Official Maria V. Snyder Blog

Yes, the questions were tough and there were 31 of them. But my hard core readers were undaunted.  They pressed on and hunted down the answers one by one.  It was a test of their endurance and Internet search skills and they risked paper cuts by flipping through their piles of books for those elusive answers.  You can read the answers below. Eleven readers earned the right to call themselves expert minions and will soon have a T-shirt to wear with pride. Thanks to ALL who entered - I wish I had enough money to send you all a T-shirt. Here are the WINNERS and how many questions they answered right: Kerry Lee Holder - 31 Melissa Furber - 29 Jennifer Olsen - 28 Madison Braga - 27 Jess Furber - 26 Anastasia Jalowiec - 26 Celeste - 26 Gabriella Mullens - 26 Catherine Wen - 25 Sarah Ringer Alverson - 25 Rikke Borgaard - 25 (since there were 3 people who had 25 right, I decided they all earned a shirt, which is why there are 11 winners instead of 10 li...

And here it is!  The Australian cover for NIGHT STUDY .  Isn't it pretty and best of all MATCHES all the others.  To celebrate, I'm having a giveaway for two copies of the book.  Open to all my readers worldwide - you get extra points for commenting on this post! You can enter via the Rafflecopter form down below. (Warning - you won't get the book until sometime in 2016!) The official in store date for the Australian edition is 25 January 2016 - a day before it hits the stores in the US and Canada.  Here's a link to the book:  http://www.harlequinbooks.com.au/product/9781760374440 a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you enjoyed reading all 31 chapter notes for Poison Study ! Writing them all was more work that I had anticipated, but it was really fun to re-read those chapters and think about my thought process and what was going on in my life at that time. It's surprising just how much of my life is in my books! Here are the 31 questions. Yes, some of them are hard and others...not so much. There will be 10 winners picked from the highest scorers.  The Rafflecopter will be open until November 7th.  The contest is open to ALL (yes, that means worldwide :).  I will post the winners and answers by November 10th. 1. What profession would Valek take up in a perfect world? 2. How many languages has Poison Study been translated into? 3. In the Glass books, what was Opal gifted with for completing “Spy training”? 4. What is the nickname Valek gives to Ari and Janco? 5. In the Glass series, who are Teegan and Reema? 6. How many awards has Poison Study won? 7. In S...

CHAPTER 31 & 32 NOTES Happy Halloween!  If there were 32 days in October, I would have broke this into two notes. Instead I’m combining them. Chapter 31 is the climax of the book.  It’s where the obstacles are huge and it appears as if the main protagonists won’t make it.  I start things rolling with Valek and Yelena joining up with Ari and Janco. They refused to help search for Valek and Yelena.  I like this exchange: “That’s insubordination.” Valek extracted a long knife and some darts from his bag. “That was the point. What’s a fellow have to do around here in order to get arrested and thrown in the dungeon?” Janco asked. It’s nice to see how Ari and Janco are “all in” for their friends and are willing to be thrown into the dungeon to help them out.  And later they call her “sir.”  A few people have asked why I don’t use the female equivalent of “sir,” which is “ma’am.”  I don’t like ma’am – never did – and in my mind, “sir” is gend...

CHAPTER 30 NOTES This chapter is full of action and revelations.  Yelena and Valek are locked in Brazell’s small dungeon.  Yelena believes she’s going to die from Butterfly’s Dust, but, in a twist I hope readers were not expecting (but some have told me they guessed it), Butterfly’s Dust ends up being a potion called White Fright and is not lethal.  If a person stops taking White Fright, then he/she experiences withdrawal symptoms, which are horrible cramps and vomiting. Yes, poor Yelena throws up quite a bit in this book, but have you ever been in so much pain you threw up?  And I watched enough track and field meets to see plenty of athletes vomiting after running.  I was aiming for realism, people! Yelena tells Valek everything about her past, but doesn’t reveal that she has magic.  This is cathartic for her and she, “ …purges the black stain of Reyad.”  Then she decides she’ll tell Valek about her magic when the first of many waves of painfu...

CHAPTER 29 NOTES Yelena is captured and goes through the motions of tasting the Commander’s food.  The Commander is a blank slate and follows Brazell’s orders.  The Commander’s advisors are soon affected by the Criollo and Yelena realizes her time as a prop is soon coming to an abrupt end. When I re-read the scene at the factory producing Criollo, I realize that wasn’t really necessary to advance the plot – the link between Criollo and the Commander’s strange behavior had been established.  However, I’ve visited a couple chocolate factories and done so much research, I thought it’s be fun to show how chocolate would be made by a society that didn’t have electricity and other modern technology. Having grown up in the manor house, Yelena has an advantage, but still her escape from her room isn’t without a few problems.  Once free, she relives her days as an acrobat and focuses her magic on her surroundings.  It’s hard to describe, so I say she “projected h...

CHAPTER 28 NOTES Yelena’s on her way to Brazell’s manor house.  At the first stop for the night, she translates the symbols etched on her switchblade’s handle.  There are six silver markings.  In this graphic, designed by my friend Daniel, which I used for T-shirts, there are only three.  I cheated – I decided to keep the switchblade simple, that I would have three symbols, but each one represents two words.  As you can see, the last one has an infinity sign in it meaning forever.  I guess I could say the other three symbols are on the other side, but in Chapter 28 it’s pretty clear that they are all in a row. A secret rendezvous turns tragic.  When she’s in the woods with Rand, she reaffirms that her first instinct is not to run, but to stand and fight.  In this scene, Rand is supposed to betray her yet again, but he can’t do it and ends up sacrificing himself to save her life.  He asks for forgiveness and she grants it.  He redee...