Win a copy of FIREWALKER!

. . . .at Larissa's Bookish Life as Allyson James:

http://www.larissaslife.com/2011/02/author-interview-signed-firewalker.html

Comment to win!

December updates

I apologize for not updating anything here for a while--we had a death in the family and the last month has been pretty hectic and sad. That said, a couple of things are going on:

1. I sent Tales of the Shareem: Braden to my editor. She still has to accept it, but if she does, EC has a fairly short turnaround, so we should see that out in a couple of months (so cross your fingers she likes it). (It's a novel-length book.)

2. Pending approval, of course, I introduce a new Shareem--Justin--in Braden's book. His story will be next!

3. Thanks for all the emails and posts about FIREWALKER. I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying it. SHADOW WALKER is next, out in June, as well as the novella in HEXED.

I think that's it for now. Everyone have a great Christmas and holiday season!

Allyson

Stormwalker News

This has been a hectic week: The release of Firewalker, a host of interviews/giveaways/guest blogging, plus I found out good news:

Stormwalker has been nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award in Urban Fantasy. Woo hoo!

Also, I received the cover for Hexed, a four author anthology that will contain a Stormwalker story ("Double Hexed"). (This is the cover you see here.)

Hexed is already up on Amazon for preorder, as is Shadow Walker, Book 3 of the Stormwalker series (Janet and Mick are back and badder than ever.)

Amazon link to Shadow Walker:
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Walker-Allyson-James/dp/0425241823/ref=sr_1_31?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288839852&sr=1-31

Or http://tinyurl.com/37qnvn4

Hexed:
http://www.amazon.com/Hexed-Ilona-Andrews/dp/0425241769/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288839538&sr=1-6

Or http://tinyurl.com/36lahk8

(I so love Tiny URL).

For more information about Hexed, Shadow Walker and the whole series, visit:

http://www.allysonjames.com/stormwalker.html

Grand Prize Winner!

The winner of the Firewalker Coundown Grand Prize is... Chelsea B!! Chelsea--please contact me at allysonjames(at)cox(dot)net so I can get you your prize.

The Grand Prize is: One signed copy of Stormwalker; one Stormwalker/Firewalker bookcover, one hardback copy of Pride Mates, one backlist book of choice (backlist: http://www.allysonjames.com/seriesorder.html). Plus I'll throw in pens and things.

Thank you all so much for joining in my Countdown Giveaway. It was so much fun I might just do it again for Primal Bonds, which comes out in March.

Firewalker is now out (should be in stores everywhere; plus in ebook). I hope you enjoy it!

I will be mailing all prizes out this week, so look for them soon!

Firewalker Countdown: Daily Winners

Hello all. First, THE GRAND PRIZE for the Firewalker Countdown Giveaway will be drawn TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, Firewalker's release day (and election day in the U.S.).

Second, below I'm listing the winners for the Daily Prizes (a copy of Stormwalker or backlist book of choice). I have emailed all winners privately, but if you see your name, haven't gotten my email, or haven't responded, please contact me at allysonjames(at)cox(dot)net.

Day 9: Sara Dee

Day 8: Cathy M

Day 7: yzhaBella

Day 6: Mel (meljprincess)

Day 5: Judy (magnolias_1)

Day 4: donnas!

Day 3: Stephanie (2lovestephanie)

Day 2: barbi-b

Day 1: Melissa (witchofavalon)

Thanks everyone for playing! Tomorrow I will put ALL names into a hat (from FB, Goodreads, Blogger, Twitter, private email) and draw the Grand Prize Winner!
You all rock. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy Firewalker!

FIREWALKER Countdown Giveaway--JANET BEGAY (Stormwalker)

The FIREWALKER Giveaway continues! Comment to win a signed copy of Stormwalker (or backlist book) and qualify for the grand prize!

PLEASE NOTE: If you have trouble posting comments on here on Blogger, feel free to comment on my FB page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennifer-AshleyAllyson-James/94603953921 ), Twitter (http://twitter.com/JennAllyson ), or simply send me an email (allysonjames AT cox DOT net) I want you to win!

