Official Maria V. Snyder Blog

The official tour is on hiatus, but another rebel blog isn't afraid to post during this busy time of year.  Yummy Men and Kick Ass Chicks has posted a wonderful review about TOUCH OF POWER with no spoilers.  And sometime today (December 28th), she will also post an interview with me and a giveaway, which is open to international readers as well as in the US and Canada! Here's a link to the review: http://yummymenandkickasschicks.com/?p=11545 Here's a direct link to the interview/contest: http://yummymenandkickasschicks.com/?p=11927 As for my present wrapping adventures, since only Renee offered to help me wrap presents (thank you Renee!) provided I pay for her to fly from Europe (tempting, but too expensive), I had to find help from another source - my cat Valek (aka the Bug Assassin or Kitty Kat).  He took an avid interest in all things papery and ribbony and crinkly, but managed to do more harm that good and was soon exhausted by all the wrapping (as you can see i

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!  The TOP Blog tour is on hiatus this week, but there's still a lot going on (rebel post tomorrow!).  My publisher put together a widget for TOUCH OF POWER.  Check it out - it's posted below and you can see the first 16 pages of the book (includes the first chapter).   I think I'm supposed to put it on my blog on the side, but I don't know how!  I'll either figure it out or have to call my friend for help.  Feel free to share it :) And since this is the time for all those after-holiday sales,  Harlequin is also having a special 9 day e-Book sale through it's website with 25% off certain titles on each day (you have to buy them THAT day for the discount).  I've looked through all the days and there are some really great fantasy, suspense, teen and romance titles listed.  Today is Rachel Vincent's My Soul to Take , and my OUTSIDE IN will be on sale on January 1st! Here's the link to the e-Book sale: http://www.e

News Flash!!  I'm finished with my holiday shopping!  Woo Hoo!!  Now all I need to do is wrap all these presents.  Anyone want to come over and help?  Anyone?  Anyone.....  Hello??? On tap for today is a post about my top 10 favorite fantasy series for the Official Blog Tour on My Bookish Ways and includes a giveaway. Here's the link:  http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/12/blog-tour-giveaway-maria-v-snyder-author-of-touch-of-power.html Another News Flash - the UK office has designed a website just for TOUCH OF POWER.  Now you can see that animated cover in all it's full-speed glory - yay!  Also there are extras you won't find anywhere else, and a contest to win a KINDLE!  The Kindle winner is limited to UK readers (I don't think it would work anywhere else), but there will be a UK blog tour with 18 blogs and I'm hoping they'll be open to international winners (It will depend on each blog). Here's the link:  http://www.touchofpowerbooks.com/ I&

Today is another post in the Official Blog Tour for TOUCH OF POWER.  Fantasy Book Critic is hosting my blog about how I choose the names for the book and the trouble I had.  And why in the published book, you won't find Vinn or Daneen. Here's the link: http://www.fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2011/12/blog-tour-maria-v-snyder-on-trouble.html And Book Geeks Rule (great name!) has posted an interview, review and give away as part of the Rebel blogs :)  Here's the link: http://bookgeeksrule.blogspot.com/2011/12/touch-of-power-review-author-interview.html

Just wanted to let you know my guest blog is up at Lytherus.com - about how life is fodder for my stories.  And I wanted to add another "life is fodder" story.  When Kerrick calls his men gentlemen, as in, "Become one with nature, gentlemen. We'll meet at the rendezvous point."  I borrowed that from one of my son's soccer coaches (one of my favorites).  He always called the boys gentlemen - and as an ex-Marine, everyone on and off the field (and two miles away) heard him.  He was loud but he never yelled at them. Here's the link for the blog: http://lytherus.com/2011/12/19/touch-of-power-blog-tour-maria-v-snyder-talks-life-as-fodder/ And here's a link for a wonderful, fantastic review of TOUCH OF POWER: http://lytherus.com/2011/12/19/touch-of-power-is-filled-with-magic-and-mystery-maria-v-snyder-at-her-best/

