German Personal Demons Cover

This is kind of exciting for me. It's my first foreign cover! My German publisher, Rowoholt, has retitled Personal Demons. Its German name is Angel Eyes. They've also done a whole new cover (to go with the Angel Eyes theme).

I translated the tagline and it says "between Heaven and Hell."

So, what do you think?

I promised you another contest. Yes I did...

So, here it is!

A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of signing with some amazing authors (and just overall great people) Kiersten White and Sophie Jordan, and I snagged you guys some signed books! See! I'm always thinking of you! :p

So, first, we have a signed copy of Kiersten's fabulous Paranormalcy up for grabs, and just like with my Smart Chicks give-aways, because I'm feeling the Paranormalcy love, I'll throw in a signed copy of Personal Demons as well.

So, it's like a bonus Debut Contest! The rules are the same as with my Smart Chicks contests. To enter, you must be a follower here on the blog and comment below by midnight Monday, October 25th. You get an additional entry if you follow me on Twitter (@LisaDez) as well. One entry per person, please.
But wait! There's more!

Don't forget my REAL October Debut Contest! Enter to win a copy of my fab critique partner, Andrea Cremer's Nightshade (which just released today!!) and a signed copy of Personal Demons. And, also, my EPIC 666 FOLLOWER CONTEST (Already up to three winners! Can you make it four?) for signed copies of Personal Demons, a gift card and tons of swag!

Good luck and happy reading!! :p

Smart Chicks Winner!

I should have gotten more signed Smart Chicks books! I had a ton of entries for Melissa Marr's Radiant Shadows, and even more for this one: Melissa de la Cruz's Keys to the Repository. Luckily for you, I've had the chance to sign with some amazing authors, including Ally Condie, Kiersten White and Sophie Jordan, and I also have signed books from all the spectacular authors who blurbed Personal Demons (that would be Claudia Gray and Maria V. Snyder) so there will be many more signed books up for grabs here in the next several weeks.

The Smart Chicks contest is over, but here's what's still up for grabs in other contests here on the blog:
A signed copy of Personal Demons and my awesome critique partner, Andrea Cremer's book Nightshade in my October Debut Contest.

A signed copy of Personal Demons, a Personal Demons tank top, a $10 gift card and tons of swag in my EPIC 666 FOLLOWERS PERSONAL DEMONS/HALLOWEEN CONTEST.

So, the winner of my final Smart Chicks give-away, which includes a signed copy of Melissa de la Cruz's Keys to the Repository and a signed copy of Personal Demons is:

Amy J-Book Addict

Congrats!

*throws virtual confetti*

Check back for another contest tomorrow! It will be fabulous! I promise =)

EPIC 666 FOLLOWERS PERSONAL DEMONS/HALLOWEEN GIVE-AWAY!!!!!

First, let me say that you guys totally rock! We’ve (still the royal we) hit 666 fabulous followers here on the blog, so Luc says it's time for an EPIC Personal Demons/Halloween give away!

So, here we go!

There will be one winner for every 30 entrants. (One entry per person, please.) The contest will run today through midnight (PST) on October 31. To enter, comment below. You must be a follower to win.

Extra entries:

Follow me on Twitter (@LisaDez) +1

Tweet this contest +1 (provide link in comment)

Choose your team and add one of these buttons to your blog sidebar +3 (provide link in comment)

Thanks to Shanyn for the buttons!

Oh! You guys want to know what’s up for grabs?

The prize packs will include all of this:

$10 Amazon, Barnes&Noble or Borders gift card (winner's choice)

A signed copy of Personal Demons or Personal Demons CD audio book (winners choice)

A Personal Demons tank top

Signed Personal Demons bookmarks

Team Luc and Team Gabe temporary tattoos (side note: It appears that Luc and Gabe are marking souls via these tattoos. Some people say that the Luc tattoos come off easier; others say the Gabe tattoos come off easier. You be the judge. O.O)

Assorted Halloween candy

So, spread the word! The more entries, the more winners! Good luck!

Also, don't forget that today is the last day to enter to win a signed copy of Melissa de la Cruz's Keys to the Repository and a signed copy of Personal Demons in my final Smart Chicks give-away!

The Devil Inside (aka: Luc)

Yesterday wrapped up my EPIC 1313 Followers Personal Demons Twitter Contest! A ton of you entered, and three of you walked away with signed copies of Personal Demons. Congrats! We're three follower away from the EPIC 666 Followers Personal Demons Contest here on the blog. It looks like it will happen soon, so I've got some fun Halloween prize packs in mind! Spread the word and keep watching the blog!

So, my post... Last month I did a guest post for Tor Teen. It was about having Luc in my head. You can read the post in its entirety here. I'm posting the meat of it below, because it dovetails from my Monday post, where I talked about characters coming to life in my mind and gradually making their way onto the page. I know it sounds crazy and, at this point, I'm okay with that, but I've gotten to know Luc, Frannie and Gabe pretty well by now. Not only do they have conversations with each other, but they include me now too. They've also stepped off the pages of Personal Demons and are making there way into the world on their own. They've all done interviews and Luc in particular seems to be in demand. You can read interviews he's done here, here and a new one that posted just today here.

So, without Further adieu, here's my guest post from Tor Teen:

Personal Demons is the story of Frannie Cavanaugh—a good Catholic girl with a unique skill set—who finds herself in a battle for her soul between Lucifer Cain, who works in Acquisitions for Hell, and Gabriel, the angel sent to protect her.

