R.L. Stine's Trick-or-Tweet Contest!

Halloween is fast approaching. (Do you have your costume picked out already? Or are you the type that wraps a sheet around yourself like a toga and calls that a costume?) I’ve got nothing spooky going on at the moment. Lucky for you, the master of “Goosebumps” has a nice Trick-or-Treat contest. Or should I say, Trick-or-Tweet?

R.L. Stine is hosting a contest through his Twitter account for one of ten signed copies of his new book, “It's the First Day of School… FOREVER.” Check out the book trailer for it here:



Pretty sweet, huh? So you can see how to enter the contest here or just look below for instructions. Good luck!

R.L. Stine’s HALLOWEEN TRICK-OR-TWEET CONTEST
THE RULES

To enter the contest, follow these step-by-step instructions.
STEP 1:

To enter, you must be following @RL_Stine on Twitter.
If you are already a Follower, go to Step 2.
To become a Follower, go to http://twitter.com/RL_Stine and click ‘FOLLOW’.

STEP 2:

You must Tweet the exact text below to enter the contest:

Enter @RL_Stine ‘s Halloween Trick-or-Tweet Contest to win an autographed book! Please RT. Info at: http://bit.ly/mYmlxb

You only need to tweet this ONE time. Tweeting multiple times will not help your chances of winning.

STEP 3:

Complete the scary story below in one tweet. Tweet your story ending with the hashtag #RLSTINE by October 28. Please make sure to put #RLSTINE at the end of your tweet so we can find your submission.

Submit as many story endings as you like. But each entry must be a single tweet.
R.L. Stine will select 10 winning entries-- his favorite story endings.

The winners will be announced on Halloween Day. Winners will receive a Direct Message on Twitter from R.L. Stine notifying them that they won.

Each winner will receive an autographed copy of the book It's the First Day of School… Forever by R.L. Stine. The winning story endings will also be featured on rlstine.com.

CAN YOU FINISH THIS STORY?

It wasn’t my idea to run through the old graveyard on Halloween night. My friends Becky and Ian are a lot braver than me. It has always creeped me out to have a graveyard at the end of my street.

But here we were in our Halloween costumes. The moon was hidden behind a blanket of clouds. A gusting wind sent dead leaves dancing over the ground as if they were alive. And Becky said, "Come on, David. Let's go running through the graveyard, howling like wolves."

"Yeah. Maybe we'll wake up the dead," Ian said.

"I… don’t want to wake up the dead," I stammered. But I had no choice. I had to run with them. And so we went running through the old gravestones, our costumes fluttering in the wind. Running and howling at the top of our lungs.

It was actually fun—until I tripped over an open grave marker and fell to my knees in the dirt. And when I looked up, I couldn't see my friends. They'd vanished into the darkness.

I climbed to my feet, brushing off dead leaves. I called to Becky and Ian. No answer.
And then I gasped as I felt icy hard fingers grab the back of my neck. Icy fingers wrapped around my skin. With a scream of horror, I spun around—and…

Finish the story in one tweet—and tweet it with the hashtag #RLSTINE by October 28. Good luck!

~VK

PS: You can see my story entries by following @vincentkale and looking for the hashtag #RLSTINE.

Rick Riordan and the Olympian Week Book Tour!

Living in Pittsburgh has its benefits (he said before winter hits and he starts suffering through 5 degree mornings). We recently had The Dark Knight Rises film here, our sports teams are pretty good and it's often voted one of America's most livable cities. All that aside, Pittsburgh recently played host to Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. Though, Southside is more amenable to Dionysus, the God of Partying...

Somehow, we were one of 7 cities on Rick Riordan's Olympian Book Tour. The author of the wildly popular Percy Jackson series was touring for the release of "The Son of Neptune" in his "Heroes of Olympus" series. The author (who is very funny, humble and accommodating I might add) took some time out of his schedule to tell us a bit about his career and field questions from the hundreds of kids in the audience. Oh, yeah, I was roughly twice as tall as the average attendant...I sure didn't look out of place at all.