More chances to win.  More interviews.  More blogs.  And the burning question....have I finished my holiday shopping?  Have I finished decorating my house?  Baking cookies?  Ah....no.  I still have time...right?  Right? Starting today, you can enter to win the Official Blog's Grand Prize of a $100 Spa Certificate!  You have four different ways to enter. You can "like" my Facebook page, you can comment about TOUCH OF POWER on Facebook, you can comment on your own Facebook page about why you find books have their own powers of healing, and you can follow my blog. Easy! Enter here: http://www.mariavsnyder.com/contests.php   This just in - another Official Blog Tour is going on today - here's the link: http://lytherus.com I did find out that the official blog tour that is run by my publisher (they are providing the books) are limiting the winners to the US and Canada.  But there will be rebels offering to international - so make sure you check them out. Talking

And the tour continues!   Here's the Official blog tour link for Friday, December 16th on  I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read: h ttp://www.sithereandread.com/ And here's the Rebel post on Book Lovers - it's a review, but we're doing a giveaway on December 22nd - that's when my Advent post and contest is going up: http://www.bookloversinc.com/2011/12/15/arc-review-touch-of-power-by-maria-v-snyder/ Looks like the Official Blog Tour contests may be only for the US and Canada (I'll check).  However a number of the Rebel blogs will be offering them to international readers - and Read Now Sleep Later ( http://www.readnowsleeplater.com/ ) Alethea's blog is going to give away a copy to international readers only on January 1, 2012.  PLUS - the UK office is also hosting a blog tour in January 2012.

Today is the first in many blogs promoting my latest book, TOUCH OF POWER.  I'm thrilled that today's blogger is a friend of mine.  Alethea emailed me three years ago saying how much she enjoyed my books.  Since she worked at Borders, she was able to recommend my books to her customers.  She hand sold 400 copies of my books in the three months prior to the holidays!  Because of her efforts - when STORM GLASS was released, my publisher sent me out to California to attend her release party and sent me again last October.   We've became good friends over the last three years and I was so happy to chat with her yesterday about my new book. To listen to our chat go to her blog:  Read Now Sleep Later - http://www.readnowsleeplater.com/   REBEL BLOGS: Here's a link to a blog where I did an interview: http://rai29bookreadnreview.blogspot.com/2011/12/author-interview-maria-v-snyder.html And we're giving away a signed copy: http://rai29bookreadnreview.blogspot.com/2

This will be an almost daily post as I get more information :)   The start of the tour is now on Wednesday, December 14th, 2011.  You'll be able to enter to win the BIG PRIZE starting Monday, December 19th and we will anounce the winner on Monday, January 16th, 2012.  We'll be running that contest through my website's contest page (which I crashed last night - that's why the UK animated cover is no longer on my site - it ate up too much of my bandwidth). Here is the schedule of blogs: •Wednesday, December 14 – Read Now Sleep Later - http://www.readnowsleeplater.com/ •Friday, December 16 – I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read! -  http://www.sithereandread.com/   •Wednesday, December 21 – Fantasy Book Critic - http://www.fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/ •Friday, December 23 – My Bookish Ways - http://www.mybookishways.com/ •Monday, January 2 – Live to Read - http://livetoread-krystal.blogspot.com/   •Wednesday, January 4 – Two Chicks on Books - http://twochickson

The Official TOUCH OF POWER Blog Tour starts Monday, December 12, 2011.  I don't know the time, but since I sleep until 11 am, I figured I'd better post this tonight.  (I write until 3 or 4 am, people! mornings and me never got along - but that's for another post). From the schedule I received - it looks like Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are the hot button days, with contests to win a signed copy of the book (some shipped in time for x-mas :)  We'll be taking Monday December 26th, and Friday the 30th off for the holidays.  But otherwise we'll be offering contests until Friday, January 13th, when we'll announce the winner for the BIG PRIZE - a $100 Spa Certificate to a place in your town. (details on this are coming!). Information for the tour is on Harlequin's Paranormal Blog - here's a link: http://paranormalromanceblog.com/ And one last thing - I'm also doing a bunch of Q&As and giveaways on other blogs - so stay tuned to this blo

My publisher in the UK was thrilled to learn the UK cover of TOUCH OF POWER won by a large margin - I'm afraid there will be no living with them when they get together with the other MIRA offices in the US and Australia ;> They are also super excited about TOUCH OF POWER's release in the UK and there will be lots going on for my UK readers - a blog tour in January and a special MIZZ magazine promotion with a very big prize (can't tell you yet). One of the things going on right now is a special Collectors Edition e-Book that is being offered right now on Amazon.co.uk - It includes POISON STUDY, STORM GLASS, and the first chapter of TOUCH OF POWER.  So if you have any friends who wanted to try my books, this is a great opportunity to put a toe in Maria V. Snyder waters  ;> Here's the link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Maria-V-Snyder-Collectors-ebook/dp/B006FZ9EQU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323338931&sr=8-1 Also I wanted to share a fab 5 star review from 

