Top Fantasy/ Sci-fi Book Trailers & Giveaway

Everyone knows I, Kenya Wright love book trailers.

The few bits of free time I have, I go trudging through youtube book trailers for the good ones.

Here's a few that I enjoyed. Please enter the giveaway below where the winner chooses one of the ebooks from the listed book trailers!

My Top Five Book Trailers for October!

1. REBOOT

I love how the heroine looks all cute girl but oddly hard-core at the same time. I've seen many good and bad reviews for it on Goodreads.

Has anyone read this?

2. The Rising

I don't know. This looks like it fits the YA Urban Fantasy formula--kick ass good-looking chick against dominant group of some sorts. I did very much enjoy Kelley Armstrong's Bitten so I may give this a chance.

3. The School of Good and Evil

I know what you all are thinking. . .
Kenya girl you only read sexy books. Not true. 
I'm the biggest Harry Potter Fan ever. EVER!!

Plus, the trailer ROCKS!

4. The Returned

This one creeps me out so much that I want to try it.

5. Spellcaster

So what do you all think? 

Have you already read or heard of any of these books?

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Top 5 Fantasy/ Scifi Movies That Should Be Out Now!

Those that know me well, know that I'm a huge FOODIE (person who actively seeks out diverse restaurants, tries amazing meals, and then orgasms in the restaurant)

I'm ALSO a big MOVIE BUFF (person who rubs their genitals on movies that rock their world)

Right now, I'm going crazy out of my mind as I wait for some movies to come out. 

These aren't just ANY type of movies. . .

NO

These are the Holy Grail of movies. 

Here's my TOP FIVE MUST SEE OR I'LL KILL SOMEBODY MOVIE TRAILERS!!

TOP FIVE

1. Rise of an Empire
The movie 300 rocked. How could this not rock? There's just no freaking way!

2. Thor: The Dark World

Yes. I know the first Thor didn't rock, and Avengers sucked. Yeah. Yeah. I said it! Avengers SUCKED BALLS! I don't care who knows. However, I believe this movie will be so freakishly great it will help me forget that I spend money on those earlier films. Check out this crazy trailer.

3. 47 Ronin

I won't lie to you. I was initially afraid to see this movie after realizing Keenu Reeves is in it. I mean seriously. . .he can't act. . .or move his face in other expressions besides that neutral one he does to seem really really endearing, but any way. . .the action looks freaking amazeballs!!

4.  Ender's Game
I don't tell many people this because I don't want to lose my Sci-fi Geek card, but. . .I never read Ender's Game. However, after this trailer I MUST SEE THE MOVIE!!

 

5. Riddick: Red Band

I may be the only person on earth that loved the first Riddick movie. I'm so so so excited to see this next one and glad they ended up doing it.

So I'm sure I missed some really really great ones! 

What is a Fantasy/Sci-fi movie you've been excited to see? 

Are you hyped to see any of the ones I've already listed?

Blog Tour: Guest Post from Kriston Johnson + Giveaway

Author Kriston Johnson is here today with a guest post, as part of the tour for her young adult fantasy novel Awakened. Since I'm a big YA reader, I asked her to choose and discuss five YA and other books that inspired her. Her guest post is below, and check the bottom for a giveaway!

AWAKENED
by Kriston Johnson
Series: The Legends Of Elyndia #1
Publication date: April 25th 2013
Genre: YA Fantasy

Can fighting for the right side be the wrong thing to do?

Draven, the tyrant ruler of Elyndia for the last one thousand years, searches for the one who can fulfill his prophecy.

The Paladins, an elite band of warriors sworn to protect their way of life at all cost, search for the one with the ability to bring their world crumbling down.

An innocent girl, tormented by demons only she can see, lives on the brink of insanity and longs for a life of peace.

When seventeen-year-old Jade Rosenberg reads from an antique book, she has no idea she just read an incantation awaking her inherited power. But when opposing—and equally terrifying—groups invade her home, she learns she is descended from an enchanted realm and a member of a powerful race thought to have been hunted to extinction.

Ripped from her world, Jade is forced to seek refuge from those who want her dead. She is given one of two options and the time has come for her to make a choice: assassinate their sworn enemy…

Or sacrifice her soul.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

GUEST POST
Hello ladies, I want to start with saying thank you for having me on your blog and chatting with me about Awakened.

Writers are often asked where they get their inspiration. The truth is, inspiration comes from a little of everywhere. I’ve had ideas come to me from real life people, movies, certain objects, and a lot of the time other books. Here are some examples of works that have inspired me during my journey as a writer.

