I Can't Stop Giving Books Away!

Things are BUSY. And yay for that!

On top of rewriting the first PAGAN JONES book while outlining the second, on top of my day job and getting feral kittens neutered, on top of my current blog tour, I'm giving away five signed copies of OTHERSPHERE on Goodreads. It starts today and goes for two weeks.

If you're on Goodreads, get thee hence!

 
 

    Goodreads Book Giveaway
 

   

       
   

   

     

          Othersphere
     

     

          by Nina Berry
     

     

         
            Giveaway ends January 28, 2014.
         

         
            See the giveaway details
            at Goodreads.
         

     

   

   

      Enter to win

Meanwhile, you can read Cici Theories flattering review of the entire OTHERKIN series here.

And you can read my Top Ten Places in the World on The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club here.

Both have links to my big, fat, fabulous giveaway, in which you can win books and this pretty, fierce tiger necklace:

And earrings and bookmarks.

Tiger books and jewelry for all! I wish.

Oh, and this Sunday I'm doing the first Movie Tweet-Along for YA Series Insiders. We'll be watching The Mortal Instruments! I haven't seen it yet, love the books, and can't wait to watch.

Join me for appreciation and snark!

Until then, I'll be over here...

This Week on "Nina Does a Blog Tour"

My first blog tour started last Monday, and it goes till next Wednesday, and so far so pretty darn good!

Our adventure so far starts New Years Eve, when Othersphere was born. (Even though more than one person told me they got it early! I've learned that happens often with books. No biggie.) Since I finished Othersphere, I've written the first book in a whole new series, and I was feeling a bit distant from the Otherkin trilogy. My head had gone to completely different places since Dez and her friends set foot in another world, where the moon has a heartbeat all its own...

But my emotional distance was also partially due to the fact that it was the last in my trilogy and that thought made me sad, so I chose to concentrate on other things.

The journey back to Othersphere started with me writing this post for Read It In Houston, about why I wrote the series in the first place. I started to get back in touch with my inner tiger.

I highly recommend it.

Then the holidays hit, and I kept writing blog posts for my upcoming blog tour while celebrating with family and friends, eating home-made tamales and seeing movies.

The actual day the book came out was a busy one - I had to take my cat Lucy to the vet (She's doing fine. Here she is enjoying the Los Angeles sunshine and keeping her highlights brown):

I also talked to my lovely editor on the phone, and (poor me) hung with fabulous friends for New Year's Eve.  I did a bit of book birthday social media blah blah blah, but book birthday's are weird things. People get the book on their e-readers (a couple of people were sweet enough to let me know they got theirs! I have such great friends) and it's now officially available in hard copies as well.

But it's not like the book leaps out of a cake and does a striptease. (Wish I could find a .gif of that!) Oh well.

It's magical and weird and awesome, but it's not as if your book parachutes down amidst fireworks or emerges from the primordial ooze to crawl at last upon the land. It's all oddly abstract for the author. For me the book was done six months ago. But that's how it has to work in publishing.

I was back at work on Jan 2, a bit shellshocked to return to the real world. I mailed off a bunch of books and swag to the winners of the YA Series Insiders launch giveaways (the main winner got over $1,000 worth of goodies from 11 different authors - crazy! Be sure to check out the YASI blog and keep checking for more giveaways. We've currently got one for the hot January releases going.)

Then - dun dun DUUUN! My first blog tour commenced. I'm giving away signed copies of all three Otherkin books, a gorgeous tiger necklace, fearless earrings to evoke that inner tiger, and more! Go here to see the whole deal, or read on.

First, a nice review at Ren's Rambles.

Second, an interview at Para Your Normal.

Third, a not as thrilled review (I'm being honest here, but don't get used to it!) at Hope, Love and Happy Endings.

Fourth, a super fun Dream Cast post at Taking it One Book at a Time.

Fifth, a review of the first book, OTHERKIN, at Bibliophilia, Please. (Because OTHERSPHERE is the last in the series, I thought it would be best to give the bloggers a choice as to which book to review.)

And tomorrow, a review of OTHERSPHERE by the lovely Jenna Does Books. No link to that actual review yet because it hasn't been posted, but here's a hint - she gave it five stars on Goodreads!

After that:

January 12th: CiCi Theories REVIEW ALL 3 BOOKS
January 13th: Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club TENS LIST
January 14th: Dream With In A Dream REVIEW ALL 3 BOOKS
January 15th: TTC Books And More SPOTLIGHT & EXCERPT

Phew!