The TOUCH OF POWER cover art contest was another popular post with 160 votes and comments.  I read through them all and tallied the votes.  It should be no surprise that the UK version won with 102 votes!  Everyone thought the UK cover was eye catching and showed Avry as a powerful figure with the lightning coming out from her hands and her billowing cloak.  For those who haven't seen the animated edition of this cover - you can either see it here in my "What a Week" blog or go to my website: http://www.mariavsnyder.com/UK.php   (PS: I just updated my website). Second place goes to the USA cover with 32 votes.  Those who voted for it, thought it was pretty and looked like a fantasy novel, invoking a sense of mystery. Third place goes to the Australia/NZ cover with 26 votes.  The voters liked the colors - they seemed warming and enticing, invoking the healer aspect of the story. I found all the comments very interesting and thank everyone for voting!  Having visite

I sent out my email newsletter on Monday, combining two issues into one because I didn't have a ton of "writing" news.  Well, this week has been rather...eventful :) First - Zap2it posts an interview with Lachlan Buchanan, an Australian actor who is joining the Pretty Little Liars TV show cast this season.  Seems he is a big reader and he mentioned my books!  That was so cool to read - and if there is ever a movie of Poison Study , I'll be more than happy to return the favor. Here's a link to the post: http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/11/meet-pretty-little-liars-newest-clue-lachlan-buchanan-talks-lucy-hale-books-and-more.html    Second - I think the UK office of my publisher is trying to sway the voting for the Touch of Power cover art  ;>  They just sent me an animated cover - you have to click on the box below (I see some people are having trouble bringing it up - I'm working on getting that fixed, so check back in a couple days):

I just received permission to show the Australian/New Zealand cover for TOUCH OF POWER!  So I'm going to do another contest.  Vote for your favorite of the three covers and you will be entered to win a signed copy of TOUCH OF POWER.  There will be two winners picked at random - it's open internationally - must vote by 11:59 p.m. EST on December 6th.  Please leave email addy so I can contact you. All three are being released at the same time (December 20th).  Good news for all!! Here are the covers in alphabetical order: Australia/New Zealand Cover UK Cover USA Cover

My Celebrating post clocked in at 310 comments...WOW! Nothing I've done before has gotten so many comments - guess everyone's excited about TOUCH OF POWER ;> I had to use a new random generator website because my other one only went up to 100. And now without further ado......the five winners are: Chris M. from Ireland Emily C. from Utah, US Nikky B. from England Sarah F. from Georgia, US Shilo M. from Utah, US Congrats to them all!! To the 300 people who didn't win, don't worry - there is going to be a BLOG TOUR starting December 12 with close to a dozen chances to win AND I'm offering another contest today! Yep check my other blog entry for today.

What exactly are we celebrating?  Three things.  One - I've over 500 Followers!  Considering my off again on again relationship with this blog, that's pretty impressive.  Two - I just received my copies of TOUCH OF POWER.  (author perk!) To celebrate, I'm giving away 5 copies of TOUCH OF POWER.  Just leave a comment to this post, and I'll pick winners at random.  The give away is open until midnight my time (EST) on Black Friday (that's Friday, November 25th for my international readers :)  This is open to everyone with a mailing address.  Please also leave an email address so I can contact you with the news. And three - it's Friday - that's always a good reason for a celebration :)

So I'm the worst blogger ever!  Ah, my poor neglected blog is always pushed aside when other tasks come up suddenly.  For example, MIZZ magazine in the UK wants to do a big promotion for TOUCH OF POWER's release.  Great news!  However, they wanted a 3 minute video of me for their new MIZZ TV website and they wanted it before I left for Italy.  A seemingly simple task - talking about my book for 3 mins turned into an all day affair, including how to send a 270 MB file via the Internet.  My poor producer/daughter had to hear the same thing over multiple takes. Yes, I was in Italy, but before I talk about my trip, I wanted to announce the winner of the TOUCH OF POWER ARC!  I received 17 entries and random.org picked entry #9, which is Jessica W. from Texas!!  Congrats to Jessica!!  I might be slow to blog, but Jessica's been, I hope, enjoying her prize for the last couple weeks - I mailed it out before my trip. So what this about Italy?  It wasn't on my appearance sche

