Here's an extract from the interview:

What’s your writing area like? Neat and tidy or covered with Post-It notes and the like?

I do most of my writing while lying on the couch with my laptop on my knees, a cup of Earl Grey tea and a bar of dark chocolate sitting on the floor beside me, and printed-out manuscript paper scattered all around me. I also have a Jane Austen action figure standing nearby as inspiration, and on days when I’m feeling insecure, I wear the sparkly tiara from my wedding to give myself a boost of confidence!

Read the full interview and enter to win an ARC of A Most Improper Magick.

and the full jacket:

(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 wil 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).

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

(Click to see the larger version.)

Here's a taster excerpt from the story:

Locked Doors

"My dad can't come to parent-teacher conferences on Monday," Tyler says. He keeps his voice calm and steady as he meets his English teacher's eyes. "He has to work."

Tyler is a pro at this. He can tell exactly when doubt flickers in Mrs. Jankovic's eyes and when his open, friendly expression settles it for her. There are too many eighth-graders in her class for her to chase up worries about every one of them. Too many kids in this middle school, period.

That's why Tyler's dad chose it for him.

Read the rest of the story online.
Order the anthology.

Here's an excerpt from the interview:

Was it challenging writing a book in the historical fantasy genre?

It was a really fun challenge to mix Jane Austen's early Regency era with the magical world that I made up. When I was worldbuilding in my notebooks, I came up with some big changes to earlier British history, back when magic was openly used (and, in my version of history, helped to cause the English Civil War!), but by 1803, when Book 1 takes place, magic has become the greatest social scandal of all, and magic workers have to keep their talents hidden and secret. So I worked hard to make all my day-to-day historical details accurate to the real Regency period, but I also had a great time figuring out how magic would secretly work alongside reality.

Read the full interview.

Kat has been invited to take tea with Bertie and the fairies in Lisa Mantchev's Théâtre Illuminata - and you are all cordially invited!

You can win an ARC of A Most Improper Magick just by leaving a comment on Lisa's blog entry, telling us what you would like to eat at the tea party.

The competition is open until Sunday, January 31st, and the ARC can be shipped internationally.

Enjoy!

Here's an extract from the interview:

Were Kat's siblings inspired by your experience of growing up in a big family?

Definitely YES. :) Her siblings are individually nothing like mine (for one thing, I have two younger brothers, whereas Kat has two older sisters and one much older brother), but I couldn't have created Kat's set of noisy, loving, aggravating, and completely beloved siblings if I hadn't grown up in such a large, close-knit family of my own. My brothers are two of my best friends, and that definitely influenced me in writing Kat's family.

Read the full interview.

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 journal 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 on the journal entry or else email me through my website contact form.

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 to get a taste of the novel!)

Good luck!

I've got a whole page of favorite books on this website, and one of those books also happens to be the best Thanksgiving-related book I know: Joan Bauer's Squashed. It's probably the funniest YA book I've ever read...and since I first discovered it when I was 13, and have re-read it at least once every couple of years since then, I've read it a lot! But I still laugh out loud every single time.

So this month, I'll be giving away a Thanksgiving package that includes:

• One copy of Joan Bauer's Squashed;
• One notepad from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, England, with a quote from Pride and Prejudice;
• Two A Most Improper Magick postcards; and
• One "Everything's Better with Highwaymen!" button.

Two runners-up will also get postcards and "Everything's Better with Highwaymen!" buttons. :)

Here's how to win, in two steps:

1. First, let other people know about the competition. If you're on Twitter, you can tweet it like this:

RT @stephanieburgis : Win a Thanksgiving prize pack that includes Joan Bauer's SQUASHED! Find out how: http://tinyurl.com/y9pszde

If you're not on Twitter, just mention the competition on your blog, and make sure to include a link to this page.

2. Send me a message through my contact form letting me know whether you've tweeted or blogged about the competition, AND giving me the names of all three of Kat's siblings (which you can find out on my Meet the Characters page).

This giveaway is open to anybody in the world, and it'll run through Monday, November 30th, at midnight UK time.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Here's an extract from the interview:

Kat sounds like a great heroine: spunky and fun. Tell us something about the other characters of the book. Any favorites (excluding Kat)?

I love all three of Kat’s siblings so much. Kat’s brother Charles doesn’t feature much in this first book (although he will later in the trilogy!), but both of her sisters, Elissa and Angeline, are major characters in the book and I LOVED getting to write them. Elissa is very, very proper--except that she has a guilty love of Gothic romance and a secret yen to be a real Gothic heroine; Angeline is smart, sarcastic, and 100% confident in all of her crazy plans...but they don’t always work exactly as planned, to say the least. As Kat’s older sisters, both of them try to keep Kat in line, but Kat is way too strong-willed and smart to let them get away with it!

Read the full interview.

Read it online for free.

I'm so excited! My first book trailer is now available online, and I love it.

To celebrate, I'm holding a Regency Prize Pack competition.

Here's what you have to do to enter:

1. Embed the book trailer in your blog, your website, your myspace page, or wherever else you are online.

Here's the code you have to use:

Make sure you copy and paste all the code!

This is HTML code, so you'll have to use the code view or html view or whatever similar function your blog or website has when you're pasting it in.

Also, put this text under the video:

"My entry for the A Most Improper Magick book tralier competition. Read the rules and enter at http://www.stephanieburgis.com/competition.php."

2. Watch the trailer! There are four rules in the trailer. I want you to tell me what rule number 4 is.

3. Send me a message through my contact form including a link to the page where you embedded the book trailer and the answer to what rule number 4 is.

4. That's it! Simple!

5. The prize is: a copy of either The Talisman Ring or The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer (winner's choice), a pad of special Jane Austen-themed writing paper, an "Everything's better with highwaymen" Kat button, and a postcard with the cover of A Most Improper Magick on it. Two runners up will also receive buttons and postcards. Winners will be selected by random drawing.

6. If you're under sixteen, don't forget to ask get your parents' or guardians' permissions before entering!

7. The competition closes at midnight on October 20, 2009 (UK time).

You can also see the full wraparound jacket on my blog or on my Flickr account.

True Names is set in the American southwest in the early twentieth century. It's a story about motherhood, identity, and the terrors that can spring out at you when you least expect them.

True Names is written for adults and is not suitable for younger children.

A Most Improper Magick is the first novel in The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson series of fantasy adventure books for ages ten to fifteen. You can find out all the details, including how to buy the book, all about the characters, and peeks behind the scenes, on the A Most Improper Magick page of this website.

How did you meet your agent?

I'd heard of Barry Goldblatt years ago as a really stellar YA fantasy agent - he represents a lot of my favorite writers in the field - so he was always my dream agent, from the moment I first decided to market A Most Improper Magick. I'd never met him in person or online - I just mailed him a query letter and hoped like crazy for him to like it. So you can imagine how excited I was when an email from him popped up in my inbox a week later...

Read the full interview

The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, Book One: A Most Improper Magick will be published in early 2010.

I am so happy about this title. I think it really catches the whole feel of the book and the series.

At one stage, we were going to call the book The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, Renegade Daughter, Guardian Witch, and Occasional Highwayman, Book One: A Most Improper Magic, and in my heart, I still think of that as the secret full title...but we decided that practically speaking, it would just be too long to fit on the cover of the book. But now you guys know the secret "extended edition" of the title, too! :)