Let's announce some winners!

Winner of UMS Character Cards: "Courtneyreads"!

Winner of UMS Bookmark and Rustic Charm CD: "Corrine"!

Winner of UMS choker: "I Read Banned Books"!

Email me your addys so I can mail them out: judithgraves at ymail dot com

Game Time: Paranormal Trivia

No party is complete without a bit of trivia fun. Nothing too mentally taxing here - but try not to "Google". I dare you. ;)

This giveaway will get you a UMS gothic choker. Post your answers in a comment....ready? Go!

1. What animal is the symbol of the city of Rome?

2. What is the French word for “werewolf”?

3. Windigo are shapeshifters from First Nations mythology (menioned in UMS!). Their hearts are made of what substance?

4. Canadian actor, Michael J. Fox, starred in what “fur-ish” film?

5. How many words can you list that rhyme with “magic”?

Game Time: Finish that lyric line!

Alright, after the decorations, comes the tunage. Now our par-tay is really rocking! For this swag giveaway - the prize is a UMS bookmark AND a copy of my last band's CD, Rustic Charm: One For The Road. You can sample the songs on iTunes. Or check out our little homespun video (Willow's the star!):

To enter, post your guesses in a comment. All you gots ta do is finish the line of song lyrics!

Theme: “paranormal”. You get a bonus entry if you add song title or band name. NOTE: these are songs from the 70’s – 80’s. Yeah, I know, but they’re so damn good!

1. “Don’t go around tonight, well, it’s bound to take your life. There’s a bad….”

2. “Raven hair and ruby lips. Sparks fly from her ….”

3. “She never said nothin’, there was nothing she wrote. She left with the man…..”

4. "I always feel like somebody’s watching me and I got no….”

5. “Abra-abra-cadabra, I want to reach out ….”

6. And one tune from 2009: “A domesticated girl, that’s all you ask of me. Darling it is no joke, this is …..”

The Art of Under My Skin

One of the first things we focus on when planning our theme parties - decorations! We've spent hours transforming our living rooms/kitchens into: a gypsy caravan (complete with palm reading gypsy in a wicked cool wig - you had to be there), a witch's coven (spell books/potions/candles), a vamp crypt (with coffin).

What better way to start the UMS Launch Party off than an interview with illustrator extraordinaire, Val Cox, creator of the characters and embellishments, "the decorations" you'll find in the pages of UMS (and Freaksville by Kitty Kewsick!).

Comment on this post to win a set of UMS character cards designed by Val! Winner will be announced at 9pm EST today.

1. Your work has a definite supernatural/paranormal flare. What drew you to this style?

Since I was little I always drew very powerful looking, beautiful women. I have a love of the magical; fortune telling, tarot cards, etc., so was the natural path my style followed.

2. How did you get into reading Tarot and what inspired you to start creating your own deck?

It seemed fascinating to me that out of 78 cards, each with their own individual meaning, you could randomly pick the message that's right for you to hear in that moment. The images are colourful and provocative and there are so many decks, so many interpretations. The mysticism surrounding the cards compelled me to learn how to read them over a decade ago - and I'm still learning about them today.

3. What was your process to create characters for Under My Skin?

A lot of communication with the author and a lot of artistic freedom to play and create made the process a real joy.

4. So what kind of music does an artsy fartsy girl like you listen to? What's playing in your iPod right now?

Well, I'm all over the place - right now it's a mix of Beastie Boys, Cat Power and The Police.

5. Eryn is a strong character, gusty and bold. How did you capture her spirit in your illustrations?

It's a process that's hard to explain - the characters seemed to reveal themselves to me! Eryn was a real pleasure to bring to life - she's such a smolderer :)

6. While Freaksville and UMS are both YA paranormals featuring werewolves, they are set in very different worlds and the illustrations have different tones. Was it difficult to keep the worlds from blending in your illos?

Working closely with each of the authors gave me a really clear sense of the differences in the worlds. Reading the books themselves brought the special magic of each set of characters and landscapes to life for me as well.

