Author: claudia

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HOURGLASS Contest #2!

First it’s time to announce the winners of HOURGLASS Contest #1 — congratulations to Alicia S., Natascha T., Ashlyn G., Ashly F. and Kim W.! I’ve emailed all of you guys to get the addresses for your signed advance copies of HOURGLASS. Hope you will enjoy it!

This is my absolute favorite contest I’ve ever held, because it was so much fun to read your entries. Bianca seems to be the overall favorite, with most people saying that they liked her strength; Balthazar and Lucas came in a mutual second, with most people liking Balty’s kindness and gentlemanly behavior, and Lucas’ ability to overlook his old prejudices. (Both men were also repeatedly cited as having sexiness in their favor.) Vic was fourth, with a lot of love for his good nature and Hawaiian shirts. But there were votes for Raquel, for Courtney, for Patrice, for Celia, for Mrs. Bethany (with one brave soul who wanted her for her English teacher!) and for Ranulf (who had one person describe his bowl haircut as “hot,” which just goes to show there’s someone for everyone.) I loved hearing everyone’s reasons for who they connected to and why, so I want to thank absolutely everyone who entered; this was a total joy.

(Also, it was awesome that, though I chose the winners totally at random, I ended up with five different favorite characters: Bianca, Balthazar, Lucas, Raquel and Patrice. Very cool!)

Now, for HOURGLASS Contest #2! If there is one thing I love to do, it’s buy and read books. So tell me: What books (besides HOURGLASS, naturally) are out there now that you’ve been meaning to read, but haven’t gotten around to yet? This contest lets me create a cheat sheet of great YA I might have missed (heh heh, I am sneaky), but it also means that five lucky winners will receive the book of their choice! I’ll send it directly to you.

The rules:

1) Send your entries to evernightclaudia at gmail dot com, with the subject line HOURGLASS Contest #2.
2) Please include the address where I should send your book — and yes, I will ship anywhere.
3) Although I am looking forward to many upcoming releases, please stick to books that are available now (and, if you need a book in another language, that is available in your language already). It will allow me to get the prizes to you a lot faster!
4) Remember, tell me the title, the author and why you’re looking forward to it.
5) I’ll pick the winners next Tuesday, March 16.

Good luck, everyone!

ETA: I am only now sending out my ARCs, due to sickness, the need to finish AFTERLIFE and, uh, sucking. But a lot of people who requested one did not give me their address! I’m going to put these in the mail tomorrow, so feel free to drop me a line (same email as above, with ARC as the subject line) with your blog and your address, and I’ll send out as many as I have left!

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decorating?

Then CHECK THIS OUT!

Yeah, that has absolutely nothing to do with books, vampires or anything else, but a friend of mine linked to it and I laughed very hard.

Remember, you have until Monday night to enter HOURGLASS Contest #1! Just send an email to evernightclaudia at gmail dot com with the subject line “HOURGLASS Contest #1” and tell me who your favorite character in the EVERNIGHT series is, and why. 5 winners chosen at random will get a signed advance copy of HOURGLASS!

(And yes, I’ll ship anywhere!)

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HOURGLASS Contest #1!

Yes, it’s that time of year again! We’re at five weeks (whoa!) until the release of HOURGLASS. Finally, at last, I have a few copies in my hot little hands … and I am giving away FIVE signed copies (early!) to winners who will be chosen at random from those who answer this question:

Which character in the EVERNIGHT series is your favorite, and why?

(And yes, I will pick the winners at random, so there is no wrong answer.)

To enter, send an email to evernightclaudia at gmail dot com, with the subject line “HOURGLASS Contest #1.” I’ll pick the winner on Feb. 9, which I believe is also the release date for the STARGAZER paperback! You’ll get your copies at least a few weeks before the book is available in stores.

More info and more contests to come; now that I am finally recovering from a very nasty illness, I am going to be able to invest some imagination into these — and the prizes — hmmm —

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Next stop: WEREWOLVES

My big news! I’ll be publishing another novel with HarperTeen in fall/winter 2011 — no title yet, but it’s about a servant girl named Tess in 1912, who wants to escape from the house where she works, and most particularly the lecherous young lord of the manor. But that’s not her biggest problem. While on a voyage to America, where she plans to escape and start a new life, she meets Alec, who’s ruggedly handsome, fabulously wealthy, intelligent and yet so clearly troubled that she’d rather not fall for him, but she does. That also is not her biggest problem. Alec, it turns out, is a werewolf … one cursed to change every night, unless and until he surrenders his independence and joins the Brotherhood, a pack of violently misogynistic werewolves who have been tracking him for months. You’d think that would be their biggest problem, wouldn’t you?

But no. Their biggest problem — though they don’t know it yet — is that they’re aboard the RMS Titanic.

I hope you guys are going to enjoy this one! I’m so excited about it, I can hardly tell you. I’ve been fascinated by the Titanic forever, and while I enjoy werewolf stories, I never saw something I’d want to do that other writers weren’t already tackling. But by making it a historical novel, and delving into the mysterious past of the Brotherhood, I feel like it’s going to be so much fun.