In the meantime, I got a nice mention in USA Today, I Smell Sheep reviewed OTHERSPHERE, as did Book Hoarder Mom, and Maci and Zoe Read Books published a very fun interview I did with them.


My best friend sent me flowers to commemorate the book coming out.

And so many nice messages on FB and twitter! My head is still spinning!

It was a relief to go to Lissa Price's launch for ENDERS and think about someone else's books for a little while. And of course I snagged copies of STARTERS and ENDERS signed by Lissa.

Hmm. Could be the makings of another giveaway...

Thanks for tolerating all my yim-yamming about this past week. Figured I should do my due diligence by listing it all, and thanking all the bloggers and Book Nerd Blog Tours for reading the books and taking the time to post things.

All the attention is amazing, don't get me wrong. I engineered a fair amount of it, after all, by setting up the blog tour. But I'm an introvert at heart, so I'm kind of excited to be working on the outline for my next book this weekend. I'd rather tell stories than blabber on about ME.

ME is boring.

ME and YOU on an adventure, in a story? That's more like it.

OTHERSPHERE Blog Tour Begins Next Week!

So this starts on Monday...

So, my cherbim, I'll be hopping from one blog to the next, a new one every day, deluging you with book excerpts, interviews, my dream cast (if the books were to become movies), a big FAT giveaway and more!

Details are here. But I'll be bothering you every day here and on all my many social media sites with links and all that jazz.

Did someone say jazz? Let me see your jazz hands!


More on Monday.


Oh, you're going to be SO sick of me!

Happy Birthday, OTHERSPHERE! Lucky Book Number 3.

My third book is out today. The third in my OTHERKIN series, OTHERSPHERE.

They say 3 is a lucky number. They say it's magic.

In fact, they sing about it.



All I know is that I feel very lucky to have three whole books out there in the world, telling the story of Dez and her friends. It has been magical. Thank you everyone who has taken the time to get to know them along with me.

In Which I Takeover Someone Else's Blog

Kelly over at Read It in Houston: A Dyslexic's Bookshelf invited me to takeover her blog to help her celebrate Chrsistmahanakwanzika (yes, you read that right!) and I did so with a vengeance!

It gave me an excuse to post all kinds of cool tiger photos and videos and to babble about how the OTHERKIN books, where a teen girl with a back brace shifts into a tiger, are based on my real life experience.

No, really.

But you'll have to read it over at Read It In Houston!

Oh, and I'm giving away even MORE books! It's the holidays, folks - books for everyone! (Or at least as many of you as I can manage...)

OTHERSPHERE Launch Giveaway!

I can't believe OTHERSPHERE will be out in just over a week on December 31!

To celebrate, I'm having a big ol' giveaway. Two people can win, and each of them will get:

A signed ARC of OTHERSPHERE. (I also promise to hand-write in the final five words of the book, which are missing from the ARC.)

Earrings with one of my favorite quotes on them, from Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN. One earring says "Beware for I am fearless," and the other says "And therefore powerful."

The quote makes me think of my main character Dez, when she's in her tiger-form. And maybe a little of that fearlessness and power will transfer to you when you wear them (or, if you don't wear earrings, to the person you give them to!) The background behind the quote in the earring is literary text. The earrings are nickel-free, for pierced ears, made of brass and clear magnifying glass, and are 21mm wide and 45mm long from the top of the earwire. (I had three sets made, kept one for myself because I love them so much, and am giving away the other two.)

A set of tiger notebooks (also pictured above in a patch of sunlight on my rug), one small and one medium. These are thin, soft-back notebooks made from 100% recycled materials featuring a tiger on the front and back from Eberhardtpress.org. The small one is 3.5" x 4.75" with 40 unlined pages. The medium one is 5" x 7"with 44 unlined pages. (I have two sets of these and kept a set for myself too!)

The contest starts tonight at midnight and ends at midnight on Monday, December 30. Sorry, but it has to be US only because I'm tapped out on shipping this holiday season.

You can enter by commenting on this blog, liking my Facebook page, or tweeting about the contest, via the Rafflecopter widget below. You'll get the most points for commenting, less for tweeting, and even less for Facebook. I figured that way it's a bit fairer for those who are not on Twitter or Facebook.

