Thursday, February 10, 2011

NOM, NOM, NOM, Cookies!!!

Okay, okay, I admit. My new baby is cutting into my blog time a little more than I expected. But hey! Today she's helping me blog!!!!



Sorta. Well, she's keeping me company anyway!:D

She is so fun and she is starting to make the cutest little cooing noises! *lesigh* I love her!

Anyway, couple of things.

The Wings series has officially been voted "The Next Twilight!" in a showdown with Beautiful Creatures that spurred from a close vote between six original contenders. Thanks guys!!! In case you didn't already know, you all rock to the extreme!!!

I've had people asking me where I am touring to this year and I don't know everywhere yet (I will soon!) But what I do know is that I will be participating in Harper's summer group tour that I have been fortunate enough to be included in for the last two years. This year they have renamed it The Dark Days, a title that allows them to tack on "of Summer," or "Of Winter!!!!" Which means, yes!! They are adding a whole new leg to the tour!!! They have a fabulous website set up here with tons of cool stuff. And when the Dark Days of Winter tour is over it will switch over to the Dark Days of Summer and that's where I'll be! The Summer schedule isn't up, but I will let you know that I will be coming to Chicago, Portland, Austin, and Ann Arbor, but even more exciting for me is that the tour will be coming HERE to Phoenix!! I am so excited not only that I get to do a fun event for my Phoenix peeps, but that they will all get to see all these cool authors as well!!! (Very, VERY cool line up to Dark Days!!!) So check out the website now, and the summer stuff will be coming soon!

Okay, last thing before we get on to cookie-ing, I wanted to give you a heads up that I will be doing my annual ARC giveaway starting next week on Valentines Day. But instead of the one ARC that I usually give away, I am doing three. On top of that, my two main fan sites will also be getting an ARC to giveaway, so that is FIVE ARCs up for grabs in the next few weeks! So keep tuned!!

Okay, so this cookie is a conversation between Tamani and Chelsea. One of the very funnest thing about bringing Tamani into Laurel's world in this book is the way he interacts with her friends. Chelsea especially. So here you go! Chelsea and Tam!:D

“Do we get to play twenty questions now?” Chelsea asked.

All eyes turned to her.

“Not you,” Chelsea said, then pointed at Tamani. “Him.”

Tamani stared at her for a long, silent moment. “I’m afraid I don’t know that game.”

“Oh it’s easy,” Chelsea said, “You play it with Laurel all the time, but she never asks you fun questions. Although she did tell me about a bunch of Shakespearean plays being faerie legends. I’ve been waiting for ages to ask you the really good stuff!”

“Um, okay,” Tamani said, not sure what Chelsea considered ‘good stuff.’

“So is it only Shakespeare, or are there more stories that exist in both cultures?”

“Oh!” Tamani said with a laugh. He sank into an armchair close to Chelsea. “There are lots. In Avalon, we love stories. The Summer fae dedicate their lives to telling stories, through dance or music or painting. But humans are endlessly inventive, always coming up with new ways to make the story interesting by telling it wrong. Nonetheless, a lot of your stories have faerie roots.”

Chelsea was undeterred. “Cinderella.”

“No,” said Tamani. “I mean, faeries don’t even wear shoes most of the time. And finding someone based solely on shoe size? That doesn’t make sense for humans or faeries.”

“What about the faerie godmother?” Chelsea asked.

“Unnecessary. We can make pumpkins grow that big without magic. And even a Winter faerie couldn’t turn a mouse into a horse.”

“Beauty and the Beast.”

“Story of a faerie who fell in love with a troll. Scares the wits out of most seedlings. The troll never turns out to be a handsome prince, though.”

“Rapunzel.”

“Growth tonic gone terribly wrong.”

Chelsea squealed. “Thumbelina.”

“That’s just basic anatomy misinterpreted. We are born from flowers, but we’re never that small. Mischievous Sparklers were known to have encouraged tiny-faerie misconceptions, though.”

“Tell me one that would surprise me.”

Tamani thought for a moment. “Do you know the Pied Piper of Hameln?”

Chelsea looked blank for a minute. “You mean Hamelin?”

“That sounds right. That one’s not a story, it’s true,” Tamani said, very seriously. “And it has scarcely been distorted at all. The Piper was a very powerful Spring faerie. Most of us can only Entice one or two animals at a time, but the Piper could Entice a whole city. He was eventually executed for that stunt.”

“What did he do with the children?” Chelsea asked.

“It’s kind of a long story. Ultimately, though, he marched them off a cliff. Killed them all.”

Chelsea and Laurel were both silent, staring at Tamani in horror.

“Perhaps not our happiest story,” Tamani said awkwardly.

LOL! I have to admit, the best part of this scene is the part that comes next!!! (But it's kinda spoilery . . . I'm a terrible tease!!!:D)

Ciao!

31 comments:

Josin L. McQuein said...

LoL, I love the delivery of that last line. (Now we know where the tall tales about lemmings *really* came from. Ha!)

Yummy, yummy cookie.

:-P

Fantasy said...