DAY NINE--JANET BEGAY

And finally, Janet Begay, the star of the show.

Janet's had a rough start to life, being motherless, a bad thing to be in a matriarchical society. Because no one knows who Janet's mother's people or clans were, they don't trust her much. Of course, Janet's mother is a goddess from Beneath, and the evil she's invested in Janet is pretty powerful.

Janet's dad, on the other hand, is a sweet guy who was seduced by the goddess. He raised Janet on his own, with the help of Janet's formidable grandmother (who can become a Crow).

Janet is a Stormwalker, which means she can draw power from nearby storms and use it to work amazing magic. When it's storming, nothing can stop her. When it's not storming--good thing she has Mick. Her power manifested when she was a kid, and it terrified her. With the help of Jamison Kee and Mick, Janet has been able to hone her power to a controlled weapon.

But now, another power is rising within her, and she's not sure that she'll ever get that one under control. (More about this in FIREWALKER and SHADOW WALKER.)

Question of the day: What do you think of the urban fantasy genre overall? Is there too much of it? Or can't you get enough? Do you think it mixes well with romance? Or not at all?

FIREWALKER Countdown Giveaway--MAYA

The FIREWALKER Giveaway continues! Comment to win a copy of Stormwalker (or backlist book) and qualify for the grand prize!

PLEASE NOTE: If you have trouble posting comments on here on Blogger, feel free to comment on my FB page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennifer-AshleyAllyson-James/94603953921 ), Twitter (http://twitter.com/JennAllyson ), or simply send me an email (allysonjames AT cox DOT net) I want you to win!

DAY EIGHT--MAYA

Maya Madina, a black-haired, dark-eyed Latina who grew up in Magellan, is one of the few non-magical characters in the Stormwalker series. She's kind of a foil for Janet--Maya is smart, good at her job (Janet's electrician), sassy as hell, doesn't take crap from anyone, and the only person not the least bit afraid of Janet.

In Maya, Janet finds a friend, though their friendship gets off to a rocky start. Maya is slow to trust, but once she likes you, she's loyal to the end.

Maya's madly in love with Sheriff Nash Jones. Their affair is rocky, but Maya's determine to work through it, and prove to Jones that he loves her back.

Maya held out her hand. “Come with me. We’re going to get you dinner.”
“I can’t,” I said.
“I’m not going to bring you a tray. Your cook is a scary b*tch, and I don’t want to interrupt her when she’s anywhere near her knives.”

The question of the day: Secondary romances (i.e., a romance between secondary characters that's not the focus of the book). Like them? Think they take away from the main story? Won't read a book without them? What'dya think?

FIREWALKER Countdown Giveaway--CASSANDRA

Day Six Winner--Mel (meljprincess)

The FIREWALKER Giveaway continues!

DAY SEVEN--Cassandra

Now that I've introduced the guys, I need to introduce the ladies. (I like the guys, so I tend to lavish attention on them.)

Cassandra leapt to her feet and kicked the inert Changer in the buttocks with her Blahnik heel. “That’s for calling me a b*tch.”

Cassandra Bryson is a super-powerful witch who becomes Janet's hotel manager. Cassandra is blonde, lovely, businesslike, good at her job, and way-wicked with magic. She used to work for a top luxury hotel chain in California, but for reasons she's not telling, she's decided to bury herself in a backwater desert town.

Janet isn't sure why Cassandra's interested in working in the middle of nowhere, but she welcomes Cassandra's no-strings-attached help. But Cassandra has some dark secrets that Janet suspects will someday come back to bite them.

Cassandra becomes part of the team in FIREWALKER and SHADOW WALKER, and you learn more about her in the HEXED anthology.

From FIREWALKER:
“Sheriff Jones grilled me about what kind of witchcraft I did,” Cassandra muttered. “I should do a spell to make his balls fall off.”

The question of the day: Heroes or heroines? Do hero-driven stories float your boat, or are you more interested in the heroine and her story?

