Party with Amanda Ashby

Partying all the way from New Zealand, please welcome Amanda Ashby!

Amanda's another TFC sister, and the author of YOU HAD ME AT HALO, and ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH. She worships Joss Whedon and David Boreanaz, and makes killer coconut, cream cheese, and cherry muffins. Her next book, Fairy Bad Day, hits the shelves June, 2011.

Here's official blurb for the latest, ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH.

A prom night Mia will never forget...

Quiet, unpopular, non-cheerleading Mia is blissfully happy. Rob-super hot football god-has asked her to prom! Life couldn’t get any better. Enter Samantha -cheerleader queen and Miss Popularity-who has made it quite clear that Rob should be her prom date. Mia is desperate to make sure she doesn’t end up dumped in front of the whole school. So with prom in just a few days, she turns to Candice-her holistic, hypochondriac best friend-and decides to try a love spell to make Rob stay with her. Unfortunately, she ends up inflicting a zombie virus on her whole class instead, and she is their zombie leader! At first she loves all the attention. But when she learns from zombie hunter hottie Chase that her classmates will actually try to eat her in a few days, she’s not too thrilled. She’s sure she and Chase can figure something out, but in the meantime, she’s suggesting that no one wear white to prom, because things could get very messy.

Amanda's Reading:

Your compound value numbers are sixteen, twelve, and ten.
Ten is a number of honor, of faith and of self-confidence. Ten can be a fortunate number, which indicates that one’s plans are likely to be carried out – however, it is symbolized by the wheel of fortune, which can signal a rise and fall in success.

Twelve is a higher octave of the number three*. It is considered to be the ancient number of completion and is an indicator of great understanding and creative capacity. Twelve can also foreshadow one being sacrificed for the plans or intrigues of others.

(*Three indicates someone who is artistic, social, friendly, creative, sensitive, ambitious and intuitive.)

Sixteen gives warning of danger of accidents and defeat of one's plans. It should be carefully noted and plans made in advance to avert its fatalistic tendency. Sixteens should trust their intuition to avoid hardship.

Your name vibration is one.

The number one indicates someone who is creative, independent, original, individual. Ones are good self-starters and natural leaders. Ones show interest in the arts, such as singing, acting, writing, painting, and love to curl up with a good book.

Her response:

The name vibration is totally me - apart from the singing, because seriously no one deserves to hear my sing!!!! As for the compound numbers, unfortunately they also sound like me - most of the time I'm pretty balanced and on track but I can also be my own worst enemy and do own a couple of fatalistic tendencies (which I bury under piles of sugar and cute little bunnies!!!!!). Anyway, I also want to take the time to wish you a very happy book release!!!!!!!!

Thanks, Amanda!

You can find more about Amanda at amandaashby.com

Today's daily giveaway is ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH and books buttons for JEKYL LOVES HYDE and JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE by Beth Fantasky. Since these posts are going up so late, the drawing will be extended until Tuesday.

The Party Continues with Amanda Ashby

Amanda Ashby's going to keep the party going for me as I run down to the signing in West Chester. Hope to see some of you there! You may remember Amanda from the zombie blog party recently - she's the author of ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH and YOU HAD ME AT HALO. Amanda's partying long distance since she lives in New Zealand!

Denim through the ages

When Linda asked me to write about my favorite pair of jeans I instantly refused since really, that's like asking me to pick my favorite child (though with the way my son has been behaving lately, perhaps that's not actually as hard as it seems - I joke, I joke). But the truth is that I love jeans. Like really love them and I pretty much wear them everyday of the year apart from when it's too hot. In fact I can't remember a time when I wasn't obsessed with denim.

In the eighties I was forever sewing my jeans in to make them tighter, not to mention patching them, My favorite pair was light denim, ripped at the knees and quite literally required me to lie on the bed and use a coat hanger to help me zip them up. Fun times.

