Three Winners of EVERBOUND ARCs, and Santa-Dragon

Hey Y'all!

Thanks for entering last week's contest.

The winners are:

Vi Nguyen

Jana

Kristina Snyder

Email me your mailing addresses at brodiashton at gmail dot com. Congratulations!

And now, as a Christmas present to you all, enjoy my nieces' adventure through downtown Salt Lake City, and marvel at the fact that they weren't arrested.

Pre-Order NEVERFALL, and be entered to win one of several ARCs of EVERBOUND

Okay, folks. We are just over a week away from two exciting things. 

One is Christmas. 

But on the day after Christmas, December 26th (just in time for Christmas) (Kidding) the paperback edition of EVERNEATH releases, and the ebook novella NEVERFALL will be available! 

For those of you who don't know, NEVERFALL is a novella (100 pages) told from Cole's Point of View. It takes place between the end of book one (EVERNEATH) and the beginning of book 2 (EVERBOUND). 

Here's the blurb:

A thrilling new novella from the author of the Everneath series!

Jack is trapped for eternity in the Tunnels while Nikki has managed to evade Cole's grasp . . . for now. But Cole is more desperate than ever to find answers about Nikki, his best chance for taking over the throne of the underworld. How did she survive the Feed? Can Cole find another Forfeit like her who can survive it too?

Cole's quest leads him to the other side of the world, to a mysterious, dangerous society known as the Delphinians, whose price for information might be higher than Cole can pay—a price that could destroy Nikki. But when Cole attempts to steal the answers instead, his mission ends in disaster. Faced with centuries in a Delphinian dungeon, Cole is confronted with questions he's been too scared to ask himself: Is he really obsessed with the throne—or is he obsessed with Nikki? And can she really give him a new beginning as the Everneath's king . . . or will she instead bring about his tragic end?

To celebrate these events, I have a bunch of EVERBOUND ARCs to give away. So here's the deal. If you pre-order NEVERFALL ($2.99, available at Barnes and Noble, iTunes, and many other ebook places), you will be entered to win one of several copies of the EVERBOUND ARC! 

All you have to do is pre-order it, leave me a comment telling me you pre-ordered it, and you're entered! Easy peezy. 

Also, there is no way for me to check the validity of your pre-order, so I am counting on the honor system, and the fact that it would be silly to lie about two dollars and ninety-nine cents. If you're going to lie, lie about like a million dollars. In fact, have your hips leave the comment. (Because as we all know, hips don't lie).*

"Hips don't lie," quoth Shakira. 

So, click here to order NEVERFALL, and then comment away! The more people entered, the more copies I'll give away.  

Contest ends this Sunday. Winners announced on Monday. Just in time for Christmas. 

*Kid B's hips totally lie. His pants are always falling down. 

Bid on an ARC of EVERBOUND and support Newtown

This is probably the only thing I could blog about this morning, after the horrific events of Friday. (I have a first grader. I have decided to permanently attach him directly to me, by stitching his hip to my leg.)

The sweet people at Publishing Hearts are holding an auction of many items (books, critiques, packages from authors, agents and editors). All of the money goes to benefit the Newtown Youth and Family Services. 

One of the items up for bid is an ARC of EVERBOUND. So, if you would like to make a donation to the families of Newtown, and win an ARC of EVERBOUND (or any of the other wonderful prizes up  for bid), go to the Publishing Hearts website and follow their instructions. If you want to specifically bid on EVERBOUND, go here. 

The auction just went live, so as of now, nobody has bid on EVERBOUND. So now's your chance. :) I'll throw the starting bid out there. 

Five bucks. 

#prayfornewtown

Starred Review for EVERBOUND

I wanted to share some good news with you! The first two of the big reviews are in for EVERBOUND. 

