Giveaway Winner Announced!!!

 

For all of you readers and followers out there that entered for your chance to win the ARC of The Red Queen Dies that author Frankie Bailey has offered up, the wait is over.....

Congrats go out to.....

Audrey

Thank you so much again for everyone that participated and to Frankie Bailey for making this contest a possibility. If you're the lucky winner an email will be headed your way soon so be on the lookout!

Guest Post & Giveaway: Author Frankie Bailey

Judging a Book by Its Cover

I can only hope my book will be judged by its cover. From the moment I saw the book jacket for The Red Queen Dies, I was in love. The design team – Helen Werner Cox, illustrator; John Hamilton Design; and David Rotstein — had given me a book jacket that not only captures the spirit of the book but also helped me to define what the series will be about.

There he was, the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland – who appears in the book as a
pendant that the third victim is wearing when she is found. On the book jacket, the White Rabbit has his pocket watch in one hand and knife in the other.  The knife is an addition to his usual attire, a sly
whimsical twist on a familiar character – a lethal twist, perfect for a mystery.

The White Rabbit with the deadly looking weapon held behind his back helps to make it clear at a
glance that this book is indeed a mystery. The words “a mystery” that appear beneath the title reinforce the fact that this book is a mystery. I was worried about whether the genre of my book would be clear.  When you write a police procedural set in the near-future (2019), there is the possibility that some readers will pick the book up expecting sci-fi or fantasy. If you’re the author of the book, a White Rabbit with a knife in his hand and the words “a mystery” are welcome.

The book jacket helped me to define the series with much more precision. I was already well into
the first draft of the second book – working title, Cock Robin’s Funeral -- when I saw the cover image for The Red Queen Dies. When Marketing shortened the title of my first book --originally The Red Queen’s Last Bow – to the pithy and easy to remember The Red Queen Dies, I was reminded of the value of brevity. Seeing the cover for The Red Queen Dies gave me a visual image that went to the heart of the series I want to write. I already knew that the themes and the titles for future books would be drawn from children literature and folk ballads. But the cover helped me to define the world in which my characters live.

In their world, there is a kind of Wonderland effect that is chronic. In my straight police procedurals, that are neither sci-fi nor fantasy, there is and must be a kind of abnormal normal (for lack of a better expression). I draw heavily on the history of the real Albany, New York, but my world of 2019 and after exist as a parallel universe/alternate reality. In this world, life is not only post-9/11, but postUFO-sighting (2012). Climate change is an everyday fact of life and occasional misery. A good cup of
coffee doesn’t come cheap, and, although the marvels of technology have transformed some lives, the
poor have been left behind. In fact, technology sometimes doesn’t work – blame Mother Nature and lack of money to make repairs. War is on-going. Robots are becoming more common.

It is a world of haves and have nots, and politics -- as always – affects how my cops do their job.
The media are still present and even more pervasive. This is a world in which teenage “space zombies” and “droogie boy” gangs reflect the alienation of near-future youth. This is a world of fear and anxiety and occasional delight. My cops need to have grit, determination, and a sense of humor to solve crimes in this world. That’s what I need to remember as I move through the series. All of this came together in my mind – Eureka! -- when I saw that sly White Rabbit on my book jacket.

About the Author:

Frankie Y. Bailey is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice, UAlbany (SUNY).  She has received nominations for Edgar, Macavity, and Anthony awards for her non-fiction works. She is the author of a mystery series featuring Southern crime historian Lizzie Stuart. Her near-future police procedural series (set in Albany, New York and featuring Detective Hannah McCabe) debuts with The Red Queen Dies (Minotaur Books, September 2013). Bailey is a past executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America and the immediate past president of Sisters in Crime. She is also a member of Romance Writers of America.

 

Author's Website

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Giveaway Details:

 

One lucky reader will receive an ARC of The Red Queen Dies by this fabulous author.  We're going to keep this contest for U.S. Residents and all you have to do is fill out the form below and cross your fingers your name will be the one Rafflecopter randomly selects.  Good luck everyone and thank you so much again Frankie for stopping by with your post and for offering up this wonderful giveaway!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Countdown: September 2013 (3)

Fall is officially (almost) here, and it's my favorite time of year! No matter where I live or where I get the chance to visit, the Fall months are always the best wherever you land. I love pulling out a favorite pair of jeans and a super comfortable and slimming black turtleneck sweater with a pair of great boots. That's my idea of a perfect outfit, and a great book always goes great with that. And now that Summer is wrapping up, I'm winding down on the quick and fun reads that I feel goes hand in hand with the weather, and instead will venture into reading just about anything that comes across my path and sounds intriguing. Here are a few that fit that bill.

