SHADOW Teaser #1

Tomorrow is May 1st, which means only one month until SHADOW is out! For the next five weeks, I'll be sharing a teaser every Tuesday to celebrate the upcoming prequel to INK.

SHADOW is an ebook prequel novella written in both Katie and Tomohiro's POVs.

Here's the summary:

Meet two teens whose worlds are about to change forever in this paranormal Young Adult novella, a prequel to Ink by debut author Amanda Sun…

Katie Greene’s worst nightmare comes true when her mother dies, and she’s devastated to learn that she will have to leave the only home she’s ever known. Desperate to find where she belongs, she must decide if she has what it takes to start a new life across the ocean.

For Yuu Tomohiro, every day is a nightmare. He struggles to control his strange ability, and keeps everyone at a distance so they won’t get hurt—even his girlfriend, Myu. At night, a shadow haunts his dreams, and a mysterious woman torments him with omens of death and destruction. But these haunting premonitions are only the beginning…

I will also be giving away a preorder of SHADOW every week until launch!

SHADOW is ebook only, so here's how it will work:

1) You must be able to receive some format of ebook.
2) You may choose the retailer the preorder is from. I will contact you by email to discuss.
3) You are responsible for finding out whether you can receive the ebook download in your country, from that retailer, and that it will work on your device. If not, I will have to award the giveaway to another winner.

I hope that's clear. The contest is open internationally as long as you are able to receive the ebook copy and I'm able to send it. I don't mean the rules to be restrictive, but rather to avoid any disappointment. Thanks for your cooperation! :)

Okay, so with that out of the way, let's move on to today's teaser!

Teaser #1

Tomohiro

I used to think there was something wrong with me, that I needed medication or serious therapy. Like my mom—Kaasan always took a bunch of different pills for her nightmares, though she tried to hide them until she thought I was upstairs.

Now I know. There’s definitely something wrong. And it’s not something I can fix with any drugs.


Pre-order SHADOW from: Amazon / Amazon (CAN) / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Pre-order INK from Amazon / Amazon (CAN) / Chapters Indigo / Barnes & Noble

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ad Astra 2013 Recap

Ad Astra was held April 5-7, and it was a whirlwind kind of weekend! I was on five different panels, and I competed in the masquerade as well. There were lots of great friends, old and new, some wonderful conversations, and a lot of fun was had by all!

 I arrived on the Friday in my Eilonwy cosplay. She's the "forgotten" Disney princess, from The Black Cauldron, and it was great fun being her for a day. ^_^

And my bauble lit up!

I was on a panel with Kelley Armstrong and librarian Joel Sutherland on the topic of Dystopic YA. Such a great discussion to start the weekend!

And then, Friday night...time for Disney Karaoke! Eilonwy doesn't have a song, so I sang Colors of the Wind, lighting up my bauble at the appropriate time. :)

This Snow White was an incredible singer and cosplayer.

 And, as we all joked, Storm Trooper, the newest Disney princess:

 

He was also our fab karaoke DJ.

 Saturday I wore my Rosa Farrell of Final Fantasy IV cosplay:

  

And started the day bright and early with a panel on The Changing Face of YA Fiction with Kelley Armstrong and Timothy Carter. So great! We talked about diversity in YA, the influence of gaming-culture and non-western storylines, and what we'd like to see more of in the future. It was also my first time moderating, which was nerve-wracking. I went with two pages of questions written out, but in the end all went well. :)

Then I met up with Lance Schonberg (Writing Dad) and his very cool daughters, in their amazing Steampunk outfits!

I had the pleasure of meeting Writing Dad (Lance Schonberg) at World Fantasy Con. He and his daughters and putting together their own Podcast, Cyborg Bunnies Review, so look out for that coming soon!

And they made their own outfits, and their own weapons. Don't they look amazing?

I also had the chance to see my lovely friend Tanya Gough, author of ROOTBOUND:

Click to add to your goodreads!

We went for a tasty Japanese lunch (mmm curry rice!), where I drew a bit of a stare in my cosplay. Oops... ^_^

Afterward it was time for the Cosplay and Photography Walkabout, where we got some great photos:

Better still if I had a better camera :)

 Then another panel--Writing YA Fiction--with Kelley Armstrong and Joel Sutherland. And then a mass author signing! I got to sit in a room with fantastic authors including Rob J. Sawyer, Ben Bova, Jim Butcher, Lesley Livingston, J.M. Frey, Kelley Armstrong, Julie Czerneda, and many many others that caused me to fangirl. :D

The ARCs I signed, and behind them, the water I spilled everywhere.

Then it was time for the masquerade! There were awesome book-inspired and game-inspired creations:

She even LIT UP.

Link can't lift the hammer. Maybe if he wears the Iron Boots?

And I won this!

Best in Class and Best Workmanship, as well as the Amano Award of Elegance on stage. Yippee!

Things wound down on the Sunday, but there was still a great attendance for my last panel, Writing Beyond Your Boundaries with Derwin Mak. Good times!

What a fun convention! I definitely needed a nap after.

I'll finish with my cosplay on the Sunday, and a picture with my daughter:

Pegasisters 4 life! XD

Thanks, Ad Astra 2013! See you next year!

UK Cover Reveal

So some of you may have noticed a different cover of INK floating around on NetGalley.

For those of you haven't seen it yet, may I present the UK cover of INK:

 

So pretty.... *pets screen*

It's funny how not much has changed, and yet it has its own distinct feeling. I really like the vertical treatment of INK, and the splotchy pink and black in my name. It's a really elegant cover, I think.

I hope you guys like this cover as much as I do! I think both the US and the UK covers are really striking in their own ways.

If you haven't yet, don't forget to add INK to your Goodreads! :D

And, you can pre-order your copy here!

In Which There is News!

Hey guys! So, I have some fun things to share with you. I'm hoping to have a blog post up on Ad Astra soon, too, with some awesome pics, but first...this newsy post.

So, first item...

It is seven weeks tomorrow until SHADOW is out.

Yay! I have some fun things planned for a countdown to the prequel, including preorder giveaways, teasers, and fun extras. So I hope you look forward to that! ^_^

Coming June 1st!

Second and biggest news...I'm going to BEA! And I will sign books for youuuu!

First I was all:

And then the jumping started:

 And now I'm kind of in this mode:

YAY!

I will have a schedule for you guys closer to the date, but I can't WAIT to hear who's going and meet all you lovely bloggers and readers and people!

I will be bringing Tomo-pony with me, of course. So make sure you come by and say hi to us!

Tomo-pony is the MLP form of Tomohiro from INK. Yes.

For those of who you can't make it to BEA (and I wish you could!), I will do my best to tweet and keep you guys involved, and hopefully the fun SHADOW extras will help! And Armchair BEA. That's how I attended last year. ^_^

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you look forward to the SHADOW goodies starting soon! ♥