Jun 18, 2014

MIDNIGHT THIEF signings in Boston, Albuquerque, and LA. Plus, signed bookplates if you preorder!

1.  Signings in Los Angeles, Boston, and Albuquerque (plus some online chats)
2.  Get a signed bookplate if you preorder Midnight Thief
3.  Writer's Corner:  Brain Science for Writers roundups
4.  Reader's Corner:  OTHERBOUND by Corinne Duyvis
5.  Behind the Scenes:  Names in MIDNIGHT THIEF
6.  Giveaway:  HOW TO LOVE by Katie Cotugno
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Signings in Los Angeles, Boston, and Albuquerque (plus some online chats)

Midnight Thief is officially gearing up for launch!  Review copies are out, and I recently attended my first book festival as an author.   Here's a list of launch signings coming up, though things are subject to change.  You can always find the most updated information at my Appearances page.

Get a signed bookplate if you preorder MIDNIGHT THIEF


Generally, I hope to offer special deals and freebies to people who follow me via blog/social media/mailing list. With self published works, it will usually be a discounted price. With traditionally published books I can’t change the price, so it has to be something else.

Those who are familiar with the publishing industry know how important preorders are to a book’s success. Publishers monitor these numbers get an idea of how well the book will sell, and this in turn informs how they approach the marketing, print runs, etc.

From now until July 7th, if you email me proof of preorder for MIDNIGHT THIEF along with your mailing address, I’ll mail you a signed bookplate and bookmark. 

FURTHER DETAILS AND EXCEPTIONS:
1.  My email address is liviablackburne[at]gmail[dot]com. You can include a name if you want the bookplate signed to anyone in particular, and feel free to obscure any credit card/other sensitive info when you email your receipts.
2. Feel free to get MIDNIGHT THIEF at any vendor your prefer.  Though if you plan to attend any of my in-person signings please consider buying your book at the event in order to support that venue and ensure their ability to host future signings (no need to preorder in this case, though an RSVP to the event would be helpful!). And of course, I’ll happy to sign your book and give you a bookmark in person
3.  Update: One reader pointed out that some people prefer to support their local indie, and not all independent bookstores do preorders.  So, for those folks, feel free to email me receipts up to July 21st.

I've posted pictures of the bookmarks and bookplates here.

Writer's Corner: Brain Science Article Roundups


I recently started up a new blog series that rounds up neuroscience and psychology related articles relevant to writers. Check out the first two installments.

Reader's corner:  OTHERBOUND by Corinne Duyvis

Today marks the launch date of OTHERBOUND by Corinne Duyvis, a truly brilliant and imaginative novel. The premise is really unique -- a boy drawn into a girl's mind whenever he blinks or closes his eyes. That concept is vividly illustrated in a first chapter and drew me in right away. What really impressed me throughout the book was just how thoughtful Duyvis was. Nolan's character development was top notch -- a boy that essentially spends half his life as a girl in a fantasy world. How would that affect his identity and every day life? I loved seeing it illustrated throughout the story. Other characters were great as well. I was impressed by how Duyvis was able to build authentic characters in two very different worlds and cultures.

The worldbuilding was incredibly detailed and again, well thought out, with different races, languages, and social classes. For example, I liked how Nolan and Amara's languages had different phonetics, so words and names between the two didn't always translate. And Cilla's curse is one of the most horrifying bits of magic I've read in a while. If I had any complaints, it's that I would have liked to know more about was the magic rules and technology of the Dunelands up front, as they played a large part in the many plot twists that come up (And speaking of plot twists. There are some good ones!). But all in all, a highly recommended read for anyone looking for an unconventional fantasy.

Behind the Scenes:  Names in Midnight Thief

Summer from Blue Sky Bookshelf asks:

I'm such a name fanatic, do your characters' names have any meaning...or are they just random? Kyra, Flick...is Bella a nod to your push to writing from TWILIGHT?

You’re the first interviewer to mention Bella’s name in connection with TWILIGHT! Just to recap for your readers who might not know this back story, I stopped reading and writing for about 10 years after I graduated high school since I was just too busy with science. But in grad school I picked up Twilight while waiting for a bus and blew through the entire series in a weekend. People bash Twilight a lot these days, but I think Meyer does a really good job at emotionally engaging the reader. Anyways, that reading binge reminded me how much I loved YA fiction and how I had always wanted to write a book. I started MIDNIGHT THIEF soon after.

MIDNIGHT THIEF actually shares several names with TWILIGHT. One is a character named Bella, as you already noticed. Also, both books have a dangerous character named James. And finally, Rand, the redheaded assassin, was named Riley in early drafts. There’s also a redheaded character named Riley in one of the TWILIGHT sequels. I didn’t do any of this on purpose. The names were just readily available in my subconscious because I had read TWILIGHT so recently.

As for the name Kyra, I just liked it. I actually pronounce it wrong in my head. I say K-EYE-ra while most people say K-EE-ra. Flick’s character was based on high school classmate of mine (again, many of the characters in MIDNIGHT THIEF are recycled from a manuscript I started in high school), and his name was a rearrangement of this real life person’s name. I will refrain from telling you who it was because I already feel creepy for writing characters based on people I haven’t had contact with in decades. :-P

Here's an interesting tidbit. Malikel was also a character from that early high school manuscript. Back then, I didn't really pay attention to whether names sounded like they were from the same language or not. So I ended up having all these characters with old English sounding names . . . plus an odd one out in Malikel. During revisions with my editor, I offered to change his name to make it fit better into the world. But then I thought, why not run with it in the other direction? So instead of changing the name, I made Malikel a foreigner from the distant city of Minadel. This gave me lots of opportunities for character development, and in the final version of MIDNIGHT THIEF, Malikel’s status as an outsider gives him a different philosophy and approach to how he governs.

See the rest of the interview for thoughts on writing the sequel, love triangles, and more.


Giveaway:  HOW TO LOVE by Katie Cotugno


And just for my newsletter subscribers, I'm giving away a hardcover of HOW TO LOVE by Katie Cotugno.


  For fans of Sarah Dessen and John Green, How to Love is a breathtaking debut about a couple who falls in love . . . twice.

Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember. But he's never noticed that Reena even exists . . . until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears without a word, leaving a devastated--and pregnant--Reena behind.

After: Almost three years have passed, and there's a new love in Reena's life: her daughter. Reena's gotten used to life without Sawyer, but just as suddenly as he disappeared, he turns up again. Reena wants nothing to do with him, though she'd be lying if she said his being back wasn't stirring something in her.After everything that's happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?


This giveaway is open internationally, to any country that Book Depository ships to.  To enter, follow this link to the rafflecopter.

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