Tomorrow, Forged by Fate will be released in paperback and ebook form. It's my debut, and I am UNBELIEVABLY excited about it, and because ultimately it will be the people who buy the book who decide whether it sinks or swims, I want to give a little something back to those of you who are giving me the benefit of the doubt with your hard-earned dollars! All of that to say:
I am hosting a fabulous kick-off party book birthday giveaway!
So, here is the deal! This whole first week of Forged by Fate's release, THIS BLOGPOST is party central. Cake and Ice Cream and Champagne and pigs in blankets and fine cheeses and sturdy crackers and salsa and dip and chips, fine Italian pastries and PARTY FAVORS* abound!
Come and leave a comment (with your email address) before Saturday, March 9 at 10pm Eastern, and you'll be entered to win one of our fabulous doorprizes, including stickers (in your choice of #ThorLove or #AdamLove), autographed and personalized bookplates (just say to whom!), and bookmarks!
No purchase necessary, just show up and comment and be part of the celebration -- MOST prizes will be awarded at random. And if we're having a party and a mythology chat breaks out, HIGHEST OF FIVES, my friends! Anyone responsible for that discussion is definitely getting some door-prize action.
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
If you feel so inclined to buy my book between now and April 15th (please do, because seriously, I would like be able to afford a dog some day AND GOATS! consider your purchase a contribution to the goat fund!!! and, you know, my life in general...), email me your proof of purchase (a screencap of the order confirmation page/email or photo of the receipt is totally fine!) at amaliatdillin(at)gmail(dot)com, with "FxF GRAND PRIZE" in the subject line, and you will be entered to win the most fabulous of prizes -- a Forged by Fate t-shirt! Plus a set of stickers, bookplates, bookmarks, and (I am hoping hoping hoping I can get them printed in time for this second part of the giveaway), trading cards, of course.**
Want more chances to win THE GRAND PRIZE? Send along proof that you've spread the word about Forged by Fate with your proof of purchase -- if you write a review and send me the link that's +5 entries. If you posted about the book and the giveaway on your blog and send me the link, +3 entries! If you tweeted about it to all your friends or posted about it on facebook, send me that link, for +1 entry!
***Also, I forgot to say: The Grand Prize is OPEN internationally! The door prizes are going to be limited to just a maximum of TWO international awards, so international peoples, you will get your own pool (please make a note of your outside-of-the-USA/Canada-ness when you comment!) -- which probably means you all have pretty rockin' odds.***
The grand prize winner will also be chosen in a random drawing, and the winner will have one week to reply to my email with their shipping address and preferred t-shirt size and claim their prize. If they do not respond within that week, I'll draw another name and that person will have a week to do the same. For the doorprizes, I'll email the email you left in the comments, and you get a week to respond -- I may or may not choose alternate winners in the case of non-responders.
It is possible, depending on the number of people who enter the grand prize drawing giveaway, that there will be more than one grand prize, or perhaps a couple of secondary prizes -- we'll just have to see! So tell your friends because the more the merrier and the better chance of winning something!!
*Okay, so I am only giving away party favors and not any of the food stuffs but I am totally eating at least one chocolate cannoli on March 5th to celebrate. YUM. Also, fine print style, I reserve the right to alter the deal of this giveaway spectacular -- you may pray I do not alter it any further!
**Thor has gotten awfully stingy with the Asgardian Gold, so I'm sorry I cannot offer a fancier prize but I hope you will think this is AWESOME anyway because T-Shirt!!!!
When I have the opportunity and funds to purchase the book.. I will gladly do so, as to contribute to the goat fund! Because, seriously you should be able to own adorable goats and you've been fun to follow on twitter. cailinmariephoto@gmail.com :D
ReplyDeleteCailin(paperdaisygirl)
Thank you (and my future goats thank you also!)! And I've enjoyed following you, as well! :)
DeleteI've said what I want to say on Twitter, but still, I like prizes, and goats are awesome, so my email address is emilyhogarth@btinternet.com. (And I'm in the UK, so International me!)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm sending you a load of Grand Prize-related links, okay? ;D
That sounds LOVELY :P Thank you for entering!! (my secret fear was that no one would enter the grand prize contest haha, so PHEW!)
Delete...do we get to help name the future goats?
ReplyDeleteWell, I have not yet purchased said book of awesomeness, but I will tomorrow, so I shall email my proof then! I have also pimped out your book on Facebook and Twitter several times over the past week, and tomorrow I MIGHT have a special blog post about your book... *whistles innocently*
nataliemurphy@live.ca
Ummmmm. Maybe? but probably not. I really want to name them Masher and Blender or um, Gnasher and Grinder :P To give them their FULL MYTHOLOGY POWERS of flying chariots through the sky!!!
Deletealso, <3 <3 <3 thank you SO much.
I'm so getting this tomorrow :D
ReplyDeleteYay!!!
