Left to Right: Blair from Gossip Girl, Katherine from The Vampire Diaries, Regina George from Mean Girls

Personally, I’m sick of the negative “what a bitch” label that goes with any girl who speaks her mind, good or evil. And I don’t mean the positive “bitch” as in, “she’s such a badass bitch, I want to be just like her.”

This is not a post in defense of meanness. I just wanted to get that out of the way. I believe in kindness. I think it’s the most valuable virtue of all. But I also believe in the ability to freely express yourself without judgment based on your sex. What am I talking about? In case you haven’t noticed, when a woman in a fictional story (or in life) acts harshly without an apparent motive, she’s immediately labeled as a bitch. In a bad way. Not so with men. In fact, a lot of assholes are idolized simply for the fact that they are mean (and sometimes hot) guys who speak their mind. Cuz, erm, speaking your mind is hot. When you’re a guy. But when you’re a girl? Not so much. Because, traditionally, women are to keep quiet when it comes to having an opinion. Yeah… That’s not going to happen this time.

To really point out what I’m talking about, it’s only fair to mention stories that both have the “bitch” and the “asshole” character. Pardon my French, but you’ll be hearing those terms a lot in this post.

House MD: House vs. Cuddy

We all know House for being one of the biggest assholes in television history. That’s no shocker. He goes around the medical system in any way possible and uses his patients’ private lives with neglect towards their privacy and feelings to solve a case. But it’s for the greater good! So he’s justified for his cruelty since he saves lives. Don’t get me wrong, I love House. But compare how his character is portrayed with Cuddy, the woman running the hospital who, while given power over House, comes off as a bitch when she refuses House’s risky games (and is proven wrong time and again when he’s right–I mean luckily doesn’t kill the patient).

And when he runs his car through her home after she dumps his ass, she’s seen as the bad guy. Again, we all get that House is an ass, but we sympathize with him. Cuddy, for the most part, simply comes off as a bitch. And that’s a bad thing. Why? For one, it’s because House says so. For another, because we don’t see her side of the story. We don’t get to feel for her as much as for House. But we shouldn’t expect every character to explain their actions, regardless of what they are. We just need to stop writing off women’s opinions as wrong when we don’t agree with them.

The Vampire Diaries: Damon vs. Katherine

Ah, my favorite pair. Not as a romantic couple, but they are both so perfectly diabolical that I heart them to death. Which, with the record of deaths on the show, might actually happen. Damon has been the perfect bad boy since his first appearance on the Diaries. He was vicious and cruel and hated until he slowly started to change and show his good side. Still, he was loved because he was so wild and bad and the polar opposite of everyone else in the story that you couldn’t not love him, dick or not.

Katherine, despite her close similarity to Damon in personality, has been a constant villain on the show. Unlike Damon, she has no “heart,” or so we are made to think. Why? Because Damon had Elena, someone to believe in his good side, and to bring it out of him, while Katherine never really had anyone who might potentially show us her good side, if she had one. Personally, I don’t believe she does. I think Katherine is pure evil, and for a character in a book (or in real life), I believe that’s possible. But whether Katherine is justified in her actions or not, she does them because she has a personal goal. Selfish or not, heartless or not, she can do it because she has that choice. Maybe she does need to be killed for others to survive. But her character has its own twisted perfection.

Point: Not all girls need to lie down and roll over to be accepted as great characters. They can have a tough skin and still be awesome without a need for us to understand them. They can be a “bitch,” and it shouldn’t make them any less of a person. It shouldn’t be an insult, it should simply be what they are in their own greatness. They should wear the label proudly. We just need to respect them for the characters they are and let them tell their story.

In my urban fantasy, Shadows of Penumbra, Diane doesn’t take sh*t from you, she doesn’t take sh*t from your friends, and she doesn’t take sh*t from her boss. She says her mind no matter how harsh her thoughts may be, and maybe it’s justified and maybe it’s not. That’s who she is, and it shouldn’t be a bad thing. Similarly, in my upcoming YA thriller, supporting character Hailie may have deserved to be called a bitch on more than one occasion, but to be honest the thought doesn’t even cross the protagonist’s mind. See, she doesn’t find the need to call her out on her bitch level because, well, she’s not perfect either.

