Stephanie Burgis - Magical Books for Ages Ten to Fifteen

American announcements and a giveaway!

July 21, 2010, 1.51 pm

Woooot! I can finally share my new American title and cover for Kat book 1 (known in the UK as A Most Improper Magick). Here's the front cover, illustrated by the amazing French artist Annette Marnat:

and the full jacket:

of Kat, Incorrigible! (Click to see a larger version on Flickr.)

The stars will be foiled in silvery-green. Eeee!

Kat, Incorrigible is the full title of Book 1 in the US, and it'll become the series title, too, so that Book 2 will be Kat, Incorrigible: A Tangle of Magics in the US (whereas it'll be A Tangle of Magicks (Book Two of The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson) in the UK).

The two titles and covers are SO different, but I really do love them both, and I'm feeling very lucky right now.

And just for fun, here's the full jacket artwork without the text, because it makes me happy:

(Click to see the larger version.)

The new US publication date is April 5, 2011 - but if you want to read an advance copy of the book long, long before that, you can enter now to win a British ARC at the book blog I Was a Teenage Book Geek! Lauren posted a really lovely review of the book yesterday, and now she's giving away her ARC, with the giveaway open to international contestants.

What do you guys think of the new American title and look?

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And another giveaway!

July 9, 2010, 3.57 pm

I am selfishly thrilled to be hosting Erin's giveaway - I've really, really loved reading the lists of people's favorite literary heroines, not least because it's given me so many new books to look for! My library reserve list has grown exponentially.

Sadly, since a nasty stomach bug hit me last night, I don't have much brain power for sparky wordage of my own today. (Except: stomach bugs UGH! NOT FUN!) Luckily, I have something better.

Yesterday, two new British ARCs for A Most Improper Magick showed up at my house. Woot! Needless to say, my mind immediately turned to giveaways. And with perfect timing, I just got the UK version of my book trailer from my brilliant brother Dave. (Actually both of my brothers are brilliant. Have I bragged yet about how my brother Ben just got a job as an assistant professor of philosophy? In South Korea? HOW COOL IS THAT?) (Ahem. Getting back to business now...)

Here is the UK version of my book trailer (which is identical to the American version except for the cover and info at the very end):


I'm saving one of these ARCs in case I need to show someone (like my local librarians) the book before it's officially released; the other ARC is available to anyone in the world.

If you would like to win it, all you have to do is EITHER:

1) Embed the video into your own blog, using this code:

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bR-6VXiKkJg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bR-6VXiKkJg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

2) Share it on Facebook by linking to the YouTube video

OR

3) Tweet the following:

RT @stephanieburgis Check out the UK trailer for A Most Improper Magick: http://tinyurl.com/2v3vo8p

Then come back and tell me that you've done it.

The giveaway will end in one week, on Friday, 16th July.

(And remember, you can still enter the giveaway for The Heroine's Bookshelf anytime until next Wednesday, 14th July!)

Now I'm going to go make myself more camomile tea...

ETA: This giveaway is now closed.

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My big news - and ARC giveaway!

March 1, 2010, 4.17 pm

I am unbelievably excited to finally announce:

The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson have sold in the UK!!!!!!

Better yet, even though the sale only happened a month ago, A Most Improper Magick will be published in the UK in August 2010 - only 5 months from now!

I am just incredibly happy about this. My UK publisher is Templar Books, a fabulous independent publisher that has focused on creating award-winning illustrated books for the last 30 years (UK readers have probably seen their fun "Ology" books - Dragonology, Piratology, etc.), but is now starting a brand-new fiction line, with AMIM as one of their very first novels.

!!!!!!

OK, just give me a moment to breathe deeply and stop hyperventilating with excitement. It has been SO HARD not to share this news until now!

The London Literary Party (TM) that we attended last week was Templar's grand unveiling of their new fiction list at the Covent Garden Hotel, with champagne and canapés - and shiny new British ARCs of A Most Improper Magick as one of the items in all their guests' goodie-bags! I got to meet my wonderful British editor, Emma Goldhawk, as well as a whole bunch of other Templar editors, all of whom were smart and fun to hang out with and - best of all - really excited about Kat's adventures. And I came away absolutely floating with excitement and happiness to be working with a second group of fabulous people, all of whom really get Kat and her family and are making such a perfect British home for them.