What I found most interesting about Riordan's talk was his path to publication. He started early on by writing a series of adult mystery novels and did fairly well. Then, Riordan was making up a bedtime story about Greek gods for his son when he simply ran out of mythology. His son not only encouraged him to make a story up on the spot, but to put that story to paper. Thus, Percy Jackson was born.

Out of something so simple as a shared interest in mythology between a father and a son, multiple series of best selling middle-grade/young-adult books were born. Riordan has masterfully cornered the market not only on Greek mythology, but now Roman mythology (which was done in a very clever way from both a literary and marketing standpoint), as well as Egyptian mythology in his Kane Chronicles and, eventually, Norse mythology when he can get to it. This isn't to say that there are no Gods left for the rest of us to write about (I'm partial to the Central/South American native Gods myself). Then there's always Jeff, the God of Biscuits.


Watch Roman Gods in Comedy  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

But why settle for interpreting a pre-existing mythology when you can just make up one of your own? That's (more or less) what I'm doing at the moment as I'm wrapping up my current project. Without giving away too much, the story has to do with a race of people who view the trees as their Gods (which will make a heckuva lot more sense once you know what the rest of the story is all about).

I'm hurrying to finish that story in time for NaNoWriMo. This year, I think I'll tackle some Middle Grade once and for all. (Every other time I try, it ends up far too serious and morphs into YA or Adult.) The tentative title right now is: Spiderbeard and the Pirates of Black Sky. And here's the logline:

When habitual homework-hater Sam Muggins gets yanked up into the clouds by a giant fishhook, he finds himself standing on deck of a floating pirate ship crewed entirely by women. Together, they must prevent the dreaded Captain Spiderbeard from destroying the nine World Anchors, or face a world turned upside-down by the absence of gravity.

Nothing too awfully serious about that, is there? I'll keep you posted on my progress as usual! Until next time, go and check out some Middle Grade fiction. There are some fantastic stories out there that will make you feel like a kid again. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments!

~VK

PS: As a side note, while I was at the Riordan tour, a friend of mine passed on the news that Steve Jobs had died. While this statement has been uttered many times within the past week, I thought it was a remarkable feat that the world learned of his passing through devices he helped to create. I echo countless others in saying that he passed on too soon and will be grievously missed.

Win a Signed Copy of Jonathan Maberry's "Dead of Night"

Here's a quick post for you dead-heads out there. Are you a fan of Jonathan Maberry? Of course you are. (And if you're not, click here to read up on him.) As for "Dead of Night," here's the brief book jacket description:

A prison doctor injects a condemned serial killer with a formula designed to keep his consciousness awake while his body rots in the grave. But all drugs have unforeseen side-effects. Before he could be buried, the killer wakes up. Hungry. Infected. Contagious. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang…but a bite.

If you want to win a signed hardcover edition of Maberry's "Dead of Night," just click here and fill out a simple form! Just make sure to read the disclaimer. If you agree without reading it, Maberry has every right to try out experimental viruses on you...fair warning!

~VK

Vincent Kale's Review of "Monarch" by Michelle Davidson Argyle

As I mentioned at the end of last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to read an advance copy of Michelle Davidson Argyle's spy-thriller novel, "Monarch." I'll jump right into the review after another look at the back-cover blurb:

Nick’s life as a CIA spy should be fulfilling, but it has only given him unhappiness—a wife who committed suicide, and two daughters who resent everything he has become. Now, stuck in the Amazon on the last mission of his career, he must track down Matheus Ferreira, a drug lord and terrorist the U.S. has tried to bring down for years. If he succeeds, he’ll have the chance to start his life over again.

Just when Nick is on the brink of catching Ferreira, he’s framed for a murder that turns his world upside down. His only chance of survival lies in West Virginia where Lilian Love, a woman from his past, owns the secluded Monarch Inn. He’s safe, but not for long…

*Disclaimer: Please forgive any part of my review that is incoherent, misspelled or generally nonsensical. I'm battling a fever and the bottle of NyQuil is calling my name...

Argyle's "Monarch" is, at first blush, a mash-up of the romance and thriller genres with a dash of espionage thrown in. While my characterization of the novel may come across as dismissive, the blending of the two styles actually works quite well. Argyle starts "Monarch" off with a literal bang (or rather a muffled 'pop' from a silenced gun) during a failed assassination attempt. Here we are introduced to one of three principal characters: CIA officer, Nick Avery.

