Ash Krafton, USA Today Best-Selling Author of Speculative Fiction

Thursday, October 24, 2013

#CoffinHop for a Cause: Anthology Supports LitWorld.org

Okay, kiddies, it's getting really close to Halloween and that means one thing...

It's Coffin Hop time!

This year, we are Coffin Hopping for a cause...my fellow freaks at the Coffin Hop Corral have come together to produce a horror anthology called DEATH BY DRIVE-IN. All proceeds go to LitWorld.org to support children literacy.

It's not nice to scare the living sh*t out of children so we'll do the next best thing: teach them to read so they can scare the living sh*t out of themselves.

That's how I grew up, and look--I turned out just fine.

In the spirit of the hop, I have a giveaway for all ya'll.

I did a little Day of the Dead shopping on a recent vacation and, as usual, I brought home killer stuff. Gonna be hard to part with it...but I'll do it for the Coffin Hop team.

What You Win:

Skull pen and garland from PAPER SOURCE

How You Win It:

Simple...join my mailing list and leave a comment on this post saying you did it. And leave me a hint so I can find your email on the list.

(You can also feel free to say how awesome this swag is because I'm really wishing I bought two of everything that day. That garland is fricken CUTE.)

DEATH BY DRIVE-IN (2013)

COFFIN HOP: DEATH BY DRIVE-IN is a collection of 22 amazing tales of terror by some of the best and brightest of the Coffin Hop crew. The anthology will be revealed this September, with 21 amazing B-movie inspired stories from some of the best Indie authors around. All profits from the anthology (as well as our Coffin Hop store) will be donated to LitWorld.org, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization supporting child literacy and social improvement the world over.

Special thanks to Siren’s Call Publications for their help with editing and formatting, and Liz Howerton Photography for the amazing cover art.

COFFIN HOP: DEATH BY DRIVE-IN is scheduled for release to coincide with the 2013 Coffin Hop Author’s Online Event, which you can learn more about HERE

There book features an introduction by cult horror filmmaker, author and all-around pop-cult expert Scott S. Phillips, and a special cliffhanger episode of the epic comic book phenomenon – Robot Lincoln and Zombie Jackson as they face the sinister Dr. Acula and his steam-powered supermen!

The roster includes:

Amy K. Marshall

Jessica McHugh

C.W. LaSart

Red Tash

Erik Gustafson

Claudia LeFevre

Julliane Snow

Jason Darrick

Dan Dillard

Brent Abell

Nina D’Arcangela

Joanna Parypinski

Penelope Crowe

Jamie Friesen

A.F. Stewart

Pavarti K. Tyler

R.L. Treadway

Rob Smales

Katrina Byrd

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Fall Into Fantasy! Multi-Author G!veaway

Welcome to the Fall Into Fantasy Giveaway, hosted by Ash Krafton’s Demimonde.

I want to thank all the authors and bloggers who have come together to support this huge book giveaway. It was a pleasure working with all of you because you made it so easy...

ONTO THE GIVEAWAY!

This year, more than FIFTY AUTHORS of fantasy and paranormal books are giving away books and swag. Hope you’re ready to start clicking and start winning because the Rafflecopter awaits!

Giveaway runs until October 31st...plenty of time to get all your entries in...

The authors:

Ash Krafton, Red Tash, Rhonda Parrish, Niteblade Magazine, Sascha Illyvich, Jami Gray, Stacy Claflin, Sharon Saracino, Marsha A. Moore, Kim Smith, Alison Beightol, Prudence MacLeod, Shannon McRoberts, Rosalie Skinner, Tricia Schneider, Liv Rancourt, Debbie Christiana, Fabio Bueno, Carmen DeSousa, Lyndi Alexander, Sheryl Nantus, Sharon Buchbinder, Jane Lebak, Terri Rochenski, Marian Allen, Etta Jean, Angela Brown, Mimi Sebastian, John Hundley, Julia Crane, Lisa Kessler, Gregory S. Close, Nana Prah, James Garcia Jr, Angela Myron, Nicole Zoltack, Robin Lythgoe, Georgia Lyn Hunter, Andrea R. Cooper, Kristine Croto, Cathrina Constantine, M. Pax, Stacy Claflin, Tina Moss and Yelena Casale, Mina Khan, Julie Flanders, Julie Reece, Jocelyn Adams, Elle J Rossi, Kiru Taye, Cesya MaRae Cuono, Jonathan D Allen, Kevin O. McLaughlin, Thomas Winship, Shah Wharton

The books:

The entry form:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to everyone and thanks for entering!