What is wrong is writing a mean character and passing their wrong actions off as kind. If they’re misunderstood, very well. If they’re just bad intentions, not so good. Obviously the author is usually aware of this. If they’re completely blind to it, however, and think abusing a person = okay, this could present problems with their readers since they will be sending a wrong message about real love and respect.

If I want to write a mean girl character, I should be able to write a mean character and I shouldn’t need to explain that she has the saddest backstory ever, because she might not. Background or not, main or minor character. Let them speak their minds without shutting them up and writing off their character as “no good.” If men can act on and speak their minds and still be accepted for it even if they are far from perfect or good, so can we.

How do you feel about female characters that aren’t kind enough by your standard?

-The Story Addict

Tourist by Adrianna

Last week, I had my first blog tour ever for my first self-published novel, Shadows of Penumbra. I’ve also hosted a couple of blog tours and lots of guest posts, so I have a double perspective from both sides of blog touring. My friend and fellow blogger, Mike, gave me a great suggestion to write up a post about blog touring. I don’t pretend to be an expert in blog tours since I need lots more experience with it, but here goes everything!

What’s a blog tour? A marketing device used to spread news about your book across book blogs in order to grab readers’ attention and interest them in buying your book, and maybe even getting a review in exchange for a free copy.

How can you schedule a tour? There are two ways to do this: 1) Do it yourself. If you know enough people, or think you know enough people, this isn’t that difficult a task (although it might be daunting and make you sweat). Simply email them and ask to do a blog stop at a certain date. Always ask, never demand! Don’t expect them to say yes or even reply. Most should reply, but if they don’t, double check their blog tour/guest post policy to make sure you’re playing by the rules. Your book may not interest them or represent the content of their blog well. They might also not be interested unless you’re a well-known author. If you think none of this is the case and they still don’t reply within a week, it’s possible your message went to spam! This happens more often than you’d expect. Check with them by sending a follow-up email along with a tweet.

Give them options, such as a guest post, an interview, a review (by the blogger, given that you provide a review copy) an excerpt, cover reveal, or a giveaway (those are the basics, but you can get more creative if you like.) If the cover reveal is for the current novel, you obviously want to do that first so you can post the cover on the other blogs. Giveaways are often coupled with one of the other options. Of the six, guest posting seems to be most effective from what I and other bloggers have experienced (thanks to Emma for pointing that out.) Reviews are eternally helpful as well, of course, you can never get enough of those. Even bad reviews help get eyes on your book and can be helpful (believe it or not). But if you can’t manage to get a review, guest posting is the next best thing. Or, in some cases, equally great.

What do you guest post about? Don’t just write anything! Make sure that 1) The guest post somehow ties in with the theme of the blog where it will be featured and 2) it is obviously related to the novel you are presenting at the tour. 3) Try and make it useful or interesting to the readers. Think about what kind of information they can take from it other than “how I got the idea for my novel.” Give writing or publishing tips, talk about genre, character development, anything mildly informative. It doesn’t have to be the entire post, but it should contain some grain of useful information.

Be mindful of your time … and word count. If you’re scheduling a tour for 30 days, you can’t write 30 posts! Well, you can, but it’s exhausting. And if you have a full-time job, it might be too much. Be sure to balance your tour well. See where you can make tour stops that require minimum writing from you. Don’t rely too heavily on excerpts as they are on the least effective end of the list. Also don’t provide excerpts that are too long. Anything from 250-500 words is more than enough. Same with guest posts. Keep them under 600 words.

Typically, if you haven’t established any relationships with the blogger or are contacting them for the first time, chances are slim they will pick you up. But some bloggers are more lenient than others. Story Addict, for instance, welcomes all published authors, either self-published or traditionally published, as well as published or unpublished authors who have won first or second place in the excerpt contests. Paranormal Book Club is also very open to tour stops. Other blogs, like NA Alley, don’t accept unsolicited guest posts.

Once you have scheduled a tour stop, use a calendar like Google calendar to send you reminders of when and where each tour stop will take place. It’s also great for organizing the schedule so you don’t get overwhelmed and confused.

Be sure to contact these people at least a month in advance. Many busy tour hosts are booked way ahead of time, so a month’s time for them to get back to you is really the minimum. Also, make sure you reply to all their emails as promptly as you can. As much as you’re doing them a favor by providing content for their blog, they’re also doing you a favor by being available on a certain date and presenting your book, so don’t leave them hanging and communicate as professionally and sincerely as you can. Respect the book blogger!