The nineties saw me on a never ending search to find the perfect pair of secondhand Levis 501s. Of course it was easy to go into a vintage shop and pay lots of money for a pair but I much prefered the challenge of trying to find a five buck version at a thrift shop. Of course added to the challenge they had to be the right amount of faded with the right width leg (and trust me, there was nothing sadder than finding the perfect pair of Levis only to look down at the leg and see it was tapered. I'm shuddering at the very thought). Anyway, I ended up having about three pairs of the perfect 501s and each time they died I would cut them into shorts and wear them with black tights and Doc Martins (hey, it was the nineties which meant it was totally allowed!).

As for the noughties my favorite jeans came from England and looked like the bottom half of a pair of overalls. Man, I loved those ones but they literally disintegrated on me and had to be retired to that special jean heaven in the sky. Thankfully, I went on a jeans shopping mission the other day and after trying on about 20 pairs all over town that were all equally horrible, I walked into one store that had two gorgeous pairs and since it's not everyday a girl finds two gorgeous pairs of jeans, I grabbed them both. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how the new love affair goes!

To be entered to win a signed copy of ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH (or YOU HAD ME AT HALO if you prefer) get nostalgic on us and leave a post below, telling us about the... ahem... most interesting jeans you have ever owned.

Winners and Hints

First of all, thanks everyone, for making Haley feel welcome and for the well wishes! I appreciate it! Now that I'm back online, I have sooo much catching up to do!

Let's start with the announcement of last week's Freebie Friday winners:

Winner #1 is Lalaland
Bonus winner is Pinktooth2

Congrats! Since these are egift cards, make sure I have your name and email addy and I can get them sent right out to you. And Pinktooth, if you could send me your snail mail addy, I can send your bookmarks off.

Everyone else, make sure to join us back here on Friday for two more chances to win. Lucienne Diver will be joining us and giving away her brand spanking new YA novel, VAMPED. I know you won't want to miss that!

Meanwhile, to give you *ahem* a head start on this week's bonus feature, here's where I'm popping up around the web this week:

Celebrating Bookluver Carol's Blog anniversary and talking about writing and research here.
You can also win a copy of DEATH BY DENIM as soon as it's released here.

Remembering the most exotic thing I've eaten abroad on Wendy Toliver's blog.

Getting fired up (again) about Women's Ski Jumping being banned from the Olympics on Jennifer Echols' livejournal.

Confessing my writing bloopers on Amanda Ashby's blog.

Intriguing Diana Wallach about trance writing on her blog.

Talking backstory on Alyson Noel's blog.

Dishing writer advice on Karin Gillespie's Granny Panty Chronicles. (Don't you just love that name?)

Aand I think that's enough for now, don't you? But you might want to peek in tomorrow for more...

Winner!

Happy Tuesday!

The winner of a signed copy of Amanda Ashby's ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH is:

Dahlia

Please shoot me a note with your mailing info to gerb(@)lindagerber(.) com and we'll get that sent out to you.

And check out this contest Amanda is running right now:
(I lifted this from her blog...)

Don't forget about my competition to win an adorable (and completely essential) Zombie Survival Kit along with either a copy of Zombie or a copy of my debut book You Had Me at Halo. Sounds good right?

All you need to do is follow me out and about on the road as I do my blog tours and leave a comment. Then just send me an email to amanda@amandaashby.com with the link and in the header but Zombie Survival Kit Comp and I'll make sure I enter you in the draw. Oh and you can enter as many times as you want, so every time you comment, make sure you let me know about it! Too easy!!!

For anyone who commented on Amanda's FREEBIE FRIDAY post, her interview was technically part of the GCC tour, so be sure to send her in the link to your comment so you can be entered to win! You can check out other tour stop locations on her blog.

Have a great week! Please join me back here on Friday for a walk through a window with my dear friend, YA author KC Dyer, this week's FREEBIE FRIDAY guest! See you then!

UNDEAD FRIDAY w/ Amanda Ashby!

Fresh from her zombie party, I'm pleased to welcome Amanda Ashby as today's FREEBIE FRIDAY guest author. Amanda's both a teenfictioncafe sister and a GCC sister and genuinely one of the nicest people I know.