One is a starred review from VOYA. Here's an excerpt:

"The Everneath comes to life in lurid descriptions of the circles of hell, weaving literary and mythological references into the mix. Ashton’s vivid images of the hands of the Forfeits reaching out of the earth are chilling. ... Nikki’s dogged determination to rescue Jack clouds her judgment. ... The surprise ending will leave stunned fans pleading for more. This worthy successor to Everneath (Balzer + Bray, 2012/VOYA December 2011) will be in high demand."

And Kirkus calls EVERBOUND "Intense, intriguing and highly addictive."

I am thrilled with these reviews, especially as the publication of EVERBOUND is right around the corner. 38 days! Would you like to add a countdown widget to your blog? You can get the widget on the sidebar of this blog. 

Furthermore... I don't have anything furthermore. It just felt like the appropriate segue into the next paragraph, but I got nothin'.  

Thanks y'all, especially you (yes, you!) for supporting the blog and my books. And remember to stop by Weller Books tonight at 6:30 if you want a signed copy of Everneath. 

Discounts and Good Deeds... aka My Next Appearance

Hey y'all! 

Just a quick announcement.

Do you like books? Do you like supporting education? Do you like children? Do you like all three? 

Are you sick of cute kitten pictures? Do you like pina coladas? How about dancing in the rain? 

Well, if you answered yes to the first three questions, have I got the opportunity for you. I'll be signing books at Weller Book Works tomorrow night from 6:30-9:30 as part of a book fair to support City Academy. I believe if you say "I support City Academy", then 20% of the proceeds will go to the school.  

Place: Weller Book Works (In Trolley Square)
(Also, it's near the new Trader Joe's. You could make an evening out of it.)
Time: 6:30-9:30
Date: Tomorrow (December 13, 2012)
Secret Code Word: "I Support City Academy"

Books. They're awesome. 

20% of the proceeds go to the school. There's your supporting education. 

Wrap the books for your kids. There's your liking children. 

Bam. 

Now, as for the cute kitten pictures, there's nothing I can do about those. But as for the pina coladas and dancing in the rain? Meet me at tonight at midnight. Wear galoshes. 

After Feeling the Loss, there's Living the Loss... aka What I'm Thankful For

This post is a little late for Thanksgiving. But it took me a while to get my thoughts together.

My family has a tradition for Thanksgiving. The night before the big dinner, the grandkids all gather at my parents' house. We lay a giant sheet down on the carpet, and set two plastic tubs on top of it. Then we take turns scrubbing the kids' fingernails and hands.

Finally, when everyone is clean (relatively speaking), we each grab half a loaf of bread (special ranch bread that has been aging for four days) and we "shuffle" the bread into the tiniest crumbs we can manage.

gathered round the stuffing tubs

Shuffling: verb
To use one's fingernails, scraping against the bread, in order to create... um... smaller pieces of bread. Nay, even crumbs. Or something in between crumbs and... whatever is the next size up.

After we shuffle the bread, we add my family's secret ingredients, that have been passed down for four generations. The ingredients include a buttload (a form of measurement from the 1800's) of rubbed sage and as much butter as "your conscience will allow." The recipe made it through the Great Depression, hence the "conscience will allow" measurement.

Nowadays though, my conscience will allow at least two buttloads of butter.

Did you know a buttload is an actual measurement? Okay, a "butt" is.
Here is one:

So the next time someone says you have a big "butt", you can come back with this zinger: "A 'butt' refers to a giant barrel, and obviously I don't have one of those on my backside, so joke's on you! So long suckah!" Then smack your butt for effect. This will either work, or you'll get beaten. 

Anyway, once we have the dressing put together, we let it sit overnight. To marinate in its juices. Which doesn't sound like something you'd want stuffing to do, but trust me, it's good.

The next day, at some point while the turkey is cooking, somebody stuffs the bird with our dressing, infusing it with delicious turkey bodily fluids.

Every year, it's been my dad who does this part.

So this year, when we arrived at my mom's house, the turkey was finished cooking, and out of the oven, and the stuffing remained unstuffed.

Me: "Um, shouldn't the stuffing be... stuffed by now? Since the turkey's sitting there on the counter already?"

Mom: "I don't know. Should it be?"