(And btw, Templar is planning an author tour, so I'm hoping to meet a lot of British readers in this coming year, too!)

In celebration, it's the perfect day to share another ARC giveaway! This one is being held on the blog of Kim Harrington, a member of The Elevensies whose own first book, Clarity, is going to be published next year.

You can win an ARC of A Most Improper Magick no matter what country you live in - just go to Kim's blog to find out how!

Now I'm going to go fan myself for a while. :)

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ARC giveaway and Sick Soup

February 8, 2010, 2.50 pm

First of all, some excellent news: this month's giveaway of A Most Improper Magick is being held by The Story Siren, a fabulous book blogger. You can enter to win an Advance Readers' Copy of the book any time until next Friday, February 19th. Good luck!

(Sadly, this one is only open to US readers, but I promise there will be more opportunities for international readers in other months.)

In less excellent news, by 7pm last night I was feverish and miserable with the same bug MrD has been suffering through. Thank goodness, he finally started to perk up at about the same time (the worst part of the virus hopping smoothly from one person to the next!), but since he was still having a hard time breathing in his sleep because of his leftover cold symptoms, I only ended up getting about 4-1/2 hours of sleep spread across the night...so, well. As you can imagine, I'm still feeling pretty miserable.

Luckily, Patrick leapt into the breach and, last night, when I couldn't imagine eating ANYTHING because I was so clogged up and sick, he made up a recipe for French onion soup. A few weeks ago my friend Jenn talked on Twitter about her Sick Soup. French onion soup is definitely my Sick Soup! It was absolutely perfect - comfort and heat and nutrition all in one, and it even cleared my head out for a while.

The only issue is that Patrick can't figure out what extra herbs to add. He made a very basic recipe, and to my cold-clogged senses, it was BLISS (I ate it again for lunch today, and again, it made me feel MUCH better for about an hour afterward), but to his healthy tastebuds, it was definitely missing something. Hmm...

Here's the recipe:

-4 large onions, chopped

-6 cloves garlic, chopped

Fry the onions and garlic in a ton of olive oil. Add water, vegetable stock, and a little bit of salt and simmer until done.

What do you guys think? What herbs would be a good addition?

Or, alternately: what's your personal Sick Soup?

(And now my brain is finished working for the day, so I'm going to lie down again.)

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ARC ahoy!

January 25, 2010, 4.51 pm

I promised back in December that I would give away one ARC a month through April - and even in the midst of writing madness, I have not forgotten. But this time, you'll have to go on a visit with Kat to find it. She's been invited to take tea with Lisa Mantchev's Bertie and the fairies!

Join the teaparty and enter to win an ARC of A Most Improper Magick!

I love that Lisa let me write fanfic for her characters and world. And can I say how bizarre it is that it felt SO much easier to write fanfic for her characters than my own? Kat's voice is SO strong and clear in my head that it's been sheer pleasure to write her first-person narration in her own novels - but I found it almost impossible to write her in third-person in someone else's world. Funny, that...I guess I'll have to leave Kat fanfic to other authors! ;)

(And can I just say how much I LONG for people to write Kat fanfic and draw fanart for her world? That's one of the biggest things I hope for when the book is published. My understanding is that legally I'm not allowed to read any Kat fanfic...but oh, I really want it to exist somewhere out there in the world! And any fanart will be devoured by me with great delight.)

Today has been a day of irritating but mundane trials - our car battery is dead without warning, so far too much of today has been devoted to trying to get it replaced - but today has also been a great day, because I wrote 1,410 words, finished the first stage of Kat3's climax, and had such a fabulous time with it. I really think I might finish this draft by the end of January after all. Knock on wood for me, please...

And then go join Kat's ARC teaparty! Winners will be chosen on Sunday, January 31st...by which point I HOPE to be the tired but triumphant writer of a complete draft of Kat3.