FIREWALKER Countdown Giveaway--COLBY (A Dragon)

I have a winner for Day Five--Judy (magnolias_1)

The FIREWALKER Giveaway continues!

DAY SIX--(a new character) COLBY

Colby to Janet: “You’re bubbling with power, and sooner or later, you’re going to blow. I was willing to give Micky the benefit of the doubt for not offing you, and then I met you.” His smile was gone, his eyes darkening like Mick’s did. “Now I think it wasn’t his fault he couldn’t kill you. I’m betting you wouldn’t let him.”

Meet Colby, another inked biker who can turn into a fire-breathing dragon. He and Mick tangled years and years ago, and parted enemies. Now Colby might be Mick's only chance to survive his coming tests. Janet doesn't trust him, but she has no choice but to work with him.

Colby is dark-haired, blue-eyed, full of muscle and inked all over. He's snarky, smart, and up to something. I introduce him for the first time in FIREWALKER, and you'll see him again in SHADOW WALKER (coming in June).

As I sat down, Mick flashed me a warning look and said, “The magic mirror showed him everything.”
“Everything.” Colby’s grin became a leer. “It was stimulating, even if I had to watch through a lot of cracks.”
My face heated. “I swear I’m melting that thing.”
“Don’t be embarrassed," Colby said. "It was beautiful. Way better than anything I can find on that motel TV.”

I love writing new characters and lots of them. Do you prefer books that focus solely on the H/H with a few characters for spice, or do you like a lot of characters, with depth, running around?

Comment to win!

Two Things--Prize and Vid

This gorgeous bookcover, made by Chasity at LoveLifeReviews.com, is part of the grand prize of the Firewalker giveaway. They're beautifully made. Thank you, Chasity!

Below is the cool video Kendra of Creations by Kendra did for Firewalker. Enjoy!

FIREWALKER Countdown Giveaway--JAMISON

Winner DAY 4--donnas!

The FIREWALKER Giveaway continues!

DAY FIVE--JAMISON KEE

Jamison to Janet: “I’m remembering a fifteen-year-old girl, one eaten up with storm magic. So scared she was afraid to go to school, and she’d run away from home so her grandmother wouldn’t make her go. She was sitting on a ledge overlooking Spider Rock and crying because she couldn’t make the lightning stop.”

Jamison Kee is a handsome Navajo shaman and a Changer (shifter) who takes the form of a mountain lion. He loves Naomi, the lady with the blue-green eyes who makes him a whole person.

Jamison is Janet’s oldest friend, the one who helped the teenaged Janet make sense of the storm power that rocked her. Without Jamison’s instruction, she’d never have survived.

Jamison and Naomi’s love story is told in “A Little Night Magic,” in the Hot for the Holidays anthology available from Berkley Publishing.

FROM Firewalker:
“My shaman advice to you is to go to bed. Before you do, will you call Naomi and tell her I need a ride home? If I walk home as a mountain lion in this town, I’ll probably get shot. If I do it as a naked man, I’ll never live it down.”

I think shape shifters are my favorite paranormal creatures (see PRIDE MATES, by Jennifer Ashley, followed by PRIMAL BONDS in March, if you don't believe me). There’s something about a guy with an animal lurking beneath that’s just...mmmm.

Do shape shifters rock your world? Or do you prefer a different paranormal creature? (and what?) Comment to win!

FIREWALKER Countdown Giveaway--THE MAGIC MIRROR

Day Three winner--Stephanie! (2lovestephanie), who commented here on allysonjames.blogspot.com--Congrats!

Day Four of the FIREWALKER Giveaway continues!

DAY FOUR--THE MAGIC MIRROR

“Well, if you remember anything else, let me know,” I said.
“Sure thing. Tell you what, give me a little tongue, and I’ll see what I can think of.”
“You’re a mirror,” I reminded it. “You don’t have body parts.”
“Hey, honey, I can dream.”

I've gotten more email about the magic mirror than any other character! It has the voice of a drag queen and a fixation on sex. It's snarky and loud, with a penchant for bursting into show tunes in the middle of the night. But since it’s saved the day on more than one occasion, Janet lets it live.