7. Peanut butter. Crunchy? Or smooth?

I have discovered roasted crunchy almond butter this year and I must tell you, there is no going back!

8. What are some of the other cool projects you've been working on?

Most recently I created 3 illustrated designs for wireless speakers and headphones manufactured by an amazing new company called Freq Industries. Check them out: www.freqindustries.com

9. Any advice for teen artists?

Keep working at it and don't be discouraged - there has never been a better time to make a creative living! Know that there will be a niche for your style, so keep honing it and don't be shy about sharing the passion you have for what you create.

For more info on Val - http://www.valcox.ca/ and follow her on twitter: http://twitter.com/valcoxgraphics

UMS Online Launch Party!

Sweet Jesus - the day has finally come! UMS's official birthday. Whoopa! If you've been following the Wolfy Chicks blog, you'll know I'm a freak for theme parties. I have a few very cool friends who pull out all the stops, costumes, decorations, name-that-tune and other games. I'm hoping to bring a bit of that madness to the blog today.

Help me celebrate by checking in on Wolfy Chicks and http://www.twitter.com/judithgraves throughout the day for SWAG giveaways, an informal chat, a folklore quiz, an interview with UMS illustrator, Val Cox, and a few excerpts from UMS.

UMS SWAG Twitter Giveaway

If you're on Twitter - like tonight. I'm having a swag giveaway contest. Right now. Until 9pm EST.

DM me on Twitter or retweet the contest to enter.

www.twitter.com/judithgraves

Then check the Wolfy Chicks blog tomorrow for a giveaway, chat, interview - book launch party kind of day. ;)

Where I'ze At: Part 2

Time for another shout out to all the fantastic bloggers who've welcomed me to their worlds. Here goes:

Thanks to Precious at Fragments of Life who has a ton of enthusiasm for new fiction. I so love that about her. She was the first to reveal a hot little excerpt from UMS.

Nadine-Stella at Starry Night is one fun blogger. Loved her comments throughout the post - made re-reading my answers quite entertaining. ;) Eleni at La Femme Readers is a bookaholic and proud of it. She's also going to be in NYC for BEA. Might see her there! (It's only that teeny town called New York, right?!)

Erica at The Book Cellar and I had a little chat about paranormal beasties and my love of Phantom of the Opera. You gots a favourite musical? Share! Ali at Young Adult Literature Review loves to share the spotlight with authors and has been a great Twitter buddy. (I have far too much fun hanging out with my tweeps.)

Heather McCorkle is a YA author and her blog is full of writerly tips - and a WOW for UMS. She's hoping to feature a new debut author each month. Nice! Many thanks to Lauren at Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf for letting me blather on about the Class of 2k10, a typical writing day, and the joy of first drafts.

I hope you'll follow these coolio bloggers and befriend them. Friends are good. And speaking of gooooodddd-Lord-they've-arrived....here are a few pics of the UMS tees. Whoopa! I'll be giving away one of these bad babies at the UMS Launch Party right here on the Wolfy Chicks blog on March 27th! And also at my "real live" party in the seriously teeny town of Cold Lake, Alberta on April 24th if you're around. Beantrees Coffee House at 6pm. Live tunes by all-girl band Shenanigans!

In an author's mailbox

Borrowing the "In My Mailbox" idea started by The Story Siren, where bloggers share info about the books/swag, etc they've received that week....I decided to share some of the cool things authors might find in their mailboxes.

REJECTION LETTERS. BILLS. EDITS.

Okay, besides those little horrors, an author’s mailbox can hold the occasion sweet surprise. While I don’t have copies of UMS to show you (yet!), I took in quite the haul this week from the post office. NOTE: Willow wasn’t quite as excited as I was to lay it all out on the coffee table, but she perked up when I told her we’d be walking to the mailbox every day next week. ;)


Article #1: The envelope
An ARC of Three Rivers Rising, by Jame Richards. Jame is a fellow member of the Class of 2k10 and I enjoyed her tale (read it all morning in fact). 2k10 has this cool little thing going (started by the Class of 2k9, I believe), called: Readers of the Last ARC, where an ARC copy of our books is passed around the group, hopefully reaching all 23 of us. We read each other’s work AND get to jot a little comment down for the author to read when the ARC is finally returned to them.

