Goldilox Goes to Olde City New Blood + Giveaway!

Last weekend I went to my first official author/reader/blogger book convention - the mini con Olde City New Blood in St. Augustine, Florida! It was a con for authors/readers/bloggers of Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, and Paranormal YA. I was actually a Featured Blogger and helped moderate panels.

I had an amazing time and got to meet some awesome authors and fellow bloggers so I wanted to share some pictures from the weekend! Please forgive the length of the post, I wanted the pics big enough for you to see, so they were too big to post side by side. Sorry if a few pics are a little blurry!

After you check out my trip, enter to win one of TWO book and swag packs from the con for yourself!!!

All packed and ready to go! It's important to only bring what's important...

Took some pictures with some fellow bloggers:

Jenese from Readers Confession

Chelsea from Vampire Book Club

Laura from Little Read Riding Hood and I forgot to take a pic together!

Some pics of the panels:

The "Vampire" panel:

(Authors who write vampire characters)

Kristen Painter

C.J. Ellison

Pamela Palmer

James R. Tuck

Jess Haines

Cynthia Eden

The "New Blood" panel:

(Debut or fairly new authors)

Amanda Carlson

Tes Hilaire

Tawdra Kandle

Delilah Dawson

Janet Breakfield

Lea Nolan

Alex Hughes

The "World Building" panel:

(on how authors build intricate worlds)

Kristen Painter

Elisabeth Naughton

K.C. Burn

Amy Lane

Damon Suede

Elizabeth Staab

Tes Hilaire

Me with some fabulous authors!

Delilah Dawson and Karina Cooper

@ The Steampunk panel in their Steampunk outfits

Steampunk geniuses and Twitter goddesses!

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Absolutely hilarious and super fun!

Cynthia Eden

So down to Earth!

The Ghost Tour guide about to demonstrate how to kill Kristen Painter!

And then there was The Dating Game...

Karina Cooper as Parker Adams from Sacrifice the Wicked

Her three possible suitors:

Jennifer L. Armentrout as Damon (wearing MY sunglasses!)

James Tuck as Deacon Chalk

Delilah Dawson as Criminy Stain

Delilah Dawson as Criminy from Wicked As They Come

His three possible ladies:

Karina Cooper as Jessie Leigh

Tawdra Kandle as Tasmyn Vaughn

Lucienne Diver as Gina Covello

All the books and swag!

Books I got signed!

Deliah Dawson's 'Blud Tortoise'

WHEW! I had SO much fun! If you were thinking about attending this year and didn't get a chance, you should definitely come next year. I had so much fun, even though I came home super sick and am still recovering!

Now it's YOUR turn! I have two packs of books and swag from the con to giveaway! 

Both sets include:

 *three paperback books from authors who attended the con (UF, PNR, or paranormal YA)

*a TON of swag (postcards, magnets, and signed bookmarks)

*an OCNB tote bag

*One of the packs even includes an OCNB T-shirt (size medium)!

Pack #1:

Pack #2:

Two winners will be chosen from the Rafflecopter form below! Since I'm shipping myself, you must live in the U.S. to win. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Olde City New Blood Reading Challenge - Update!

Olde City New Blood Reading Challenge

Jenese over at Readers Confession hosted a reading challenge to read the featured authors attending Olde City New Blood, which is a reader/blogger/author convention for Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance lovers. The con takes place in St. Augustine, Florida this weekend!!! 

My goal for this challenge was to read books by at least 15 of the authors.

Books from the Con authors that I read since starting this challenge on Oct. 4:
(Titles in *gold* link to my review)

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Half-Bloof (Covenant #1)

Pure (Covenant #2)

Deity (Covenant #3)

Opal (Lux #3)

Nancy Holzner

Deadtown (Deadtown #1)

Karina Cooper

Gilded (St. Croix Chronicles #2)

Delilah Dawson

Wicked As They Come (Blud #1)

Cynthia Eden

Angel of Darkness (The Fallen #1)

J.A. Sounders

Renegade (Elysium #1)

Soooooooo...let's not talk about how I sucked at this challenge. I blame review books and the holidays! The good news is that, in preparation for this challenge and this Con, I got a hold of several of the authors' books so I'll still be reading them after the Con is over. In fact, I'm sure meeting these authors will make me want to read their books even more!

Olde City New Blood - UF/PNR Con by the Beach!