Monday, October 7, 2013

ARC Tour: #ARCHETYPE by MD Waters

Where in the world is ARCHETYPE?

I'm thrilled to be a part of MD Waters' ARC tour for her debut sci-fi thriller, ARCHETYPE. A copy of ARCHETYPE came to visit me at my home in Northeast PA for a few weeks while we got to know each other.

I don't get a chance to read a lot of science fiction. A shame, really, since I'm bonafide Nerdian, through and through. Star Trek, Doctor Who, Fringe...mmmmm...

Here's a couple pictures from our vacation here in the Pee Yay Coal Region...

At Denny's in Wilkes-Barre, PA

First thing we did was go for breakfast. Most important meal of the day and all that, right? Poor ARC wasn't hungry, though, and I didn't want those pancake puppies to go to waste. (I have since decided that all pancakes must be spherical, loaded with chocolate chips, and smothered in peanut butter. Thank you, ARC-ARCHy.)

It was a tough job, deciding where to take the ARC. If you're from this area of NEPA, you'd know that we are in the middle of everything, surrounded by absolutely nothing. Nothing but history, really.

St. Nick's Breaker, Mahanoy City PA

Mahanoy City recently celebrated its 150th birthday. This is an old mining town with a rich and colorful past that lies in the next valley over. I thought it would be a nice spot for a pic because the breaker, which ran from 1931 to 1963 and was one the largest in the world, is currently being demolished. It's old tech. There's new tech on the way--a new St. Nick's Breaker started running in 1972, just down the road, leaving the old one to be abandoned. I'll miss that old thing--it had a certain beauty to it, in all its broken windowed glory.

We don't just produce coal here...we farm the wind, too. Up the mountain from Mahanoy City stand the Locust Ridge I and II Wind Farms, which boast 64 wind mills. It's unsettling, sometimes, to be cruising along a hillside road when KABLAM a windmill pokes its head over the top of the mountain like a curious giant. I remember when the mills were being trucked into the area...tied up traffic like a tremendous pain in the dupa (local speak but I'm sure you can figure it out). I like the sound they make, a kind of humming whomph whomph whomph.

And, for these country parts, that's about as high tech as we get. ;D

The other shots are just to give a sense of how perfect this time of the year is--early autumn, when the leaves are just stating to change. It's a netherworld between seasons, when the grass is still green but the leaves are bleeding and beginning to swoon. Caught between life and death, early October precariously perches on a high wire, waiting for the perfect moment to fall.

Definitely my favorite time of the year.

I really enjoyed reading ARCHETYPE and am looking forward to the sequel, PROTOTYPE. The pacing is dizzy-fast and the characters are multi-dimensional. It was all too easy to get sucked into the story and I actually began to despair when I approached the ending. I didn't want the book to be over...

ARCHETYPE by MD Waters

Emma wakes in a hospital, with no memory of what came before. Her husband, Declan, a powerful, seductive man, provides her with new memories, but her dreams contradict his stories showing her a past life she can’t believe possible: memories of war, of a camp where girls are trained to be wives, of love for another man. Something inside her tells her not to speak of this but she does not know why. She only knows she is at war with herself.

Suppressing those dreams during her daylight hours, Emma lets Declan mold her into a happily married woman, and begins to fall in love with him. But the day Noah stands before her, the line between her reality and dreams shatters.

In a future where women are a rare commodity, Emma fights for freedom but is held captive by the love of two men—one her husband, the other her worst enemy. If only she could remember which is which…

Pre-Order ARCHETYPE!

Amazon Barnes and Noble iTunes iBook Indiebound

Meet MD Waters

M.D. WATERS lives with her family in Maryland. Archetype (2/6/14 from Dutton Books) is her first novel. Its sequel, Prototype, will be published in July 2014. Ms. Waters is represented by Jennifer Weltz @ JVNLA.

Find MD Waters