In keeping with the scary theme this month, I wanted to let everyone know I'm in another short story anthology called Spirited that has 13 haunted tales of ghosts and other scariness (mine is called NEW GIRL and isn't very scary I must say - it's more funny - and I picked the title BEFORE that TV show came out ;).  The e-book is OUT NOW ( http://www.amazon.com/Spirited-ebook/dp/B005ZGH4ZI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1319579825&sr=1-1 ), and the print book is coming out in March 2012. The best part of this project - ALL PROCEEDS from the anthology (both print and e-book) will be donated to National 826, a literacy-based charity!  Yep - all the money is going to support literacy.  YAY!  I'm really glad I'm involvled in this and I also had the benefit of working with a friend of mine - the editor Kat O'Shea was editing me when we both were aspiring writers/editors - we were in a critque group together.  Funny how things come full circle!

I don't know what has gotten into me lately.  Perhaps it's a mid-life crisis or just the desire to do something...scary.  I'm not sure of the reason, but the results have been quite...revealing. I've been wanting to get back into riding motorcycles.  I use to ride a 3 wheeled ATV (a trike) in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey with a bunch of dirt biker friends, but I was in my late teens, early 20s.  Recently my friend Kathy suggested we take the Motorcycle Safety Course together.  They provide the bikes, helmets and instruction over a long weekend.  So I took my learner's permit exam the same day my son took his driver's permit test (no - he didn't think it was cool - lots of eye rolling that day). We both passed :) Over the long Columbus Day weekend, I sat in a classroom for 5 hours of instruction on motorcycle safety. The instructor Harry was quite the character - he'd threaten to throw things at us if we didn't listen to him when we were out on

Now that I have your attention :)  I'm doing a special OUTSIDE IN promotion and dangling an ARC of TOUCH OF POWER as the prize.  As many of you know, I have contests on my website for all my books.  If you answer 20 questions about the book correctly, I'll send you a signed book label for your book and you're entered into a quarterly drawing to win a copy of the book.  However, poor OUTSIDE IN only has 3 entries since March and I'm determined to change that! So, here's the deal - email me ( maria@mariavsnyder.com ) the answers to the 20 questions below (please put: special OI promo in the subject line), and include your mailing address by OCTOBER 22, 2011 and you will be entered to win an ARC of TOUCH OF POWER with the UK cover!  You'll also get a book label and some cool bookmarks :)  This is open to everyone and no shipping costs either. QUESTIONS: •1 – What is the name of Trella's new cleaning troll? •2 – Who is Bubba Boom? •3 – What are the

I'm trying to catch up on all my emails from when I was down under.  For some reason my new Acer Tablet wouldn't let me hook up to my author email server.  I bought the tablet to video chat with my family and it worked nicely - I also played games on it and read books so I didn't have to pack as much. Anywho as I'm going through my inbox, I'm finding links that might be of interest to you.  Also if you emailed me and have a Hotmail addy - I'm being bounced by your spam filter - I'm working on getting that sorted out. First some news!  OUTSIDE IN is a finalist for the Golden Leaf Award!  I'll find out in October if it won.  Storm Glass won in 2009 so I'm hoping for a repeat.  Other finalist are here: ttp://njromancewriters.org/index.php?/njrw_contest/golden_leaf_finalists/ And - I never announced the winner of the Heart of Iron giveaway - I've already sent the book out so I did pick a winner.  Congrats go to Jessica W! I did a guest

Today I'm interviewing debut author, Melanie Card.  Her book, Ward Against Death was released in August in both print and e-book format.  I really enjoyed this book - it's unique and action packed with characters that I cared about.   Now a confession.  I met Melanie while attending Seton Hill University as a student.  It was my very first residency, I didn't know a soul, and I wasn't sure what to expect.  The very first class I attended was a book discussion.  We all read the same novel and then discuss it that first morning.  Melanie was in my class - she was doing her last residency and graduating.  When the instructor asked our opinion of the novel, Melanie was the first to speak.  She proclaimed that the book was awful and proceeded to explain why with concise, logical reasons.  I was struck by her confidence, her ability to spot weak writing, and her no nonsense approach.  Curious, I attended her thesis reading and really enjoyed her thesis novel.  So it's