Guys! Next week is the last week to buy your tickets to Olde City New Blood, an author/reader/blogger con for urban fantasy and paranormal romance lovers!

Registration ends on Jan. 12!

The con will be held February 8 - 10, which is a Fri. through Sun., in St. Augustine, FL. If you live in FL and are a book lover there's really no excuse not to go! And if you live in a state neighboring FL, St. Augustine is up there towards the top, so not too much travel time!

The attending author list is quite spectacular and I'm very excited! Here's a list of all the Featured Authors attending as of this post:

Jennifer L. Armentrout              Jenna Bennett              Janet Breakfield

KC Burn              Mary Calmes              Amanda Carlson              

Karina Cooper              Delilah Dawson              Poppy Dennison

Lucienne Diver              Cynthia Eden              CJ Ellisson

Lexi George              Sable Grace              Nancy Haddock

Jess Haines              Janice Hardy              Tes Hilaire

Jeannie Holmes              Nancy Holzner              Elle Jasper

Tawdra Kandle              Laura Kaye              Erin Kellison

Kiernan Kelly              Ciara Knight              CA Kunz

Amy Lane              JA London              Laurie London

Diana Love              Hildie McQueen              Elisabeth Naughton

Lea Nolan              Kristen Painter              Pamela Palmer

Caridad Pineiro              Erin Quinn               Sarah M. Ross

Melissa Shroeder              JA Souders              Elisabeth Staab

Anthony Stevens              Damon Suede              James R. Tuck

Debbie Viguie

Super exciting, right? What started out as a little paranormal con by the beach has blown up into a pretty darn impressive list of authors!

Registration is a flat $40, which is a great price if you ask me. Plus, one of the famous ghost tour companies in St. Augustine is offering discounted rates for their ghost tours that weekend. 

Ghost tour with some awesome authors? Count me in!

If you're interested in more information, here are some links:

Olde City New Blood homepage

Featured Authors page

Event registration

                     

I've already been lucky enough to host some of the featured authors here on the blog, including Cynthia Eden, Nancy Holzner, Lexi George, and Sable Grace.

Now keep an eye out for posts and giveaways from Delilah Dawson, Karina Cooper, and Jess Haines over the next few days!

And I hope to see you at Olde City New Blood!

OCNB Author Feature and Giveaway - Nancy Holzner

Don't miss your chance to meet author Nancy Holzner at the Olde City, New Blood mini-convention in St. Augustine, FL this coming February 8-10th!

Need MORE of an incentive to come chill out with some awesome authors by the beach?? 

How about if you win FREE REGISTRATION?? 

That's right... this week we're having a blog-hop-style contest and you could win your way in!! 

There will be 3 winners, who will be chosen randomly from all entries on the Rafflecopter form, announced on October 7th. 

(Winners will be responsible for their travel and hotel costs, but their registration fees will be covered by the mini-con!!) 

All of the featured bloggers for the event will be hosting special guests from Olde City, New Blood this week (September 30th – October 6th) and every post is another chance for you to enter to win. There will be additional chances to enter at some of the featured authors' websites, as well. 

For a complete list of blog posts and extra author entries, please see the link list on the convention website:
Contest Links

And now for today's OCNB Featured Author:

Nancy Holzner

 
 

Nancy Holzner is the author of the urban fantasy series, Deadtown!

Read on for:

• my interview with Nancy 
• a chance to win a signed copy of DARKLANDS - International! (leave a comment)
• PLUS a chance to win registration to the Olde City New Blood convention in St. Augustine, Florida! (Rafflecopter)

1. For those who don't know, tell readers a little about the world your Deadtown series is set in.

My Deadtown series follows the adventures of Victory Vaughn, a shapeshifter who kills other people's personal demons for a living. Vicky lives in Deadtown, Boston's paranormal-only district that was formed after a mysterious plague swept through the downtown and transformed two thousand Bostonians into zombies. The series looks at tensions between the human and paranormal populations, in the context of a crazy demi-demon whose ambition is to lead the legions of Hell beyond its boundaries to rule the other realms. In the middle of all that, Vicky is dealing with her werewolf lawyer boyfriend, a teenage zombie apprentice, a sister who wishes for nothing more than a normal suburban life, a vampire roommate with a habit of quoting Shakespeare, and a 300-year-old aunt who can kick any demon's butt.