Magic mirrors hold incredible magic. They can communicate over any distance with other magic mirrors, and non-magical ones if they can attune to them. They can enhance spells, seek information, and are utterly bound to the mage in whose power it's in at the moment.

Magic mirrors also have Personality.

From FIREWALKER
“All right, keep your pants on," the mirror said. "Or not, if you’re wearing that cute little black satin number.”
I didn’t bother to tell the mirror to shut up. It never listened anyway.

I do like to put a little humor in all my books, 'cause I just like to laugh. How do you feel about a humorous side character? Fun? Relieves tensions? Or just gets annoying?

Comment to win!

FIREWALKER Countdown Giveaway--NASH

I have a winner for Day 2--barbi-b who posted on jennifersromances.blogspot.com--Day 3--keep 'em coming!

Day 3 of the countdown to FIREWALKER continues!

DAY THREE--NASH JONES

“Jones,” he said. Dark, biting, laconic.
“Hey, Nash. It’s Janet.”
There was a long silence.
“F*ck,” Nash Jones said, and he hung up on me.

Nash is a complicated guy. He’s a tortured ex-special forces officer, now sheriff of Hopi County, a stickler for the rules and fights PTSD. He grew up a staunch Unbeliever (one who doesn't buy into the "woo-woo" tourism of his little town), but now knows that he houses incredible magic.

Nash is a “null,” a person who can absorb and negate magic, even magic of the gods. No one knows how he got that way or what he can do.

He’s fiercely protective of his territory (which would be the whole county), and doesn’t trust crazy people like Janet and Coyote. But sometimes he’s their greatest asset, and he also knows that sometimes, he needs their help.

From FIREWALKER:
“So, educate me,” Nash said. “There are Stormwalkers like you; Nightwalkers, which are vampires; and then skinwalkers, those creatures I fought out at the vortexes. What are werewolves—dogwalkers?”

I had conflicting opinions about Nash--some people really liked him; others didn't. I like him because he has many layers, which I peel away as the series goes. How do you feel about characters that you might not like at first? Do they grow on you? Or do you want to fall in love right away?

Comment to win!

FIREWALKER Countdown Giveaway--COYOTE

---Postus Interruptus---The Day 1 winner is Melissa (witchofavalon). Melissa please contact me at jenniferashley (at) cox . net (no spaces) so I can get you your book!

The countdown to FIREWALKER continues!

DAY 2--COYOTE

Janet to Coyote: “It's always so comforting to talk to you.”
Coyote chuckled. "I could do more than comfort, if you’d let me."

Coyote, the first character cast for the Stormwalker series, takes over every scene he’s in. He’s Coyote, the Native American god, and he can shape shift between a coyote and a big, hard-muscled Native American. He’s snarky, he’s funny, he’s powerful, and he’s strong, with a penchant for trouble and an eye for the ladies. He can be protective of the weak, and no one messes with those he protects. No one messes with him, period--except maybe Mick. Coyote has a lot of respect for Mick. (You can read more about Coyote in the novella: "A Little Night Magic," by Allyson James in the Hot for the Holidays anthology [Oct. 2009]).

From FIREWALKER:
“You’ve been a lot of help. As usual.”
“I’m not here to help, Janet,” Coyote said. “I’m here to keep the balance.”
“And screw as much as you can?”
“Yeah, that too.”

So, do you have a favorite mythological character? (from any mythos) Post below (or just say howdy) to enter the drawing for Stormwalker (or backlist book) and to be eligible for the grand prize.

FIREWALKER Countdown Giveaway--MICK

Welcome to the FIREWALKER countdown giveaway! Comment today to win a signed copy of Stormwalker (or backlist book of your choice if you’ve already read it), and to be entered into the Grand Prize Drawing November 1.

DAY ONE--MICK
(Warning: Spoiler if you haven't read Stormwalker, but still feel free to comment)

“Hey baby. Miss me?”