OMIGOSH! Thank you for the cookie! Haha I love reading about how Tam interacts with humans. :D

Claire said...

She's so cute.. I love the flower on the head!
Ahaa I love the way Tam replies to them. Gah, I want more!

Charlotte E said...

So fun! Can't wait April!

Melissa Down Under said...

So exciting! This year is racing by so fast already, May will be here before we know it!
Love the cookies, can't wait to put them in context.
I will definately be trying to get my little hands on an ARC!

Jena said...

Okay so a few things! :)

1) your daughter is adorable!
2) yay for going on tour!! :)
3) valentines day goodies = so exciting!!
4) that cookie was AWESOME! my goodness I love TAMANI :) :)

Thank you thank you!!

Donna Jestice said...

I've got my daughter and friends hooked, now we can't wait!
And thank you for the cookie, it was great!

moonrat said...

ADORABABY!!!

moonrat said...

also, unrelated, when are your tour stops going to include ny?! :)

Heather said...

Huge congratulations! Wow, that is awesome. And I beg to differ, you are a great tease! LOL! Love the teaser, thanks!

Anonymous said...

What are the two main fans sites that you are giving ARCs to?

anna said...

FIRST of all: your baby is adorable! (i'm sure you already know that.) second of all: yay for a tour!! i'm going to have to look into attending.
and third of all: huzzah for ARCs! you were the first author i ever had sign my books and i belive you will also be the first author i ever recieve an ARC from! *winks*

cheerio.

anna said...

p.s. just like last time, i didn't read the cookie. I JUST CAN'T!! it will drive me mad.
no, really.

Bellamay said...

She is such a cutie :D

pixleyyy said...

Please tell me that when you said "Portland", you meant Portland, Oregon. :)

Mundie Moms said...

Your little "blogging buddy" is ADORABLE! I can see why you wouldn't get much done. :)

You know how we love our cookies! I can't wait to read more!!

Sierra said...

Ahhh! ARC! I must have it!!!! :P

Mary Alvarez said...

Cute picture! What's with the glue and the cereal bowl on the corner though?

Kayma said...

Your daughter is the cutest little thing ever!
I'm so happy some ARCs are coming out.

Anonymous said...

A TERRIBLE tease!!! I'm humphing. Can you tell?
You have a very adorable baby, might I add.
Congrats on that new status and I hope that tour comes somewhere near me in CA!!!
Can't wait!!! I'm sure you've heard that one before, ;)
luv -ww-

Jessie Oliveros said...

Beautiful baby girl! And gotta love thoe bumbos! Maybe I'll see you in Austin this summer now that I've moved to Texas.

Carolyn said...

I love this! Tam seems like he's talking to aliens. I love the picture of Gwen. She's getting cuter and cuter! The flower was a nice touch considering it's the size of her head. (She's just too cute... I love babies)

Anonymous said...

Ah, I wish you would come to LA for the tour... maybe for the next book? Love the cookie and the flower headband on the adorable baby :). Will tune in tomorrow to see the ARC giveaway!

Anonymous said...

AW! Your daughter is so precious!!! :) And thank you for the great excerpt! You're definitely on my long list of books that I'm anticipating to buy. lol ;)
I'm kinda obsessed with getting books as soon as they come out or as soon I here about them
...
[which isn't always good, since I run out of money and have to wait for b-days, christmas, etc. It's a bitter sweet curse of mine. ;)]
...
and I can't wait to crack it open! :D

Simran said...

First off, I want to say that your baby girl is adorable!! Second, I love reading your blog!! And your books-- I LOVE fantasy, especially a great faerie tale!! (haha... ok lol bad pun, i know) I love the cookie! I really really love Tamani... even though I totally love you as an author and your books, and think you are an awesome writer, I wish Laurel had gone with Tamani. But I love how he answers Chelsea's questions!! sooo funny and adorable!! :) <3

sari said...

Can't wait to read the next book. And love the cutie in the bumbo.

Wendy Toliver said...

She is soooooooo cute! I have girl-baby envy. And thanks for the cookie. So fun!

Tombraiderka009 said...

I like Tam.:D And i think that Laurel and Tamani'll be together.:D:D

Anonymous said...

OMG, your baby is sooo cute! Luving the books - can't wait for illusions! Cookie = good :-)!! Hyper now - ive only just learned that there is a third book! Yay. Tam is so funny with humans, its hilarious! If there's definaely gonna be a film, I think I will literally die with excitement!!!! Hope the writing goes well!

Anonymous said...

BTW, pleeeeeese leave Laurel with David! Tamani is cute, but i don't think I could stand it if David was hurt and alone...Also, David's description sounds a lot like a certain boy I know... Major crush on both!

Team Tamani! said...

LOL, love the next bit when Chelsea keeps on objecting and Tamani cuts her off!
''Chelsea's eyes widened. 'But I thought the point of alliance by marriage was to produce an heir who could rule both kingdoms-'
'It's not clear if the Seelie knew that Guinevere couldn't have Arthur's children. We were all a lot less sophisticated in those days-but it's possible they did know, and simply... neglected to mention it to Arthur.'
Chelsea's jaw dropped.''