2. And tell us about Victory, the series' kick ass heroine.

Vicky comes from a line of Welsh shapeshifters that traces its origins back to the witch/goddess Ceridwen. Among her race, the Cerddorion (ker-THOR-yon), females can change into any sentient creature, up to three times per lunar cycle. The closer to a full moon a shift happens, the more the animal brain takes over. The Cerddorion are dedicated to protecting humanity from demons, also descended from Ceridwen through another branch. Vicky runs her own business, exterminating the personal demons that arise from her clients' fear, guilt, or revenge. In the series, she learns that she may (or may not) be the long-prophesied Cerddorion champion who'll finally defeat the demons that threaten humanity. She's trained for this role since she was a teenager, and her arsenal includes guns, bronze-bladed knives, and a flaming sword. And although she's up for saving the world, mostly she just wants to earn a living, keep the peace with her family, and figure out her feelings for Kane, her workaholic werewolf boyfriend. She has a snarky sense of humor, she never runs from a fight, and although she can be unsure of herself she always tries to do the right thing.


3. What inspired this series?

I'd been reading a lot of urban fantasy (Kim Harrison, Rachel Caine, Jim Butcher, early Laurell K. Hamilton) and thought it would be a fun genre to write in. I saw a blog post from an agent who mentioned she didn't like to see the phrase "so-and-so wrestles with his own personal demons" in query letters—who, she wondered, would wrestle with your personal demons besides you? Instead of taking that question as rhetorical, I started thinking up possible answers. I combined the idea of a personal demon exterminator with an interest in Welsh mythology (I began my career as a medievalist), and Vicky was born.


4. What is your favorite type of paranormal creature? Is it safe to say zombies? Or is it something else?
I do enjoy a good zombie story, and it's been fun to put a twist on conventional zombies with this series. But I really like shapeshifters, including all kinds of werecreatures and shifters (like Vicky) who aren't tied to a specific animal. I'm also a big fan of ghost stories and would love to write a really spooky, atmospheric, Gothic one.


5. How are the zombies in your series different from others that readers might have read before?

They're not shambling, mindless brain munchers like the ones you see in horror films. Three years before the first book, Deadtown, takes place, a magically-enhanced virus killed two thousand Bostonians in a matter of minutes—or so it seemed. Three days after the tragedy, the victims began to rise. The quarantine zone became Deadtown, the district where all paranormals must, by law, live. The plague victims, officially known as "previously deceased humans," or PDHs, are popularly called zombies because they rose from their graves. Deadtown's zombies retain their personalities and wills, and they can talk and think like anyone else. But their skin looks more like a corpse's than that of a living person, and their eyes are blood red. They're not actively decaying, but neither do they heal. They're super-strong, vulnerable to sunlight, and nearly impossible to kill. They're always hungry, but they prefer junk food to human flesh—if you want to make friends with a zombie, carry Twinkies. Well, I should say they usually prefer junk food. A whiff of fresh human blood sends a zombie into a frenzy of blood lust, which tends to make human-zombie social situations rather awkward at times.


Fast Five:

1. Favorite guilty pleasure: A square of very dark chocolate with a glass of red wine.

2. Celebrity crush: This changes, but I was recently discussing Iron Man/The Avengers with a friend, so I'll go with Robert Downey, Jr.

3. Author you'd be starstruck to meet: Ilona Andrews (I've already met both halves of this husband-and-wife team. We were on some panels together at a con, and they were incredibly nice.)

4. Favorite writing snack: Coffee!

5. Favorite recent movie: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Not my usual genre, but I thought it was funny, well acted, and charming.

Thank you so much to Nancy for visiting today!

Leave a comment below for Nancy Holzner to read! Everyone who comments will be entered to win a signed copy of DARKLANDS (INT)!

After commenting, enter on the Rafflecopter form to win free registration to the Olde City New Blood convention in St. Augustine, Florida!

*Please note: To win the copy of DARKLANDS you must leave a comment in the blog comments section below. 

To enter to win the free registration you must enter on the Rafflecopter form. 

They are TWO separate contests!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

OCNB Author Feature and Giveaway - Cynthia Eden

Don't miss your chance to meet author Cynthia Eden at the Olde City, New Blood mini-convention in St. Augustine, FL this coming February 8-10th!

Need MORE of an incentive to come chill out with some awesome authors by the beach?? 