Amanda is an Aussie with a fabulous sense of humor, who has been splitting her time between New Zealand and England for the past ten years - oh, and writing seriously funny books. Her previous book, YOU HAD ME AT HALO was nominated as a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award.

Today we're celebrating the release of her YA novel, ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH. My copy hasn't arrived yet (boo!) but I am dying to get my hands on it. Check out the official blurb:

Tomorrow is prom, and all Mia wants to do is cast a love spell on her date Rob Ziggerman to keep him away from cheerleading goddess Samantha and save him all to herself. But somehow she ends up inflicting a zombie virus onto her whole class instead. At first Mia loves all the attention her classmates are giving her; treating her like a queen, compliments galore, and all the chocolate a girl could want. But then zombie hunter hottie Chase explains they are actually fattening her up. Why? Because in twenty-four hours, Mia will be the first course in their new diet. That’s what being the ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH means. She’s sure she and Chase can figure something out, especially when the alternative means that her classmates and teachers will be feasting on her bones. But in the meantime, she’s suggests that no one wear white to tomorrow night’s prom, because she has a feeling that things could get very messy.

Now on to the interview:
What inspired you to write ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH?
This is embarrassing to admit but the idea of writing a zombie book started out as a bit of a joke because there is something so hilarious about the word ‘zombie’. However, the more I joked about it, the more I realized that it would actually might not be such a dumb idea. At the time I hadn’t seen any zombie books around so I just sat down with my husband (who loves zombie movies) and we started to throw around ideas.

However we weren’t getting very far so I decided to start thinking about cute titles instead. I was trying to be clever like Shaun of the Dead but I couldn’t think of anything with zombies in it that I could twist. Then for some reason the song ‘Witch Queen of New Orleans’ came into my head and I changed it to Zombie Queen of Newbury High, which made me laugh out loud. From there I sat down and tried to figure out what a girl would have to do to earn the title zombie queen!! It was definitely a backwards process, but a lot of fun (and my husband was happy since it meant that he got to re-watch all of his favorite zombie movies!).

Are any of your characters based on real people that you know?
No, not really. Mainly because I write paranormal books and even though I like my characters to have real life problems and issues, I’m fairly sure none of my friends have ever been stuck in someone else’s body or turned their entire senior year into zombies (unless they’re not telling me something and then they’re in big trouble!!).
What excites you?
Books, television and watching my favorite soccer team Liverpool Football Club (in England) win – sometimes not in that order!!!! I love soccer (or football as I call it) and I can turn from a mild mannered author girl into a screaming maniac with two seconds (especially if the referee has missed a penalty call in those two particular seconds!). As for television, you really don’t want to see how happy I get every year when I know that American Idol is coming back on or when I know that there are new episodes of 24 about to be made. I’m a sad, sad person!
What turns you off?
I’m going to sound like an old hippy here but I really hate when I see people who are in negative mindsets and they go around in around in a cycle of destructive behavior. I mean I’ve known girls who have been crying on and off for twenty years about the size of their nose. It’s such a waste of energy and it makes me sad that they can’t move onto something else more positive.

What's the biggest lie you ever told, and what happened as a result of the telling?
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m an eldest child or because I’m an Aries (or both) but I have a profound fear of getting into trouble and so that makes me a bad liar. I mean you’d think the lying would come easy if it could stop me from getting into trouble but the thing is I worry too much about what would happen if I was caught out. Normally it goes along the lines of me getting sent straight to the burning pits of hell with a large sign painted around my neck which says something like ‘liar, liar, pants on fire’. Of course things like telling my husband that the kids ate his chocolate when really it was me definitely doesn’t come under the mantel of lying. Oh dear me, no!
What's the most suspenseful thing that's happened to you in real life?
Waiting to hear back from my agent and editor about book news! There is nothing worse than an author who has both a healthy imagination and time on her hands – it’s a lethal combination.