He’s big, he’s bad-ass, he's inked, he’s a biker who can turn into a fire-breathing dragon.

Mick was the last character cast for Stormwalker, and when he walked into my head I couldn’t sleep for days for excitement. I’d been looking for a love interest for Janet, and Mick flashed his dragon tatts (plus the fire one across the small of his back) and told me it was him. I surrendered.

Mick’s hot, he’s protective, he’s powerful, and he wields fire like nobody’s business. He’s back in Firewalker, in trouble with the dragon council, but confident he can face them down and—maybe—live through it.

One thing, though: He’s going to watch over Janet and fry anything or anyone that even tries to hurt her.

From FIREWALKER:
“I won’t let him touch you, Janet, I promise.”
“What can you possibly do against him? He’s a god.”
To my surprise, Mick smiled his bad-ass smile. “Remember when he told you we’d met in the past? It was a long time ago, maybe a hundred years. I won that fight, not Coyote.”
I’d been curious about the encounter since the day I’d learned about it. “What happened?”
“He invaded my territory, and I objected. Strongly. I protected what was mine and ran him off. Gods are powerful, but you don’t mess with a dragon on his territory.”

Post a comment about Mick (or anything you want), to be eligible to win!

FIREWALKER Countdown--Contest Begins Tomorrow!

Tomorrow (October 15) kicks off the FIREWALKER countdown giveaway! Every other day, until FIREWALKER’s release on November 2, I’ll post a snippet about the cast of FIREWALKER, by Allyson James (Stormwalker #2). All you have to do is comment to win! I’ll pick a winner every other day, and at the end of the countdown (Nov 1, Day after Halloween!) I’ll pick a grand prize winner.

What do you win?
Daily giveaway: A signed copy of Stormwalker (or backlist book of your choice if you’ve already read it and want something different).

Grand Prize: A signed copy of Stormwalker, a signed, hardback copy of PRIDE MATES by Jennifer Ashley, one backlist book of your choice (signed), and I’ll throw in a pen and other goodies.

Come back tomorrow as MICK kicks off the Countdown to Firewalker!

FIREWALKER ARC Winners!

Now that the winners have responded, I can announce the FIREWALKER ARC winners. Thanks to all who participated--I had to collate hundreds of posts, tweets, emails, blogger posts, Goodreads posts etc. and then my dh drew names from all those. Without further ado, the winners are:

Twimom227
Meg Varhalmi
Michelle Bledsoe

Watch this space for more contests starting OCTOBER 15 when I begin the final countdown to Firewalker's release (Nov 2).

Thank you all!

Win a FIREWALKER ARC

I'm taking comments, FB posts, tweets, and emails until Sat. Oct. 9 in a FIREWALKER ARC giveaway. Win it before you can buy it! I will be drawing the winners on Oct. 10, after I do the Race for the Cure (and sit down and recover). Post if you wanna win! FIREWALKER (Book 2 of the Stormwalker series) is out November 2!!

Firewalker--Great Reviews

I'm seriously pleased that FIREWALKER (releasing in November) is already getting some great reviews. Publisher's Weekly gave it a very nice writeup, and I just saw that Romantic Times gave it a 4.5 star, Top Pick! Lovely! I can't post any snippets, because the reviews haven't been published yet, but they're nice. I'm pleased!

Some announcements

First, cover of the second Stormwalker book, Firewalker. Lovely! It's already available for pre-order on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Firewalker-Stormwalker-Allyson-James/dp/0425237826/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269008166&sr=1-17

I've turned in the manuscript, guess they figure it's good to go. :-)

Second, just a reminder that I have posted an excerpt of Stormwalker, plus all kinds of info on the Stormwalker world here:

http://www.allysonjames.com/stormwalker.html

Third, Dear Author.com and Berkley are giving away some of the spring books, including my own Stormwalker . I'm not sure how long the giveaway signup lasts, so hop over. They have all kinds of interesting books there! (So much good reading coming up).

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/03/17/berkleyjove-spring-preview-giveaway-2010/

Belated Happy St. Patrick's Day!