How about if you win FREE REGISTRATION?? 

That's right... this week we're having a blog-hop-style contest and you could win your way in!! 

There will be 3 winners, who will be chosen randomly from all entries on the Rafflecopter form, announced on October 7th. 

(Winners will be responsible for their travel and hotel costs, but their registration fees will be covered by the mini-con!!) 

All of the featured bloggers for the event will be hosting special guests from Olde City, New Blood this week (September 30th – October 6th) and every post is another chance for you to enter to win. There will be additional chances to enter at some of the featured authors' websites, as well. 

For a complete list of blog posts and extra author entries, please see the link list on the convention website:
Contest Links

And now for today's OCNB Featured Author:

Cynthia Eden

   

Full listing of Cynthia Eden titles

Paranormal romance extraordinaire, Cynthia Eden, is joining me here today! Eden write MANY wonderful series, one of which is The Fallen.

Read on:

• to find out how Cynthia feels about this time of year 
• for a chance to win an advance copy of ANGEL IN CHAINS, book three in The Fallen series (leave a comment)
• PLUS a chance to win registration to the Olde City New Blood convention in St. Augustine, Florida! (Rafflecopter)

Hi, everyone! It is a pleasure to be here at Goldilox and the Three Weres! 

Fall is finally here, and I’m so excited that I just can’t stand it. I love when the leaves change colors, then scary pumpkins start to appear on doorsteps—and when the ghost stories start to be whispered at night. I’m a sucker for a good ghost story. ;) 

Maybe that is why I write paranormal romances. Vampires, demons, shifters—and even fallen angels—all find their way into my books. I so enjoy thinking that there is more to this world than meets the eye. 

And, in the Fall, it seems like everyone starts to enjoy the paranormal a bit more. We put on costumes, pretend to be mummies or zombies or werewolves—and we have fun. 

Ah, the Halloween spirit. Combine that Halloween merriment with some tasty candy, and, well, you sure do have a great time! 

What’s your favorite part of Fall? Is there a special Halloween tradition that you’d like to share? One random commenter will be selected to win an Advanced Reader’s Copy of my December release, ANGEL IN CHAINS. 

Here’s the blurb for the book (so you know what you’ll be getting!): 

As a fallen Angel of Death, Azrael is cursed to walk the earth alone in search of redemption. One night, as he wanders the streets of New Orleans, he discovers a woman surrounded by panther shifters. No longer able to contain the anger simmering within, Az summons his dark powers and attacks, determined to protect this innocent human from certain death. 

Only Jade Pierce is no delicate flower. She’s spent years learning to survive and fight the evil forces sent by her ex-lover who refuses to let her go. But after seeing Az in action, she figures she could use a little supernatural help. And so she plans a course of seduction guaranteed to arouse his interest and his angelic passions… 

*** 

Happy Haunting! 

Cynthia Eden 

www.cynthiaeden.com

ANGEL IN CHAINS—Available November 27, 2012 from Kensington Brava

Leave a comment below for Cynthia Eden to read! Everyone who comments will be entered to win an advance copy of ANGEL IN CHAINS (US only please).

After commenting, enter on the Rafflecopter form to win free registration to the Olde City New Blood convention in St. Augustine, Florida!

*Please note: To win the copy of ANGEL IN CHAINS you must leave a comment in the blog comments section below. 

To enter to win the free registration you must enter on the Rafflecopter form. 

They are TWO separate contests!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

OCNB Author Feature and Giveaway - Lexi George

Don't miss your chance to meet author Lexi George at the Olde City, New Blood mini-convention in St. Augustine, FL this coming February 8-10th!

Need MORE of an incentive to come chill out with some awesome authors by the beach?? 

How about if you win FREE REGISTRATION?? 

That's right... this week we're having a blog-hop-style contest and you could win your way in!! 

To enter, simply answer the question (that's at the end of this post) in the comments below. There will be 3 winners, who will be chosen randomly from all entries on the Rafflecopter form, announced on October 7th. 

(Winners will be responsible for their travel and hotel costs, but their registration fees will be covered by the mini-con!!) 

All of the featured bloggers for the event will be hosting special guests from Olde City, New Blood this week (September 30th – October 6th) and every post is another chance for you to enter to win. There will be additional chances to enter at some of the featured authors' websites, as well.