Voila!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks so much for a wonderful 2013, everyone! Ending it with a book launch ain't half-bad for me. And in a way it's the launch of my new year as well. Here's to a fabulous 2014 for us all!

Read the First Chapter of Othersphere Now!

Happy December!

For me, this is not just the month of Christmas, family, giving, and pumpkin pie. It's the month my third book, OTHERSPHERE, comes out - on December 31.

Dun dun duuuuun!

I'd say it's my gift to you, but gifts don't cost $9.99 (or less on sale or in e-book form), do they?

But I can give you a free glimpse of the book. The first chapter is up on Scribd here to read online or download for free.

Woo hoo!

Read it, and I'll give you such a hug (virtually) you won't know what hit you.

Okay. I need to go lie down now.

(Those last two gifs thanks to my new TV obsession, NBC's gorgeous Dracula, in case you were wondering...)

Win the OTHERKIN Trilogy in my Facebook-Only Giveaway!

To reward the folks who've so kindly liked my Facebook page this year, I'm giving away THREE (yep, 3) full sets of the OTHERKIN trilogy, signed and personalized for each winner. This is an international giveaway, opent to all.

Three folks will get a signed hard copy of OTHERKIN:

OTHERMOON:

And the Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of OTHERSPHERE. All the ARCs of OTHERSPHERE are mysteriously missing the last five words of the story. Crazy, right? So I promise to hand-write those last five magic words into the last page of your OTHERSPHERE ARC myself, making it just that much more personal.

Unless you don't want me to and want to be left hanging because you're funny that way. Up to you!

Just go here to my Facebook page and comment on the post announcing the giveaway (you might have to "like" the page first), telling me your favorite animal character in literature. (By which I mean any animal, magical, talking, or not! And not shifters like my characters.)

Animals in books are part of what drew me to reading in the first place, whether it was Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia or Charlotte, Wilbur, and good old Templeton the rat (see any resemblance to my character November?) in CHARLOTTE'S WEB. But as my all-time favorite I have to pick Iorek Byrnison from THE GOLDEN COMPASS/HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy by Philip Pullman, probably because this amazing armored polar bear is as flawed and three-dimensional as any human character in books.

  

This is a still from the movie, but don't see the movie. (It's not that great.) Read the books! They're amazing.

And thanks to everyone on my Facebook page this year. I really am thankful for you all!

OTHERSPHERE - Now Available on NetGalley!

If you're a blogger or reviewer, you can now read OTHERSPHERE (third book in my OTHERKIN series) on Netgalley here.

If you're having trouble and/or need to be approved, just email me at ninaberrybooks (at) gmail (dot) come and I'll send a request to my publisher to get you approved.

I'm waiting...

Or if you need a widget, I can email it to you. Just let me know!

Why Being a Writer is Insane, Reason #253

..because my fourth book, THE NOTORIOUS PAGAN JONES is already up on Goodreads (with an abbreviated title - but still!)

All this even as:

1. I'm still writing THE NOTORIOUS PAGAN JONES. In fact, it's due in two weeks!

2. My third book OTHERSPHERE (third in the OTHERKIN series) isn't out until December 31, this year and;

3. I'm still promoting my second book, OTHERMOON, which came out last January.

4. I'm super busy also working in TV.

5. The dust bunnies are piling up around my couch.

6. All the new fall TV shows are filling up my dvr.

7. My friends wonder whether I'm on the lam with my new outlaw boyfriend (sssh!)

or am pinned under some fallen furniture, unable to reach the phone.

8. The Story of Film: An Odyssey is on Turner Classic Movies along with the best movies ever made. (I'm a film school grad and an avid movie fan.) So much fabulousness to watch.

It's making me want to do nothing but watch great films. You all should watch it! Here's a clip from "Twentieth Century," an insanely fast screwball comedy starring great stage actor John Barrymore and the fastest thinking/talking actress ever to grace the screen, Carole Lombard. The director, Howard Hawks, said Lombard was so fast that she'd shoot her lines out and stun both him and Barrymore with her speed and timing, i.e., she rocks.

 

Another Giveaway - Books + Galley Pages!

Happy September one and all!

I've been super busy writing the first book in my new PAGAN JONES series for Harlequin Teen (my deadline is LOOMING), so I apologize for the lack of blog posts. I've also been proofing the galleys of OTHERSPHERE! Voila:

It's really a book! The fabulous feeling when you see your name printed under a book title never gets old.

