A Change of Plans Audio Book!

My awesome friend Donna K. Weaver is releasing the audio book of her adventure romance A Change of Plans--and she and her publisher, Rhemalda, are hosting a giveaway. 

And there can be two winners!

When Lyn sets off on her supposedly uncomplicated and unromantic cruise, she never dreams it will include pirates. All the 25-year-old, Colorado high school teacher wants to do is forget that her dead fiancé was a cheating scumbag. Lyn plans a vacation diversion; fate provides Braedon, an intriguing surgeon. She finds herself drawn to him: his gentle humor, his love of music, and even his willingness to let her take him down during morning karate practices. Against the backdrop of the ship's make-believe world and temporary friendships, her emotions come alive. 

However, fear is an emotion, too. Unaware of the sensitive waters he's navigating, Braedon moves to take their relationship beyond friendship--on the very anniversary Lyn is on the cruise to forget. Lyn's painful memories are too powerful, and she runs from Braedon and what he has to offer.

It’s hard to avoid someone when stuck on the same ship, and the pair finds themselves on one of the cruise's snorkeling excursions in American Samoa. Paradise turns to piracy when their party is kidnapped and Lyn's fear of a fairytale turns grim. Now she must fight alongside the man she rejected, first for their freedom and then against storms, sharks, and shipwreck.

AUDIBLE | AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So where do you fall on the audio-book-lover scale? Do like them? Love them? Hate it when the voice doesn't match the one in your head?

What Works Blogfest

LTUE's annual contest is taking it to the next level in 2014: it's going to publish the winners in the newly-created Sibyl's Scriptorium! To celebrate and to get everyone writing and drawing their submissions in time to have them polished up for the submission deadline, we're having a blogfest!


Because one of the three LTUE contests is for illustrators, I'm blogging about what draws me to a great SFF illustration.

Now, I'm not an illustrator, and my stick figures tend to look more like ants than people, but even I can appreciate the covers of Brandon Sanderson's newest epic fantasy series, The Stormlight Archives.

The Way of Kings came out in 2010 and I immediately loved the cover art.



The thing that's so great about this is that, in one picture, you get a sense of adventure, heroism, war, and that the landscape and the weather will be very important in the book. I'm sure someone with a better knowledge of illustration could tell you why it works so well, but, for me, I can't ever concentrate long enough on one spot to really take it in. My eyes want to keep wandering from the swirling clouds to the flag, soldier, spear, landscape, lightning, and back up to the clouds. The intriguing figure on the distant peak is shrouded in mystery, but not quite as fascinating as the rest.



The cover for the second book, Words of Radiance, was released at the end of July and it is just as awesome. Do yourself a favor and read the article by artist Michael Whalen, on Tor.com. This cover shows something interesting happening in the skies which will excite anyone waiting eagerly for the book to come out, but the most interesting elements are the characters. Kaladin, of course, is on the front cover, holding his spear and looking poised for action. Then, ominously, we have Szeth in the background on his pile o'bodies, looking very threateningly at Kaladin. If you've read Way of Kings, this scene can't help but excite the same feelings we experienced when we put the first book down: terror, pity, giddy glee at the thought of the coming battle, and a sense that something much, much bigger than either of these two is going to crash down on them both.

Do you judge books by their covers? Do you think that's fair or just to be expected?

Also see my blog post about what I like in a short story on the brand-spanking new Sibyl's Scriptorium blog.