When I started writing Personal Demons, all I had was a name: Lucifer Cain. I knew he was a demon because…well…his name was Lucifer Cain. What I didn’t know was how much fun it was going to be writing from inside a demon’s head.

One of the things that makes Personal Demons different is that we get the opportunity to hear Luc’s side of the story from his first-person POV. Because we’re in his head, we’re in on his inner dialogue as he muses about things from the unique point of view of a demon. He’s lived a dual life, moving between two worlds, so his perspective reflects that. Through the course of the book, we also get to see how Frannie messes with that perspective as he struggles to define feelings he’s never experienced before.

For example, here’s a snippet of Frannie’s and Luc’s first exchange from Luc’s POV:

 I watch her write “Frannie and Luke: Steinbeck chapter 26 outline” in her composition book, and for some reason it really bothers me that she spelled my name wrong. I fix it before answering her. “I think he made some choices that he’s now got to pay the consequences for.” One of which is eternity burning in the Abyss.

She looks at me, all incredulity. “Just that simple, huh? No extenuating circumstances. No second chances?”

“Nope. Don’t believe in second chances.” The Underworld’s not big on that concept.

She shifts back in her chair and folds her arms across her chest, scrutinizing me. “You’ve never made a mistake? Done something you were sorry for?”

“Nope.”

“Everybody has something they wish they could undo.”

I lean toward her and gaze into those sapphire eyes. “What do you wish you could undo, Frannie?”

She shudders when I say her name, and I realize I’m being unfair. I pushed a little power at her without really meaning or needing to. But I like the reaction.

When she replies there’s more than a hint of pain in her tone, and the faint scent of rose—sadness. I search deep in those eyes to find the root of it. “Lots of things,” she says without breaking her gaze.

For some reason, out of the blue, I don’t want her to hurt. I feel Hell-bent on making her happy. Just the tiniest push is all it would take…

Stop it. Where the Hell did that come from? I don’t even recognize the sensation that passed with that thought. Demons don’t have feelings. Not like that, anyway. This isn’t a charity mission…I’m here for a clear purpose, and Miss Frannie Cavanaugh is showing promise. Lots of promise.


This passage gives you a peek into Luc’s thought processes. He’s pretty cocky, being a Creature of Pride and from one of the top echelons of Hell. But from the minute they meet, Frannie makes him question everything he’s so sure about. She makes him see shades of gray when he’s convinced everything is black and white. At times his perspective is humorous and other times poignant, but it’s never boring. I hope you have as much fun reading him as I had writing him.

And there you have it. I'm possessed. Writing from inside Luc's head is one of the funnest things that I've ever done. I'm in the middle of writing the last book of the trilogy now, but I have a feeling Luc will still be hanging around in my head long after I've typed "the end" on Hellbent.

The Near Witch

Quick, before I get to my post, I want to remind you that my 1313 Twitter contest, in which THREE winners will each get a signed copy of Personal Demons runs through whenever I get too tired to read entries anymore. (Sometime tonight.) If you haven't entered, make sure you follow me (@LisaDez) then watch the Luc trailer in my sidebar and Tweet me the name of the book that Luc is reading to Frannie. Include the hashtag #PersonalDemons so I find your entry! Good luck!

So...there's a book that I'm dying to read coming out next year. Way back a year ago, when my truly fabulous agent, Suzie Townsend, offered representation, she knew I was deciding between a few different agents. She gave me the names of some FinePrint clients she'd worked with as references. That's how I met Victoria Schwab. We (that, once again, would be the royal we) are almost at 666 amazing followers here on the blog (at which point Luc has mandated that there will be an EPIC Personal Demons contest) but I'm pretty sure Suzie and Victoria were my very first blog followers. Victoria has been a great friend and a source of support as I made my way through the publishing jungle.

So, the reason for this post...

Victoria's book, The Near Witch (Hyperion, Aug. 2011) is getting closer to publication and she just got ARCs! That means she can now show us her cover! Yay!

For those of you who haven't heard of The Near Witch, here's the scoop:
"The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.
If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.
There are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life. But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget."

I couldn't get the youtube embed code to work, so here's Victoria with her book

And here's the link to her YA Rebels video so you can see how pretty her cover is! And the link to the Amazon pre-order page!

The Lunatic is in my head...

Y'all know I love music. There are some songs that are so good that they always give me the shivers. One of them is Pink Floyd's Brain Damage. Actually, a lot of Pink Floyd's music will do that to me. (I wrote Wish You Were Here into Personal Demons.) I haven't listened to Brain Damage in a really long time, but I woke up with it in my head this morning. Specifically, the line "There's someone in my head, but it's not me." The song was accompanied by a whole cast of characters who I'm just getting to know.

That's what the writing process is to me: people in my head. They start out as strangers, but little by little we get to know each other. They tell me things and have conversations with each other, and I take dictation. Some of them, I really like. Others, not so much. But whether I like them or not, I'm just the poorly paid help with the laptop, so they all get an equal crack at getting their story on the page. (I don't play favorites.)

So, I'm still hanging out with my old friends, Frannie, Luc and Gabe, plugging away at Hellbent. But I'm making some new friends too. It's fun to watch these new characters emerge, and I'm dying to hear the stories they have to tell as we get comfortable with each other.

I'll leave you with a question and a song. Question: New stories come to me as characters with something to say. How do new stories come to you?

And the song: Pink Floyd's Brain Damage. As always, if you love it, please visit your chosen mode of music purchase and buy it.