Mindee Arnett
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POSTS IN CATEGORY: Avalon

New Book News – Onyx and Ivory

Welcome to Rime, the world of Onyx and Ivory, where dragons rule the night and magic rules the day.

Yes, that’s right. It’s here; it’s finally here! The book news I’ve been sitting on for a year. Seriously, a whole year! Think I deserve the gold star for patience. But before I get into the details, first let me share the details:

Pretty straight forward, right? But to be honest, this description doesn’t come close to scratching the surface of what this book is about. At its conception, more than two years ago, I thought of it as Pitch Black meets the Pony Express, and that description is still applicable, in part.

Kate Brighton, one of the two main protagonists, works for the Relay, the royal courier system connecting the twelve united cities of the kingdom of Rime. Her job is both important and dangerous. For when the sun sets in Rime the nightdrakes come out to hunt. These flightless dragons, ranging in size from pigs to elephants, will devour any living thing they can find. The only safe place is behind the magically fortified walls of the cities and Relay towers. Basically, Kate has to ride fast and true to make sure she completes her run before night falls. Fortunately for Kate, she was born with a magical (and forbidden) gift of wild magic—one that allows her to talk to animals, including the horses she relies on to keep her safe.

That’s all I’m going to reveal about the book itself for now, but I promise more in future newsletters. Oh, but I do want to tell you the reason why we’re only now announcing the book even though Harper bought it last April. In a singe word, the title. It’s taken us nearly a year to finally decide one.

As you might not know, titles (and covers) are two of the biggest marketing aspects of a book, one that the publisher has final say on it. Originally, I called this book. Traitor Kate, but as the book progressed and the second main character, Corin, grew more prominent, the story also outgrew that title. Before taking the book to acquisitions, my editor and I came up with a new one—Of Flame and Stone. Unfortunately though, the folks at Harper later decided that this title was too much like another upcoming book, and we were asked to find a new one. That process took months and months. It also took until the last minute. If you follow me on social media, you know I said we’d announce the book on Tuesday. That was plan, but because we were still scrambling for a title it didn’t happen until Friday. Such is life in publishing. Not that I’m complaining. To be honest, I’m thrilled just to still be in the game! More books! Hooray!

If you’re curious, here are some of the other almost-titles for this book:

  • Shades of Fate
  • Through Shadows Falling
  • Rime
  • The Book That Must Not Be Named

I might be kidding on that last one. But finally we decided on Onyx and Ivory. These words refer to something specific in the book, like a proper noun, but it also invokes some of the themes. Anyway, I hope you like. And I really, really hope it gets to stay (keep your fingers crossed on that one).

In the meantime, I’ve got all kinds of giveaways and fun events coming up to introduce you to the book. One cool thing I’m planning is a vlog series designed to help writers write accurately about horses. Yep, you heard that right. It’ll be me, on camera, talking about horses. And riding them and giving them treats. You know. Fun stuff. I’m also working on a series of posts that detail my writing process from start to finish. Those will appear both on the blog and in upcoming newsletters.

But the one thing I’m most excited about is the street team I’m hoping to launch, assuming, of course, people are interested in joining. It’s going to be called the Relay, and I’m hoping some of you might sign up as “riders.” The exclusive giveaways for members are going to be epic. I’m going full out on this one. If you’re not familiar with street teams, basically you sign up to help me promote the book throughout the months leading up to the release in various on-painful, hopefully fun, ways. And in return you get exclusive goodies, both in terms of sneak peeks but also awesome swag. I’m going to be honest guys, I’m really hoping to make a splash with this book. But I won’t be able to do that without help from readers like you.

Okay, that’s all for now, but more coming soon. Including some pretty amazing Avalon news. Oh, and if you won’t to read a brand new Avalon short story, be sure to sign up for my newsletter.

Musingly Yours,

Mindee

Avalon Release Day

I can hardly believe it, but Avalon is out today! There’s so much I want to say, but mostly I’m too dazed. There are all kinds of ways to win a copy of the book and swag. Here are a couple, just to get you started, if you’re interested:

http://booksbonesbuffy.com/2014/01/21/release-day-giveaway-excerpt-avalon-by-mindee-arnett/

http://lorimlee.blogspot.com/2014/01/giveaway-avalon-by-mindee-arnett.html

http://scribblerskye.blogspot.com/2014/01/book-launch-avalon-mindee-arnett.html

There are some more that I’m missing, but I’ll update as I can. In the meantime, I’m going to spend the day relaxing and hanging out online. And in the very near future, I’m going to write a post comparing and contrasting Avalon and The Nightmare Affair. Basically, if you like one, you’ll probably like the other, despite their differences. Also, The Nightmare Dilemma is out in few short weeks!