If you could invite anyone you wanted - living or dead - to hang out with you at a weekend retreat, who would you invite and why?
Joss Whedon because he is a genius and his television shows changed my life and Georgette Heyer because she is one of my favorite authors and no books have ever made me laugh so much as hers have.
What's one thing most people don't know about you?
When I was seventeen I went to see Bruce Springsteen in concert and I was two people away from the girl he pulled up onto stage to dance with him. Things could’ve been so different!
What's your favorite quote?
“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd.” By Flannery O’Connor– this quote sums up the heart of just about every book I’ve ever written.

Milk Chocolate or Dark? What? You mean I have to choose? Gerb, you don’t play fair!


Amanda has graciously offered a copy of ZOMBIE QUEEN to this week's lucky FREEBIE FRIDAY winner. To enter, simply leave a message below telling us about either A. your favorite zombie movie of all time or B. the strangest thing you've done in the interest of love. This contest will remain open until Tuesday, March 10.

Meanwhile, you still have time to enter to win a copy of DEATH BY DENIM over at KC Dyer's blog where...er.. someone is the mystery guest. She's drawing the winner tonight, so don't procrastinate!

Winner!

Great Odes, everyone. (Sounds like a new greeting. Or maybe an exclamation. Great odes! It's cold outside!) Hehe.

It was a tough decision so I had to leave it up to my independent judge for a tie- breaker. And the winner of a signed copy of FADE is: *drumroll*

Alyssa H

Congratulations! Shoot me an email at gerb @ lindagerber . com with your mailing instructions and we'll get that sent out to you.

For everyone else - there are more chances to win this week! If you haven't already, check out Amanda Ashby's ZOMBIE PARTY to celebrate the release of her new book, ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH. She's just wrapping it up, but if you're quick, you can still get in on some of the freebies... including a signed ARC of DEATH BY DENIM! (Scroll down to day #7. I've already seen a lot of you there, but if you haven't left a comment... hurry!)

And if you happen to miss Amanda's party (boo!) be sure to come back here on Friday, where she will be joining us for FREEBIE FRIDAY and will give away a copy of ZOMBIE QUEEN!

Meanwhile, drop by KC Dyer's blog. She's throwing a launch party for her new book A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW. Freebies galore! I'll even be there Thursday, offering another signed ARC of DEATH BY DENIM. (And if today's post there is any indication of the format, I just gave away who Thursday's "mystery-guest" will be, so you guys will have the advantage...) : )

Have a great week!

Winners!

Wow - you all have some great guest lists! I wanna party with you!

This weeks winners are:

BOYS THAT BITE: Flip

VIOLET IN PRIVATE: Bamabelle

Please shoot me an email at gerb at lindagerber dot com with your mailing information and I'll get your books send out to you.

Everyone else, I'll see you on Friday for a
special holiday freebie!

Meanwhile, for more chances to win, check out Amanda Ashby's blog contest for a copy of ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH. Her contest will remain open until Sunday.

And don't forget AS King's DUST OF 100 DOGS contest, open until December 18th.

AND, Sara Zarr is giving away two copies of SWEETHEARTS over at the TeenFictionCafe! Get your entry in before Friday!

Oh, and one last thing - I have an interview up at Susanne Saville's blog this week. Feel free to stop and say hello!

LATTE DAY 1 - AMANDA ASHBY

How's this for fabulousness? Amanda Ashby, author of YOU HAD ME AT HALO is here to party with us all the way from New Zealand!

When Linda said the theme of her blog party was lying I knew I had a problem because, well, I don’t lie. Not that I’ve got anything against lying you understand, it’s just that I’m spectacularly bad at it. As in large flashing neon signs sitting above my head to let everyone in a twelve mile radius know that I’m about to attempt to fudge the truth.

And if that’s not bad enough, my characters aren’t big on lying either (well, part from the occasional white lie such as forgetting to tell their mom that they’ve turned the entire school into zombies).

So you can understand my problem.

However, then I remembered that while I’m not big on the lying front, my parents on the other hand had no such scruples.

I first discovered my mother was a liar when I caught her eating chocolates in her bedroom. The same chocolates that I had asked her about half an hour earlier and she had denied all knowledge of. I was eight at the time and was pretty shocked. If she lied about chocolate what else could she lie about?