What to send: About a week before the blog tour, send each of the bloggers the content for the post, including your author photo, a short author bio, the book cover, the tour banner, your book blurb (depending on the post) social media and other links (like your website or where to buy your book), along with the guest post/interview answers/whatever you’ve agreed on.

If they don’t get back to you two weeks before the tour and ignore your follow-up, it’s time to start looking for a replacement.

Option 2) Hire a blog tour host. This is easier than it seems. There are lots of tour hosts that you can find simply by Googling them. Here are a few:

PB Tours

XPresso Book Tours

Reader’s Real Street Team

The Crazy Bookworm

Reading Addiction Blog Tours

Bewitching Blog Tours

Enchanted Book Promotions

Golden Fish Blog Tours

Supa Gurl Tours

CLB Blog Tours

Book Blasts Blog Tours

Dark World Books

Black Lion Tours

Novel Publicity

YA Bound

Lady Reader’s Bookstuff

Thanks to Frankie for the links (you can find them all on her site, Frankie Blooding’s Bookshelf. She’s an avid blog tour host.)

Tour hosting prices are typically between $40-$200, depending on how fancy of a tour you want, and how long. Most are one week long, but many do two-week or even month-long tours. Note: The terminology here gets confusing. There are people who schedule blog tours and are called “tour hosts,” and there are people who participate in blog tours, who are also called “tour hosts.” The former refers to a person you can hire, the latter refers to a book blogger. Don’t get confused and check before you assume who’s who.

Of course, you want to find a host who promotes books similar to yours because they have a database of bloggers who might be interested. Don’t go for a host who promotes high sci-fi if you’ve written a YA contemporary romance.

The tour host will send out an email to his/her database of blogs and schedule the tour for you. The nice thing about this is that you don’t have to go around begging to do a tour stop on anyone’s blog. I highly recommend this option and will be doing this in the future for my YA novel.

Once your tour is set, you will either need to create a blog tour banner or your tour host will give you one. A tour banner has an image of your book cover and the dates of the tour. Display it on your blog and make an announcement to your readers so they know to expect the tour and where to find the blog stops. A countdown is nice too, if you can get the code for it to work. Provide a list of links to all the blogs and the dates of the tour stops.

Finally, when the tour begins, you are really only responsible for a few things: 1) Drop a comment on the blog post, if you can, to thank the blogger. This will also let the blog readers know that you’re around to respond to their comments. 2) Tweet about the post or share it on Facebook so others can find it. 3) Reply to comments on the post. That’s what it’s all about, after all, interacting with the readers.

If you’re doing an interview, you should expect to receive questions from the blogger before the blog tour. From my experience, interviews aren’t terribly interesting to read unless you’re doing them live or are a super famous author, but some bloggers still like to do them and you shouldn’t turn them down.

If you plan to schedule a giveaway, schedule it before you contact the bloggers so they know you’re doing a giveaway. Giveaways can be scheduled far ahead of time. You can do it though Goodreads, which is a great way to get eyes on your books since the giveaway will stay on their list for its duration, or through Rafflecopter, which is incredibly simple and also more private. You can put whatever prize you like on Rafflecopter along with options to enter so people can get more entries for doing stuff like tweeting about the giveaway, posting a comment, or following you on Twitter. Types of prizes can include signed or non-signed paperback or hard cover copies, ebooks, bookmarks, Amazon giftcards, inexpensive jewelry, and Kindles. Giveaway winners of books aren’t expected to write you a review, and you shouldn’t ask for it! If they like the book enough to finish it, of course the courteous action is to leave a review, but please don’t stalk or force them into it. If they want to review, they will review.

Once the tour ends, post a summary of the tour and the links to all the blog posts on your own blog so your followers can find them. Likewise, when the giveaways end, simply pick your winners through a random draw on Rafflecopter. Goodreads will pick your winners for you. It’s a good idea to set the giveaway to 1-3 months on Goodreads so more people can enter and likewise add the book to their to-read list. The more copies you’re giving away the more people are likely to enter. Rafflecopter giveaways can last from a few days to a few months. But for paperbacks, the shorter the better so that people have the blog tour (and the book) fresh on their minds. You can also do ebook giveaways. The great thing about those is that you can do them internationally at no extra cost. Be sure to state if you are doing a giveaway in a certain country or internationally before you ask anyone to enter! Recall that shipping costs are greater if you’re shipping internationally. Find out from your publisher how much extra international shipping will cost before you decide to limit the giveaway. If you can afford it and don’t mind sending the prizes off to faraway lands, keep it open to other countries.

