Tag Archives: scarecrow

Just Stuff, Scarecrow

Scarecrow Names

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ScareCROWA couple weeks ago I attended Pure Spec, which isn’t especially noteworthy because I go to Pure Spec every year. What is noteworthy, however, is that this was the first year I got a table in the vendor room, which made this a whole different rodeo. It was interesting to see the con from the perspective of a vendor rather than a panelist or attendee. Interesting and overall positive.

Our* table looked awesome. You’ll have to take my word for this because I managed to forget my camera both days. But it did.

I met some people.

I sold more than enough books to pay for the table.

I got to chat with some friends.

It was great.

My favourite reactions to our table were:

“Wow. That’s a lot of anthologies.” – this from people who didn’t know me

“Wow. I didn’t know you had this many books!” – this from people who did know me

“Can I take a picture of your scarecrow?” – this from people with awesome taste in scarecrows

About the scarecrow. As you can see from my picture of him, he’s a cute little dude. Both a crow and a scarecrow, I feel like he might be a little bit conflicted about his identity, but I love him just the same. I brought him along to Pure Spec and asked people to suggest names for him. Here are some of the suggestions:

  • Jeck
  • Old Joe Croaker
  • Ostif (Outstanding in his field)
  • Bob the Destroyer of Worlds
  • Edgar Allen
  • Dave
  • Tobias, Traitor to all Crowkind
  • Dreadbeak
  • Albert (Albie)
  • Biety
  • Beaker
  • Peckerhead
  • Corey

Which one is your favourite? Or, if none of them, what would you name him?

Speaking of scarecrows, just a quick reminder that the sale for Scarecrow, the anthology, ends on the 8th 🙂

SCARECROW-banner-sale

November 8th if you buy SCARECROW at the World Weaver Press website and use code SCARE at checkout you will get 50% off the cover price–for both Ebooks and Paperbacks!

*Jo came with me and set-up and ran the table with me 🙂

Corvidae, Fae, Giveaway, Interview, Scarecrow

Menagerie-related News

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I nicked this from Kate Wolford at http://www.fairytalemagazine.com/

It’s Friday, and around here that usually means it’s Fractured Friday but we’re going to skip that this week because I have several bits of interesting Magical Menagerie-related news to share.

We’re going to have a Facebook party on Tuesday to celebrate CORVIDAE and SCARECROW. You can join myself, my publisher and several of our contributors while we hang out, talk about the anthologies and also all things corvid and scarecrow. It will be super fun and casual… oh, and there will be giveaways as well 🙂 The party is scheduled for 5 – 8pm Mountain Time and Facebook will happily convert that to your own time zone. I hope to ‘see’ you there!

Also, Kate Wolford from Enchanted Conversation is giving away three e-books. You may have heard of them, their titles are FAE, CORVIDAE and SCARECROW. It’s super easy to enter (you just have to guess a number) but entries close on September 26th so be sure and get yours in before it’s too late — Three E-Book Giveaway.

Oh, and the image at the top of this blog post? I nicked it from Kate, so thank you Kate!

Finally, Edmonton writer and blogger Hal J. Friesen is interviewing some of the contributors to Corvidae and Scarecrow. He interviewed Laura VanArendonk Baugh at the beginning of the month about her stories and animal training and then just today he shared his interview with Kat Otis about her story (which re-imagines WWII with magical creatures like corvids, frost giants and sea serpents added into the mix) and also about flying.

Check out the interviews and the giveaway and I hope to see you at our Facebook party on Tuesday! 🙂

Giveaway, Scarecrow

#ScarecrowSelfies Winner

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I’m pleased to announce that the random number generator on Random.org has spoken and the winner of the #ScarecrowSelfies draw and a box of ten copies of SCARECROW is…

Drum roll please…

Actually, let’s pause a moment to look at some of these amazing photographic entries:

Awesome, right?

Anywho… the winner is…

Debbie H!

Debbie, please email me your snail mail address and we’ll get this box of books shipped out to you once I get back in town from WWC. I can’t wait to see how you spread the love.

Thank you to everyone who participated. I really enjoyed seeing your scarecrow selfie photographs and reading your cool ideas for how you were going to give the extra copies away. I will definitely do this again some day.

appearances, Corvidae, Scarecrow

My WWC Schedule

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When Words Collide is this weekend and in addition to launching Scarecrow and Corvidae there, I’m participating in some programming as well. This is where you can find me:

Friday

1pm (Rundle) – Live Action Slush, Early Bird Edition
6pm (Fireside) – Corvidae & Scarecrow launch

Saturday

3pm (Willow Park) – Live Action Slush, Romance
4:00 – 5:30pm (Dealer Room) – Shared Author Table
8pm – Mass Autograph Session

Sunday

11am (Heritage) – Blue Pencil Cafe*
1pm (Willow Park) – Live Action Slush, High Fantasy
4pm (Rundle) Publishers Panel: Short Fiction

I’ll also definitely be at the Absinthe and Scotch tasting with SASS and Tyche Books for reasons which ought to be self-explanatory 😉

I’m super stoked about the launch, of course, but also about the fact I’m doing three Live Action Slush sections. That was my favourite panel last year so I’m excited to do it again. Times three 🙂

I will have several titles available in the Merchant’s Corner:

At the Shared Authors Table

A is for Apocalypse
B is for Broken

At the Tyche Books Table (Thank you!)

