Elisabeth Alba and I finally Meet!

Last Monday, the 16th, I got a visit from the lovely Elisabeth Alba, who illustrated the Everyday Witch Tarot. Believe it or not, this was the first time we'd met in person, even though we'd worked together for over two years! We had a great time (with her husband, artist Scott Murphy, and their dog Rayo)--and we signed a bazillion copies of the tarot set. Okay, maybe it just felt like a bazillion, but she had her 30 limited editions and I had my 10, plus we both had extras to sell on their own (or gift to friends).

She posted about the visit on her blog HERE

She's actually even nicer in person than she had been via our thousands of emails and Facebook messages. And as a few people pointed out, we actually resemble each other! Here's as few pictures from the day.

[In an aside, people seem to be really loving the deck, which makes us both VERY happy.]

They're here! Rayo is as excited as I am.

You can see my original painting of the Ace of Cups on the wall behind us.

What do you think? Do we look like we could be related?

Signing the box and the books.

Still signing!

Her pile was bigger than mine, if you can believe it!

Trying to get Rayo to sit still long enough for us to get a picture. Ha!

It was a real treat to finally meet up, and hopefully it won't be the last time. It turns out that Elisabeth and Scott are both beer lovers like me, so I've invited them to come back sometime to tour the local Brewery Ommegang and just hang out. (They live in Massachusetts, about 3 hours from me, so this may take some planning.)

One Saturday in May

It's a well-known fact that I spend most of my days off at home--usually writing, sometimes working in the garden (more about that in my next post) . But yesterday, the first Saturday in May, was an exception.

My lovely friend Rob owns a store called Imagicka in Binghamton (a little over an hour away from me) and I'd promised him that once the snow melted I'd come do a book signing. (I did one there last year after The Witch's Broom came out, and it went really well; Imagicka is a fabulous Pagan/New Age shop, so the folks who go there are my peeps.) Since the signing fell right after my birthday and Beltane, we kind of went with that theme, and I baked some Beltane cupcakes and brought flowers to give out to everyone who came. One fan even brought me a present (as if driving an hour and a half to see me wasn't gift enough) and another friend of mine drove all the way from New Jersey to see me, although she swore that it was at least in part because she needed an excuse to get out of the house!

Here are a few pictures from the signing:

Me and the lovely Rob. You can see a little bit of how cool the shop is.

Niala, who brought not only a gift for me, but one for my friend Jo who is recovering from a heart attack and is stuck in rehab. Niala said she'd been there and knew what it felt like. How sweet! I have the best readers!

The fabulous April S., who I met last year at RoberCon, with Jennifer and Leigh

My pal Karen who is a Betty (some of you know what that means) and came a long way to see me! As you can see here, I sold a bunch of the novels, too, not just the Llewellyn books.

My best bud Ellen, who kindly does the driving so I don't have to and is generally a good sport. We always have a great time together.

Beltane cupcakes

Beltane flowers, being checked out by Luna

 One of the reasons I like doing signings at Imagicka is that my friends Robin and George and their kids Sophie and Nate live about fifteen minutes from there, on the way home. So Ellen and I got to go hang out with them after the signing and have a fun belated birthday/May Day BBQ. Because of Life Stuff on both sides and the horribleness of the Winter from Hell, we hadn't seen each other since Yule Dinner Party--WAY too long! Getting to spend time with my favorite kids in the world (and their fabulous parents) made the day perfect.

This was us, so there were three different kinds of dessert :-)

The only one not squinting was Nate, who was smart enough to put on his sunglasses.

Sophie showing off one of their new ducklings, brought home that very morning.

One of our patented Aunt Debbie and the kids silly face photos

Sophie showing off their cool fire pit. No, we didn't light it with her on there. Or at all, alas.

Nate wanted me to watch him mow the lawn (with dad George's help)

My beautiful birthday flowers, picked out by Sophie because she thought they looked like fire. Very fitting, since the Baba Yaga book I'm working on right now revolves around fire!

Home again, around 8 PM--the moon looked amazing in the pre-dusk sky. We could see it our entire drive back, even though it was still light out.

All in all, a wonderful Saturday. What did you do this on your Saturday?

Ultimate Baba Yaga Blast Giveway! And Book Signing

I had a fabulous time yesterday in Albany at the Flights of Fantasy bookstore doing my first "real" book signing as a novelist (other than small things around my own area). As a bonus, I got to see my sister Sarah (and fab brother in-law Rich) who live near there, and check out the Barnes & Noble, which only had one copy of the book left

My sister is the good-looking one to the left. On the right you can see my stalwart friend Ellen, who did the driving.