That’s pretty much all there is to it! I hope that was helpful and I’m certainly looking forward to learning more from blog touring in the future.

Do you have any blog tour tips or experience to share?

-The Story Addict

Laurel Cove has a bit of a history. I wrote the first draft at least 30 years ago after a family trip to the Smoky Mountains. I fell in love with those misty mountains, and the whole area seemed mysterious and so well suited to a ghost story that when I got home I started writing. This was before I had an electric typewriter let alone a computer, and most of that first manuscript was written in longhand in notebooks and on yellow legal pads. I remember the story almost seemed to write itself and came out in a rush. I think maybe I finished it in a month or two.  After typing it up on my old Smith-Corona, I remember I did submit it several places, but it was gently turned down. Probably rightfully so. I think that first draft was a little too full of adjectives and adverbs or maybe that type of story just wasn’t selling at the moment. Hard to say, but it has always remained one of my favorite stories I’ve written. The way publishing has changed so much in recent years, I’ve decided to give it another go. If I still can’t find anyone interested, I will probably have the story edited and publish it myself. I think it’s a good story, if a bittersweet one, and I’d love to see it have a chance.

Thank you, Margaret, for the opportunity to enter The Haunting of Laurel Cove in the contest. It was very encouraging to see the comments and to know others might want to read my story of Cecilia Stuart and the elusive Cissy Oliver.

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Thanks again for sharing your writing experience, Lucy! We’ve all been there, and we’re all familiar with the frustrations of publication, so you’re certainly not alone. And after experiencing many trials, it’s always nice to get a few nods towards your hard work.

Lucy Naylor Kubash has been writing for many years and is the published author of short stories, a nonfiction column, The Pet Corner, and a western contemporary romance, Chance’s Return. She can be reached through her website, www.lucynaylorkubash.com, her blogs; www.lucynaylorkubash.blogspot.com, www.thezekechronicles.wordpress.com, and on Twitter @LucyKubash

If you enjoyed Lucy’s excerpt in the contest, you may enjoy her book, Chance’s Return, so be sure to grab a copy!

-The Story Addict

The rules:

1. Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their Lyric Quote post.
2. Go to your iTunes (or wherever you store your music) and find 3 different songs which have lyrics that describe your blog! The quotes should be short, one liners. They don’t have to be exact, just go with what feels right. Use A-Z Lyrics Universe or another similar lyric website to help you out with the exact words.
3. Write down the quotes. Be sure to cite the artist and the song name! Then go to recitethis.com and create a quote poster for each of the quotes. It’s free and super easy! If you find other quote generators, feel free to add them to the rules so other people can use them too!
4. Upload the posters to your blog post.
5. Include a copy of the rules in your blog post and link back to the original post (on Story Addict – addictivestory.wordpress.com).
6. Tag 3-10 people and send a message to each so they know they were tagged. If you’re tagged and don’t want to do the meme, tag someone else who can take your place so it keeps going.
7. Spread the word and hop in even if you weren’t tagged! You can also do the meme multiple times if you like.

Simple enough, right? Here are my three lyric quote posters:

Got it? I’ll be tagging a few people. Of course, it’s optional, but if you pass, please tag someone in your stead

• Rachel Horwitz
• Emma Meade
• Michael Olavarria
• Nicole Bates
• Michael Hubbard
• Ahmed Amin

Have fun!

-The Story Addict

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It was such an honor and thrill to learn that The Samurai’s Garden was the winner of the excerpt contest! For my guest post, I thought I’d write about how the book came to be. It was the book of my heart, begun over eight years ago, and finally completed and released last year at Astraea Press. But let’s go back to the beginning:

When I retired from full-time teaching eight years ago, I had a long list of things I wanted to start doing. One of them was to write a novel that had been brewing in my head for a long time. It had to do with my own Japanese heritage and the knowledge that there had once been a samurai soldier in my background. I’m interested in geneaology, and a part of me wanted to dig into that, but since I don’t speak or read Japanese, this would be a very daunting task. So I did the next best thing – I started dreaming about what my illustrious ancestor might have been like.

