Happy Halloween and Friday Five for October 31, 2014

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

1. What sort of scary good fun are you having today? My son is really excited. He'll have a party at school and then go trick-or-treating with his best buddy this evening. (If it isn't raining!)

2. Another good writing week. I'm one-sixth of the way done my third and final D&D novella. This one is from the guy's POV, so I've been pestering my husband with a ton of questions!

3. I did some critiquing and wrote up two short skits about bullying for a friend of mine. It's a bit strange for me to write for an eight-year-old audience. I tend to fall into quirky Harry Potter-like prose when I do. But since this was a serious subject, I had to keep it realistic. A good writing exercise.

4. I'll be absent from the cyberworld next week as my mom is visiting. We'll get our Christmas shopping done early. I still have my IWSG post ready to go for Wednesday along with a fantastic guest post by Carol Kilgore on Monday, and the second week of November is Realms Faire. Huzzah!

5. Thank you to everyone who entered my Creepy Freebies giveaway and to all who helped promote it. Thanks to the participating authors for all the awesome free reads. My Kindle is packed with scary stories. A final big thank you to Milo who organized it. I can't wait to do it again next year!

The winners of my Creepy Freebies giveaway are:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wicked Wednesday - sexy costumes for geeks

I bet when you read the topic for today's post, you immediately thought of Princess Leia in her steel bikini or Captain Mal. While absolutely tantalizing, geeks don't need to see tight clothes on starship captains to find their favorite characters sexy. Someone fully clothed can be just as alluring.

Here are some ideas for costumes that leave everything to the imagination. Just the way we like it!

I see a lot of women dressed as the TARDIS. I understand the desire. I would love to have a TARDIS of my own, but I don't want to dress as one. I'm sure you can think of a few joking comments you'd like to avoid wearing it! So what about other ships? Serenity, the Enterprise, or the Millennium Falcon. Oh, even better, Moya from Farscape. She's a living sentient ship.

Bill Nye the Science Guy. Nothing is sexier than science.

The Bowler from Mystery Men. There's so many guy superheroes out there this year, we need more options for the ladies.

There's nothing as fun as riffing movies. You could be Joel or one of the robots from Mystery Science Theater 3000. I always wondered what a man alone in space with only robots as companions did in the times between he was forced to watch bad films.

And if you really must be Princess Leia in her slave outfit, be LEGO Princess Leia.

What costumes can you suggest that leave everything to the imagination but are just as awesome?

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Have you picked up any Creepy Freebies this week?

All week, participating authors are giving away FREE reads and raffling off books. You can enter to win a signed copy of The 13th Floor Complete Collection. Check out Sunday's post for the details.

CD Coffelt's Mage Revealed - excerpt

Mage Revealed

Book Two of The Magic Withheld series

Struck with enough malevolent Spirit to turn him into a raving beast of a man, Bert Reese fights to remain human. Alone, he walks a slender path between sanity and madness. Then, an unlikely source enters his life to help—one of the now-hated mages.

But Ashleigh is different and calms his butchered senses. Her fierce nature is the only rock that stands between him and the crevasse that is beast. In all ways, she walks beside him toward a new beginning. But at the end of their journey lies the one who used Spirit against him. Questions arise; did Tiarra, head of the Imperium, lose her magic, die, or simply give way to the new order? Or, like a spider, does she wait for a mage to blunder into her web?

Forced on him without a care for his humanity, Bert is the mage who should not exist, born with a different kind of magic.

And the gates of Hell are no match for the magic he wields.

Author C.D. Coffelt’s world of magic started in Wilder Mage with the words “The earthquake wasn’t his fault. Not this time.” It continues in Mage Revealed, the second book of the three-part series. Watch the book trailer on YouTube.

Excerpt from Mage Revealed

Energy slithered around him, encased him and…

Bonded.

All the elements slammed into him at once filling him like a bursting dam, sloshing into a maelstrom of Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Spirit. Magic filled him, cascaded into every pore of his skin until there was nothing left that was of his essence.

He raised his arms. “I am a wizard,” he said.

His words echoed, like the roll of a bass drum in an empty coliseum.

From his fingertips, fluid lightning forked and shot into the empty sky. A violent whirlwind as tall as he wanted it to be caught up a whirl of leaves. A roar of Fire sprang from the palms of his hands, crowned his head. And Spirit, the silvery element waited for his command, to charge into any foray he so chose.

He turned to the panting women, frozen in the grip of panic and fright.

“I am a wizard,” he said again.

C.D. Coffelt lives outside Skidmore, Missouri with a bemused husband and way too many cats. She is a member of the Missouri Writers Guild. But despite that bit of conventionality, she adores all things fantasy with a special love for urban and epic.

With a passion for good writing and Doritos as companions, locating Middle-Earth on a dusty road in rural Missouri wasn’t difficult. All it took was a little Magic, hours of reading, and an overactive imagination.

She blogs as Huntress on www.spiritcalled.blogspot.com, Facebook, Twitter, and her writer’s critique site, www.unicornbell.blogspot.com.

Find her books at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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Don't forget to grab your Halloween treat this week.