 

Countdown Pick #1:  The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond (09/03/2013)

 

The more things change…

Five years ago, the gods of ancient mythology awoke all around the world.

The more things stay the same…

This morning, Kyra Locke is late for school because of an argument with her father.

Seventeen-year-old Kyra lives in a transformed Washington, D.C., dominated by the embassies of divine pantheons and watched over by the mysterious Society of the Sun that governs mankind’s relations with the gods. But when rebellious Kyra encounters two trickster gods on her way home, one offering a threat and the other a warning, it turns out her life isn't what it seems. She escapes with the aid of Osborne "Oz" Spencer, a young Society field operative, only to discover that her scholar father has disappeared with a dangerous Egyptian relic. The Society needs the item back, and they aren’t interested in her protests that she knows nothing about it or her father's secrets.

Now Kyra must depend on her wits and the suspect help of scary Sumerian gods, her estranged oracle mother, and, of course, Oz--whose first allegiance is to the Society. She has no choice if she’s going to recover the missing relic and save her father. And if she doesn't? Well, that may just mean the end of the world as she knows it. From the author of Blackwood comes a fresh, thrilling urban fantasy that will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman, Cassandra Clare, and Rick Riordan.

 

The way I see it I get not only a book that centers around ancient mythology (one of my favorites) and takes place in modern times all in one package!  If what the synopsis says is true and it's anything like Clare's work, with the added bonus of this high powered action adventure featuring the ancient and mythical gods, I'm totally on board.

 

Countdown Pick #2:  The Truth About You and Me by Amanda Grace (a.k.a. Mandy Hubbard) (09/08/2013)

 

Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things.

Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she's so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennet. He's cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she's endured - and missed out on - in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she's falling in love.

 

There's only one problem. Bennet is Madelyn's college professor, and he thinks she's eighteen - because she hasn't told him the truth.

 

The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennet - both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.

 

The synopsis alone would have been enough to make me want to pick up a copy of this future release for my collection, but then I found out that author Amanda Grace is actually just a pen name for Mandy Hubbard and it was a done deal.

 

Countdown Pick #3:  Antigoddess (Goddess War, #1) by Kendare Blake (09/10/2013)

 

The Goddess War begins in Antigoddess, the first installment of the new series by acclaimed author of Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake.

Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

Super excited for yet another future release centering around ancient mythology.  I realize this one might not be playing too close to the textbooks we're giving in school on these legends, but I like the idea around each god or goddess dying in different ways, and I'm eager to see who forms which side of this war.

 

Countdown Pick #4:  The Red Queen Dies: A Mystery by Frankie Y. Bailey (09/10/2013)

 

Frankie Bailey introduces readers to a fabulous new protagonist and an Alice in Wonderland-infused crime in this stunning mystery, which kicks off an exciting new series set in the near future.

The year is 2019, and a drug used to treat soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder, nicknamed "Lullaby," has hit the streets. Swallowing a little pill erases traumatic memories, but what happens to a criminal trial when the star witness takes a pill and can't remember the crime? When two women are murdered in quick succession, biracial police detective Hannah McCabe is charged with solving the case. In spite of the advanced technology, including a city-wide surveillance program, a third woman is soon killed, and the police begin to suspect that a serial killer is on the loose. But the third victim, a Broadway actress known as “The Red Queen,” doesn’t fit the pattern set by the first two murders.

With the late September heat sizzling, Detective Hannah McCabe and her colleagues on the police force have to race to find the killer in a tangled web of clues that involve Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Fast-paced and original, this is a one-of-a-kind mystery from an extremely talented crime writer.

What a combination huh?  I love all things Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland related so I was on board from the start.

 

Countdown Pick #5:  Relativity by Cristin Bishara (09/10/2013)

 

If Ruby Wright could have her way, her dad would never have met and married her stepmother Willow, her best friend George would be more than a friend, and her mom would still be alive. Ruby knows wishes can't come true; some things just can't be undone. Then she discovers a tree in the middle of an Ohio cornfield with a wormhole to nine alternative realities.

Suddenly, Ruby can access completely different realities, each containing variations of her life—if things had gone differently at key moments. The windshield wiper missing her mother’s throat…her big brother surviving his ill-fated birth…her father never having met Willow. Her ideal world—one with everything and everyone she wants most—could be within reach. But is there such a thing as a perfect world? What is Ruby willing to give up to find out?

Much like Kasie West's Pivot Point, I like exploring the idea of seeing what other realities could have been and characters facing choices of what if?  It's an idea that's always intrigued me, and while I understand that sometimes the saying 'careful what you wish for' proves to be a very wise one, it never hurts to read about it, right?