I’m just going to get this one out of the way…*covers mouth and mumbles* Smimight. What did she say? Twilight…I said Twilight, okay! *insert collective moan* I know, I know, how many times have we heard new YA authors say they started writing after they read Twilight? But it really was one of the first steps in my journey to writing Awakened. I had been writing before I read Twilight, but that is the book that introduced me to YA. You can say Twilight was my gateway book.

The Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. I read this story years ago and it is one of my favorite reads. I would have to say the main character, Yelena, in a way helped me to find my own leading lady, Jade. Not so much in personality, but in both stories the protagonists are despised by a society they are forced to live in and death is a constant threat.

The Hunger Games. I love the writing style and the fast paced plot brought to us by the talented, Suzanne Collins. When writing we need to make sure everything we write is for a reason, and Collins does an excellent job foreshadowing future events. For instance, ****spoiler alert****when Katniss sees that Peta has picked nightlock berries, she gets upset and stops him from eating them. Then in the next scene she finds the berries have poisoned Foxface. That was a complete scene and we could have lived without hearing about the berries ever again. But no, they come into play at the very end and literally saves their lives. ***end of spoiler*** So how did this affect Awakened? Well I planted several easter eggs that may have little affect on the progress of the story, but gives us little clues to future events. I can’t really point out to many examples without spoiling things, but I can share one. There is a scene where Jade notices a painting with a beautiful angel and little blonde girl. Well, that angel and little girl are the protagonists in a future book.

Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks. This one is for the writers. If you are a newbie writer in need of direction, this may be the best thing you could read. This is the closest thing you will ever get to a step-by-step on how to craft a novel. It doesn’t tell you how to write, but what it does do is explain the components of a story and where to place certain types of scenes to keep a steady pace. It explains themes, concepts, how to craft the perfect three-act structure, and how to keep conflict going without losing the plot.

Last but not least, I have to give a mention to…every single fantasy story I have ever read. It’s books like The Hobbit, Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz, and everything in between. I think back to when I was a kid and imagined myself playing with Christopher Robin in the Hundred Acre Wood, to now, listening to Puck and Ash bantering back and forth over a girl. Though these stories are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum, the one thing they have in common, is that they transport the reader to a make believe world. A world far from ordinary and far from our own mundane lives. These are the stories I dream of, escape to, and wish I could live in. These stories may only exist on the page, but they come to life in our minds. If it had not been for these tales, and the magic it taught me, Awakened probably would not exist.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kriston Johnson lives in Southwest Washington with her husband, teenage son, and miniature Australian Shepherd. Her home rests at the fringe of an old growth forest that she insists is the home of Jason Voorhees. Her husband thinks that’s a ridiculous assumption, because everyone knows it’s really Bigfoot. Every summer Kriston participates in the annual pilgrimage to Faerieworlds, a real life faerie realm here on Earth, and has an unhealthy obsession with Star Wars, The Vampire Diaries, and Iron Man. Awakened is her first novel.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads


GIVEAWAY
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Writing Opportunities: Scholarship to Greece, Romance Magazines, Anthologies

To all my writers! I'll be doing a monthly writing Opportunities blog post. Make sure you follow by email to catch it.


ENTER TO WIN A SCHOLARSHIP TO THE HOMERIC WRITERS' RETREAT & WORKSHOP ON THE GREEK ISLAND OF ITHACA!

Contest ends April 30.

Winners announced on or before May 31.

*Travel expenses not included. Winners of the scholarship must finance their own travel to the island. If winners can't attend, they may gift the scholarship to someone who can.

Join literary agent, Katharine Sands at the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop from Aug. 1-7, 2013. 

Retreat Attendees receive:

• $1,550 retreat scholarship
• Expert instruction on all topics of publishing
• A comprehensive critique and market recommendations for your work.
• Accommodation at Nostos Hotel with buffet breakfast, two dinners and excursions
• Gift hampers on arrival, filled with traditional Greek goods

Link to enter Here

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Penumbra eMagazine (Sci-Fi & Fantasy)

Penumbra pays professional rates of 5 cents per word.  

Link to submit is HERE

Current Submission Calls:

• July 2013:  Japanese Mythology

Although our editor-in-chief loves Greco-Roman mythology, learning the folklore and legends of Japan opened up a huge window for her several years back. The lore was so intricate and lovely that it naturally stirred her curiosity. With Daughter of the Empire, first book of the Empire Trilogy by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts that curiosity became an obsession.  We want to see stories that are saturated with the rich and gorgeous culture of Japan, and take that mythology into new and unexpected speculative territory.

CALL BEGINS ON FEBRUARY 1, 2013
CALL ENDS ON APRIL 30, 2013

• August 2013: Revolution

"The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos."
—Stephen Jay Gould

Revolution is one of those themes that can mean anything. An alternate history version of the Civil War. A galactic battle between humanoid and reptilian worlds. A coup in a coven of witches.  The range of stories within this topic is pretty darn close to infinite. And while you don't necessarily have to follow Stephen Jay Gould's opinion, you might want to consider Abbie Hoffman's.

