And The Winners Are

A few weeks ago I launched a competition for 2 lucky people to win all 3 Hellequin Chronicles books on MP3.

The competition finished a few days ago and I’ve been going through the entries to pick the winners. The one thing I discovered is that a lot of people nominated people, several dozen in fact, which is fantastic. So, because of this, I’m going not only give away 2 copies of all 3 Hellequin books, but 10 other people will get Crimes Against Magic as an MP3 or as an ebook, it’s your choice.

So, the 2 winners are:

 

Sarah Flynn Vilic – who picked Steve Conibear

And

Gareth Allen – who picked Darcy

 

Congrats to you both. If both of you can contact me with their address, I’ll get the copies sent out.

As for the 10 other winners, these are:

 

Hollie Roberts

Rachel Smith

Elaine Stansmore

Nth Wolf

Ian O’Neill

Gemma Averillo

Vicki Cooke

Donna Hayman Milton

Roger Gray

Justine Magill

 

 

If each of you can give me the e-mail address of the person you want it to go to (and whether they’d like the ebook or MP3), I’ll get the copy sent out to them.

Congrats to everyone who won, and thanks for taking part. Commiserations to those who didn’t, but I’m sure there will be more opportunities to win.

Pick a Winner

Right, I figure it’s been too long since my last competition and it’s time for another one.

So, here’s what I’m going to do.

I’m going to send the MP3 of all 3 Hellequin books (Crimes Against Magic, Born of Hatred and With Silent Screams), to 2 lucky people. I’ll sign the boxes of both and the winners will probably get some other stuff put in the bag too.

 

This is going to be a little different, because to enter I want you to nominate 1 person who you’d like these to go to and tell me why.

That’s right, we’re going to be all altruistic about this and give these to someone you think will enjoy them. It could be your other-half, your parent, child, friend, neighbour or even random dude in the street. That last one is probably a little weird. Just tell me who and why.

 

Next Friday I’ll get one of my daughters to randomly pick names out of a hat and those two people will get MP3 copies of my books sent to them.

 

Good luck

Competition and Chat

On wed this week (12th March) at 12pm central time USA (so about 5pm in the UK), I’ll be at Bitten by Books for an Interview, competition and chat. Anyone clicking the below link will get extra chances to win a $25 amazon gift certificate and a copy of Crimes Against Magic.

 

http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=74479

 

If you want to come along and ask me anything about the books, where the series is going, characters or anything else, then pop over and say hi.

 

With Silent Screams Competition

The release date for With Silent Screams: Hellequin Chronicles book 3, is just over 2 weeks away. In fact, I have an event going on over on Facebook about the release, where people can ask questions and the like, so feel free to click on the cover below to be magically taken there.

 

 

However, as the title says there’s a competition to run. To celebrate the  release of book 3, for the next 6 months, 1 winner per month will get a signed copy of With Silent Screams (along with other goodies). So, if you don’t win this month, you’ve got 5 more tries.

Just click on the enter to win button on goodreads. Here’s a link for you. 

Good luck.

 

MP3 Winner

Just a brief post today to announce the person who has won the competition to get a copy of both Hellequin books on MP3.

 

Thanks to everyone who took part.

 

And the winner is:

 

Cole Waggoner.

 

Congrats to Cole. You have 1 week to e-mail me the address you’d like them sent to.

 

Hellequin Chronicles Competition

If you’ve read the title of the post and come here expecting to learn how to win something, then you’re in the right place. And it’s something that I think is pretty cool.

 

 

 

So first how to win. What you need to do is follow this link to my author page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hellequinchronicles. Once there, like my page and then in the post about the competition, tell me why you’d like to win. That simple. I’ll pick the winner at random in 10 days.

 

And what can you win? Well, I have signed copies of the MP3 audio CD for both Crimes Against Magic and Born of Hatred to give away to one lucky person.

 

So there you have it. Go like my author page, tell me why you’d like to win and maybe you will.

 

Good luck.

Infamous Reign Opening

Because I’m feeling generous. Here’s the opening to Infamous Reign.

Chapter 1

September 1483, Tower of London.

It’s surprisingly easy to gain access to a king when many of his most trusted servants and advisers also work for you.

The king’s guard all moved aside, most ensuring they didn’t make eye contact. Those who knew who I was also had a pretty good idea of why I was there, and so avoided me for that reason. Those who didn’t know me must have sensed my dark mood and decided that pissing me off further than I already seemed to be wouldn’t have enhanced their chances for a quiet life.

Thus unencumbered, I made my way through the courtyard of the royal palace toward the Grand Hall, where the king was holding court. I reached the doors and opened them, stepping through into a room that lived up to its name.

The hall was both massive and opulent, with the king’s banners showing the House of York’s white rose, alongside the usual imagery of inaccurate looking griffins and fleur-de-lis draped next to stunning stained glass windows, some of which depicted the king’s personal badge, a white boar.

Several dozen men and women, of all ages and ranks, stood before King Richard III of England; as he sat on his throne. Each subject was given the opportunity, in turn, to ask, or beg the king, for whatever favor he or she wished. Some wishes granted, some were not, it was wholly dependent on the king’s mood of the day and how much he either liked or needed the petitioner.  The king’s judgment was final, too. Sometimes you got a good king, a just king, a king who would help his people. And sometimes you got a blood-thirsty savage. Either way, so long as Merlin and Avalon were happy, we didn’t intervene in human politics. Unfortunately, on this day, Merlin was far from happy. Which led to the reason why I was here.

