Category: livejournal entry

The bad news: I still don’t have final, set-in-stone book tour stops to announce to you guys, but it should literally be any day now.

The good news: The wonderful Book Review Maniac has posted a great review of Evernight, and I did an interview with her too. So check those out!

Finally, it’s CONTEST TIME!

Although the vampire romance anthology Immortal is finally showing up in Borders and Waldenbooks stores around the country, it’s still not available online, and I know that not everybody lives in a region where Borders and Waldenbooks have much reach. So here’s what I am going to do:

To answer a few questions that might come up: (1) Yes, I’ll ship anywhere, even overseas. (2) I only have copies in English. (3) It will only be autographed by me — you’ll have to check out signings by the other fabulous authors if you want their John Hancocks as well. (4) You can enter by commenting on this post, on my MySpace page or through the “Contact Claudia” section of my website.

Good luck and have fun!

The Borders online store still seems to be convinced that Immortal: Love Stories With Bite doesn’t actually exist — but you might be able to find this in stores now. How do I know? I just got my copies in the mail! Yes, it’s a real book at last. I’ll update with another link if and when I can, and I think I’m going to hold a contest for a couple of copies, because obviously this is pretty hard to get. Anyway, I just wanted to keep you guys updated. Any contest announcements will come after Labor Day. Nobody can think the last week of August. It’s a rule.

We have confirmed one more date for the book tour this October, but I still can’t announce anything until all the dates are final. Stay tuned!

Had a fun hike this weekend, despite the fact that I fell rather spectacularly as we were going down a steep hill. My butt is now bruised in a hundred shades of Technicolor, and I am considering buying a pair of hiking poles, but I still had a great time. By the next hike, I’ll have a working digital camera again, so the hike pics will return.

And by the way, I don’t know if you all saw it in comments, but if you’d like to read the Juvenil Romantica interview in English, you can do so here. Thanks for posting, Eira!

Want to sign up at the Evernight fanlisting? Now you can, thanks to Mai!

Still no final tour details, but it shouldn’t be long now —

It’s been more than a week since my last update, mostly because I kept thinking I’d have big big news at any moment and I wanted to wait and put that in the next post. Well, I still don’t have all the details but I can at long last report: I’m going on tour the last week of October!

Not all the places are absolutely confirmed yet, so I’ll wait and list the full schedule at once. It’s not a huge trip (five cities at most), but they’re all over the country. The “Pitch Black” tour will feature two other awesome HarperTeen vampire authors, Ellen Schreiber and Nancy Collins. I’m incredibly psyched about this and hope to meet plenty of you on the road.

What all have I failed to blog about while waiting on the big news? Well, for one, I could’ve linked to this awesome interview at Juvenil Romantica. It’s in Spanish, though I am happy to reprint my answers in English here if y’all like. Beyond that, things have mostly been quiet, befitting the dog days of summer. How are you guys?

I’m this week’s blogger for the HarperTeen MySpace site — if you’d like to read my offering, you can check it out right here!

And although I now have some good questions for the interview with Bianca, I STILL need more and figure anytime during August is game. Ask away, people!

A longer trip update is coming, hopefully later today —

There are tons of places I’m fascinated by — Argentina! Canada! Japan! Spain! — but the first choice would have to be either Ireland or the United Kingdom. One of my very best friends lives in Northern Ireland, and were I to relocate to a whole other country, I know I’d want a good friend by my side.

By the way — I’m back from Mississippi! My new nephew Ari is indeed adorable, as is newly appointed Senior Nephew Eli, and I got to spend plenty of time with them and my whole family. I don’t have much time for a long post, because the Backspace writing conference is underway, and I’ve got a panel to moderate tomorrow that I, uh, might not have begun preparing yet. Some furious note-taking must occur. But I will check in soon with a longer travelogue.

I missed you guys!

I thought I was going to my hometown this weekend just to do some new-nephew cuddling, but no: It turns out I’ll be appearing at Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, on Saturday, Aug. 2 at 4 p.m. We’re not doing any big event, as this is all rather last-minute, but I’m going to sign the store’s copies and meet-and-greet any readers who stop by for about an hour or so. I figure most of you are going to be slightly fried from a long, sleepless night spent reading Breaking Dawn after the big midnight bashes, but if any of you are awake and in the area, please stop by! I’d love to meet you guys.

I hope to have some more appearances to announce soon, so watch this space.

(BTW, the new nephew is indeed named Ari. As my digital camera is on the fritz, I will have to get his parents to forward me a few pics to share.)

If you’re in Spain or reading Evernight in Spanish (where it is known as Medianoche) or Catalan (!), you might want to check out this blog and this forum. Thanks to Idoia and Ginny for putting them together! ETA: And don’t forget this blog, put together by Amanecer! I speak no Spanish but trust you guys are having good times there.

I am mostly recovered from yesterday’s wild flood adventure, but wow, am I tired. It’s going to take me a while to bounce back!

Early Morning.

GUIDE: Okay, so, we see a few clouds up there, but usually they blow over without any trouble. Lots of water on the trail, so it rained last night, and let’s hope that’s all we get.

ME: ::is glad she brought rain poncho::

40 Minutes Later. Rain begins to fall.

GUIDE: Let’s hope this blows over quickly!

ME: Is that hail?

OTHER HIKERS: Yeah, that’s hail.

ME: ::puts on rain poncho::

Lightning strikes.

GUIDE: Oh, sounds like that wasn’t too far off! A couple of miles, maybe?

OTHER HIKER: I think it was at the other end of this field. The one we’re standing in.

ME: Uh, yeah.

Two Hours Later:

GUIDE: I haven’t seen flooding like this in 28 years!

ME: ::hangs onto tree branch for balance while wading through thigh-deep rapids that used to be a trail::

OTHER HIKER: This is the most fun I’ve had on a hike EVER!

ME: Me too!

**

Back home, safe, sound and finally dry. Incredibly exhausted. Pretty happy.

We have another review of Evernight up here at Reader Rabbit!

In other Evernighty news, I am still woefully short of submitted questions for the interview with Bianca. I’ll need a few more questions before I can proceed. Any question you wish you could step into the book and ask Bianca? Let me know!

The heat wave broke here today, and oh, I’m so relieved. Weeks like last week make me wish I could move to Iceland.