"The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it."

CALL BEGINS ON MARCH 1, 2013
CALL ENDS ON MAY 31, 2013

• September 2013: The Fae

What's not to love about the Fae?  Whether you're writing about the fairies like Tinker Bell or pixies, or the Tuatha dé Danaan of older Irish legends, this is the issue to let the Fair Folk loose in your imagination. Be sure you follow the will o'the wisp into new worlds—and take the readers of Penumbra along with you on your journey down the faery paths.

CALL BEGINS ON APRIL 1, 2013
CALL ENDS ON JUNE 30 2013

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Love, Lust and Zombies 
— an original anthology edited by Mitzi Szereto

*trade paperback to be published by Cleis Press, 
*Publication date: Autumn 2014


Submission deadline:

May 1, 2013

Word count:
3,000 to 6,500

What I’m looking for:

Well-developed story lines and well-crafted prose told in a unique voice and containing interesting characters and settings. Stories may be set in the past, present, or future. Stories from female and male writers are welcome, as are those written from the POV of characters of any gender and containing characters of any sexual orientation.

Note that sexually explicit content is acceptable as well as a more subtle approach; however, absolutely no stock sex scenes or formulaic writing/terminology. Please refer to my previous anthologies to get an idea of the variety and style of content I look for. No excessive gore or violence. No reprints.

Payment:

One-time payment in the range of USD $50-70 (payable on publication) and 2 copies of the anthology.

Send to:submissions @ mitziszereto.com
Link HERE


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Hot Ink Anthology Call

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We are looking for stories between 10,000 and 15,000 words, although exceptions may be made. 

Simultaneous submissions are allowed. 

Original short stories acquired for this program are edited by both in-house editors and freelance editors who are experts in the romance genre.

We pay $1,000 against a 25% royalty. (The royalty enters the picture with respect to downloadable versions of the work.) Although we will consider edge cases, “original” means original—not previously published. 


In your cover letter, please include the following:

• The subgenre of your story
• Confirmation that the story has not been previously published
• If you are a published author, and if so, for whom you write
• If your story is connected to a larger universe in which you already write
• This is not required, but please feel free to include your Twitter and Facebook URLs in the cover letter.

Stories should use standard manuscript format (Our preference is 12 point, Times New Roman, double-spaced.) and be emailed as Word or RTF.  Please send it with a cover letter including the elements described above to submissions[at]heroesandheartbreakers[dot]com.

Link is HERE

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Entangled Publishing

Stories should be contemporary romances with a moderate to high heat level, 10k-40k words, focused on a one night stand or fling with a ticking clock (e.g. a non-refundable plane ticket home) and complicated by a fun, light-hearted romance trope (e.g. fake marriage, enemies to lovers, boardroom romance) that pulls the characters into bed even as it threatens to tear them apart. 

Stories should end positively with at least the promise of a HFN or a HEA obvious on the distant horizon. 

Submit stories at  HERE, attention ONE NIGHT IN. 

If you would prefer to work with a particular editor, address your query letter to that person. Stories of 10k-15k words should be submitted as Flirts, and stories of 20k-40k should be submitted as Ever Afters. 

We’re open to characters of any ethnicity, race, or nationality and to stories with multi-cultural pairings and f/f, m/m, or m/f pairings.

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Entranced Publishing

Link HERE

Special Calls

Entranced Publishing is currently calling for Winter Themed Love Stories, Romances, and Erotic Romance. Please read the guidelines below in addition to our regular guidelines prior to submitting. 

Theme: Winter and Holiday Special Editions

Description: Got a tale of love and lust set in the heart of winter or around the chaotic holiday season? We’d love to see it. The stories should be character-driven and the chemistry between the main characters should be hot enough to sizzle. 

Length: 45,000-70,000 words

Deadline for Submission is May 1, 2013.

Interview with Laura Lam, Author of Pantomime

Today, I get to present the author of the awesome book Pantomime!! The book was so good, I stopped what I was doing, searched for Laura Lam (genius author), possibly made her uncomfortable  by tweeting my devotion, and then begged her to do an interview with me.

She said yes! Because she is so cool!  So check out my interview below, but first get a quick look at the book that set my brain on fire!

Release Date: Feb 2013

Book Summary: R. H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic is the greatest circus of Ellada. Nestled among the glowing blue Penglass—remnants of a mysterious civilisation long gone—are wonders beyond the wildest imagination. It’s a place where anything seems possible, where if you close your eyes you can believe that the magic and knowledge of the vanished Chimaera is still there. It’s a place where anyone can hide.