Fae
Corvidae
Scarecrow

*My blue pencil cafe session is full but it’s my understanding there’s a waiting list at registration in case someone cancels.

Scarecrow

Scarecrow!

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Scarecrow edited by Rhonda Parrish
Stuffed full of surprises!

“Rhonda Parrish has assembled a stellar collection that runs the gamut of Urban Fantasy to Weird Fiction. Easily the most consistently satisfying anthology I’ve read in years.”
— K.L. Young, Executive Editor, Strange Aeons Magazine

Hay-men, mommets, tattie bogles, kakashi, tao-tao—whether formed of straw or other materials, the tradition of scarecrows is pervasive in farming cultures around the world. The scarecrow serves as decoy, proxy, and effigy—human but not human. We create them in our image and ask them to protect our crops and by extension our very survival, but we refrain from giving them the things a creation might crave—souls, brains, free-will, love. In Scarecrow, fifteen authors of speculative fiction explore what such creatures might do to gain the things they need or, more dangerously, think they want.

Within these pages, ancient enemies join together to destroy a mad mommet, a scarecrow who is a crow protects solar fields and stores long-lost family secrets, a woman falls in love with a scarecrow, and another becomes one. Encounter scarecrows made of straw, imagination, memory, and robotics while being spirited to Oz, mythological Japan, other planets, and a neighbor’s back garden. After experiencing this book, you’ll never look at a hay-man the same.

Featuring all new work by Jane Yolen, Andrew Bud Adams, Laura Blackwood, Amanda Block, Scott Burtness, Amanda C. Davis, Megan Fennell, Kim Goldberg, Katherine Marzinsky, Craig Pay, Sara Puls, Holly Schofield, Virginia Carraway Stark, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Kristina Wojtaszek.

“With fifteen talented writers and a subject that is both evocative and memorable, Rhonda Parrish’s new anthology, Scarecrow, is no straw man. Like any good scarecrow, this anthology is truly outstanding in its field. Don’t be scared to pick this up and give it a read.”
— Steve Vernon, author of Tatterdemon

Available Now!

Amazon: (CA) (UK) (US)

Kobo: (CA) (US)

Direct From the Publisher: World Weaver Press

Cover Reveal, Giveaway, Pictures, Scarecrow

Scarecrow Cover Reveal

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Scarecrow edited by Rhonda Parrish

Oh.

My.

Gawd.

I love this cover. Don’t you just love this cover? I feel like this anthology series has been blessed with great covers (thank you Eileen!) but this one is my favourite. Love, love, love, love, love it.

Oh. But wait. There’s more! In addition revealing the cover of Scarecrow I have copies to give away! There are two ways to win (I suggest entering both draws LOL). The first is a Goodreads giveaway. We’re giving a copy of Scarecrow to two lucky winners (US and Canada only, sorry :-/ ). It’s super easy to enter, you can just click here to go to the page on Goodreads or use this:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Scarecrow by Rhonda Parrish

Scarecrow

by Rhonda Parrish

Giveaway ends August 03, 2015.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

That draw is only open for like 5 days (it closes on August 3rd). Can we get 500 entries in 5 days? I don’t know, but let’s try! 🙂

The other way to enter to win a copy (well, actually ten copies) of Scarecrow is via #ScarecrowSelfies. This one is open to people anywhere in the world. You can check out all the details by clicking here, and in the meantime take a look at the entries that have come in so far:

Awesome. Like that cover. Amirite?

Books, Giveaway, Scarecrow

#ScarecrowSelfies

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Scarecrow -- Dragon Age: Origins
My character & Alistair with a scarecrow in Dragon Age: Origins

I want to give you TEN (10) copies of Scarecrow.

Yep. You read that right.

I’m going to give one person ten copies of Scarecrow. That lucky winner can keep one and give the other nine away however they want to–to their book club, friends, relatives, libraries or random people on the internet–whatever they want. Why? Well, mostly because giving away books is fun and I want to spread the joy around 🙂

How do you enter?