There were times when I hit roadblocks. Most of them dealt with my limited knowledge of Japanese history. But one sentence in an online article caught my eye, and turned into a major part of the story line. I learned the samurai class was effectively eliminated when the emperor Meiji ascended the throne. In one stroke, an entire hierarchy of people lost their way of life, their reason for being. What did these fierce warriors do? They all had to find a new way of living.

I started writing, and soon had about ten thousand words written. But then I didn’t know where to go from there. I thought I had the basic storyline, but it lacked purpose. There wasn’t anything that would be interesting enough to hold the reader for more than a chapter, if that. The project was put away for a few years.

It wasn’t until I took an online course offered by the Kiss of Death Chapter of RWA that I finally learned what my manuscript needed: conflict. While I knew the basics of goal, motivation and conflict, I didn’t have enough to carry the story. The characters were too one-dimensional, and after sending the first chapter out to a contest, I learned the storyline I had was too clichéd – poor woman needs strong, rich hero to help her.

Without going into a lot of detail, this is what I got out of the class. In addition to the central conflict of the story, the hero needs to have a inner conflict, something that he needed to overcome. The heroine also needed a conflict. And since this was a romance, there had to be something the couple needed to deal with in order to be together. Once I understood those basics, the story was much easier to write. So now, when I begin a new manuscript, I outline the conflicts first, and then create the characters to fit the conflicts. I suppose it may sound backward to some writers, but it works for me. Knowing what the conflicts are makes it easier for me to formulate a backstory for the characters, and often entire scenes pop into my head to illustrate them.

Another roadblock I hit is that this is a sweet romance. Until fairly recently, it was difficult to sell a romance without any graphic love scenes, unless it was an inspirational, which this wasn’t. The rise of small, independent publishers has opened the market, and my book finally found a home at Astraea Press. And thanks to blogs like Story Addict, I’m able to tell people about it!

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Thank you again, Patricia, for sharing your wonderful thoughts on publication! You’re absolutely right about conflict and backstory, those two things are key to making a novel an interesting read. And, by the way, I adore Japanese culture (I love culture in general, but I have a special place in my heart for Asian culture). I’ve watched so many historical movies that have inspired me, even if many of them are based on fiction. So glad to have you share your experience with us. Now, readers, run along and buy her book. Now!

The Samurai’s Garden is available at Astraea Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

Patricia Kiyono can be found at her website, blog, facebook, and twitter @PatriciaKiyono.

-The Story Addict

Welcome to the second blog stop in the Shadows of Penumbra Summer blog tour! If you missed the cover reveal to the sequel, check it out at Paranormal Book Club.

To celebrate the start of summer as well as my urban fantasy novels, I’m releasing 100 bookmarks that will not be sold anywhere and can only be obtained through the giveaway! Winners have the option of picking any of the bookmarks above! If there are less than 100 entrants, there will be multiple draws.

The giveaway will be open for two whole summer months, June-July 2013! It will also be featured on June 19th on Frankie Blooding’s Bookshelf. Winners will be awarded in August.

Here’s how it will work: If you are interested in winning a certain bookmark, please post a comment stating the order of preference for the booksmarks, listing them from most preferred to least preferred.

Use these keys: A = Avarice/Charity, W = Wrath/Forgiveness, P = Pride/Humility, L = Lust/Chastity, D = Deception/Honesty

Example: A, P, W, L, D

In this example, A is most preferred, while D is least preferred.

This is optional, but if you choose not to provide this information, bookmarks will be sent out to winners at random and you may not get the one you want.

There are also ways to enter more than once. The more times your name goes into the raffle, the greater the chances of winning! And if the number of entries is less than 100, then you will win more bookmarks!

The options are as follows:

(+1) point just for entering.

(+1) point for commenting on your bookmark preferences. You must actually enter the link to your comment into Rafflecopter for it to count!

(+1) point for tweeting about the giveaway. You can do this once each day. You must actually enter the link to your tweet into Rafflecopter for it to count!

(+5) points for writing a blurb on your blog about Shadows of Penumbra. You must actually enter the link to your blog post into Rafflecopter for it to count!

(+10) points for writing a review of Shadows of Penumbra on Amazon. You must actually enter the link to your review into Rafflecopter for it to count!

(+10) points for writing a review of Shadows of Penumbra on Goodreads (it can be a copy of the Amazon Review). You must actually enter the link to your review into Rafflecopter for it to count!

