was not shaking, though it was a little deeper than usual.

Lord Maccon was ever more enraged."Who bit you?" he roared.

Alexia tilted her head to one side in utter amazement. "You did." She was then treated to the glorious spectacle of an Alpha werewolf looking downright hangdog.

Vancouver

I'm sure that many of you are familiar with Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. The easiest way to describe it is "winter depression", which is said to happen because the sun is not out as long during the day and therefore people don't get enough of the healthy stuff that the sun provides.

For myself peronally, I say it's not lack of sun...it's lack of color. I am not really a big sun fan...despite having native blood in me, I am the whitest person you will probably ever know. My Dad goes brown after 10 minutes in the sun. Me...I never have the opportunity to darken, as I hide from the sun as if it's a parasitic ogre.

I grew up in northern Manitoba my entire life. For those of you unfamiliar with Canada, Manitoba is a prairie province, right smack in the middle of the country. I lived in Thompson, which if surrounded by boreal forest and located just below the arctic circle.

I loved winter growing up. I spent hours every night, bundled up like the Michelin Man, playing in the snow with my friends and sliding down the hill that was bound to be found on every street in the small town. There were mere hours of sunlight each day. I walked to school in darkness and walked home in the twilight. But I didn't mind. Because instead of sun, I had the Aurora Borealis. Northern Lights.

Thompson is surrounded by Indian reserves, and in it's own right is very much a large urban reserve all its own. So aboriginal culture was very strong in the community. As such, everyone knew the myth's surrounding Coyote the Trickster, Dreamcatcher...and the Aurora Borealis. Everyone knew that if you sang for her, she'd dance for you.

I would lie ouside on a snowbank for what felt like hours, singing to the night sky as I watched beautiful streams of green and purple light dance to the rythym of my song.

But now, I am still surrounded by snow and have to fight against freezing temperatures. But there is no Aurora Borealis, no boreal forest in sight. Now I live on the prairies, and all I see is white for miles. There is no color.

And to make things harder, I experienced a snow free winter for the first time ever before moving here. I lived in British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada, for half a year before moving back to southern Manitoba. And it was magnificent. I worked as a wildlife rehabilitator and got to travel a bit and see the beautiful west coast.

I loved it then...but it doesn't help make things easier now.

So, because I am SAD, I am trying to remember my time out in B.C. Instead of looking out a window and seeing white, I will close my eyes and picture all the beautiful green and blue and multi-colored hues of a Vancouver "winter".

This is what I will see:

Mailbox Monday (13)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme brought to you by Kristi from The Story Siren.

Go here to sign Kristi's Mr.Linky so we can see what's in your mailbox!

Embrace the Night Eternal by Joss Ware









Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh

Personal Content

Back in January, U held a blog survey to get feedback from my followers about what they enjoeyed and what changes they would like to see in the future here at Book Bound. One of the questions was whether there should be more personal content.

Every person who participated in the survey, but one, said they would like to see more personal content.

I haven't done anything about this as of yet...mostly because I am not that interesting and don't have a whole lot to say about myself. ~laughs~

So, what I want to know is:

What type of personal content would you be interested in?

Throw a couple questions my way, and I'll write a post from time to time to let you all into my world. Feel free to ask anything...if it's too personal, I'll just leave it alone. : )

E-Piracy

Jeaniene Frost guest blogged over at Deadline Dames about e-piracy and why it's not good for the book industry. She gives 13 excuses for why people think e-piracy is okay, and her response to each.

As an apiring writer, I take great offense to e-piracy and think that more people need to be aware of how it is affecting authors and publishers.

For anybody who is unfamiliar with e-piracy, here is her example of what it is:

What is e-piracy?

A lot of people are doing it and they’re not even aware that it’s illegal. The FBI, in their Anti-Piracy warnings, refers to e-piracy as this: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of copyrighted work.* So if you’re not the copyright owner of a product (like a book, song, etc., but this post focuses on books), yet you downloaded that product for free on a torrent or other unauthorized “share” site, you’ve engaged in an illegal, unauthorized reproduction of a copyrighted work. Does buying a product make you a copyright owner? No. Only being the creator of a product does. Most books are also registered with the United States Library of Congress (or Creative Commons license), but if you didn’t create a product yourself, again, you’re not the copyright owner and you don’t legally have the right to upload/download it.

It is a very informative and insightful post, so go check it here. Plus, enter for your chance to win a legal copy of her newest release,First Drop of Crimson!

Best YA of 2009 Mega Giveaway - WINNERS!!!

Finally!!! I don't know if it was just Canada having issues with Google, but the server is finally back up and running (hopefully for good). Which means it is time for me to announce the winners of the Best YA of 2009 Mega Giveaway!!!

Just to quickly go over the numbers, Book Bound is now at 497 followers! When the giveaway started, only 3 short weeks ago, there were only 264 followers. That's amazing! Thank you to everyone who participated!

There was a total of 282 entrants, with 8742 entries overall! I'm sure you understand why it took me all day to tally them. ; )

And now...the winners, determined by random.org, are:

1st Place: Ashley M. (#6523)
2nd Place: Kayleigh H. (#954)
3rd Place: Kristin (#6550)
4th Place: Melissa T. (#8205)
5th Place: Nikki M. (#2926)
6th Place: Betsy D. (#2983)
7th Place: Amanda-Lee F. (#7574)

I will be sending an e-mail to the 1st place winner tonight. If I have not gotten a reply by February 8th at midnight, I will pick a new winner. Once the first place winner has chosen their books, I will contact the 2nd place winner with the remaining prize list and so on. Ergo, it might take a few days to get to some of you.