DeleteSounds like fun! You must have a spreadsheet to keep track of all this! I'll be buying a couple copies tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI do, in fact! haha. :) Thanks!!!
DeleteOrdered my copy from Amazon and I should have it on Wednesday. Posted the purchase to FB.
ReplyDeleteThank you!!! I hope it doesn't disappoint!
Delete*breaks out the appetizers and the champagne* IT'S MIDNIGHT! IT'S MIDNIGHT!!!!! Forged by Fate is HERE!!!
ReplyDelete*jumps up and down*
Congratulations on the release! :D
DeleteAnd I love the potential goat names. Very nice. (As an animal trainer, I encourage you to milk this schtick for all its worth.)
Thank you!!
DeleteHaha. I'd really love to teach them to pull a cart -- a new spin on the hay ride for my nieces and nephews :)
Will you please name one of the goats "Lucy"!!! Can't wait to read the book.
ReplyDeleteHahaha. I'll think about it! ;) Thanks for celebrating with me!
DeleteYaaaagh, when does the next come out? Roki's been posting about it on his Facebook for months now. I like mythology and history, but was leery of the handling, but figured I'd at least check out the sample if it was available for Kindle today. It was, I read it, and promptly hit the "purchase this book" link when I came to the end of it. Continued to tear through the book for the remainder of the evening.
ReplyDeleteI only have two complaints. One is not entirely specific to you, but more that it seems a trend to cast Michael as uptight and aggressive, if not outright power-hungry and a bully. The other is that since this book JUST came out, I cannot immediately purchase the second one. I want to reeeaaad iiiiiiiiiit.
Congratulations on your novel! I greatly enjoyed it. :)
Wow!!! Thank you SO much!!! This comment completely made my night!!
DeleteTo answer your question:
Book 2 doesn't yet have a set release date, but it won't be a GRRM kind of wait ha. It's already written, along with the third book and two novellas :) And I have a few flash stories hanging around the blog if you want some bite-sized fun, in the meantime! Definitely check back, though I'm sure that the Roki grapevine will make it impossible for you to miss when book two is announced!
regarding Michael: I think it's because he's the warrior, the enforcer as opposed to the messenger. We don't expect a lot of compassion from the warlords, you know? Maybe it's a mistake of interpretation, where we're imposing human weaknesses onto things which are most demonstrably not human, but that's kind of the nature of mythology, isn't it?
I hope I'll see you around the blog!!
Huzzah! ^_^
DeleteOn Michael, I think the interpretations partially hinge on how strongly one adheres to the idea that angels are created for their particular assigned purpose--or in some cases, ARE that purpose--and how much there is to them that isn't simply a strict interpretation of that, or if they've even any area for interpretation on their part at all.
Then again, maybe the inclination also comes back to imagery created by artists that depicts Michael looking peaceful/happy while stomping on his brother's head. I'd think that if it WAS a great betrayal, I wouldn't be happy about it even if I WAS winning. If it was a God's Plan thing I still wouldn't be thrilled that my brother'd drawn the short straw there and I had to be the one to go kick his ass.
In any case, I'm curious to see what direction he continues with in your books. ^_^ Of course, I'm curious about a LOT of threads, but I don't want to be all spoilery on here.
I left an Amazon Verified Purchase review for you. :) I use gmail for emails and the username is darkblade. (Spam is a huge problem for me so I break it up, sorry.) http://www.amazon.com/review/R1YO9J7N660G0O/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00BO7JM98
Thank you!!!
DeleteI think you're right that imagery plays a huge role in our interpretations of myths/religious figures. At one point I was researching depictions of Aphrodite, trying to identify when we started to consider her as a blonde, or if she was ALWAYS a blonde. It's the same with Thor -- popular culture makes him a blonde via Marvel comics, but was he always? Our idea of him has been SO informed by popular culture, though, that most people would find it odd if he weren't a Goldilocks, today.
And it is really interesting to consider whether the angels have some greater understanding of God's plan, knowing their role in what's coming or what's been as ordained, or if they're surprised by it the way we are. I mean, it certainly seems like they have a greater knowledge of things, especially if they're serving as God's messengers and God's vengeance or justice or what have you. But that doesn't tell us what kind of emotional range their capable of, either. They're such unexplored characters in the bible. We really just get the barest glimpses of who they are and what they're capable of -- but that's the kind of mythology I really love to explore the most, because there's so much room to play.
I'll enter you into the drawing for doorprizes!! (But I am pretty sure I said something up above about the person starting a conversation about mythology definitely being a winner so, there's that :)
Hmm. I don't recall Homer's description of her off the top of my head, much less which translator's English text we used. That'd be a decent starting point, I think. It'd at least let you know which direction to go. I wasn't able to take Latin IV, so I never translated Virgil myself.
DeleteEven with creative license, I occasionally want to strangle comic books for a few utterly jostled things on mythology. Heck, Dragon magazine (D&D) did alignment casting for the Egyptian pantheon about 10-15 years ago and I started getting odd looks in the magazine aisle at Borders. I may have been going "WHAT?!" and muttering about why it was utterly backwards a bit louder than I meant... >.> Basically, if you were a god of the dead, you got classed as evil. Sigh.