Here are the links for where you can find Shadows: Amazon | Goodreads | Smashwords

Terms: Winners will be expected to provide a mailing address to which the prizes may be sent. The mailing address will not be shared with a third party and will only be used for the purposes of the giveaway.

If you have written a review for Shadows of Penumbra in the past, you can also use it to enter yourself into the giveaway!

ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY!

*Giveaway is limited to the United States.

Here’s the schedule:

Monday, June 3rd – Book 2 Cover Reveal at Paranormal Book Club

Tuesday, June 4th – Bookmark giveaway at Story Addict (and later at Frankie Blooding’s Bookshelf on June 19th!)

Wednesday, June 5th – Paperback Giveaway and Guest Post at Emma’s Ramblings on Supernatural Fiction

Thursday, June 6th - eBook Giveaway at A. H. Amin’s blog

Friday, June 7th – Interview and an eBook giveaway at You Are What You Write

The eBook and Paperback giveaways will be open for a week, and the bookmark giveaway will be open for two months, so in case you miss them, you’ll still have a chance to enter within the open time frames.

Hope to see you there!

-The Story Addict

Blurb:

Sarah Cole and her sister Lacey are at it once again when they learn their missing parents’ cell phone has been traced to Alden, Michigan. When the FBI declines to continue the investigation, Sarah takes matters into her own hands. She calls upon the Super Spies and they delve into the situation. Suddenly, the teens find themselves immersed in small town intrigue and mystery involving a menacing stranger, who Sarah dubs “The Stalker.” But when Sarah learns he’s connected to her parents’ disappearance, she’s determined to find out what that connection is. The Super Spies embark on a journey that leads them into a web of corporate corruption at its highest level that leaves innocent victims in its wake. Can they find the proof they need to stop the greedy corporation before it’s too late?

Also, in celebration of the release, the first two books in the series are on sale for $0.99! Grab them while you can!

Excerpt from The Piped Piper:

“What do you mean you lost them?” Sarah Cole fidgeted as she waited for Agent Gray to answer. I can’t believe it! He lost the only clue to our parents’ location. What is wrong with this picture? Agitated, Sarah shifted in her seat and chewed on her lip. She was uncomfortable in the folding chair and rearranged her petite frame so she wouldn’t feel the cold metal against her bare legs. Shivering, she glanced around the all-too-familiar room.

The gray cement block walls no longer gave her that creepy, closed-in feeling she’d used to get when she first came to the interrogation rooms. She remembered the first time she’d been in that tiny space. It had been the day she’d discovered the Cat Lady’s dead body. Sarah shuddered at the memory and then smiled when she remembered forming the Super Spies and bringing the Cat Lady Killer to justice. Glancing around the room again, she realized she’d been in this room quite a bit these last few weeks, not only during the Cat Lady investigation, but the High School Bomber investigation as well. Shivering again, Sarah rubbed her arms but she really wasn’t cold. Her mind filled with the image of the bomber the Super Spies had helped apprehend just a week earlier.

Wow! Was it just last week?

She tugged at a lock of her honey colored hair, then brushed it away with an impatient hand. She sighed and glanced at her younger sister. Lacey sat beside her with her legs crossed, jiggling her foot at such a rapid rate it seemed like her whole body was electrified. She caught Sarah’s eye and for a moment her eyes glittered like emeralds before she shifted her gaze to Aunt June, who had placed her hand on Lacey’s leg in what appeared to be an attempt to quiet her. Sarah shifted in her chair and sighed again. Are we ever going to find Mom and Dad?

A commotion out in the hall drew everyone’s attention. Sarah leaned forward

and craned her neck to see what was happening.

“Chief, we’ve got an OD!” An officer yelled.

“What?” Chief Johnson yelled as he rushed by. “An OD on what? Give me the details.”

“The parents found their son unconscious in his room this morning, and an empty bottle of prescription medication on his bedside table.”

“What was it?” Chief Johnson asked.

“It’s Myodine.”

“Who makes it?”

“Ah… Piper Drugs.”

“Call Poison Control with the name and manufacturer and ask them what to do about an overdose. Instruct the parents to get their son to the hospital pronto,” Chief Johnson ordered.

“They’ve brought him here.”

“What?” Chief Johnson exclaimed.

