Signing and Some Winners!

It's the post-Christmas lull. The space of days between Christmas and New Year's always strikes me as a bit odd. It's a time of winding down and reflecting on the year - but also of anticipation, looking toward what's to come in 2011.

If you're looking for something to do and happen to be in Northern Wisconsin, you can stop by Stage North in Washburn (on beautiful Lake Superior) for my reading and signing tonight at 7.

I also have some winners to announce from last week's contests. Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by!

The winners of Catherine Fisher's giveaway are:

Lexie

and

Ammy

The winners of Lisa Desrochers' giveaway of a signed copy of Personal Demons is:

Libby

Congrats to the winners! You'll be getting an email from me in the next few days asking for your mailing deets.

Naughty and Nice: A Contest

In case you didn't already know it, I have a fabulous critique partner, Lisa Desrochers. Lisa and I met at the San Francisco Writers' Conference in February 2009, decided to start swapping our drafts and within the year we both had book deals!! I'm still reeling at our good fortune and am always grateful that I have such a wonderful writer and friend in Lisa.

Lisa's debut, Personal Demons, is smokin. Check out her blog and leave a comment below for a chance to win a SIGNED copy of her book!! (Thank you, Lisa!!!!)

I'm thrilled to have two of the book's stars - Luc (a demon) and Gabe (an angel) - stopping by for an interview today.

Me (looks at Luc and Gabe, fans self): Ummmm, is it getting hot in here?

Gabe (jerks thumb at Luc): You’ll have to take that up with him.

Me (coughs, hurrying to change the subject): So, guys, the holidays are coming up – what’s on your wish list this year?

Luc (smirks): Frannie, over easy.

Gabe (rolls eyes): There’s the Christmas spirit. (smiles at Andrea) It’d be horribly cliché to say peace on Earth and goodwill toward man, wouldn’t it? So, I’ll just settle for Frannie’s soul.

Luc (glares at Gabe): Shouldn’t you be impaled on the top of someone’s Christmas tree?

Me (beaming at Gabe, too nervous to sneak a glance at Luc): Time to be nice - Luc, I know you’re going to hate this – what’s one trait you admire in each other?

Luc (raises eyebrow at Andrea): Seriously?

Gabe: You’re complaining?

Luc: I am.

Gabe: I’ll start. Luc is…creative.

Luc (barks out a laugh): That’s the best you could do?

Gabe: It’s better than “seriously?”

Luc (looks back at Andrea): See what I have to put up with? Okay. Give me a second… Gabe is…bright.

Gabe (throws up hands): You admire my brightness?

Luc (shoots a glare at Gabe): What do you want from me?

Gabe: I guess a reasonable answer is too much to hope for?

Luc (slumps in chair): Fine. He’s loyal, I suppose.

Gabe (nods): And Luc is courageous…when he wants to be.

Me: Okay...I guess we’ll give naughty a spin too. What have you done lately that might make Santa skip your house?

Gabe: Can I plead the fifth?

Luc (smiles at Andrea): I’ll give you his list. He’s been up to all kinds of very questionable angelic conquests, such as trying to get into Frannie’s—

Gabe (holds up hand): Whoa, there, brimstone-breath. I have done absolutely nothing outside my scope as a Dominion.

Luc: Except kissing Frannie.

Gabe: How do you know about that?

Luc: She told me.

Gabe (shifts in seat) (looks at Andrea): He, on the other hand, would have a much easier time answering the question: Have you done anything in all your pathetic existence to redeem your sorry demonic butt?

Luc (crosses arms): I have.

Gabe: Such as?

Luc: I can’t see how that’s any of your business, and this isn’t your interview. (Turns to Andrea) Santa has plenty of reasons to skip my house and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Me (tries not to blush while Luc keeps looking my way): Uh...moving along...since I love philosophy, let’s wax thoughtful for a moment. We’ll be seeing you again soon in a book titled, Original Sin. What’s your take on that concept?

Luc: Depending on which belief system you buy into, original sin can be interpreted in any number of different ways, all of which work for me. Whether you look at it as the specific sin of Adam and Eve that lead to the fall of man, or the more Catholic doctrine that it’s the general state of sin that all men are born into, it means that man will always sin and I will always benefit.

