At long last a LiveJournal by Jeri Smith-Ready

It's in!  I finally finished polishing Bad to the Bone and sent it off last night.  Which frees me up to tell you about two fantastic chances for you to win a complete set of Aspect of Crow books.

I have a fun new interview at Amberkatze's Book Blog.  Amber wants you to take my Animal Spirit personality quiz and leave your results in the comments of the interview post.  She'll draw a name on Sunday to win a signed trilogy coming directly from me (US residents only--sorry, it costs a bundle to mail three big books).

Amber gave the series awesome reviews here (Eyes of Crow), here (Voice of Crow), and here (The Reawakened).

Also, author Ann Aguirre is lucky enough to be on a sun-drenched vacation in Mexico (as opposed to her sun-drenched everyday life in Mexico).  While she's gone, she's left a post offering an Aspect of Crow trilogy, courtesy of her, to one lucky commenter.  Of course, I'll send autographed bookplates to the winner.  This contest is open to anyone anywhere (because bookplates are cheap to mail)!

Now I have to go clean my house and catch up on approximately 3,478 e-mails. And eventually shower.

The winner of the Plot Synopsis Project giveaway is...Lisa Kessler Writer from MySpace! Yay Lisa! She won two signed books: Eyes of Crow and Voice of Crow.

There's no time to weep if you didn't win. There is time, however, for you to hop over to the blog of author extraordinaire Ann Aguirre, where she's giving away a free copy of any of my books (including The Reawakened, though you'd have to wait until November 1 for that one) to one lucky commenter. I believe the drawing will take place tomorrow night (she's posting the results Wednesday, so if I were you, I'd go comment now just to be safe).

Here's a link to all current and open contests. I'll put up a link on my home page soon so it's easier for people to keep track.

My posts will be getting briefer as the month goes on, as I'm descending into the Rewrite Cave for Bad to the Bone. It's a much happier place than the First Draft Cave. I'm having a blast dismantling this manuscript and rebuilding it into the Bionic Novel.

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Now playing: The Promise Ring - Pink Chimneys
via FoxyTunes

The winner of the multi-CD Sun Records compilation disc is...Kay M.!  Kay won by commenting/e-mailing me her thoughts on Spencer's 'turning' story, "Rave On."  I drew a name at random from all the comments on my three blogs and e-mails I received.  Thanks to everyone who entered--glad you found it enjoyable/fun/disturbing!

There's one more open contest, running through Thursday night.  Read and comment on my synopsis for the Aspect of Crow trilogy from last Friday's post to be entered to win the first TWO BOOKS in the trilogy, Eyes of Crow and Voice of Crow.  (The final volume, The Reawakened, comes out November 1, in case you're not sick of me telling you yet.)

Tomorrow I'll hold one last contest to give away the remaining ARC of The Reawakened.

But now, I must breakfast.

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Now playing: My Lover's Box - Garbage
via FoxyTunes   

Today I'm undertaking a special project with some of my fellow SF Novelists authors. The Plot Synopsis Project was started by Compton Crook Award nominee Joshua Palmatier (author of The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne, and The Vacant Throne, the Throne of Amenkor fantasy series).

Joshua explains it here:

Essentially, I gathered together a group of authors who were willing to post an entry about their own plot synopsis writing technique as well as a sample copy of one of their own plot synopses OR post an entry about how they got published without using a plot synopsis, to show everyone how different people write their synopses, and that it isn’t necessarily required to get published.

So today I'm honored to take part in...Plot Synopsis Project II. Because in science fiction and fantasy, we loves us a good sequel!

At the bottom of this entry I've included links to the other PSP2 participants, whose synopses are undoubtedly better than mine, or at least shorter. But not self-deprecating-er, I bet.

I'll present the synopsis with which I sold the Aspect of Crow trilogy to Luna Books in February 2005. I sold the trilogy on proposal, which means I didn't write the entire book before selling it, but only three chapters and this eighteen-double-spaced-page synopsis.

It's fascinating (and rather hilarious) to see how much the eventual book changed from the original synopsis. With Book One, Eyes of Crow, the changes were relatively minor [and are presented in italics and brackets with self-directed snark].

With Book Two, Voice of Crow, almost the entire story changed from my original conception, because I came to my senses and decided, what the hell, let's NOT kill off the hero of Book One.

And the synopsis of Book Three (what eventually became The Reawakened, which comes out November 1) bears no resemblance whatsoever to the final version, other than the Descendant occupation and ultimate good-conquers-evil ending.

NOTE: It should go without saying that these synopses contain THE ENTIRE PLOT OF THE FIRST BOOK, which means HEY, SPOILER ALERT. I hope that even after reading it, you'll still want to read Eyes of Crow and its two sequels. (I swear, the books are better written than the synopses. Check out these excerpts if you don't believe me. Oh, and this one, too.)

***To raise those hopes, I'll give away one signed copy each of both Eyes of Crow and Voice of Crow to one commenter. I'll draw a name at random from my three blogs next Thursday at 11:59pm eastern time.***

Here we go--the synopsis as submitted to Luna Books in 2004. For those short on time, just read the stuff in italics.

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( Unlock the guaranteed key to publication! Make Money! Money! Money! )

And here are my fellow PSP2ers:

Alma Alexander (Will post on the 20th instead.)

Sam Butler

Diana Pharaoh Francis

Daryl Gregory

Simon Haynes

Jay Lake’s comments and his synopses

Kelly McCullough

Joshua Palmatier

Jennifer Stevenson

Edward Willett

Here's the first of two chances to win an Advance Review Copy of The Reawakened. Here's a new image--now with bonus back cover!




(Click image to embigulate. Depending on your screen's resolution, clicking a second time might get you an even bigger, clearer image.)

As I mentioned in my post last week (where the cover flat giveaway is going on for one more day), The Reawakened is the final installment in my award-winning Aspect of Crow trilogy.

For those who've just joined me since Wicked Game, a little more about this trilogy:

Aspect of Crow takes place in a world where everyone has magic bestowed by their Guardian Spirit Animal (what some might call a "totem" or "power animal"). Sort of X-Men meets Clan of the Cave Bear.

( Four out of five doctors recommend clicking to learn more! )

Now for the ARC. I’d like to see them go to current fans of the series, the ones who are really salivating for it, so to enter, please e-mail me (or message me here through LJ) with your best-guess answer to the following question:


Everyone who sends me a character name will be entered in a random drawing to take place at 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Time on September 10, 2008. All entries will be eligible for the drawing, not just the correct ones.

BONUS entry opportunity! To double your chances to win, tell me WHY you think this person is the Raven.

(Note: I'm disabling comments so that people send their guesses to me directly instead of giving away hints in public.  Spoiler-free blogging ahoy!)