Iphigenia Laurus, or Gene, the daughter of a noble family, is uncomfortable in corsets and crinoline, and prefers climbing trees to debutante balls. Micah Grey, a runaway living on the streets, joins the circus as an aerialist’s apprentice and soon becomes the circus’s rising star.

But Gene and Micah have balancing acts of their own to perform, and a secret in their blood that could unlock the mysteries of Ellada.

Laura Lam (future-book-baby-mama)

1- First please tell my readers what a Pantomime is and why you decided to incorporate this into your incredible story.

A Pantomime is more common in the UK than in the US, as the Christmas Panto is a big thing over here. A pantomime is a comedic-dramatic play. I wrote a longer history of the Pantomime HERE.


The shorter version is that the pantomime originated in Rome, which was when they told a story without words, but over the years it became Italian and then distinctly English. It's outlandish and funny, with slapstick and a lot of cross-dressing--the principal boy will often be played by a girl and the dame will usually be played by an older man.



From Laura Lam's Blog HERE

They were sometimes little interludes between opera acts, and so for my pantomime I stole that idea and had the play be little snippets between circus acts of R.H. Ragona's Circus of Magic. The pantomime in the circus is called Leander and Iona, and is about true love and monsters. It ties in very obviously to the themes of gender identity and exploration which are present in Pantomime. To be extra nerdy, some of the play's lines are in iambic pentameter.

2- Why did you decide to tackle the topic of gender identity within your story and how much research did it involve?

 It's something that evolved sort of naturally. I've always been interested in gender identity and some of my favourite fantasy and science fiction addresses this as well--Robin Hobb, Lynn Flewelling, Ursula K. Le Guin, and others--and so when I came up with a certain character, it wasn't unexpected.

But initially I was afraid to write about the subject, worried that I'd get it wrong. So for a good six months I just thought about it and read a lot of books gender & sexuality and GLBTQI issues and watched documentaries and youtube videos.

Some aspects of the research really upset me--the way people are treated just because of the way they were born--and I realised that yes, this was a story I needed to tell.

I realise I'm being a little coy, but we're being vague until the book is out!

3-Clearly, there will be a book two in this amazing adventure, but do you think there will be more than two books or even a spin-off series with other characters?

 Right now I have a contract for two books. I've love to do a third book to make it a trilogy, but that depends on how well Pantomime does.

Hint, hint!

But I also would love to go back to the series I started before Pantomime, which has Micah Grey as a 27-year-old. I'm also writing a few short stories set in Ellada just now, and I have a few other ideas percolating. I love the world, so I'd happily spend many books investigating it through different characters' eyes.

 4- What are three things you believe writers should do in order to improve their craft?

1. Read. Soo important to read, and read, and read some more. Read everything. Stuff you love. Read crap. Read famous classics. Read guilty pleasures. You'll learn so much about the craft of writing from every book you read. Every book I've read is an influence to some degree.

 2. Write. Write whatever. Write a blog, write reviews, write artcles, write short stories, novellas, novels. Try writing with an outline, or without an outline, and figure out what works for you. Get your butt in the chair and your hands on the keyboard and write.

3. Try to drown out the noise. I've noticed especially after getting a book deal that there's so much to worry about now.

Publishing can be a scary beast.

You sometimes feel like just one more voice yelling and waving your arms in a crowded room, trying to be heard. But sometimes you need to block it all out, unplug the modem, and just lose yourself in the words and the worlds and remember why you're doing all this in the first place.

 5- How did you find your agent?

I was rejected by another agent and cheekily asked if he had any other names in mind. I wouldn't normally do that, but we were on friendly terms already via Twitter and I could tell I was a pretty close miss.

One of the names he recommended was Juliet Mushens and I looked her up and she seemed perfect! So I queried her, she requested the full 5 minutes later, and she read it overnight and offered the next day.

I had a publishing offer from Strange Chemistry two days later and so she helped negotiate the deal.

6- What are your next projects?

I'm waiting to hear back about Pantomime 2 at the moment. To keep myself busy, As I said, I'm writing a few short stories set in Ellada, each one centered about a bit of Vestige, which is the advanced technology and/or magic left behind by an ancient civilisation, the Alder.

I don't know what I'll do with them yet, but I'm having fun writing them all the same. I'm also working on another YA which is a gothic ghost story with a twist, set in our world. I also have plenty of other book ideas percolating in the back of my mind, which is nice. When I first started writing I was worried I wouldn't have enough ideas, but so far I haven't run out!

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Laura Lam was raised near San Francisco, California by two former Haight-Ashbury hippies. She relocated to Scotland in 2009 to be with her husband, whom she met on the internet when he instant messaged her and insulted her taste in books. She almost blocked him but is glad she didn’t. At times she misses the sunshine.