Me: "Should it be... what? Stuffed? I would guess yes. It's kind of inherent in the name 'stuffing'."

We realized at that moment exactly why the stuffing hadn't been stuffed: we were missing the official stuffer. My dad. 

But neither of us wanted to admit there was a problem. We both turned to my brother-in-law Dave, who is a doctor, and therefore isn't afraid to shove things in places not spoken of at parties.

Mom: "Dave, grab a bunch of the dressing and shove it in here." She pointed to the turkey's nether-regions.

Dave: "The turkey's already out of the oven. I see no benefit to stuffing it now. How come it wasn't stuffed previously?"

me: "Just stuff it, Dave! And stop asking questions!"

Dave (giving us a confused look): "Okay, fine. I'll stuff it."

He did, and we all stood around awkwardly, looking at the newly stuffed Turkey sitting there on the counter, and knowing it was all wrong. We waited about five minutes. 

Then my mom was all: "Okay, Dave. Unstuff it now."

Dave: "That makes even less sense than stuffing it in the first place."

me: "Just do it, Dave! And Stop asking questions!"

Dave: "That wasn't a question. But here's a question. Your family has made stuffing every year for the last six decades. How come this year it's like we have no idea what we're doing?"

me: "Dave, you are asking for a beating."

Mom: "Brodi, stop threatening to beat up your brother-in-law."

When the loss is new, you try to keep everything the same, and rely on routine, or tradition to get you through. But what if the person you're missing was an integral part of that tradition? So much so that without him, the stuffing doesn't get stuffed?

Still, we didn't talk about why the stuffing didn't get stuffed. We didn't want to reopen the wounds. It took 6-year-old Kid B saying at the dinner table, with tears in his eyes, "I miss Grandpa" for us to realize the wounds had never closed. It's okay to talk about him. And miss him. 

And as much as everything is the same, everything this year is different. But the sadder thing would've been if his loss made no difference at all. 

I guess that's what I'm thankful for this year. The opportunity to have loved someone so much that his loss is felt. 

I'm at the King's English tomorrow, and some Dark Days Announcements

A few quick notes about some upcoming appearances:

Are you looking for Christmas Presents? How about some autographed books!

I'll be signing books at the annual King's English Christmas Social! It's tomorrow night (December 6th) from 5-7 p.m. I'll be there with a bunch of other awesome authors, so if you want to give signed books for presents, this is the perfect opportunity. 

DARK DAYS

Also, the lineup for the Dark Days tours and authors has just been announced, and I am one of them! My official Dark Days blogger is Amber from Me, My Shelf and I. If you get a chance, stop by her blog and say hi in the comments. 

Here are the cities I will be touring in:

February 4, 7pm
Dark Days tour with Cynthia Hand, Veronica Rossi, and Tahereh Mafi
Barnes&Noble
Huntington Beach, California

February 5, 7pm
Dark Days tour with Cynthia Hand, Veronica Rossi, and Tahereh Mafi
Little Shop of Stories
Decatur, Georgia

February 6, 7pm
Dark Days tour with Cynthia Hand, Veronica Rossi, and Tahereh Mafi
Barnes & Noble
Cary, North Carolina

February 7, 7pm
Dark Days tour with Cynthia Hand, Veronica Rossi, and Tahereh Mafi
Harvard Coop
Cambridge, Massachussets

In addition to the Dark Days tour, I will also be making several appearances in Salt Lake City, Idaho Falls, Boise, New York City, Washington, D.C., Redondo Beach and Thousand Oaks. Check back to my appearances page in the next little while for details. 

Okay, that is all for now! I just turned in my latest revisions on Everneath 3: It's 
Everneath-iest. And just as the title suggests, it is actually the Everneath-iest. 

It's got love, betrayal, possessed bounty hunters, it's TV-MA SDVEZ for Suggestive Dialogue and Violence by and to Everliving Zombies. I am very excited for the way it is taking shape.

So, will I see any of you at the King's English Christmas Extravaganza?