Gabe: No. It means that sometimes man sins—

Luc (smirking): And so do angels.

Gabe (shaking head): The concept of original sin is founded in Christian doctrine. In reality, it’s not nearly as cut and dry as organized religion would like to make it seem. Man has free will. What that means is they are free to make their own choices. There are temptations—

Luc (grinning): Tell me about it…

Gabe (glaring at Luc): and sometimes man falls prey to them. In the end, a man’s conscience is going to dictate how he deals with those temptations, but I don’t buy that man, in his true essence, is born to sin.

Luc (leans forward and smiles wickedly): How about you, Andrea? Up for a little original sin?

Me (holds Luc's gaze for a moment, stands up, bolts because I'd prefer to hang on to my soul) (calls over shoulder): Thanks for stopping by you guys! Merry Christmas!!! Say hi to Lisa for me!

Wow - that was...intense...ummm.....remind me to bring a chaperone next time. And don't you guys forget to leave a comment below for a chance to win a signed copy of Personal Demons. I'll take entries through December 25 - whether you've been naughty or nice!

Winners Galore

Wow - we've had an awesome spate of contests on the blog recently and today is the day to announce all the winners.
Let's start with the most recent and work back in time. (Hooray for blog time travel!)

Yesterday I was delighted to host a contest for Lisa Desrochers' debut PERSONAL DEMONS. It's in stores today - go get it :) Don't forget to stop by Lisa's blog today for more chances to win.

The winner of the PERSONAL DEMONS prize back is:

Claire Dawn

I also was able to spend some time talking with Brenna Yovanoff about her debut THE REPLACEMENT (in stores September 21). I love having awesome authors visit the blog. What fun!

Winners of THE REPLACEMENT are:

Casey (A Bookish Type)
&
April

And finally - for announcing the appearance of Shay Doran in our world, the winner of NIGHTSHADE is:

Jessica from A Great Read!

Congrats to all the winners :) If your name was selected please email your mailing address to andreacremerwrites (at) gmail (dot) com

Thanks so much to everyone for entering. It's a great fall for books. And if you haven't stopped by to meet Shay yet, please check out his Facebook page and blog. Believe me, he's really going to need your help in the next few weeks. Don't leave him alone in that big mansion!

The Devil Inside

Is anyone else out there a child of the 80s and like me, still swoony when it comes to INXS?

I've got a special treat for you today. My oh-so-fabulous critique partner, Lisa Desrochers, has a big day tomorrow - her debut novel PERSONAL DEMONS hits bookstores. It is sizzling!!

While Lisa had already created her own fantastic playlist for PERSONAL DEMONS, as someone who always conjures music to accompany reading I think that INXS could do a pretty great job of soundtracking this addictive and original story.

First there's Frannie, who's struggling with both literal and metaphorical PERSONAL DEMONS might relate to this:



Of course Luc, the hotter than hell demon complicating her life make you feel like this:



And then there's Gabe, equally hot but brings heaven's lightness to counter Luc's darkness.



Congratulations to Lisa - I'm so excited that the world can get their hands on this fantastic book.

Bonus: Prizes!!! Leave a comment here and you can win this fabulous prize pack.

AND if you read the Amazing Race posts from the past we and can create the correct phrase from linking all the highlighted words in the posts, you can win big on Lisa's page tomorrow. Details here!! To collect the words, start with Elana Johnson's post!! You can follow the race through the other blog posts from there. Good luck!

Soon

Hi Blog Friends and Welcome New Followers!!

I'm nearly finished with Bloodrose (Nightshade #3) and I promise that soon there will be real posts here again...except that the World Cup is on right now too...just kidding - though I will be blogging at least once about why everyone should watch the World Cup.

Until then, I'm delighted to point you in the direction of this review that made me SQUEE! Thanks Mundie Moms!!!!

You also shouldn't miss your chance to read the first chapter of Personal Demons, the debut novel of my amazing critique partner, Lisa Desrochers.

Happy Tuesday!