Archive
Announcement: Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale
Hello my lovely readers!
I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that I’ve signed both my novella and my novel up for Smashwords’s annual summer/winter sale (so entitled to cover both hemispheres).
BOTH of my books are 100% off aka FREE through the end of July!! Just use the coupon code SW100 when checking out to get my books for free!! Smashwords books are compatible with all ereaders, computers, and tablets, and you can also give Smashwords books as gifts. Click through to Smashwords by clicking on the titles.
Ecstatic Evil
paranormal romance
Tova Gallagher isn’t just your average Bostonian. She also just so happens to be half-demon, and the demons and fairies have just issued a deadline for her to choose sides. But it’s hard to worry about the battle of good versus rebel when she’s just met a sexy stranger on the edge of the Charles River
Waiting For Daybreak
post-apocalyptic psychological science fiction
What is normal?
Frieda has never felt normal. She feels every emotion too strongly and lashes out at herself in punishment. But one day when she stays home from work too depressed to get out of bed, a virus breaks out turning her neighbors into flesh-eating, brain-hungry zombies. As her survival instinct kicks in keeping her safe from the zombies, Frieda can’t help but wonder if she now counts as healthy and normal, or is she still abnormal compared to every other human being who is craving brains?
Happy reading!
Friday Fun! (In Which I Take Back Up Counted Cross-Stitching and Blog Tour Updates)
Hello my lovely readers!
I’ve been trying to keep things kind of quiet in my non-work life right now, since work is so busy with the beginning of the medical school academic year. So I don’t have too terribly much to tell you except that I now have something besides cooking and cleaning that I’m doing when listening to audiobooks. I’ve taken back up counted cross-stitching.
I’ve been searching for a crafty/productive hobby for a bit now. Knitting could only progress as far as scarves before things started to get thrown across the room. I couldn’t even learn how to do one stitch in crocheting. I knew I was capable of counted cross-stitching (and embroidery) because it was forced upon me….er, I learned it as a kid. However, I had this perception of it as being something steeped in old lady and overtly religious patterns. And then I saw something on tumblr.
It was a counted cross-stitch that quoted Fight Club saying, “Condoms are the glass slipper of our generation,” and had a glass slipper on the bottom. I about died laughing. And then I discovered the world of punk stitching, which is what the non-traditional stitchers call it. I was immediately excited and intrigued.
So I picked up a cross-stitching kit (before getting into designing my own patterns or buying other homemade patterns) to make sure that I wasn’t misremembering my abilities. After much hunting I found a wintry wolf scene that I thought would go well in my Native American themed bedroom area in my tiny apartment. I completed 400 stitches the first time I sat down. And I was remembering correctly. This is something I am good at! This is something that bafflingly relaxes me! All the counting and organizing that I so adore, and I wind up with prettiness! I am beyond excited about this rediscovered hobby, as my new pinterest board of patterns probably demonstrates. 🙂
In Waiting For Daybreak
From Me To You… had previously reviewed my novella, Ecstatic Evil
The Paperback Pursuer offered up a review stating, “I was blown away by Amanda McNeil’s ability to develop such a unique and troubled character who every reader can relate to on some level.”
Kelsey’s Cluttered Bookshelf has an interview with me up where you can find out things like my future writing goals and advice for other writers. She is also offering a giveaway!
Bookishly Me also has an interview up in which I talk about the research I conducted for the book, among other things.
Last but certainly not least, Fangs for the Fantasy offers up a review from a social justice perspective stating, “But even better than a realistic and well-presented depiction of mental illness, we also have it become a strength in the zombie apocalypse.”
A big thank you again to all of the participants! I’m so glad folks have been enjoying the tour so far.
Happy weekends!
Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale Finds
Smashwords is a website that lets indie authors sell their ebooks in multiple formats, including: kindle, epub, pdf, rtf, sony, palm doc, html, and javascript. It’s an interesting community with some pretty unique stories.
Since I’m an author with a presence on Smashwords, I became aware of their annual Summer/Winter Sale (so entitled to cover both northern and southern hemispheres). After agreeing to have Ecstatic Evil participate in the sale, I thought I’d check out the listing of all participating books to see if there were any that caught my eye. Here, then, is a listing of the ones that I found and downloaded for 100% off with the sitewide coupon code SSWIN.
Clear Heart by Joe Cottonwood
A love story for men about nail guns, wet concrete, and strong women. When carpenters work for bigshots – and fall for beautiful women – who gets nailed? “It’s funny, very tender, and enormously, tremendously human. In fact, Clear Heart just might be one of the most human books I’ve read in a long time.” —Colleen Mondor, Bookslut
The Veiled Mirror: The Story of Prince Vlad Dracula’s Lost Love by Christine Frost
Legend has it that the love of Prince Dracula’s life committed suicide during a siege in 1462. Author Christine Frost tells the story of Ecaterina, consort to Vlad the Impaler, the Romanian prince who served as the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The richly detailed story of Ecaterina is a romantic, supernatural, and adventurous view into one of history’s most notorious figures.
Callisto: Adrift by Erica Conroy
Stealing damning evidence from a certain covert ops section of Space Corps makes Jasmine a target. So what does she do? She runs. Hops the first civilian transport ship out of there, but of course the bad guys still find her. Luckily for her the dark and brooding half-human man on board, is a deft hand with a sword. Unluckily for him, helping her could be hazardous to his life!