Nick has troubles with the ladies, to say the least. His previous wife committed suicide, his daughters are distant both emotionally and geographically, and the one person who can help clear his name is the wife of a drug lord hidden somewhere in Brazil. Only slightly more important than saving face and staying alive is finding the woman who might just redeem his soul. And here we come to Lilian Love.

Lilian runs the rustic Monarch Inn in the secluded woodland of West Virginia. With the help of her twenty-six year old son Devan, she plays host to honeymooners, travelers and scientists all looking to get a glimpse of the Monarch butterflies during their migration. In Lilian and Devan, Argyle introduces us to the other two principle points of view. She allows each character to develop their own personality throughout their respective chapters and it's done in a way that never becomes boring or predictable.

Nick is clearly the driver of the action in this story and there's plenty of it. While he seems to mess up more than he gets right, luck stays on his side for the most part. The fight scenes are well crafted and entertaining without being over-the-top. The comparison of survival in the harsh Brazilian jungle to the relaxing atmosphere of the West Virginia woods is nicely done (although events cause those two settings to crash together in a very satisfying climax!) Nick, while borderline incompetent with his trust at times, means well and comes off as a good-hearted fatherly type who deserves to win out at the end of the day.

Devan, whom I related to the most (probably because I'm a late-twenties male who's been in love triangles/affairs/what have you...) is a late-twenties male who gets caught up in a love triangle (fancy that!) when Nick drops off his similarly-aged daughters, Clara and Violet, at the Inn for safe keeping. It was great to read through Devan's reactions as he tried to figure out just what to do with these women and just what to do with his own life.

The one issue I did have with Devan's character came early on when Nick first shows up at the Inn. Devan knows Nick and his mother, Lilian, have a bit of a past. He also knows that his mother is still crushed over the divorce from Devan's father. When Nick shows up on the scene with his slick words and overly helpful attitude, Devan seems to take it in stride like it is no big deal. As the only son of a divorced mother, that is NOT the way I would have reacted. The Inn is Devan's territory and Lilian is his to protect. Even if he eventually had no say in the matter, Devan made things a bit to easy on Nick and thus missed out on, not only a realistic portrayal, but also a building of conflict that could have resolved later on.

On to Lilian. Though she is arguably the most important character in the novel, I found myself liking her the least. Now hold on, let me explain! Throughout the story, I found her to be too pliable, a doormat, a wandering spirit with no purpose or direction. To me, she wallowed too much in her past relationships and reflected too often on their failures. For a time, all of the relationships in "Monarch" were about as shallow as those in a paranormal, young adult novel you'd buy off the supermarket shelf. But about halfway through, they pick up, add depth and develop into something that's got a bit of a nasty bite to it as well as hope for a silver lining. Like any romance worth is words, Argyle layers the paths connecting her characters so that it actually means something when one of them is hurt, or even killed; all the more so when they end up happy.

Back to Lilian. I mentioned how much I didn't like her early on. I kept waiting for her to wake up, to snap out of it, to stand up for herself. I'm happy to say that Argyle did not disappoint. There's a dark little scene towards the end that forces Lilian to take control, if only for a moment; it was enough to put me back on her side.

And then it hit me...the Monarchs, these fragile little creatures that have been a major theme throughout the story. They're at the mercy of countless events that are beyond their control. They lack the strength to resist a strong wind or to fly through heavy rains, yet still they persist. They weather storms and droughts and declines in their population. They go through a physical metamorphosis that changes them from inside-out, wholly, completely.

Once that revelation hit me while reading the last few pages of "Monarch," it made me appreciate all of the characters that much more. Each of them evolved in their own way and none of them were simple or one-dimensional. Even the villains had some gray areas to them, making them more human and less cartoonish. It's a revelation that warrants another read of "Monarch" to fully appreciate the journey. I hope that, whether you're a fan of romance or spy-thrillers or just fantastic writing in general, you'll give Michelle Davidson Argyle's "Monarch" a try!

Click here for a list of places to buy "Monarch!"