For the record, I am aware that there is a possibility that there is more than one person with the above names, so if you entered but don't get an e-mail, it's not you. : P

If you wish to check with me, feel free to e-mail me at bookbound@mts.net.

Congratulations winners!

Winners!!!

The winner of a signed copy of Blood Magic by Eileen Wilks, as determined by random.org, is:

Haleyknitz



The winners of a copy of the new trade paperback edition of From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris, as determined by random.org, are:

Christine M.
angela l
Melanie
danders
Oddity

I have passed along everyone's mailing information and will e-mail everyone shortly.

Congratulations!

Review Policy - Update

Initially, when I posted my review policy, I was accepting electronic formats (.pdf files, etc.) for review. Due to the large number of requests that I have received to review electronic formats and my preference for hard covers, I will no longer be accepting anything but hard covers for review.

Please understand that I work in front of a computer for 9 hours a day and then hours more after work when I am writing. It is extremely difficult for me to spend any more time staring at a computer screen to read.

The Review Policy has been updated to reflect this decision.

Thank you authors/publishers for your co-operation in this matter.

Cover Love

Yesterday, Gena Showalter revealed the cover for her upcoming June release, The Darkest Passion, which is the 5th full-length installment in her Lords of the Underworld series.

Today, she revealed the cover for her July release, The Darkest Lie.

I am absolutely in love with these covers, and had to share them with all you other LOTU fangirls out there. For those that do't know, The Darkest Passion is Aeron's story (the cover doesn't look like Aeron) and The Darkest Lie is Gideon's story (again, cover doesn't look like Gideon), but the covers are absolutely stunning nonetheless.

Enjoy!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW - Julie Kagawa

Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California but moved to Hawaii at the age of nine. When she wasn't getting chased out of the ocean by reef sharks and jellyfish, she had her face in a book.

Her love of reading and writing was often a source of vexation for her teachers, who were continually shocked by her gory stories, complete with gruesome illustrations. Eventually, her aptitude for dark and grisly tales subsided, but her love of writing did not.



After years of working in bookstores and as a dog-trainer, Julie caught her lucky break. Her first novel, The Iron King was published by Harlequin Teen on February 1st, 2010.



I am very excited to welcome Julie to Book Bound! Thanks so much for being with us today!


When and why did you start writing?

I wish I could say “I’ve always wanted to be a writer,” but that’s not the case. I first wanted to be a veterinarian, before the required amounts of science and math gave me pause. So, around high school, I decided I would be an author instead. I had this ridiculous notion of getting a book written and published before I went to collage. Hahaha, yes, you may stop laughing now. :P

As to why I started writing, it’s because I couldn’t NOT write. I would carry these spiral notebooks with me everywhere and write in them whenever I could. (Even in math class, which did not amuse the teachers.)

Tell us a bit about your release, The Iron King.

The Iron King is about a girl named Meghan Chase who, on her sixteenth birthday, discovers her kid brother has been kidnapped by Faeries and a changeling is left in his place. When she goes into Faeryland to get him back, she finds that her brother wasn't taken by the Unseelie Court, as she first thought, but by a whole new species of faery led by Machina, The Iron King. These are the faeries of progress and technology, the iron fey, and Meghan must face The Iron King if she wants to rescue her brother.

What was your initial thought when you saw the cover for the first time?

Absolutely gorgeous. I fell in love the moment I saw it.

Do you have a current project on the go, and if so can you tell us a little bit about it?

Super-sekrit stuff, I’m afraid. Hopefully I’ll get to share soon. ;-)

What was your favorite book to read as a child?

Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. My fascination with monsters started early.

Do you prefer writing during the day or at night? Why?

Mornings and afternoons are spent writing. One, because it’s my full-time job and I usually have a quota of 1000 words everyday. And two, because evenings are spent playing video games and hanging out with the hubby.

If you were given a chance to talk to one person, living or dead, who would they be?

I’d love to chat with Neil Gaiman. He’s my hero, and he has a sexy voice. ;-)

If you couldn't be a professional writer, what would your dream job be?

I was a professional dog trainer before I became a full-time writer, so I would probably go back to that. My dream job would be training animals for movies and television.

And just for fun: What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten? Care to explain?

Sea Urchin sushi. I love sushi (usually), and I’m always trying something new, so I ordered sea urchin sushi one night. IT WAS DISGUSTING. I don’t even remember the flavor, but the flesh itself was bright orange and had the consistency of … nevermind. It was gross, and we’ll just leave it at that.

Be sure to check out The Iron King, out in bookstores now!

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that you are eagerly awaiting.



Title: A Local Habitation

Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: DAW
Pub. Date: March 2 2010
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: Paperback(400 pages)
ISBN-10: 0756405963
ISBN-13: 978-0756405960






Synopsis


Now comes the second in the series-from a dynamic new fantasy talent!

Toby Daye-a half-human, half-fae changeling-has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the fae world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world had other ideas...

Now her liege, the Duke of the Shadowed Hills, has asked Toby to go to the Country of Tamed Lightening to make sure all is well with his niece, Countess January O'Leary. It seems like a simple enough assignment-until Toby discovers that someone has begun murdering people close to January, and that if the killer isn't stopped, January may be the next victim.