At Flights of Fantasy

I shared the signing with a fab SF/Fantasy author named Ryk Spoor

Got to see a longtime fan, Josephine F.

As well as the radiant Rebecca Elson of The Magical Buffet, who brought me goodies!

And got a surprise visit from a formal local and Blue Moon Circle regular, Lauren, which made my day!

The book signing was kind of the highlight of a truly fabulous book release week. I've been working hard, but having a lot of fun, so I have a couple of gifts for you folks, who have all helped to make the release of both Baba Yaga books, WICKEDLY DANGEROUS in September and WICKEDLY WONDERFUL on December 2nd so successful.

First of all, I have a fun, FREE Baba Yaga short story for you! The lovely folks at Literary Escapism do a cool thing where they ask various authors to write a short short story about their protagonists going holiday shopping. Of course, since Beka is a witch, she goes Yule shopping, and needless to say, it isn't all that simple. I hope you enjoy this story, since I had a lot of fun writing it.

And, of course, I had to do one last big, blowout giveaway! I can't express how much I appreciate everyone's support--buying the books, and posting reviews, and spreading the word. But maybe this will help.

It's a GIANT GIVEAWAY!

 I'm giving away the ultimate Baba Yaga series prize pack: signed copies of both books,  Wickedly Wonderful mug, a Chudo-Yudo dragon necklace (because we're all about the dragons around here), bookmarks, postcards, magnets, and two dragon temporary tattoo booklets!

A closeup of the Chudo-Yudo necklace

The mug

This would make the perfect ready-made holiday gift for a friend who likes paranormal romance...or for yourself, of course.

So THANK YOU, so much for being such a great cheering section, and good luck to you all!

(USA only, due to the weight of all that booty, but if you are out of the country, you are welcome to enter and I will send you a modified prize pack.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

RELEASE DAY!

It is finally here—Book Release Day for my second novel, WICKEDLY WONDERFUL! I’m excited and a little freaked out, all at the same time. I sure hope that people like it as well as they liked the first book!

(You read Wickedly Dangerous, right?)

I have been truly honored and blessed by the enthusiasm of friends, fans, and followers, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all the cheerleading, and for those of you who were kind enough to spread the word about the book. I hope you’ll help me to do so today, of all days!

If you’re on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll no doubt see me posting about the book release—I would really appreciate it if you could help me to get the word out.

 

I know I said I wasn’t going to do any more giveaways, but how could I let Book Release Day pass without one? I’ve got one signed copy up as a Goodreads giveaway, so be sure to go enter right away—it is only on for a couple of weeks. (Go HERE, and the giveaway will be lower down on the page.) And I’m giving away books at a few of the places where I will be guest blogging to promote the book. Will I do another fun giveaway on my blog too? I guess you'll have to keep stopping by to find out!

Also, I’ll be at a (more or less) live event on Tuesday the 2^nd (today) at Bitten by Books, where I’ll be answering questions, chatting with folks, and giving away $50 in Gift Cards! I hope you will come join me. http://bittenbybooks.com/  (This event starts at 3PM EST/noon PST, but the contest will be open for a couple of days.)

Here is the direct link to the contest, which runs until the 5th http://bittenbybooks.com/author-deborah-blake-release-party-and-50-00-gift-card-contest-live-here/

Check out my blog all this week for other blogs where I’ll be popping up!

Speaking of which, if you live anywhere near Albany NY, I’ll be having a book signing on Sunday, December 7^th, at a great Indie bookstore, Flights of Fantasy, at 2 PM. Check out their website for directions and more info. http://www.fof.net/  I hope I’ll see a few of you there!

Don’t forget that if you loved Wickedly Dangerous and want to read the third book in the series, Berkley will be basing their decision on whether or not to publish it on how good the sales for the first two books are. No pressure, right?

Buying links:

AMAZON

B&N 

Or look for it at your local Independent bookstore!

Thanks again for all your support and encouragement—I appreciate it more than words can say. Feel free to send me a picture on Facebook or by email (magicmysticminerva at yahoo) of the book in the wild if you spot it in a bookstore, or of you with the book if you’ve picked one up. This would make my day! And I hope you’ll stop by the blog and say “Hi and happy book release day!”

Holy crap—IT’S RELEASE DAY!!!!!!!!