Portrait of the Past by Kate Halleron
The year is 1880. Marguerite is an artist and former slave who is hired to paint a wedding portrait for a wealthy family. She soon finds that the family has close ties to her past from which she has constantly fled. Instead of fleeing again, she stays to paint a portrait of her former family, and in so doing she begins to understand the difficult choices her loved ones were driven to make.
The Silence of a Soldier: The Memoirs of a Bataan Death March Survivor by William J. Duggan
It was 1942. The fight for the Philippines was over. Japan was the victor. American POW’s sat beneath the burning April sun in the fields of Mariveles. At the point of a bayonet, 75,000 U.S. and Filipino POW’s carried sacks of rice, dried fish and ammunition for the Japanese move across the Philippines. Thousands died. Bub survived. This is his story.
Gone by Brian Alaspa
A group of employees trying to have a weekend of bonding in the woods. What they get, however, is a weekend of unrelenting terror. What is making them disappear one at a time? Why can’t they leave? Will any of them make it back or will all of them end up “Gone?”
Polly’s Wild Dance by Sidnee Elliot
After twenty-five years of dealing blackjack in Las Vegas, Polly Brilliant throws the cards in the air, sells everything she owns and makes a beeline to the Greek island of Kythira to paint, write, and forget about men. Or so she thinks.
The Preying Mantis by Andreas Louw
Since investigating the murders of young, female teachers by a serial killer, FBI Special Agent Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Roy has been having nightmares. When he contacts her, latent memories from her childhood starts resurfacing. Who is this man they call The Preying Mantis?
I’m excited by the finds for my personal TBR pile, although lord only knows when I’ll be able to get to them. *eyes size of TBR pile*.
In any case, if you love free books as much as I do, I encourage you to check out not only these titles but the page dedicated to the sale! As you can see from the titles I chose, the genres are incredibly varied, and I bet you will be able to find something that strikes your fancy.
Friday Fun! (Talkin Bout a Heat Wave)
Hello my lovely readers!
After an oddly cool month (which I was soooo not complaining about), Boston got hit starting Wednesday with a heat wave. We’re talking 97 to 100 degrees (36ish degrees for my non-US followers). You guys. I’ve. Been. Dying.
I am a northern girl. Cold weather is what I am all about. Even if it’s super cold out, that is easily remedied by an electric blanket, hot chocolate, and a good book. What’s not to like about that picture? Hot weather though. Ugh. When it’s hot out your entire body is coated with sweat and then you proceed to look like a furry because your cat’s fur sticks all over said sweaty skin and everything itches and your feet are so swollen that you get blisters and bloodiness everywhere and…
Ok, maybe a lot of that is just me. But still!
I tried so damn hard not to use my ac at all this summer, but around midnight on Wednesday night when my hair had dried in a record 30 minutes post cold shower I decided I had to cave, and I put in my ac unit all by myself. (Sorry neighbors for the timing of that adventure). In any case! The gym must be working, because I was successful. Nothing was dropped and lifting that unit didn’t even seem that hard. I am, however, relegated to sleeping on the couch directly in front of it until this heat wave is over.
Be sure to check out Waiting For Daybreak‘s Goodreads page, because the reviews and ratings are starting to come in! Next week I will be announcing the tour schedule as well as the tour banner.
I’ve also been working on Ecstatic Evil‘s formatting and cover issues. I am soooo glad I decided to do a novella first to practice. I’m happy to say that the formatting issues are now entirely taken care of, and in response to multiple reviews not enjoying the cover, I’ve decided to give it a new one. The original cover was designed by a friend. Designing Waiting For Daybreak‘s cover showed me what style works for me and that I can do it myself. So I’ve come up with a cover for Ecstatic Evil that will be designed by me in the more linocut fashion that you see on Waiting For Daybreak. Anyway. The new Ecstatic Evil cover will be announced next week, and there will be a surprise to celebrate it. 🙂
Happy weekends all, and I hope my fellow New Englanders manage to stay cool! *waves*
Announcement: I Am Published!!
Hello my lovely readers! So, the super-secret project that I’ve been working on is to finally get my own writing out where people can read it! I’ve been writing since…..well, since I could put pencil to paper. I am completely passionate about story-telling, and this is where I truly feel my talent lies. Since I finished grad school in January, I’ve been cracking down and getting serious about my writing.
Well, I can finally announce that I have published the first entry in a new series to the Amazon Kindle store! I started with my idea to reclaim the old format of serial books. Every entry in the series is 99 cents and short enough to read in one sitting, such as on your commute, a plane ride, a bath, etc…. The storyline is complete in and of itself, but it will be continued in another entry in a few months. Join Tova Gallagher in her paranormal world with the few moments you have to spare in your busy day! It is ideal for the busy, modern, paranormal romance lover.
The first entry is entitled Ecstatic Evil
Tova Gallagher isn’t just your average tough as nails, intelligent Bostonian. She also just so happens to be half-demon, and halvesies have an important role to play in the supe world. Whether they choose to go with the instincts of their demon or human half is supposed to predict the outcome of the endtimes, and now Tova has a deadline to choose sides. But all of that is hard to care about when she’s just met a sexy stranger on the edge of the Charles River.
Please do check it out! I write because I have stories to tell and want to entertain. At only 99 cents, it’s worth the shot, right?
Also, I started with the novella series so I could practice with the ebook publishing software before my first serious novel, which I plan to release in October for Halloween. I am very excited about it and can’t wait to let you guys know more details! In the meantime, be sure to keep an eye on my new Publications page on this blog. ❤
Check Out Ecstatic Evil
This work by Amanda Nevius is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Opinions of a Wolf 