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Competition Winners, Good Books, and Good News

December 22, 2009, 12.37 pm

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my ARC giveaway! There were 126 entries, and I really wish I could give an ARC to every single person who entered. Since I couldn't, I used an online random number generator to pick the winner and the two runners up, and this is what it chose:

The two runners up are: @elledisney and Lisa Voisin

and the ARC winner is: Kaylynn of Kay Darling Reviews

Yay Kaylynn, Elle, and Lisa! If you send me your mailing address (using the contact form on my website), I'll put your packages in the mail.

And for everybody else who entered: I've got four more ARCs still waiting in my desk, and I'm planning to give away one a month here on the blog for the next four months. So you will definitely have more chances to win!

***

In other news, I just finished reading Kristin Cashore's Fire, and WOW. It completely blew me away. I'd really, really liked and admired her first book, Graceling, but for me, Fire resonated much more strongly, and I absolutely loved it. It really was one of the best coming-of-age novels I've ever read in any genre, and it immediately became one of my favorite fantasy novels ever (which is saying an awful lot).

I really wish I'd been able to read it as a teen, when I honestly needed a book like that in many ways...but I'm very glad that at least I can read it now. The copy I read belonged to my local library, but I'll definitely be buying my own copy very soon for lots and lots of re-readings. It's one of those books that manages to tackle really difficult, painful subjects, like grief and terrible injustice, and yet still feel like a pure pleasure to read - and that is really impressive.

It's been a good day in lots of ways, actually. In a true Christmas miracle, it actually snowed yesterday (snow! before Christmas! in the UK! is that even allowed?), and even more incredibly, it hasn't melted yet. I'm hoping with all my heart that it will stay for Christmas. Today my computer is being shipped back to me from Apple - knock on wood that it will work this time! And this afternoon I'm off to pick up my new pair of glasses, so I'll actually have a pair that doesn't hang at weird angles off my face. Total decadent luxury! ;)

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Computer Woes and ARC Giveaway

December 14, 2009, 12.18 pm

Alas, there was no Christmas miracle at the Apple store on Saturday afternoon. Kind of the opposite, actually...

Not only could they not retrieve ANY of the data from the hard drive, but after 3 hours of driving (roundtrip) to get there and 3 hours hanging out in town waiting for the new hard drive to be inserted (thank goodness for Apple care - at least it was free), we finally got home, I turned on my computer...

...and got that same old gray screen and bouncing question mark. AAAAGH. The computer is still broken.

Worse yet, we can't even get back to the Apple store for the next attempt until Wednesday...so I'll be stealing time off Patrick's computer for a while longer. Sigh.

But! To cheer myself up, I have decided that it's time...drumroll...to do my first Advance Reader's Copy (ARC) giveaway for A Most Improper Magick!

This giveaway is open to anyone in any country. All you have to do is let other people know about the giveaway, either by tweeting the following tweet, if you have a twitter account:

RT @stephanieburgis : Win an ARC of my novel A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK: http://tinyurl.com/yckky2q

...Or by mentioning it on your blog, using any phrasing you like, but making sure to link to this entry.

Then come tell me that you've done it, so I'll know to enter you in the drawing! You can either leave a message for me here on this journal entry or else email me through my website.

The giveaway will be open for a week, until midnight UK time next Monday, December 21st. One winner will get an ARC, plus an "Everything's Better with Highwaymen!" button and a postcard with the book cover; two runners-up will get "Everything's Better with Highwaymen!" buttons and postcards.

(And if you're debating about whether or not you want an ARC, remember you can read the first chapter on my website to get a taste of the novel!)

Yay! And I can't tell you how happy and worried and excited and scared I feel, all at once, at the idea of more people reading my book! ;)

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ARC joy!

September 4, 2009, 3.38 pm

Eeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning I was woken up in the very best way possible: my ARCs arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here they are (7 out of the 8, anyway - the 8th had gone on an exciting trip with Patrick and MrD :) ) with my writing tiara and the Jane Austen action figure who stood on my desk the whole time I was drafting the novel:

Here's the title page:

And then I got a little excited with my camera... ;)

Continue reading blog entry...

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