Take photos of or with scarecrows and share them on social media (Twitter, Facebook) using the hashtag #ScarecrowSelfies (If you don’t do social media I will post and share on your behalf — email your pictures to me at fae [at] worldweaverpress.com)

I will compile and share/link to the photos on my blog, because c’mon, of course I will!

Every photo taken will count as an entry into the draw and you will get an extra entry if your photo contains a copy of either CORVIDAE or FAE

And as I said, the winner will receive a box of copies of SCARECROW to share however you want. Actually, I’ll give you a bonus entry if you post on social media using the #ScarecrowSelfies and tell us how you would give away the books if you won.

That’s three ways to enter the draw. C’mon, it’ll be fun!

I will hold the draw on the morning of August 13th so make sure your entries are in by the 12th.

 

Official-Type Stuff & FAQs

You cannot sell the nine extra copies, you must give them away for free.

The books are shipping from inside the US so if you live outside the US you are still welcome to enter but if you win you will be responsible for any customs, duty or other costs associated with importing the books.

Why not give eight people one copy of SCARECROW instead of giving one person eight copies?

Why not? I want to try something different and we’ll still be running a Goodreads giveaway for SCARECROW the same as we have for FAE and CORVIDAE so this isn’t the only chance people will have to win a copy but it is the only chance they’ll have to win nine of them 🙂

Does the picture have to be with a real scarecrow?

Nope. I’m open to all sorts of creative interpretations on this one. A picture of you with a picture of a scarecrow? Cool. A screenshot from a video game with a scarecrow? Okay. A friend dressed up as a scarecrow posing with you? Awesome. Please feel free to think outside the box on this one.

Have a question? Hit me up, I’m happy to answer 🙂

 

Some of the entries:

Books, Corvidae, Fae, Giveaway, Reviews, Scarecrow

Corvidae ARC Giveaway

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coming-soon-from-wwpIt’s almost time for Corvidae to hit the shelves (July 7th!) and you know what that means, right? It means I get to giveaway an ARC to one lucky person. You could be one of the very first people to get your hot little hands on a copy!

Associated with life and death, disease and luck, corvids have long captured mankind’s attention, showing up in mythology as the companions or manifestations of deities, and starring in stories from Aesop to Poe and beyond.

In Corvidae birds are born of blood and pain, trickster ravens live up to their names, magpies take human form, blue jays battle evil forces, and choughs become prisoners of war. These stories will take you to the Great War, research facilities, frozen mountaintops, steam-powered worlds, remote forest homes, and deep into fairy tales. One thing is for certain, after reading this anthology, you’ll never look the same way at the corvid outside your window.

Featuring works by Jane Yolen, Mike Allen, C.S.E. Cooney, M.L.D. Curelas, Tim Deal, Megan Engelhardt, Megan Fennell, Adria Laycraft, Kat Otis, Michael S. Pack, Sara Puls, Michael M. Rader, Mark Rapacz, Angela Slatter, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Leslie Van Zwol.

It’s super easy to enter to win, too. The Rafflecopter widget below gives you lots of options (some of which you can do every day to maximize your chances to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

But wait! There’s more!

As you may know, Corvidae is book #2 in the series we’re calling “Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menageries“. That series began with Fae and will continue with Corvidae’s companion anthology, Scarecrow (due out in August).

I’ll be straight with you, Fae could really use some more reviews on Amazon. It’s received great reviews, don’t get me wrong, but they mostly seem to be centered on Goodreads* and whether you love it or hate it, Amazon is the 500lb gorilla in this industry and reviews there have more, well, weight, than reviews on Goodreads.

So, if Fae reaches ten (10) reviews on Amazon** by the time this giveaway ends on June 2nd I will have the Rafflecopter choose a second winner and that winner will receive an ARC of Scarecrow.

If we surpass 10 reviews before June 2nd I will edit this blog post to add some ‘stretch goals’, each of which will look an awful lot like an ARC 😉

*I don’t want to seem ungrateful for the reviews on Goodreads, because I really, truly AM grateful for them. It’s just that now I need to focus on getting some on Amazon as well.
**I only want honest reviews, so if you haven’t read Fae yet, well, now is as good a time as any LOL Or you can just cross your fingers and hope the people who have read it will review it on Amazon 🙂

Helpful links:

Fae on Amazon
Fae on Goodreads
Corvidae on World Weaver Press
Scarecrow on World Weaver Press

If you have any questions just leave a comment or drop me a line at [rhonda] at [jofigure.com]

Corvidae, Press Release, Scarecrow

Corvidae & Scarecrow Press Release

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WWP

Contact:

Elizabeth Wagner

publicity@worldweaverpress.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

“CORVIDAE” & “SCARECROW”

EDITED BY RHONDA PARRISH

 

Alpena, MI (April 30, 2015) – World Weaver Press (Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief) has announced the anthologies Corvidae and Scarecrow, volumes two and three of Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menageries, will be available in trade paperback and ebook Tuesday, July 7 and Tuesday, August 4, 2015 respectively.

