Category Archives: appearances

Nice Things

I’ve never actually considered my stories my babies (I only have one of those and her name is Danica) but I do want people to like them, so it makes me happy when they do. There’s another review of Shades of Green available for anyone who’d like to check it out. Aubrie, of Book Reviews by Aubrie, had this to say:

Shades of Green is a unique and unsettling tale of life after an apocalypse. The descriptions are exotic and fun to read, and I felt for Z’thandra’s plight throughout. Amongst all of the prejudice and hatred she is able to forgive, and that is truly heroic. The ending is unexpected and left me with much to think about. This is no fluffy fantasy tale, but a powerful and emotional journey with a profound message at the end.

Needless to say, that put a big smile on my face 🙂 You can read the full review here.

There are also two interviews of yours truly that went live today. Firstly at Amber Stults’ website I answer questions about Shades of Green as well as what I’m currently working on. You can read that here. Some of Amber’s questions really made me think, like when she asked if I’d intentionally make the Reptars less alien than I might have.

Then over at Aubrie’s blog I answered questions about my writing process, being the editor of Niteblade and, of course, a bit about Shades of Green. You can read that one here.

I always stress about interviews because I’m never sure that my tone of…erm…voice(?) comes through in them. I did ask Jo to read these ones and tell me if I sounded like a moron. He responded with ‘You sound like yourself’ which didn’t really answer my question, but I’ll take it 😉

Halloween in May

Belinda McBride is having a Halloween in May event at her blog and on her mailing list. All month she has been having guest bloggers pop by and write about paranormal expiriences, Samhain or Halloween. I am lucky enough to be one of those guest authors.

Yesterday I was scrambling to find something to write about because I’d forgotten that the topic was meant to be Halloween/Samhain/Paranormal themed…which meant the topic I’d planned to write on wouldn’t work. Wewps. It all worked out in the end, though.

Halloween has always been important to me, so I talked a little bit about that and how what it’s meant to me has changed through my life. Please, take a look if you’re even vaguely interested 🙂 All comments left on that blog entry (on Belinda’s blog, not mine) will be entered into a draw to win a copy of Sister Margaret.

On a sort of related note I’m curious. If you have received a free copy of Sister Margaret from me and I sent it to you via Fictionwise, did you get it? I’m asking because I’ve given out a fair number of e-books that way and still there are only two reviews for Sister Margaret on the website. If people just aren’t giving reviews that’s fine, but I really want to make sure that people are getting the copies I’ve promised them.

Right, so yes, I’m blogging at Belinda’s today. Check it out by clicking here. Thanks 🙂

Updates

I just got home from the World Horror Convention in Winnipeg. It had the lowest attendance of any World Horror Con (61 paid memberships with about 30 of those people actually attending), but it was a blast. We really got a chance to just hang out and talk and I got to know some really amazing people. Truly.

While I was in Winnipeg I was also being featured on Amber Stults‘ blog. I meant to post about it here as it was happening, but um…I forgot. *looks sheepish* Sorry.

Firstly, Amber interviewed me. You can check that out here. She asked me a lot of questions that I’ve never been asked before, and I had a lot of fun answering them. The interview also includes my Rhysling-nominated haiku, Lovers, in case you’re curious and want to check it out.

That same day, Amber posted a review of Sister Margaret (here). In it, she says:

“The only thing lacking in “Sister Margaret” is that it’s not enough!  I know Rhonda has written more stories and a novel with some of these characters.  I’ve been purposefully staying away as a beta reader so I can be surprised like everyone else when they get published.”

<3

Lastly, she invited me to write a guest blog post, so I wrote about falling in love with secondary characters. Secondary Characters = <3.

I would like to thank everyone who stopped by and commented and congratulate Joyce for winning a copy of Sister Margaret just for commenting.

Now I need to get my nose to the grindstone. I have a new layout for this blog I really want to install and show off!

Lots of News

I have loads of news today. I like it when that happens.

Firstly, Sister Margaret is now available from Fictionwise. That means you can pick it up for less than two bucks. This makes me very happy. >> Sister Margaret on Fictionwise <<

Also, I finally sent out the newsletter for April. It’s late but I’ve often heard ‘better late than never’, so I’m not putting this in the loss column 😉

I’m guest blogging over at The World Can Wait about motivation today.

There is also a new review of Sister Margaret over at Imperfect Clarity today that says, in part:

Rhonda shows her ability as a true wordsmith in this story.  As a fledgling writer myself, while reading this piece, it was as though each word was carefully measured and painstakingly chosen because it was the exact word needed to make the story flow.

The choice of details and description within the story truly bring out the richness that she has wrought.

I think she’s being far too nice, LoL but how could I not adore being called a wordsmith? I do, I love it. I admit it. Even if I’m not sure it’s deserved LOL

Included with the review is a guest blog I wrote about inspiration. Mostly about the inspiration for Sister Margaret, but not exclusively.

I think that’s it for today.

Pretty exciting to be me this Tuesday, lemme tell you 😉

Leaving You Breathless

*happy dance*

Clare Revell reviewed Sister Margaret at her blog today and said:

The book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It was fast paced from the start and its twists and turns make for gripping reading. The descriptions meant I had vivid images in my mind throughout the book. At just over 4000 words, Rhonda wastes none of them, throwing you straight into the story and leaving you breathless at the end.