 

 

 

News, News, and News

Okay, quick and dirty news post for you because my edit letter for the Avalon sequel has arrived and I need to get busy. So without further ado, here are the thing you might want to know now:

Avalon Blog Tour is Under Way

That’s right. My blog tour, hosted by the incredible Jaime Arnold over at Rockstar Book Tours started today. You can find the list of stops on the tour and enter to win 1 of 2 signed hard copies of Avalon (opened internationally) here.

avalon

 

The Nightmare Dilemma Sweepstakes

The first two chapters of The Nightmare Dilemma are up over at tor.com and you can enter a sweepstakes to win an arc. Check it all out here. Also, I’d love to know what you think about the opening chapters. I can’t wait for this book.

The Three Nightmares You Can’t Resist Tour

That’s right. I’m heading on tour to promote The Nightmare Dilemma.  Woohoo! And this time I get to go with some awesome fellow Tor authors. I’m not saying anything else yet. But the full details will be out tomorrow. I’ll share them as soon as the link goes live.

Cheers!

Avalon Twitter Party, Gift Card Giveaway

The lovely Nova over at Out of Time is hosting a twitter party to celebrate Avalon. I’ll be answering questions and there’ll be giveaways. To get you excited about it I’m giving away a $15 gift card to an eBook retailer of your choice Hope you can make it. Details below.

For those who need them, BOOK DETAILS!:

Title: AvalonAuthor: Mindee Arnett

Pub Date: January 21st, 2014

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Page Count: 432

A ragtag group of teenage mercenaries who crew the spaceship Avalon
stumble upon a conspiracy that could threaten the entire galaxy in this
fascinating and fast-paced sci-fi adventure from author Mindee Arnett.

Of
the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie
thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free.
The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime
bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and
ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing:
metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster
than the speed of light.

Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage
mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech,
and they’re damn good at it. Jeth doesn’t care about the politics or the
law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his
parents’ ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself
and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds
himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the
government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself
how far he’ll go to get the freedom he’s wanted for so long.

Avalon
is the perfect fit for teens new to sci-fi as well as seasoned sci-fi
readers looking for more books in the YA space-and a great match for
fans of Joss Whedon’s cult hit show Firefly.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bk3y15m_2F0/USa4EKL4FhI/AAAAAAAAArM/w27XyIWLrHM/s1600/goodreads-badge-add-plus.png

Buy Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Chapters Indigo

So now that you know what the book is about, here are the details to the twitter party. Hope you can make it!

Here are the rules/tips/details for the party! Some are more important than others.

1. WHO: This party will be hosted by me (@NovaBlogder). So you might just want to be following us. Hehe, just a tip. (If you want to unfollow at the end of the party, knock yourself out. I’m not offended in the least.)

2. WHERE: Twitter.

If you don’t have a twitter account, it is very easy to make one, trust me! And there are a lot of benefits! You can make a lot of friends and meet a lot of fellow bloggers/authors and book lovers.
3. WHEN: January 22nd, at 7-8 PM ET. 6-7 PM CST, 5-6 PM MST, 4-5 PM PST. This will be a party for one hour.

4. WHAT: A twitter party is an hour-long chat with Mindee Arnett. She’ll answer your questions, talk about Avalon and you can talk to other people who have read/have not read Avalon! It’s all to spread the love of books and this one in particular.

5. PRIZES: We’ve got prizes for both INT and US readers! Prizes will be going each 15 minutes. Check for my tweets because I will be hosting the giveaway. Two giveaways will be RT ones and the other two will be questions/challenges! The winners will be selected randomly.

6. HOW: I recommend using a hashtag following site. I use www.tweetchat.com because www.twubs.com has somehow been glitching on me. (Maybe for you, it might be the opposite.)

Just enter the hashtag #Avalon and then log into your twitter account to tweet. Also, if you want a reply, make sure you use the hashtag (using a site will auto put the hashtag for you). There is no guarantee I/Mindee will check our Mentions.

As a pre-party giveaway to get you PUMPED about the party, Mindee has also donated a $15 AMAZON or B&N GC!!!

Giveaway 

 

 

 

Call for Bloggers: Proxy Launch

Hello all my lovely blogger friends and readers. I’m putting together an awesome giveaway to celebrate the launch of Proxy, the digital prequel novella to Avalon available for download December 3rd, and I could use your help! If you’re willing to help host the launch and giveaway, please fill out this google document.