For a complete list of blog posts and extra author entries, please see the link list on the convention website:
Contest Links

And now for today's OCNB Featured Author:

Lexi George

Lexi George is taking over the blog today to talk about the most important character in her books - the town they are set in!

Read on:

• to see what Lexi has to say about small town life 
• to enter to win a copy of one of the books in the Demon Hunting series pictured above (leave a comment)
• PLUS a chance to win registration to the Olde City New Blood convention in St. Augustine, Florida! (Rafflecopter)

Knowing Your Place 

People often ask me where I get the ideas for my characters. Are they based on real people or do I make them up from whole cloth? Yes and yes. The characters in my books are fictional but some of their quirks, expressions, and personality traits are drawn from people I’ve known. Meredith Peterson, for example, is loosely based on the high school nemesis who bullied my oldest daughter—greatly exaggerated, of course. I started writing Meredith to vent my motherly rage at this girl who made my darling’s life a misery, and ended up getting a kick out of her bitchy ways. Meredith says things I might think, but would never say aloud. She is such fun to write she ended up in every book (so far) except for the novella, So I Married A Demon Slayer. Meredith is . . . um . . . something of a star, so I guess she got the last laugh. 

There’s one character I could not do without: Hannah, the small South Alabama town that is the setting of my demon hunter books. Without Hannah, there would be no magic, no supernatural woo woo, no Southern crazy. The town of Hannah is the source of the magic in my books and a magnet for the strange, scary, and wonderful. I grew up in a small town like Hannah (minus, alas, the sexy demon hunters), where everybody knows everybody else. I am the daughter of a circuit judge and a high school English teacher. You better believe I couldn’t do anything without someone taking note. The town I grew up in wasn’t on a river, like Hannah, and there were no mountains. My hometown was flat as a flitter and divided in two by a railroad track. There were no chain restaurants, except for a Pizza Hut, and that didn’t arrive until I was a senior in high school. There were two burger joints, the Ponderosa and the Dairy Bar, one at either end of town. As teenagers, those were our hotspots, and we made the circuit on Saturday nights to see who was hanging out. Later generations would hang out at the Piggly Wiggly (known affectionately as the Pig), but we ran back and forth between the two eateries. If nothing was happening there, we hit the country back roads looking for a bonfire or a party at the creek. 

My husband and I lived in NYC for a year after we were married. He loved it. He considered himself a New Yorker. I was a fish out of water. You should have seen the expressions on people’s faces in Manhattan when I bid them good morning or spoke to them in the elevator. I freaked them out. I am a small town girl from a part of the world where people drawl, and say y’all, and get all up in your b’ness. I’m not urbane or sophisticated or worldly. I got along in the city and I enjoyed my time there. I figured out the subway system and how to fold up a slice of pizza pie, eating and walking at the same time. I loved the bustle and noises and smells of the big city and the endless things to do, and the wonderfully (and to my simple palate) strange foods. But it was not a comfortable fit, nor one I could maintain long term. 

I am a small town girl, so, eventually, I came home. My husband, bless him, left the city he loved and came, too. The town we live in today is roughly the same size as my girlhood home and has a river and rolling hills created by a meteor. There’s a larger city nearby where the teenagers can escape to roller skate or take in a movie, but the feeling of the town I now call home is the same as the one I grew up in; small, intimate, and comfortable. I like small towns, and back roads, and leisurely Sunday drives down winding highways through the rumpled green countryside. I like running into people I know at the grocery store, bank, pharmacy and nail salon. It’s my comfort zone. 

There’s an old adage that you should write what you know. I know small towns. I know some crazy, zany Southerners. Heck, I am a crazy, zany Southerner. 

So, I squished the two towns I’ve lived in together and came up with Hannah. I don’t think my books would be the same without her. She’s as vivid and alive as any place I’ve ever been. 

As we say in the South, she’s a real character.

Thank you SO much to Lexi! Now, to give something away!

Leave a comment below for Lexi George to read! Everyone who comments will be entered to win one of the books in the Demon Hunting series (US only please).

After commenting, enter on the Rafflecopter form to win free registration to the Olde City New Blood convention in St. Augustine, Florida!

*Please note: To win a book in the Demon Hunting series you must leave a comment in the blog comments section below. 

To enter to win the free registration you must enter on the Rafflecopter form. 

They are TWO separate contests!

a Rafflecopter giveaway