“Leaving you breathless”. How awesome is that? I am flattered and completely blown away 🙂 Clare also interviewed me to go along with her review. She asked me a lot of great questions about Sister Margaret, Niteblade and writing in general. Tomorrow I will be guest blogging there too, talking about writing and finding the motivation to do it LOL

Please check it out >> here << and leave a comment and thank you so much Clare. You rock!

White Rabbit

I’m late. I am so late with this month’s newsletter. Originally I was waiting until the 16th to put it out because I was going to the hairdressers on the 15th and I thought it would be fun to take a new picture with my new hair…alas, it turns out I’m too lazy to actually put makeup on and take that picture, so that hasn’t happened yet LOL

Since then things have been a bit crazy…but I’m hoping to do the newsletter today or tomorrow. If you’ve been waiting (lol) I apologise. I’m on it. Really. I haven’t forgotten, I’m just doing my White Rabbit impersonation. I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!

Kim, from Eternal Press, interviewed me recently and it went live on their blog today. Just in case you don’t know more about me than you want to already LOL You can read it >> here <<.

In other interview news, I had the pleasure of interviewing Leslie Ann Moore for Niteblade. You can check that out >> here <<. Leslie is the author of the Griffin’s Daughter trilogy. Book two recently came out and though I haven’t read it yet it is on my list because I adored the first book so much 🙂

Featured Author @ RedRosesForAuthors

I keep wanting to put spaces between the words RedRosesForAuthors but that’s not how Linda writes it, so I’ll do it her way. Especially since she was nice enough to make me the featured author today at RedRosesForAuthors 🙂 She asked me several questions about my writing and life in general. Pop on over >> here << if you’d like to take a peek 🙂

In other news, Ellen Datlow’s newest anthology, Troll’s Eye View, went on sale yesterday. It’s aimed at an MG audience and re-tells fairy tales from the point of view of the villain. I was lucky enough to listen to Garth Nix read his contribution, An Unwelcome Guest, at World Fantasy. It was an awesome story and I will be picking up this book to read for myself…then maybe I’ll let Danica borrow it 🙂

The TOC is below, as you can see it contains stories from my two favorite writers EVAR (Peter S. Beagle and Neil Gaiman). I’m sure it’s going to be amazing 🙂

Wizard’s Apprentice Delia Sherman
An Unwelcome Guest Garth Nix
Faery Tales Wendy Froud
Rags and Riches Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Up the Down Beanstalk Peter S. Beagle
The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces Ellen Kushner
Puss in Boots, the Sequel Joseph Stanton
The Boy Who Cried Wolf Holly Black
Troll Jane Yolen
Castle Othello Nancy Farmer
Skin Michael Cadnum
A Delicate Architecture Catherynne M. Valente
Molly Midori Snyder
Observing the Formalities Neil Gaiman
The Cinderella Game Kelly Link

Winners :)

So I gave away a couple free copies of Sister Margaret yesterday. The first, was given to a random subscriber to my newsletter — Helene won that one. Congrats! The second went to Wired for commenting on my blog post at Fang-tastic Books.

I hope you both enjoy it.

🙂

In other news, I have been getting friend requests at my defunct Bebo account (I only made it to keep up with my sister who doesn’t use it anymore). I don’t even know my login information for that one anymore. A better way to connect if you’re interested, is Facebook. I spend far more time than is healthy on Facebook LoL I think those links will take you directly to my profile, if not I shouldn’t be too hard to find 🙂

Sister Margaret Release Day

Sister Margaret

Today is the day. Sister Margaret is now available as a Coffee Break Selection from Eternal Press. Yay!

>> Click Here to read an excerpt and see how to order <<

Sister Margaret is a short story about a vampire hunter and a half-incubus swordsman who are hired by a priestess to take care of an undead pimp. It’s been called ‘…a gritty tale of cross and double cross’ by one reviewer and received several glowing recommendations from others.

I am so very proud of this story, I hope everyone who buys it loves it and I’ll be watching my Fictionwise ratings (when it becomes available on Fictionwise in a few days) with avid attention. Despite all the good reviews its received I’m very nervous on behalf of ‘Sister Margaret’. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it’s well-received LOL

To celebrate the launch of Sister Margaret I am giving away a free copy to one lucky subscriber to my Newsletter. I’ll be announcing the winner later on today or early tomorrow. I will also be guestblogging over at Fang-tastic Books today and giving away a copy to someone who leaves a comment there. It’s going to be quite a day. 🙂

Calendar Fail

Apparently I fail at calendars. It’s sad but true. Did you know that April 7th is Tuesday? If so, then you don’t fail like I do LoL For some reason I kept thinking it was Wednesday so I had things all set up for me to do various chats and pop by a few blogs on Wednesday to celebrate the release of Sister Margaret.

Turns out, that’s not really a good plan LoL

At least I realised it before the 7th, not after. So now I’m re-arranging my life to make sure I can be at the Eternal Press launch party (held on their Yahoo groups) and visit Fang-tastic Books where I’ll be guestblogging and giving away a copy of Sister Margaret. There are several other places I’d like to (virtually) be as well as a rather large to-do list I want to get through, but those are the two big ones.

Have you ever had a calendar fail?