As it goes quite a lot.

For a start, that whole Santa thing turned out to be a big bust and don’t even get me started on the tooth fairy. Though, if I’m fair, I can’t blame my mother for that one, my father was the guilty party thanks to his inability to throw anything away – including a collection of teeth.

But it didn’t stop there. Oh no, after they finally decided to stop perpetuating the existence of fictional characters they moved onto greener pastures. We’re talking about those famous lines: your school years are the best years of your life.

Oh, really. Well, I would beg to differ.

My school years were most definitely not the best years of my life. They weren’t even the best seconds of it. In fact, all I can remember is that they were filled with homework, pimples, the inability to say anything intelligent in front of cute guys, not to mention all the worry and self-doubt.

If anything my school years were a complete waste and I only wished I knew then what I know now (especially when it comes to wearing leg warmers because truly, there is just no excuse for them. Ever.)

So, now it’s your turn. What is the worst lie your parents ever told you?

Up for grabs are some famous Australian cookies called Tim Tams and the best bit is that whenever people send you chocolate-coated cookies from another country they have absolutely no calories in them (and would I lie to you about something like that?)

Note from Linda... I've had Tim Tams! My friend Mai in Japan got my whole family hooked on them. Mai, you might want to enter this one... : )

It's BIKINI Day! #2 Amanda Ashby

Gosh, don’t you just love a party, especially a cyber one where you don’t actually have to dress up! (Not that I’m writing this in my pajamas of course, because that would make me look like a tardy writer who is too lazy to even get dressed in the morning and obviously I’m not that sort of person. Definitely not). Anyway, this isn’t about me, it’s about Gerb and the release of her latest book, DEATH BY BIKINI, and to help her celebrate I thought I’d take a moment to talk about the dangers of bikinis.

Yes, that’s right. Bikinis are more dangerous than a suitcase full of scorpions, a roomful of tigers or even a bunch of axe-wielding maniacs who have all had a little bit too much Red Bull. You see everyday the bikini takes new victims as they lure people in with the promise of all-over tanning, and everyday there are causalities, myself included. So to help you avoid suffering as I have suffered, I have created a list of safety measures that one should consider when wearing the treacherous two-piece.

1) Never buy white bikinis. Ever. It doesn’t matter how lovely your tan is or how much lining they have, you can guarantee that the moment you hit the water you will be wearing several panels of see-through fabric. And, while there is no logic behind the timing of this, you can be assured that the person you least want to see you like this, will in fact be standing right in front of you.

2) Never sunbath with an iPod resting on your stomach. This rule also extends to cans of Diet Coke, books and your best friend’s cute necklace that you borrowed two months ago and ‘forgot’ to ever give back to her – because you are one tan mark away from being found out.

3) Don’t eat that extra packet of M&Ms the night before you plan to hit the beach because when you’re in a bikini there is no where to hide ANYTHING!

4) Now this is where it gets technical because we need to cover a force of nature known as gravity. Sometimes gravity is our friend, for example it is the thing that stops us from floating off into space. However, when bikinis and big waves are involved, gravity is the enemy and it will tug and yank at your itsy bitsy top until it’s down around your ankles thereby making your face look like you’ve just spent three days out in the blazing sun. There are no winners when gravity is concerned.

5) Walking. Bikinis look great when you’re standing still. Even better when you’re lying on your back and all you can see is a flat stomach and slim thighs (and hey, if there is other stuff hanging down, at least it’s out of sight), but walking is another problem all together and my only advice is to cover up in a cute see-through top that brings out your tan and hides your wobbles.

6) World domination. That’s right. If you’ve been brave enough to wear a bikini at the beach then this proves that you are in fact capable of doing anything that you want in this life, so if world domination is in the master plan, then you will succeed. Congratulations.

So that’s my list, but what about everyone else? Do you have any bikini tips to pass onto the rest of us? The winner will be drawn randomly and will receive a copy of my book You Had Me at Halo about a dead girl who gets sent back to earth to figure out how she died (and no, it wasn’t by a bikini!!!)