Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Cutlass Cover Reveal & Links

In lieu of [Mostly] Wordless Wednesday, I'd like to present Ashley Nixon's Cutlass cover!


Publication Date: April 23, 2014
Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy

Notorious pirate Barren Reed has one thing on his mind: Revenge against the man who killed his father. So kidnapping his enemy's fiancĂ© seems a perfect plan…until he actually does it. 



Larkin Lee is more than a pretty face and fiancĂ© to a powerful man. Her fierce personality is enough to make any pirate want to push her overboard. 



But when the King of the Orient comes to Barren with a task—to find the Bloodstone, a powerful gem thought only to exist in legend, Barren sees another opportunity to destroy his enemy. Together, Barren, Larkin and a crew of pirates set off to find the stone, only to discover it caused the death of Barren’s own mother and Larkin’s, too. As his strongest allies turn into his greatest enemies, and the life of the girl he kidnapped becomes more important than he ever dreamed, Barren’s quest for revenge becomes a fight to save the Orient.

Ashley asked us to share a pirate joke with the release, so here's mine (from piratejokes.net):

Question: What's a pirate's favorite Christmas carol?
Answer: We Three Kings of Orient Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

You can find Ashley at:

Ashley is giving away two $25 Amazon gift cards. One via the Rafflecopter drawing you'll find at the bottom of this post, the other on her Facebook page (find the link above).

Now for some links!

Accepting Submissions:

The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine looking for flash fiction. Irreal is the genre, meaning a fantastical fiction that isn't focused on realistic characters or situations, or even on satisfying endings. Up to 2000 words. Pays $.01 per word, with a $2 minimum. Winter deadline is January 1, for publication February 1.

Dark Oak is closing submissions for Big Bad 2 - An Anthology of Evil, Volume 2, on January 1. Short story, 3000-9000 words. Royalty payment. They want your baddest bad guy stories.

Mega Thump Publishing is accepting short stories for a horror/sci-fi hybrid anthology: What Has Two Heads, Ten Eyes, and Terrifying Table Manners? Deadline January 1. Pays $20 and a contributor copy. They want scary horror/sci-fi in the fashion of Alien, Event Horizon, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Chicken Soup for the Soul has several calls coming to a close soon. My Guardian Angel - December 31, The Cat Did What? - January 5, The Dog Did What? - January 5, Reboot Your Life - January 30. Non-fiction poems and stories up to 1200 words. Pays $200 upon publication. 

Cecile's Writers Magazine is open for submissions year-round. They seek authors with intercultural voices (see the link for an explanation of this). They accept flash fiction, short stories, novel excerpts, personal essays, and memoirs. I didn't find mention of payment, so you'll want to look into that.

Essence Magazine is looking for stories. Must send proposals first, not actual stories. Payment is not mentioned. See link for descriptions of types of articles.

Drunk Monkeys will open for submissions on January 1 (they closed down during the holidays). They accept short stories, poetry, TV recaps, interviews, art, comics, photographs, videos, and essays. Unsure of pay.

Contests:

Human Echoes Podcast is holding a flash fiction contest. 1000 words at most. Talk about aliens and what would have happened if they'd come around way, way back in the day. Deadline is Christmas Day. Prize is $10 and your story produced in podcast form.

Blog Hops:

This is more of a Book Club than a Blog Hop, but M.L. Swift is holding The Progressive Book Club 2014 the third Wednesday of each month. Choose a book and post a review/discussion on it. That's it! Of course, you'll also want to hop around and visit the other readers.

L.G. Keltner is holding her Endings Blogfest to celebrate her second blogging anniversary. January 9. Post about an ending...to a book, a movie. Or talk about how you end stories. Make it mean what you'd like to and post an ending.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anything you're interested in here? Anything to share? Any good publication news (rejections count! It means you're out there submitting!) How do you like Ashley's cover? Any good pirate jokes to share?

May you find your Muse.


12 comments:

Simply Sarah said...

I love pirate stories! I will have to check this one out. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

That is a very cool cover! I really appreciate all the links you share with us!

Morgan said...

I LOVE Pirate books. Love them. I totally want to read that!!!

And fabulous links, Shannon. Thanks for compiling all of these. So helpful! :)

shelly said...

I've seen this lovely cover at Julie's and Kimberly's today. Thank you for the links Shannon.

Hugs and chocolate!

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Love Ashley's cover. And since I've become a fan of Once Upon a Time on TV, I find I'm a fan of pirate romances again.

Maurice Mitchell said...

That cover is fantastic and I love the starry background. Thanks for the reveal Shannon!

Unknown said...

Thank you everyone! And Thank you, Shannon!! I LOVED your joke!!

Anonymous said...

I'm seeing this cover in several places. Big congrats to Ashley.

Petronela said...

I just lovee this cover...

klahanie said...

Hi Shannon,

Ooh arrr, me hearties! I just love a pirate book. Makes me want to swash my buckle :) Fascinating write up, Shannon. And that pirate joke is too much. All the best to Ashley and her book cover is sharp.

Of course, being the season to be Jolly Roger, I wont go on one of my rants about blog hops!

A peaceful holiday season to you and your loved ones, dear Shannon.

Gary :)

Kimberly said...

Cutlass sounds so great, the cover is awesome.

Thank you for sharing the links!

Shannon Lawrence said...

Sarah, there aren't nearly enough pirate stories.

M.J., I'm glad to! It is a great cover.

Morgan, so you don't care for pirate books then? ;) Thanks!

Shelly, she's making the rounds!

Susan, oh yeah! I'm behind on the show, so haven't seen much of Hook yet.

Maurice, it's cool how they put melded the two images, isn't it?

Ashley, yay!

Medeia, it deserves to be seen!

Petronela, it's great, isn't it?

Gary, everyone should swash their buckles far more often. Happy Holidays!

Kimberly, glad to! 'Tis the season for great covers. ;)