S.R. Johannes

Monday, April 30, 2012

Cover Love for Closed Hearts

Eek!! Look at Susan Quinn's cover for Closed Hearts (Book Two of the Mindjack Trilogy) - coming May 23rd.

Isn't it Gorge!

When you control minds, only your heart can be used against you.

Eight months ago, Kira Moore revealed to the mindreading world that mindjackers like herself were hidden in their midst. Now she wonders if telling the truth was the right choice after all. As wild rumors spread, a powerful anti-jacker politician capitalizes on mindreaders’ fears and strips jackers of their rights. While some jackers flee to Jackertown—a slum rife with jackworkers who trade mind control favors for cash—Kira and her family hide from the readers who fear her and jackers who hate her. But when a jacker Clan member makes Kira’s boyfriend Raf collapse in her arms, Kira is forced to save the people she loves by facing the thing she fears most: FBI agent Kestrel and his experimental torture chamber for jackers.

Click Here to sign up for the Virtual Launch Party on May 23rd! There will be prizes, reviews, and bonus content!

PRAISE FOR Open Minds (Book One of the Mindjack Trilogy)

“Susan plunges readers into a compelling and frightening world where nearly everyone can read minds when they come of age. The very idea makes me shudder. This is easily one of the best books I've read not only this year, but in recent years.”

— Heather McCorkle, author of The Secret of Spruce Knoll

"Susan Kaye Quinn's Open Minds is an edge-of-the-seat YA sci-fi, where 16 year-old Kira dodges psychological bullets from all sides." — Catherine Stine, author of Fireseed One

You can get caught up by purchasing Open Minds for $2.99 on Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes&Noble, and iTunes

Susan Kaye Quinn, Author

Susan Kaye Quinn grew up in California, where she wrote snippets of stories and passed them to her friends during class. She pursued a bunch of engineering degrees and worked a lot of geeky jobs, including turns at GE Aircraft Engines, NASA, and NCAR. Now that she writes novels, her business card says "Author and Rocket Scientist" and she doesn't have to sneak her notes anymore. All that engineering comes in handy when dreaming up paranormal powers in future worlds or mixing science with fantasy to conjure slightly plausible inventions. Susan writes from the Chicago suburbs with her three boys, two cats, and one husband. Which, it turns out, is exactly as much as she can handle.

Way too often, you can find Susan on her blog, facebook, and twitter.

You can also read a prequel to Open Minds in the In His Eyes Anthology - all short stories from a hot boy's perspective. Currently free!

Friday, April 27, 2012

IndieView with Shannon Duffy (author of Spectral)

Today Shannon Duffy has stopped by to talk about her new book, SPECTRAL.

Convinced she’s a part of the witness protection program, sixteen-year-old Jewel Rose is shuffled around the globe with her family like a pack of traveling gypsies. After arriving at lucky home twenty-seven, she stumbles upon a mysterious boy with magical powers claiming to be her guardian . . . and warning of imminent danger. Despite the obvious sparks between them, Jewel discovers a relationship is forbidden, and the more she learns about dark, brooding Roman, she begins to question who she can even believe — the family who raised her, or the supposed sworn protector who claims they’ve been lying to her all along.

As she struggles to uncover who her family has really been running from, she is forced to hide her birthmark that reveals who she is. With new realities surfacing, unexplained powers appearing, and two tempting boys vying for her heart, Jewel battles to learn who she can trust in an ever growing sea of lies, hoping she’ll make it through her seventeenth birthday alive.

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Thanks for inviting me to spend a little time on your blog, Shelli. You’ve asked about my journey to publication for my new YA Paranormal Romance, SPECTRAL, so here it is:

On a dark and stormy night… okay, no really, Spectral all came about with an idea for the book over Christmas of 2010. I couldn’t sleep one night, which is a great time to come up with story ideas—at least for me—and an idea came to me for Jewel’s story. It was the basics of the storyline, but one that got me pumped up. The next day I spilled my story idea to my husband and visiting family members, tumbling over my words at rapid speed and excitement.

I started writing Spectral in January 2011. Two of my amazing critique partners, Rachel Harris and Trisha Wolfe both critiqued chapter by chapter being the rock stars they are. When I got their notes back, I’d incorporate any changes that made sense—which they usually did—because as mentioned, they are truly rock star writers. It took me about seven months to write Spectral…I know I won’t get any speed awards for that. Some authors can cough out books every couple months—I’m just not one of them.

Once I finally typed the proverbial THE END, I sent it off to a great freelance editor (Enter Georgia McBride), for edits/critique. And then, I revised some more. After that, I sent Spectral to my fantabulous agent, Lauren Hammond. I was relieved when she loved it, and after a few more edits from her, ta da! It was time to send it out on submissions to publishers. Eeks! I was excited and nervous all wrapped up into one. Sending my story out into the world for the first time to be judged was surreal. I prayed someone would love it enough to want to publish it, and not hate it so much that they’d laugh. J

I was very lucky with Spectral as it wasn’t out on submission too long when I got an offer for publication from the amazing Tribute Books! (Insert happy dance here) It was one of those…Where were you when moments. I happened to be in San Francisco on the way home from a writer’s retreat in Big Sur, California. Lauren called me with the fab news in my hotel room and after a moment, of OMG and seriously? ...I began calling everyone close to me while pacing my room and panting the good news into the phone. I can’t tell you how good it felt to tell my loved ones, and in particular, my parents, who believed in me from day one. *Sigh.*

After “meeting” Nicole at Tribute, I was even happier that I’d have someone sweet and down to earth to work with. Then the fun began with the cover design, book trailer, and finding out the release date. All moments of excitement and worry, hoping those things would turn out just right.

Then finally, after a few more edit/revisions (Yup, they keep on coming), my little story was ready to meet the world. (Insert moment of panic.) I can only hope people will enjoy the story…and maybe even fall in love with my characters along the way.

Special thanks to everyone who shared in my journey to publication, and thank you, Shelli for having me here today.

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Shannon Duffy's Bio

Shannon Duffy writes young adult and middle grade fiction. She grew up on the beautiful east coast of Canada and now lives in Ontario, Canada. She is the mom of one boy, Gabriel, her angel. She loves writing, reading, working out, soccer, and the sport of champions-shopping. She is the author of the young adult paranormal romance, SPECTRAL. Her upcoming middle grade fantasy novel, GABRIEL STONE AND THE DIVINITY OF VALTA is scheduled for a January 2013 release.

Find Shannon online

Tribute Books

Purchase Links

Friday, April 20, 2012

Earth Day Reads

Check out my recommended Earth Day reads over on The Indelibles!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Uncontrollable Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek at the first chapter of Uncontrollable scheduled for late summer.

Hope you like it!

Open publication - Free publishing - More teen

To catch up on The Nature of Grace series, you can purchase Untraceable at all major booksellers including your local indie bookstore, B&N, and Amazon.

More to come later!