Praise for Fae, Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menageries, Volume 1:

“Seventeen tales… range in feel from horror to upbeat tales about homes where things go right, and are set everywhere from the modern day to mythical fantasy pasts. The best of these stories evoke things from real life – loves and values – and show characters making hard choices that reveal who they are and what they’re made of.”

— Tangent

“Delightfully refreshing! I should have known that editor Parrish (who also edits the cutting edge horror zine, Niteblade) would want to offer something quite unique. I found it difficult to stop reading as one story ended and another began – all fantastic work by gifted writers. Not for the faint of heart, by any means.”

— Marge Simon, multiple Bram Stoker® winner

“There’s no Disney-esque flutter and glitter to be found here — but there are chills and thrills aplenty.”

— Mike Allen, author of Unseaming and editor of Clockwork Phoenix

“Stories of magical beings and the humans they encounter will enthrall and enlighten the reader about both the mundane and the otherworldly. I devoured it.”

— Kate Wolford, editor of Beyond the Glass Slipper, editor and publisher of Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine


Corvidae

Associated with life and death, disease and luck, corvids have long captured mankind’s attention, showing up in mythology as the companions or manifestations of deities, and starring in stories from Aesop to Poe and beyond. In Corvidae birds are born of blood and pain, trickster ravens live up to their names, magpies take human form, blue jays battle evil forces, and choughs become prisoners of war. These stories will take you to the Great War, research facilities, frozen mountaintops, steam-powered worlds, remote forest homes, and deep into fairy tales. One thing is for certain, after reading this anthology, you’ll never look the same way at the corvid outside your window.

Featuring works by Jane Yolen, Mike Allen, C.S.E. Cooney, M.L.D. Curelas, Tim Deal, Megan Engelhardt, Megan Fennell, Adria Laycraft, Kat Otis, Michael S. Pack, Sara Puls, Michael M. Rader, Mark Rapacz, Angela Slatter, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Leslie Van Zwol.

 

Scarecrow

Hay-men, mommets, tattie bogles, kakashi, tao-tao—whether formed of straw or other materials, the tradition of scarecrows is pervasive in farming cultures around the world. The scarecrow serves as decoy, proxy, and effigy—human but not human. We create them in our image and ask them to protect our crops and by extension our very survival, but we refrain from giving them the things a creation might crave—souls, brains, free-will, love. In Scarecrow, fifteen authors of speculative fiction explore what such creatures might do to gain the things they need or, more dangerously, think they want. Within these pages, ancient enemies join together to destroy a mad mommet, a scarecrow who is a crow protects solar fields and stores long-lost family secrets, a woman falls in love with a scarecrow, and another becomes one. Encounter scarecrows made of straw, imagination, memory, and robotics while being spirited to Oz, mythological Japan, other planets, and a neighbor’s back garden. After experiencing this book, you’ll never look at a hay-man the same.

Featuring all new work by Jane Yolen, Andrew Bud Adams, Laura Blackwood, Amanda Block, Scott Burtness, Amanda C. Davis, Megan Fennell, Kim Goldberg, Katherine Marzinsky, Craig Pay, Sara Puls, Holly Schofield, Virginia Carraway Stark, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Kristina Wojtaszek.

Corvidae and Scarecrow will be available in trade paperback and ebook via Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Kobo.com, WorldWeaverPress.com, and other online retailers, and for wholesale through Ingram. You can also find Corvidae and Scarecrow on Goodreads.

Rhonda Parrish is a master procrastinator and nap connoisseur but despite that she somehow manages a full professional life. She has been the publisher and editor-in-chief of Niteblade Magazine for over five years now (which is like 25 years in internet time) and is the editor of the benefit anthology Metastasis, as well as the World Weaver Press anthologies Fae, Scarecrow, and Corvidae. In addition, Rhonda is a writer whose work has been included or is forthcoming in dozens of publications including Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast and Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. Her website, updated weekly, is at rhondaparrish.com.

World Weaver Press is an independently owned publisher of fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction. We believe in great storytelling.

Publication Date for Corvidae: July 7, 2015 €¢ Fantasy / Horror

Publication Date for Scarecrow: August 4, 2015 €¢ Fantasy / Horror / Science Fiction

Corvidae ISBN: 978-0692430217

Scarecrow ISBN: 978-0692430224

Publicity/Reviews: publicity@worldweaverpress.com

Information:

https://www.worldweaverpress.com/corvidae.html

https://www.worldweaverpress.com/scarecrow.html

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