Official Maria V. Snyder Blog

That's Los Angeles, California not Louisiana :)  On Thursday, I'm going to be flying all the way across the USA to the west coast for a couple of book signings and to participate in a book festival.  And just like when I flew to Scandinavia for a Baltic Sea cruise back in July, LA is currently having a heat wave!  It was 113 F there on Monday...yikes!  We had temps in the low 90s F when we were in Sweden, which is normally around 75 F that time of year. Speaking of the weather....I wrote a guest blog about weather and magic for Black Gate Magazine.  My short story, Cursing the Weather is going to be published in the magazine this December.  Here's a link if anyone's interested: http://www.blackgate.com/2010/09/27/the-weather-part-art-part-science-and-part%e2%80%a6-magic/ My mini West Coast tour is going to be a blast.  I can't wait to see all my southern California readers again and my friend, Alethea.  Plus my daughter, Jenna and niece, Amy...

Welcome to my very first author interview and give away on my new blog!  Cue music! PERSONAL DEMONS is Lisa Desrochers debut young adult novel. It was released in mid-September and already getting buzz.  I read her book back in the Spring and give it this blurb: “Fun and entertaining . . . the fight for Frannie’s soul isn’t going to be easy, and the excitement doesn’t stop. Good versus evil shouldn’t be this much fun, but it is! A hot debut.”   Uh... I tend to be wordy with my blurbs... Leave a comment and/or ask Lisa a question by Monday, October 4th if you'd like to win a signed copy of PERSONAL DEMONS.  I'll chose one winner using Random.org.  I also have the good luck to be meeting Lisa in person next Sunday where we will both be on October 3rd over at the Orange County Children's Book Festival ( http://www.kidsbookfestival.com/index.html ). We will be at the Teen stage.  Here's the official cover copy:...

I'm heading back to my old Alma mater tomorrow.  I'm doing a really fun event at Penn State University's Abington Campus in Abington (close to Philadelphia - my old stomping grounds) in the evening.  I spent two years there before heading up to the main campus.  It was called the Ogontz campus then.  During my two years there, I drove to school in a bright orange Oldsmobile Starfire - the car weighed a ton and got like 6 miles to the gallon.  Plus there was a dent from the previous owner (my Aunt, who gave me the car so I really can't complain...er...). The dent was patched up and covered with red primer (the plan had been to re-paint the car a more subdued red - my favorite color - it never happened).  Even the wheels were orange!  I was always late for my early morning classes (no surprise - I'm not a morning person) and the only parking I could find was far away and way downhill from the Sutherland Building, which didn't have...

Today I'm a guest blogger over at Harlequin's Paranormal Romance blog.  I don't really consider my books romance per say, but they have romantic elements for sure!  I've blogged about how my prison tour affected my story line in SPY GLASS.  And although I hardly use the term "fan" as I prefer "readers" it matched the other two words :)  Guess I could have called it Readers, Romance and....??  Anyone? Anyway, here's the link: http://paranormalromanceblog.com/2010/09/22/i-spy%E2%80%A6fans-friendship-and-fun-by-maria-v-snyder/ And for those who missed the chat last night - it was fun and I was glad there were lots of people there despite my late notice (I really do need an assistant living in my house :)  The chat is still available to view on Eve's Fan Garden and I'll be answering the questions we didn't get to last night and those will be posted as well.  Here's the link: http://evesfangarden.com/blog/2010/09/19/author-chat-wit...

I realize this is very late notice.  I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the promotion I'm doing for SPY GLASS. But if you have some time, tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, I'm doing a live chat to talk about SPY GLASS and writing in general over at Eve's Fan Garden.  We're giving away two signed copies of SPY GLASS and a handful of signed bookmarks to those who attend the event. Here's the link: http://evesfangarden.com/blog/2010/09/19/author-chat-with-maria-v-snyder/ And before I forget - I'm doing a guest blog about SPY GLASS over at Harlequin's Paranormal Romance Blog tomorrow - September 22.  Here's the link for that one: http://paranormalromanceblog.com/  

Opal's interview is up on Bitten by Books and the comments are already rolling in :)  If you'd like a chance to win one of 10 signed copies of SPY GLASS go here:  http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=30706   And if you'd like another chance to win, I did an interview over at The Authoress.  Here's the link: http://theauthoress-amelia.blogspot.com/2010/09/interview-w-maria-v-snyder-giveaway.html  

I'm very sad to announce the real Kiki passed away last week :(  Her owner/mother, Susan Kraykowski (Suekray from the Sandseed Clan) emailed me earlier this week and let me know. Here's part of her email: Kiki passed away suddenly, late on Thursday afternoon (9-9-10). We think she had a massive heart attack or a stroke. Deb and Pete told me she had been fine all day and ate her dinner as usual (you always know a horse is unhappy about something if it doesn't eat). Her latest vet call was OK, too...except for the usual elderly horse gimpiness. Her coat was shiny, her weight was good and she was still active and interested in life despite almost 30 years of age ( which is quite a respectable age for any horse) .  I am grateful it was quick and that she did not suffer through a long, painful illness. Tell your readers and Kiki's fans that we'll all meet up at the Rainbow Bridge one day! Here's Kiki's official name: McDonald's Highland Love She was a Fi...

I'm doing an event for Bitten By Books on Friday - and it's a Q&A with Opal plus I'm giving away 10 signed copies of SPY GLASS! I need help thinking of questions for Opal. So if you have a question or two you'd like to ask her, now's the time! Please post it here and I'll post her answers over on the bitten by books website (I'll post a link here), and I'll be answering questions all day on Friday as well - should be fun :) Thanks in advance for any help!!! *insert hugs here*

This past weekend was a combination of fun family activities and much needed yard work.  We had something to do every day.  One of the activities was a BBQ at my sister's house.  There were a bunch of teens and young adults and once the sun went down they decided to make two teams and play capture the flag.  Normally I would have joined them, but being sore from spreading wheelbarrows full of mulch...I was more content to watch.  It started like any other game, but soon I realized these weren't the kids of my day or even of a few years ago.  No.  When my daughter was stuck in "jail" instead of calling out for rescue, she texted her teammate with her cell phone.  When they searched for the opponets' flag, they used the light from their cell phones to search. I had to laugh - they were still running around, laughing and getting skinned knees and elbows, and a few more scratches on their cell phones.   A few years ago, I probably would...

It is that time of the year - not the start of school (although that's a very good time of year for me ;) but the time when I'm promoting a new book.  So instead of getting a blog about how I went to Hersheypark with the kids on Friday and spent all day today spreading mulch, you get links to interviews and contests and reviews.  Fun stuff right?  Right??  Well, better than hearing about spreading mulch anyway. I also wrote a number of guest blogs that will be coming up in September so I'll make sure to posts links for those as well.  And I do have a couple of Author interviews of my own to post as well. Here are the links: An interview over at Bookyurt: http://bookyurt.com/scouting/maria-v-snyder-on-spy-glass-and-more/   An interview and give away of a signed copy of SPY GLASS: http://amberkatze.blogspot.com/2010/09/author-interview-contest-with-maria-v.html   An interview and contest give away of a signed copy of SPY GLASS: http://www.s...

Just thought you might be interested in a guest blog I did over at Reading Rocks 4 me.  It's about why I chose certain names in my Study and Glass books. And there is a great review of SPY GLASS as well that was posted the day before! Here's the link: http://readingrocks4me.blogspot.com/