So once I'm done proofreading the galleys, I thought I'd send off a few tantalizing pages to two lucky winners of my next giveaway. So two winners will get 5 annotated pages from the OTHERSPHERE galleys. I'll try not to send you anything too spoilery, but you'll be getting a glimpse at what's to come!

Oh, and you'll get books too - 2 people will also get a signed copy of OTHERKIN & OTHERMOON. I've weighted the contest so that you get more points if you post on my blog, and fewer points if you tweet, but the more you do either one of those, the better your chance at winning.

Starts at midnight tonight! Ends midnight, September 24! Enter using the Rafflecopter thingy below. I'll email the winners after they are randomly selected and mail out signed books and galley pages


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sorry, but this contest has to be US/Canada only. The prices to mail anything other than a letter internationally are killer. Once they make an OTHERKIN or PAGAN JONES movie (cough cough) I'll merrily mail things out anywhere in the world. Or have one of my four assistants (heavy duty cough) handle it.

Again, this doesn't start until midnight tonight, Pacific time. I'll tweet and facebook tomorrow to remind you too.

Good luck and happy reading!

Big Book and Slushie Maker Giveaway!

It's still summer, so let's celebrate by reading books and drinking icey cold drinks!

In that spirit, I'm holding a giveaway starting at midnight tonight where two (2) lucky winners will each get:

A signed copy of OTHERKIN and OTHERMOON...

And a fabulous brand new Zoku Slush and Shake Maker!

Both of the Slush Maker's I'm giving away are purple, which is the one second from the left. Pretty!

I'll also throw in a couple of OTHERSPHERE bookmarks to hold your place when reading and to whet your appetite for the third book in the series, which will be out this December.

See the Rafflecopter widget below for how to enter. There are two ways - leave a comment on this blog (just say hi, or whatever you like, as long it isn't mean or yucky, please) or tweet about the giveaway. You can do each of those once per day to earn another entry in the contest and increase your chances.

This starts at midnight TONIGHT (so midnight on August 14) and ends a week later, midnight on August 21

Good luck and happy mid-summer to you all!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In Which My Title-Announcing Thunder is Stolen by Internet 'Bots

I just turned in the third book in the Otherkin series to my editor, exhausted, wild eyed, thrilled, ready to sleep, clean my house and finally have a glass of wine and see my friends. Because I haven't done those things very often in recent memory.

You see, the last few weeks I've had my nose to that writing grindstone, finishing up a draft that was good enough for my editor to see. It wasn't easy, wrapping up three books full of adventure, romance, and paranormal world building. But it really was fun.

Now that I've had a few nights of sleep and have caught up with the latest episodes of Mad Men and The Good Wife (still have to catch up Justified, The Americans, and The Borgias, and well, I never stopped watching Game of Thrones and The Daily Show) I figured I'd announce the title of the book.

So this morning I clickety-clicked into my email and saw there was someone who wanted to be my friend on Goodreads. I clicked yes, then went to check my author page on that site, just to see what my to-reads were up to. And lo and behold! Goodreads had book 3 up already - with the correct title!

Crap. So much for my "big" announcement. Had it been announced in Publishers Weekly or something and I missed it? I high tailed it over to Amazon and voila! They also have the book up, available for pre-order (cough cough), and the release date down as December 31, 2013.

Well, that's news to me!

(I can't vouch for that being the correct release date, by the way. It could be correct, or not! Will let you know when I know...)

Fricking internet bots. Somehow they ferreted out the title. Not that title was this huge mystery. My friend's very smart daughter figured it out and emailed me, asking if she was right. Well, she was! Because after book 1's title being OTHERKIN, and book 2's OTHERMOON, the title of book 3 just had to be:

*insert pointless cymbal crash here* 

OTHERSPHERE

Yep, Othersphere, the world that lies closest to our own, where the otherkin draw their shadow selves from. Where Caleb's powers as a Caller of Shadows dwells. A beautiful, magical, dangerous place. And yes, you get to step through the veil and see what it's like...

You can see what parts of it look like on my Otherkin Pinterest page.
 
Here it is on Goodreads, and Amazon. I couldn't find it on the Barnes and Noble site or anywhere else... yet. But it will be there, and in bookstores soon!

I hope to have the cover in a month or so to tantalize you with further. Till then - read on!