More good news: This novel will not delay Balthazar’s book by even one day. Instead of having to wait the whole time between AFTERLIFE and the Balthazar story (title soon to be announced), you’ll have this book in-between. (And no, I can’t get them to release the EVERNIGHT series any faster, so bear with us, okay, guys?)

So two books instead of one in 2011! And this is my ninth sale, so I’m pretty thrilled. Hope you are too!

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Happy New Year!

I hope everybody had wonderful holidays so far — I definitely have. But I wanted to make sure to give you guys a treat for New Year’s, and here it is: the prologue and first chapter of HOURGLASS! Read and enjoy (I hope).

After a long trek through the cold to find what were, apparently, the last remaining party hats in the city of Chicago, I am settling in to edit a bit before heading out to tonight’s bash (at the home of the fabulous Adam Seltzer, author of many many books, including the upcoming I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT.) Have a great New Year’s Eve, and we’ll be starting some contests and promos for the HOURGLASS launch soon!

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the blog awakens from the dead!

In very vampiric fashion!

At first I wasn’t posting much because (a) we were low on news, and (b) I’ve moved my more frequent updates to Facebook and Twitter (where you should follow me, if you aren’t already!) — but that only explains about two of the last five months. The rest of it got swallowed up in:

* my big move from NYC to Chicago, and from having a day job to writing full-time (hurray!),
* plans to move this from LJ to WordPress, which are still in the works, and
* the writing frenzy I went into to complete the first draft of AFTERLIFE (hurray!).

And then I was thinking, well, if I’m coming back to the blog, I need a BIG IMPRESSIVE POST, full of vacation pictures and the like, but then nothing ever seemed impressive enough, and nothing ever would be unless an exboyfriend showed up and needed my help to find the Ark of The Covenant or similar. (To date, no such luck.)

So finally I am breaking my silence to announce that my first act, upon receiving the long-desired Wii system from my brother, was to build Miis in the form of all the EVERNIGHT characters. At press time, Raquel had just wiped up the bowling alley with Lucas and Vic.

More news fairly soon, but probably after Christmas, so happy holidays — all the holidays — to everyone who celebrates. 😀

ETA: This is HILARIOUS!

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same party, different room

You will have noticed that I don’t blog here as often as I used to. This is not b/c I’m reaching out less, but more of my activity has moved to my Facebook account (search for author Claudia Gray) and Twitter (ditto). I believe I’m linked on the website. These are the places to look day to day. That said, I’m certainly not giving up the blog, and when the happy day arrives that I can go FT as a writer, I may yet turn into a constant poster.

I got my HOURGLASS ARCs in today! Imagine my surprise — isn’t this very early for a March 2010 release? Not sure. At any rate, no giveaways yet, but the time shall come. Watch this space.

In the meantime, enjoy the combined hilarity of Eddie Izzard, Star Wars and Legos (warning, adult language!):

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Happy Fourth of July, everyone — plus, awesome interview

I hope everyone is having a great Fourth of July, whether you’re celebrating in the U.S. or just having a great Saturday somewhere else in the world. Mostly I’m writing today, but I am making a celebratory meal tonight: soft tacos and refried beans, because Mexican food is a fabulous way to celebrate American independence.

My personal extra reason for celebration: this fun interview by the good people of YA Highway! Take a look, check it out and be rewarded with a few small spoilers for HOURGLASS, AFTERLIFE and the SPELLCASTER series.

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Happy Fourth of July, everyone — plus, awesome interview

I hope everyone is having a great Fourth of July, whether you’re celebrating in the U.S. or just having a great Saturday somewhere else in the world. Mostly I’m writing today, but I am making a celebratory meal tonight: soft tacos and refried beans, because Mexican food is a fabulous way to celebrate American independence.

My personal extra reason for celebration: this fun interview by the good people of YA Highway! Take a look, check it out and be rewarded with a few small spoilers for HOURGLASS, AFTERLIFE and the SPELLCASTER series.

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Tyson’s Corner, VA — BE THERE!

Just reminding you guys in the DC area that I’ll be appearing (together with the fabulous Elizabeth Scott) at the Barnes & Noble in Tyson’s Corner, VA on Saturday, June 27 at 1 p.m. That’s this Saturday! I hope to see some of you guys there! I don’t think we are doing any major event — just hanging out and signing — but that’s all the more reason to come by, because I hope to really have a chance to talk with some of you.

I’m hanging out watching the death tribute documentaries for Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. For people of Generation X, this is basically watching our childhoods crumble. I remember running around pretending to be one of Charlie’s Angels in first grade (though, as I could already read, I always played Sabrina, the Kate Jackson character, instead of Jill. Such is kindergarten.) And “Thriller”! I think I can do the Thriller dance from memory. Rumor has it that there might be a Thriller dance tomorrow in Times Square; if so, I AM THERE.