The sound of policemen rushing through the hall pulled Sarah and her sister out of their seats. They hurried to the door, unable to stifle their curiosity. Peering down the corridor, Sarah caught a glimpse of a young man sagging between two officers as they desperately tried to keep him on his feet. One officer gently slapped his face while the other officers held him up. The young man blinked and then gagged, puking on the officer in front of him.

The rancid stench of fresh vomit filled the air. While plugging her nose, Sarah ducked back inside the interrogation room, followed by her sister. Sarah closed the door, hoping it would keep the smell from penetrating the room.

“Did you hear that, Lace? Piper Drugs! That’s the company Dad works for,” Sarah whispered in her sister’s ear before proceeding back to her seat.

Lacey opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when Agent Gray cleared his

throat and motioned for them to sit down.

He continued his conversation as if they hadn’t been interrupted. We were on our way to the location of the ping… but before we got there it disappeared.”

“So, what does that mean? Did you find our parents or what?” Sarah blurted out as she sat down. She stared into Agent Gray’s icy blue eyes, trying to read his mind.

About Lisa:

Lisa Orchard grew up loving books. She was hooked on mysteries by the fifth grade and even wrote a few of her own. She knew she wanted to be a writer even then.  “The Super Spies and the High School Bomber” is the second book in the “Super Spies” series. Her first book was published in March of 2012 and it has received rave reviews.

After graduating from Central Michigan University with a Marketing Degree she spent many years in the insurance industry, pining to express her creative side.  The decision to stay home with her children gave her the opportunity to follow her dream and become a writer. She currently resides in Rockford Michigan with her husband, Steve, and two wonderful boys. Currently, she’s working on the third novel that stars the same quirky teens. When she’s not writing she enjoys spending time with her family, running, hiking, and reading.

You can find Lisa on Twitter, Facebook, or her Official Website!

-The Story Addict

And now for the winners!

First place goes to Patricia Kiyono with THE SAMURAI’S GARDEN! Congratulations, Patricia! You may collect your banner and place it anywhere you like on your blog or website.

The Samurai Garden is available on Amazon, so go grab a copy!

Here is her winning entry:

Aomori Prefecture, Honshu, Japan, 1872

So it had come to this.

Hideyori Kato paced the dirt floor, his face wrinkled in a frown of disgust. Unprotected by tabi, the silk stockings he was accustomed to wearing, his feet bled from the coarse straw of his sandals. At his palace, he would not have been wearing shoes at all, but the creatures scurrying about in this hovel had forced him into the unheard of habit of wearing shoes indoors.

Kato, the great and once-powerful daimyo, was reduced to living in a mud hut on the outer pasture of what had once been the lands surrounding his castle. He should never have surrendered to that child-emperor, Meiji. He should have rallied his army and fought. His treasurer had given him some drivel about the coffers being empty, but he could have promised them riches, and they would have fought for glory, or whatever their silly Bushido decreed. Maybe he could have convinced the armies of the lily-livered daimyos to join his, so he could have overtaken the emperor’s forces. And then he, Hideyori Kato, would rule all of Japan. The thought of all that power made his mind spin.

Runner up is THE HAUNTING OF LAUREL COVE by Lucy Naylor Kubash!

The Haunting of Laurel Cove is currently unpublished, but we definitely look forward to seeing Lucy’s work in print soon!

Here is her stellar entry:

The cabin still stands in the clearing near the Little River. I’ve not been there for some time now, not since the birth of my daughter; but one day when Althea is older I will take her there, and I will tell her the story of the other two Altheas for whom she is named. After much talking I’ve finally convinced the inhabitants of Laurel Cove to restore Cissy’s cabin as a historical marker, so it’s not as ramshackle as it first appeared to me. My husband says I’m still obsessed with the place. Maybe I am. I use to go there often, to stand in the overgrown herb garden with its brown and curling vines, to wander through the vacant cabin, to sit in the small, armless rocker and wait for the subtle fragrance of laurel to fill the room. But since that fateful day, it has not happened again. Cissy’s cabin is quiet now and empty, save for the occasional tourist who cares to stop and have a look.

That’s the way it should be, the way I wanted it to be, yet I sometimes wish I could feel her presence again, to remember how it felt to be touched by the spirit of Cissy Oliver. It’s strange how I came back to the mountains. Strange that Cissy’s story once  was only a faded memory from my childhood, a memory left far behind in the mists of the Great Smokies.