~VK

Butterflies and Spies

Almost a year ago to the day, I finished reading the novella "Cinders" by author Michelle Davidson Argyle. As soon as I put it down I knew I'd be checking back to see when her next story became available. It wasn't long (mere weeks, actually) before Ms. Argyle signed with a publisher and started planning a roll-out of her projects over the next couple of years. So it was with great excitement and enthusiasm that I was offered a free copy of her upcoming novel, "Monarch," in exchange for a review and blog post!

Here's the blurb from the book jacket:

Nick’s life as a CIA spy should be fulfilling, but it has only given him unhappiness—a wife who committed suicide, and two daughters who resent everything he has become. Now, stuck in the Amazon on the last mission of his career, he must track down Matheus Ferreira, a drug lord and terrorist the U.S. has tried to bring down for years. If he succeeds, he’ll have the chance to start his life over again.

Just when Nick is on the brink of catching Ferreira, he’s framed for a murder that turns his world upside down. His only chance of survival lies in West Virginia where Lilian Love, a woman from his past, owns the secluded Monarch Inn. He’s safe, but not for long…

Sounds awesome, right? Well, let me tell you, it is! Argyle unites the romantic and thriller genres in a way that will please fans of both and convert the holdouts. But I won't get into a full review just yet; that'll post on Monday.

In the meantime, if you're interested in getting your hands on a copy of "Monarch" by Michelle Davidson Argyle, click here! There you can find purchasing links, two sample chapters and a host of information on the eponymous Monarch butterflies.

If you still want more, follow the butterfly in this awesome trailer:


Check back on Monday for my full review!

~VK

A Quick Note Before Skynet Shuts Me Down

Skynet is live. Computers are aware. For some reason, they're after me.



Personally, it's been an odd day as far as technology goes: my phone refuses to do what I tell it and responds with snarky "error" messages, my computer fails to load webpages while my co-workers zip through Facebook and kitten videos unperturbed and a query email to a literary agent may have gotten lost in the ever-confusing series of internet tubes. There are some bright spots, however!

When I finally DID get my computer to work, I was able to get details on two anthologies I'd like to submit to. One is "World's Collider" (which you can read up on here). The other is through BlackSails Press and is featuring a mash-up of vampires and steampunk. The category was unexpected, but it will add a nice little twist that I can feature in my story.

One other bit of good news from Skynet is that Lulu.com sent me a promo code for people to use if they'd like a copy of "Crawl" or "Indigo," both of which can be found here. Use promo code AWESOME305 to get an additional 15% off until September 30th! Tell your friends!

Have a happy (and safe) Labor Day Weekend! It may be the last one we have before the robot overlords take over, so enjoy it!

~VK

An INDIGO Review for You to Peru...se!

(Picture courtesy of the awesome reviewer mentioned below.)

It's always nice to hear from people who read my stories. Whether they're blog posts, short stories, serials or novel-length fiction, I love hearing people's reactions. In all honesty, it's a dream of mine to be able to sit in a room with a handful of die-hard fans who just want to discuss a particular story/character/scene. So getting this type of feedback in my early days really lets me know how my writing is being translated in the heads of readers. It tells me what I'm doing right and what I still need to work on and, because of that, it's invaluable.

Comments from other readers also help me to convince the uninitiated that, "Hey! These stories ain't half bad!" Let's face it, I could sit here all day and tell you how great I am at putting words in order. But to expect people to put their hard earned cash down on the counter for those words, it helps to have some (more or less) impartial reviews.

Case in point: here's a review of "Indigo" by Nancy at her blog, A Cut Above...Something. As a bonus, her review features a DOUBLE RAINBOW!!! If that's not enough to get you over there, I dunno what is...unless you hate rainbows, in which case you might be more interested in reading "Crawl."

(Disclaimer: "Indigo" has little to do with rainbows and more to do with corporate corruption, a hard-boiled detective with a cybernetic arm and a group of kidnapped children with devastating psychic powers. Take that, rainbows!)

If Nancy's review has piqued your interest, you can buy your very own copy through Lulu.com! Paperback and/or eVersion(pdf) available!

For the record, my real favorite color has always been varying shades of green, but as for the book...definitely Umber! :)

~VK