ARC winner, and announcing the Title of the Ever-Novella

Hey y'all! Thank you to everyone who entered in the contest to win an arc or EVERBOUND. The winner ( picked at random by rafflecopter) is... Paris Whiteley Please email me your mailing address and other info at brodiashton at gmail. Also remember that the arcs aren't printed yet, so it will be awhile before you actually receive the book. I'm up at my place in Midway right now, working hard on Ever-novella. Did I mention it now has a name? No, it's not EVER-novella, although that is what I'll call it in my head forever and ever. The real title also doesn't start with Ever. Can you believe it? So, without further ado, here is the title: NEVERFALL See what we did there? Switched ever for never? Tricky sneaky authors, as Scott Tracey would say. I think it works out great because it's told from cole's point of view, so it needed a little something something (like an extra "n") to set it apart. Okay, since I'm typing this on my iPad, and it's awkward, I'll leave it here. I apologize for any typos. Let me know what you think of the title!

Presenting... the cover for EVERBOUND!! and... win an ARC!

And... since I know none of you will read these words, because you'll just be scrolling down and looking for the pretty, I will simply say... I love it.




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To celebrate the beauty, I am offering up one of the ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) from my own personal stash. (They will be out sometime in the next month or two).


To enter, fill out the thingee below. 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's EVERBOUND Cover Reveal Week! Here is the First Teaser... And Jack needs your help

Calling yon bloggerville!


It's time for the second ever YA Crush Tourney over at the YA Sisterhood. Basically, readers nominate their YA Crushes, and then those crushes compete against each other in a fictional bracket-style tournament. 


I think Jack would be a good competitor. Or even Cole. But they have to garner at least 50 nominations to even make the consideration list. 


If you crush on either of those boys (or both! you can nominate both!) show them your love. There's a nominating form at the bottom of the YA Sisterhood post here. Nominations close June 19th at midnight. (That's tomorrow.) 


*remember to only nominate each of them once. Otherwise, your nom will be thrown out. 


And... This is the Week... that I reveal the cover for EVERBOUND! 


Yep. Sometime this week, I will get to share the crazy pretty that is the cover for EVERBOUND. I am so excited and beyond thrilled with how it turned out. To give you all a teaser, here is the back flap for it: 


ATTENTION: SPOILER ALERT*


*If you have not read the first book, you might want to avoid reading the back. I have blacked out the major thingees. The actual back cover will not have those strange black bars on it.**


**I don't know why I felt the need to tell you the black bars won't be there on the actual cover. 

I'll reveal the rest of the cover later this week. And if Jack or Cole makes it onto the YA Tourney list, I'll reveal it even earlier! In fact, the second one of them garners 50+ votes, I'll reveal the cover instantly. 


Let me know what you think. 


And if you want to see the non-blacked out version... scroll down


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In Which an EVERNEATH quote Makes it Into a Pakistani Newspaper

In one of the stranger instances where an EVERNEATH quote has popped up, the below article appeared today in a Pakistani newspaper. For the full article, click here.


Personally, I like how this debonaire man is looking pensively out the window, and then my caption makes it seem like he is contemplating the making of heroes. 


I do this all the time. I grow some facial hair, dot a mole on my cheek, use light and shadow to make my cheekbones stand out, and then stare out the window, ruminating on the questions of life, like how are heroes made? And why do people waste money on department store mascara when grocery store mascara is just as good? And did I turn the oven off? 

I'm happy to be quoted anywhere, especially in a country I love as much as Pakistan. If you didn't know about my love for Pakistan, you can click here and here

Three Things... Including the Inspiration for the Daughters of Persephone

Three things! 


#1


First off, I have to give a big shout out to my main squeeze, Rafael Nadal, for defeating Novak Djokovic winning his 7th French Open Title. 

This was taken after Novak Djokovic punched him in the nose out of frustration.

His rivalry with the Djoker plays out like a good novel. After dominating in tennis for years, he sort of fell from the top and Djoker took over. Rafa couldn't beat him in a major. He'd lost his mental mojo. 


And then this morning, he persevered. 


I can't wait to discuss the epic victory with Rafa over a cappuccino tonight in my dreams. (Because in my dreams, Rafa and I are the best of friends, and I drink cappuccinos like they're water. Or in my case, like they're Diet Coke.)


#2:


Kid B has been sick to his stomach. Last night, in the middle of the night, he suddenly pops out of bed and stands in the threshold of our bedroom. He says, "Mr. Daddy, Miss Mommy... explosion!"


This is a word you never want to hear in the middle of the night, during a stomach virus. That is all I'll say. Because I know it's early in the week, and you don't need any more information. So this is the official final word I'll say on the subject. 


Poop.


#3:


I'm hard at work on EVER-Novella. It's taking me to places I didn't know we'd be going, and I'm meeting mysterious societies I never knew existed. (That sentence makes no sense, because I am the one writing the darn thing, so I am the one making up said societies.)


Random Factoid: 
Speaking of strange societies, for those of you who've read EVERNEATH, do you want to know where I got the inspiration for the Daughters of Persephone? It was from a group in Utah called the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, or the D.U.P. When you google them, you get lots of pictures like this: 

My grandma was a proud member. Unlike the Daughters of Persephone, the DUP group is not bizarre, nor do they worship immortals, but they do care about lineage. 


That's one of my favorite things about being a writer. Taking seemingly mundane things from everyday life, and twisting them. 


I'm sorry, what was the question? I feel like this blog post is long and rambly. 


Wait, you say no one asked me a question in the first place? Then what am I doing here??

Wendy's Chili... Good Enough to Make Me Cry

I'm back from Oregon! 


Already missing the other authors from the event at Klindts' Bookstore in The Dalles. 

Quick story:


My mom, Bree Despain and I were traveling together, and we arrived to the airport in Portland about an hour before we needed to. So we decided to grab some lunch. 


Gluten-Free baked potato and chili. We were sitting at this table in the middle of the terminal, when this woman and her friend walked by. The woman was talking loudly.


Woman (to her friend): "I just can't believe it. She's my age, and she was just diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer..."


If you don't know my family's history with Pancreatic Cancer, you can click here. 


The three of us kind of froze. My mom said, "I wish I could go give her a hug, and tell her she's not alone."


Well, I don't know if it was just how sweet she said it, or how tender I've been lately, but a couple of tears escaped my eyes. 


Bree Despain suffers from an affliction known as "Sympathetic Cryer Syndrome" which means if she sees someone she cares about cry, she will cry too. Even if she sees me with allergies, she'll melt. Even if I have something stuck in my eye... You get the picture. 


So, Bree started to cry too. 


It struck me funny that to the outside eye, it looked like this little table of women just spontaneously broke into tears over their Wendy's lunches, without any visible inciting factor. 


I looked down at my chili potato and said, "I can't help crying. This chili is just so good."


Apparently I said it loud enough that a nearby janitor heard me. She came up to our table, leaned in conspiratorially, and said, "They make the chili on site. I hear them pounding the meat, and then adding the beans every single day." She looked at our tear-streaked faces, and solemnly continued. "I know. It's good."


So, somewhere in Portland, there is a kind woman who thinks that a table of women were so impressed with Wendy's Chili that it brought spontaneous tears to their eyes.