Congratulation to the winners!

Thanks again to all who participated! Some of the other entries I enjoyed didn’t get the spotlight, but do know I admired the writing! Next contest will be at 400 followers, and you are most welcome to join us again. The faster we get to 400 the sooner the contest, so do spread word if you can.

Patricia and Lucy will both be asked to guest post, but that will be up to them. If they both opt out, I will go down the list of winners and ask for an alternate guest poster.

-The Story Addict

I’m not talking about textbooks. I’m not talking about required reading for school or work. I’m talking about reading purely for entertainment.

One in four Americans don’t read. At all. You can check that statistic, but it’s pretty recent, and it’s no shocker. Why don’t they read? Because they have television and internet to inform them of what they need to know. They aren’t interested in anything longer because their friends will tell them or they’ll watch it in a movie. Standard excuses.

Now, you can tell me, “But three in four Americans do read! That must mean they’re in the majority!” It must. But go outside and look around. Do you see many people reading? I bet anything more are talking than reading. Especially if you go to a busy place.

So why don’t we perceive reading as the “in” thing to do? Why is going to the movies and dinner the number one most frequent date or hang out experience and not reading a book? Because it can be done in a group. Have you ever told your friends: yo, let’s go hang out and read us some fantasy! You can snort, it’s okay.

Maybe we shouldn’t concern ourselves with what’s cool and what’s not. But what’s lacking in books?

The truth is this: books are antisocial. They place a barrier between us and society. Someone that’s reading, especially in public, puts up a wall that says “Leave me alone,” “Do not approach,” “I’m busy and engrossed in this,” and “I don’t want to talk.” Either that, or they’re saying, “Look at me reading this book, don’t you want to ask me what it’s about?” The latter usually works for people who are trying to find someone to flirt with. They’ll seem only half-absorbed in the book, will be dressed in attractive clothes with bright colors, and will sit in a location where they’re likely to be noticed. But most people who read aren’t trying to fire that signal.

Pretty negative stuff, right? That’s why we don’t look at people who are reading and think it’s cool. However, we are more likely to pull out a book and read next to someone on a bus who is already reading. I’ve tested this time and again. Almost every time, if I begin to read on a bus, the person next to me will either pull out a book, a laptop, or a document, just to seem “busy” as well. So, in a way, it is “cool.” Especially if you’re reading a book that doesn’t fit into a mold (like, say, sci-fi or erotica; Twilight or Hunger Games). Mold signifies obsession rather than intelligence. And obsession is not cool.

Here’s a more specific example: reading Wicked was perceived as cool, mainly due to its length and the story’s popularity, even though the book wasn’t as great as the musical, while reading The Notebook was considered common since it was a romantic, easy read. Likewise, reading The Da Vinci Code made you cool, while reading The Fault in Our Stars made you “one of us.” If you’re reading, you’re smart. I want to be smart too. Or “busy.” Busy is good. Busy means my life is full of development.

Can we use this to our advantage? If people see more people reading they will think it’s the cool thing to do and begin to read as well. But we still can’t take out the antisocial factor. I’m not saying independence and alone time is wrong. On the contrary, I love it. But outgoing people don’t. They want interaction and conversation. Not hours of silent reading.

So here are a few things you can do:

1) Read to a friend. Aloud. I’m serious. But not just anything. Find something you find really interesting or beautiful and share it with them. Obviously you’d have to think they would find it really interesting or beautiful as well. If people see more people reading to others, they will think it’s a positive interaction. Which it is. But not enough people do it.

2) Bring up recent reads and ask you friends if they’ve read anything lately. This might mean you’d have to read some mainstream stuff if you want to discuss the same book. So don’t shy away from mainstream if you’re an indie person. And if they have read a book you haven’t, ask for their opinion on it. Maybe you’ll decide to read it after all and discuss it with them later.

3) Read something extraordinary no one else is reading and share it with a friend. It might take a lot of convincing for someone to read something that’s not popular. But this comes back to sharing passages from your favorite books with your friends. Believe it or not, unique stuff is more valuable than the popular norm. Give them bits and see how they react to them. They may even fall in love with them too.

Here’s a related article about how many books Americans read in 2012, for the curious.

Can you think of ways to make reading a more social pass time?

-The Story Addict