By doing so, you will earn my eternal esteem and affection. Seriously, it would totally rock.

New York Comic Con Schedule

I can hardly believe that in two days I’ll be on my way to NYC for Comic Con!!!! Seriously, those exclamation points just aren’t expressing my enthusiasm loudly enough. But I am. Enthused. Ecstatic. It’s going to rock.

I know that there will be plenty of popular fandoms going around, and you can click here to see the favorite comic characters by US state which will inevitably be very well represented in costume, but I’m equally excited to see all the other fandoms too!

All of my events take place on Sunday. Here’s the breakdown:

  • 12:00 pm: Signing The Nightmare Dilemma* arcs at the Tor Booth (2223)
  • 1:15 pm: Panel – “We have done the impossible, and that makes us might”: A Discussion of heroes and heroines in science fiction. The other authors are Kass Morgan, Cristin Terrill, Phoebe North, Robinson Wells, and Adam Sternbergh. Moderated by Ali T. Kokmen
  • 2:30: Signing Avalon arcs (Table 21)

At my Avalon signing, I will be giving away 50 signed poster to anyone who wants one. See them below modeled by my 5-year old daughter.

I’ll also have the usual bookmarks and other swag. I’m so looking forward to meeting everyone. I’ll be checking my twitter feed as much as possible, so if anybody wants to meet up to chat or hang up send me a message

See you Sunday!

photo-3

*I’m not 100% certain that it is in fact Dilemma arcs, but to the best of my knowledge it is. Either way, Tor Books rocks and they should be at the top of your visit list

Quasi-Hiatus

Sadly, I’m writing this post on the eve of my first day back to the day job after a blissful, 7-day vacation. That’s the bummer of vacations. They always have to come to an end.

So you might’ve noticed I’ve been a little scarce this last week, and yes, that was due to the vacation, but I’ve decided to keep up the scarcity for a bit. The reason being is that I’ve got to hit the grindstone hard on Avalon 2. I’m nowhere near where I need to be on it, and I’ve got to get there quick. That said, I’m going to try to avoid my favorite online haunts for the next couple of weeks. I will check all @ replies and any messages aimed directly at me, but I will be avoiding my feeds for the most part. So if you need me, just holler. Also, if you have any awesomesauce news, shout it at me, because I hate missing out on good news.

Anyway, I will be back in a few with details about upcoming events, including an appearance at New York Comic Con!!!! I can’t wait to tell you more. But for now, it’s off to the writing cave, Batman.

 

Joseph Beth Booksellers YA Beach Bash

Hey Guys,

Just a quick reminder that I’ll be at Cincinnati Joseph-Beth this Saturday at 1:00 for an awesome YA Beach Bash. There’s going to be a ton of amazing authors: Liz Coley, Julie Kagawa, Kristina McBride, Saundra Mitchell, and Aprilynne Pike!!! We’re going to talk books and writing and all things shiny, and there will be giveaways throughout the panel. For me, I’m giving away the items below–a hardback of The Nightmare Affair, a cover proof of The Nightmare Dilemma, and an advanced readers copy of Avalon! Hope to see you there.

photo-2

p.s. Here is what the title page of Avalon looks like. How cool is that?

photo-1

 

Avalon First Pass Pages and Bookmark Giveaway

Lots of fun stuff going on here. I turned in edits for The Nightmare Dilemma, which is now going into production, aka “will be a real book soon.” The cover reveal should be any day now as well. I can’t wait.

I’ve also finished First Pass Pages of Avalon aka “the last time I get to make changes” stage of book production. This stage might be my favorite, because I get to see a bit of what the book will look like it. For example, this is wickedly awesome, give-me-chills Title Page:

FPP_cover

Or the even more wickedly awesome, sci-fi cool first page and chapter heading design:

FPP_crop_first

Anyway, to celebrate the completion of this important stage, I’ve decided to giveaway a signed Avalon bookmark to the first twenty people who comment on this blog post (see a picture of said bookmarks, modeled by my lovely Poseidon statue below). This giveaway is open internationally, and I’ll leave it open until next Monday or until the first 20. Good luck!

bookmark_display

Avalon Cover Reveal!

That’s right! The awesome, badass cover to my upcoming YA sci-fi thriller Avalon has finally been revealed. You can check it out over at Epic Reads. You’ll find the synopsis and you can enter to win 1 of 5 Advanced Readers Copies. It’s super easy to enter. Also, the book is coming out January 21, 2014!!! If I’ve got my math right, that’s only 7 months. Woohoo! So go take a look and I’d love to know what you think.

Cheers!