And hey, neat! I kinda (barely) skimmed the rules bits cause I mostly wanted to tell you that Forged by Fate was awesome and ask a few things, so I missed the myth convo part in your original post entirely. XD
Also... the first time I saw a Thor comic cover, I assumed the colorist had messed up or there was an error with the printer. >.>
DeleteOh man, yeah. That is my pet peeve above all else, the translation of gods of the dead/underworld into Satan equivalents. Hades is NOT anywhere remotely close to Evil. I mean, really, he's the most restrained of all the Olympians! He makes off with Persephone, but compared to Zeus and Poseidon, even Ares, he's practically a monk, and he definitely is more inclined to mind his own business than anyone else in the pantheon! There are SO MANY choices for a villain when dealing with mythology that it's just boring to go for the god of the dead, when you come down to it. I mean, okay, if you're talking about Pirithous as the hero, then it's natural to set him against Hades -- because Pirithous tried to steal his wife -- but as for anyone else? There's a lot of room for creativity and exploration of other relationship dynamics there!
DeleteOf course, the same could probably be said for Loki in the Norse pantheon, that he's overdone as a villain, but, at least he's actually actively malicious in the source material.
Re: Aphrodite -- there's a blogpost around here somewhere where I stuffed the results of my research in the hair color department :)
Heck, what with merging imagery for Satan with pagan practices in Western Europe by the Christian church, even Satan's overdone as Satan! Jewish texts make him out to be more of a tester of Yahweh's work and a challenger to the children of Israel for growth and knowing themselves. Which says nothing of what it did to varying deities being overlaid.
DeleteLoki is, but it seems to also depend on who's writing when. Kinda like whoever's patron god/dess getting better billing when they write it. Heck, Mars generally gets MUCH better tones written of him than Ares.
Oooh! Now I must go digging. ^_^
Nergh, I accidentally replied out of thread, so I deleted it and reposted it where it ought to go. Sorry about that!
Truth! And again, there's that question -- if the angels are what they are meant to be or whether they have a choice about the roles they play, what does that mean for Lucifer? But FxF probably gave a hint to trend of my feelings on that subject!
DeleteThe Romans definitely had different ideas of the gods and their roles, and also their characters, than the Greeks. But that's in large part to the difference in cultural values between the two peoples, too. I mean, the Greeks revered Odysseus, and that kind of craftiness which made him great, but the Romans, not so much. Those weren't characteristics they wanted to elevate.
One of the things that breaks my heart more than anything is the fact that we don't have any source materials for Norse mythology that wasn't written before Christianity had tainted the stories. I can't help but wonder how much was repressed. Were the goddesses more involved or more powerful than what we were left with? I mean, if Freyja survived into Christianity as a chooser of the slain, how much more impressive might she have been before the patriarchy of the church put pressure on the beliefs and values of that culture?
Anyway -- if you like mythology, I think you'll find a lot in the archives to entertain you!
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ReplyDeletePRIZES! GIMME!
ReplyDeleteWhoops email valerievaldes, at le gmails.
DeleteThank you for joining IN!
DeleteI want to win stuffs. kool_daddy85@ myself.com
ReplyDeleteyourself is now entered in the doorprize drawing!
DeleteCONGRATULATIONS ON THE BOOK LAUNCH!
ReplyDelete... now about those prizes.
ztringali (at) gmail (DOT) com
Thank you SIR!
DeleteOh hey a thing!
ReplyDeleteI am jaycwolf. @. Gmail. Com
(and, yay, the book is here!)
Awesome!!
DeleteForged by Fate is purchased and I'm impatiently waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading new twists on myths (one reason I so love Forged by Fate!)
I'm agreed with you Re: Norse Myths and Christianity. It makes me want to read fleshed out, detailed stories about some of the barely-mentioned gods, goddesses, and other characters.
Loki and Thor caught my eye when we learned about Norse mythology in grade school. I never tire of hearing stories about the two.
dsquared 144
Gmail dotcom.
I think you'll appreciate the revisions to Thor and Loki's relationship since you last read :)
DeleteYay, Amalia! Look, I still exist! :) So, do you really want goats?
ReplyDeleteYes!!! To mow the lawn. haha. You'll understand when you come visit one day :P
DeleteLove you....Love you!!! Can't wait to get your book!! Want free stuff!! svwinkle@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteYou and your husband are my favs....(just don't tell his other cousins!!)
Hahaha. It'll be our secret :)
DeleteIf you get goats, they should be dairy goats. Brush removal and fresh milk.
ReplyDeleteSooooooo I'm here! You know my email but I shall follow The Rules and give it again anyway. Wickedmoon921 at the google house of mail dot com.
ReplyDeleteI <3 you, LT
Delete