I resisted the temptation to make a point by removing anyone but the king from the room. He was finishing up a proclamation that permitted one of his subjects was to marry someone else, and I allowed the moment to continue. It wasn’t them I was angry with.

When the king finished, he noticed me for the first time, and all color drained from his face. If you’re the ruler of a country and I’m standing before you, it’s usually not because you’re doing a good job. The first time it happens is just after a coronation. I, or someone just like me, arrives and tells you exactly where you stand in the world and explain that you either behave, which means doing the things we ask, or you’ll receive another, less pleasant, visit.

The king before me knew exactly why I was there. Two princes, Edward and Richard, had vanished after being placed in his custody. He was either personally involved in something very bad, or he knew who was. It had been left for me to either fix it or to ensure that it was King Richard III’s final error.

King Richard signaled to one of his aides who then told everyone that court was over and would reconvene on the morrow. I stood still as the confused masses were ushered from of the hall, until only the king and I were left.

“I know why you’re here,” he said.

“That should make this go a lot quicker then,” I snapped and walked toward him. “Your majesty.” I didn’t bow or even nod in his direction. That wasn’t a judgment against the man; there wasn’t a human king or queen alive that I would have done it for. None of them were my king.

“Hellequin, you have to understand.” Fear broke through his voice.

———-

Okay, I’ll leave it there. If there’s any spelling or grammar errors, note it’s because it isn’t finished yet. Should be a few weeks. It’ll be priced $1.99 too.

In other news, I’m starting to arrange a newsletter, so if you’re interested, I’ll be holding a competition for those who sign up when it’s all working. Keep an eye out in the coming days and weeks.

What’s in a Name?

Hello one and all.

A few weeks ago, I ran a competition where a lucky winner was going to get to name a character in Hellequin Chronicles book 4, Prison of Hope.

The winners were

Scott Hollander

Zoe Mountain

Kyle Felis Key

Each of them sent me a male and female name to use and I was going to pick the one I liked the best and go with it. Well, each of them managed to give me a name I really liked. So, instead of just one of them getting a name in the book, all 3 of them will have a character named in book 4.

So, from Scott Hollander his name choice going into the book will be – Sarah Hamilton

Zoe Mountain – Magali Martin

Kyle Felis Key – Robert Ellis

Congrats to them all. Now, I won’t say what any of these people are going to be when in they’re in the book, but all of them will have at least one sentence of dialog. And all 3 winners will go into the acknowledgements of my book. So, congrats to them all.

I’m off to go kill some characters… I mean write some… yes, write.

100th Post – Blog Stop Post 2 and Competition Results

Yep you read the title right, I’ve now done 100 posts since I started this blog 18 months ago. Now, I know why most of you are here, to find out who got to win the competition, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

First, I want to give you all the details of the many blogs I’ve been lucky enough to post on in the last week. There’s quite a bit, but hopefully some of them will be of use to someone out there.

 

First up is Kelsey’s Book Corner, who not only has a guest post about Beta readers, but also a competition where you can win a signed copy of both books.

 

I have a guest post on John Jackson Miller’s blog, titled Han Shot First. It’s about Star Wars and my love of the less moral characters.

 

Bea’s Book Nook has a post from me about never giving up on that dream to be published, or indeed to be successful at it.

 

I’m on Natalie Westgate‘s blog talking about how I always wanted to be an author. There’s also a chance to win a signed copy of the book there too.

 

In The Pages of a Good Book, has a guest post about my love of research.

 

A guest post on K.L Schwengel‘s blog is all about going from Indie writer to Traditional writer.

 

Angela Addams has me on her blog talking about whether you should start your writing career trying to go for a traditional contract or not.

 

R. Mac Wheeler has a spotlight on both Hellequin Books.

 

 

And now for the competition results.

 

The three winners, all of which will get a signed copy of either book, and the chance to name a character in book 4, Prison of Hope, are:

 

Kyle Felis Key

Zoe Mountain

Scott Hollander

 

Each of those 3 have 10 days to let me know what their 2 names will be, and I will pick the one I like the best. I’ll announce the winner in a fortnight. As I said before: No real people, no funny names and I reserve the right to tell all 3 of them to pick again if I don’t like any. I’m mean like that.

 

I’m excited to see what you guys choose.

 

Blog Stop Post 1

Yeah, I know, you don’t hear anything from me in a few weeks and then you get posts every day.  I promise i’ll be more timely in a few weeks.

But at the moment, I just wanted to take a second to post some more links for people to go to. I’ve done a few fun interviews and guest posts and figured a few people might be interested in reading my ramblings.

 

First up: Books, Books and More Books have a guest post of mine where I discuss character. They also have a giveaway where people can win a copy of each book.

The incredibly patient (because I forgot to send her what I said I was going to) Lesley Smith has a look at Crimes Against Magic and Born of Hatred.

 

The very  talented Melissa Olson interviews me about writing and my books.

 

The equally talented Richard Ellis Preston Jr has an interview with me too.

 

That’s it for today. I’ll be doing a few of these and if you get time you really should go have a read as they were fun to do. Remember if you re-tweet or share my twitter and FB status’ about my books, your name goes in a hat to win the chance to name your own character in book 4! Only 1 week left.

 

Before I go, thanks to everyone for making yesterday’s launch day, an awesome day all round.