It's Creepy Freebies! And you could win a signed copy of The 13th Floor Complete Collection. See yesterday's post to enter and get a bunch of terrific free reads from other authors.

Creepy Freebies

It's that time of year again.

Time for some spooky treats!

Creepy Freebies is the brilliant idea of Milo James Fowler.

Because what's better than candy or having your brain eaten by zombies?

FREE BOOKS!

Milo will be giving away a couple of his creepy story collections.

But this isn't a one house treat fest.

All these awesome authors are giving away free reads!

Cory Cone

James Garcia, Jr.

Anne E. Johnson

Simon Kewin
Michelle Ann King

Mary Rajotte

Kay Theodoratus
Erin Cole
Rhonda Parrish

 In celebration of my favorite time of year, and the one year anniversary of The 13th Floor Complete Collection, I'll be giving away a bunch of  treats!

One lucky US winner (sorry, shipping costs are huge!) will win a signed print copy of the collection. It's the last one I have on my shelf to give away!

Three international winners will receive a digital copy of the book.

Don't forget that I also have three novellas that are perma-free:

The Marquis

Fearless

L'il Gal Al and the Zombies of Amarillo

Be sure to visit all the authors and collect your treats!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday Five for October 24, 2014

1. I finished the second D&D novella! Woot! It's off with my critique partners now, hopefully making them giggle. Now on to the third one. I had hoped to have them all done by the end of this month, but a broken wrist throws a bone in the wheel of productivity.

2. One short story rejection this week. Two still out there. Submitting short stories is a great way not only to get your name out there, but to build thicker skin.

3. Today I'm assisting at my son's preschool. We made pretzel rod ghosts and grape goblins for a snack. My little guy is super excited about Halloween. I can't wait to see all the kids in their costumes. Are any of you dressing up?

4. I've been watching quite a few new shows this season. And tonight is the premiere of Constantine. I've been oohing and aahing over the commercials. Not that I need to add another show to my schedule, but it looks awesome!

5. Something wicked comes this Sunday. Wicked good! Creepy Freebies is the brilliant idea of Milo James Fowler. Because what's better than candy? Free reads and giveaways! I'll be giving away a signed copy of The 13th Floor Complete Collection. Don't miss out on all the freebies from the participating authors.

Have a great weekend!

Wicked Wednesday - just a little kiss

It's that big moment when a couple shares their first kiss in a story. You're on the edge of your seat, holding your breath, and heated from the tension. What sort of kiss will it be? It has to be perfect, right?

No, it doesn't.

And that's the fun of writing. You can make that first kiss be anything you want it to be.

Sloppy kiss - a little too much saliva and a lot of lip sucking. A bit like a happy bulldog.

Dead fish kiss - one person is completely passive with no mouth action at all except that it's open just a little because, likely, they're a mouth-breather.

Too eager kiss - going in for it so hard and fast that teeth clink, lips bruise, and one or both people look like they're going to eat the other one.

Uncoordinated kiss - both people turn their heads the same way and bonk noses or miss the lips to kiss a nostril instead.

Tongue leading the way kiss - one person has their tongue out like a lance and it leads the way in with no lip contact first.

I know very few people that have had a perfect first kiss. Most often, it's hilarious and/or awkward. It's all the kisses after it that made the romance work for them.

Release of Secret Keepers and The Initiate

Book 3 in The Afterlife series is here!

Blurb:

Secret Keepers:

In Second Death, Indigo and her team of sleuths escape the clutches of underground evil.

In Ghostly Gallows, Indigo and the gang managed to dodge the falling ruins and free those spirits trapped by the evil spell that bound them to Gallowsgate Prison.

Now in Secret Keepers, even though Indigo speaks to ghosties, there is so much about the afterlife she doesn’t understand. Such as…how can spirits be sick? They’re dead, for goodness sake! But once again Indigo is forced to go where she made it a point to never go: the hospital. There, the mystery of the sick and missing spirits explodes into a frenzied battle for souls where dawn may bring life or final death.

Indigo Eady:

Much to her chagrin, Indigo Eady is a celebrity among spirits. She’s the girl who can see and speak with them. She has a proven track record in helping spirits find their murderers, so it’s no surprise when she’s drafted onto the Missing Paranormal Committee. Who better to help them than the experienced teenage ghost whisperer- investigator and her friends?

Amazon * Goodreads * B&N * Googleplay

Find Gwen Gardner here!

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Book 2 of The Rifters!

Blurb:

A junction erupts between the worlds in Settler, Oregon, a rift from which horrors attack our world. The Rifters defend us.

To trust unquestioningly is the first lesson Daelin Long must learn as the newest Initiate of the Rifters. Her first day is a disaster. She stands on a deserted street in a town smaller than a city district, courting killer rocks from another world with her ancestor from the Revolutionary War. Normal no longer exists.

While she struggles, Earl Blacke grapples with atoning for his past ill deeds, running far and fast from Settler, Oregon. The Shaman of the Desert promises him redemption, and an old mine puts the possibility of a gold strike in his grasp. His luck has changed for the better, but he can’t have both.

You're never a hero until you are.

Amazon * B&N * iTunes * Googleplay

Find Mary Pax here!