So fun! Not only do we become familiar with the all the titles, we also end up with a very cool keepsake of our time with the Class.

Article #2: The black box

Speaking of keepsakes, this is a “keepsake box” made for me by a very talented friend, Leeor, who has a card making company (it’s an actual origami box – so she created it from SCRATCH). Leeor was kind enough to create original WORKS OF ART thank you cards. I'll be sending them to bloggers who have taken the time to spread the word about UMS (my March Blog Tour peeps in particular). She really took my raven/rose/black/red theme to heart and I love the finished products. I get to keep the box though….hands off!

And, okay, the post office didn’t deliver these – I trucked over to Leeor’s house, had coffee and chatted – but still – I’ll be mailing them out, so it counts. ;)

Article #3: The white box


UMS character cards. OMG – I so adore these babies. Val Cox – illustrator of UMS and Freaksville – is so cool and shiny it hurts. She created these fabulous (collectable!) cards of the three main characters in UMS, Eryn / Wade / Alec. They have rounded corners (so nifty!), they’re smooth like butta, and they have a tagline for each character, as well as a quote of dialogue they rattle off in the book.

I’ll be sending these to bloggers and also handing them out at my book launch, book signings in NYC, etc.


Well – that was my mailbox loot for this week. Still to come are UMS t-shirts and the actual books. Whoopa!

2 weeks down, 2 to go

Well, my time at the stellar YA Roundup blog with Mel and her blogging buds ends today. It's been such a blast. We covered tons of stuff about UMS, prequels, author bio stuff, paranormal beasties, Star Trek weddings, writing, "y" usage (vampyre) - answered questions and by the end of the day we'll have raffled off a SWAG package and ARC of UMS. Wowza. That's a full week of paranormal meyhem. ;) Here's the link to the contest in case you'd like to enter.

Emilee at The Penultimate Page invited me to rant about Love and The Modern Vampire. After writing that bit for her blog, I changed it up a smidge and recorded my very first vlog and posted it to Wolfy Chicks. Kinda fun.

Haley at Life and Lies was kind enough to chat with me on her blog. I noticed she has the Eclipse trailer posted. Cool.

Thanks for having me, guys! I encourage any authors to approach these fine young bloggers for interviews, etc.

Weddings and Guest Posts

This weekend I attended a wedding for one of the last of my "crew" to get hitched and fall prey to love. This wasn't your typical ceremony. The couple is highly competitive and athletic - the groom played college-level hockey and the bride is a radio sports announcer. They said their I-dos on a snow-covered golf course and promptly tee'd off, from there, the wedding party proceeded to a local pond and had pictures taken as they played hockey in their nuptial finery (yes, the bride still in her flowing wedding gown). Thankfully (as the Olympics can attest) it's been a very mild winter, we had fab weather.

We were out of town guests at the event, we only knew a third of the wellwishers, but we had a blast. So, what's my point? Well, love's grand, of course! And I'm also a guest on the Slushbusters blog today (are you getting the segue now?).

Slushbusters is made up of 7 authors who "critique, support and cheer each other on while fighting their way to the top of the slush pile." Doesn't that sound like a marriage of sorts? ;) For that's exactly what a great crit group is - a commitment.

My guest post rambles on about my own amazing crit group, YAedge. It's hopefully a bit informative and is also an ode to my BFFs, Tami Klockau and Kitty Keswick. Thanks for having me, Slushbusters!

Where I'ze at today...

This month is going to be smoking busy with bloggers kind enough to feature UMS for the March blog tour (building up to the March 27th release date). I don't want to plaster the Wolfy Chicks blog every day with notices, but I do want to make sure the bloggers get some love back for all their hard work.

So, every few days I'll give a shout out and provide some links.

But it's the first day - and I'm wayyyy too excited - so here's a HOWLLLL out to Mel at He Followed Me Home. Mel is a fun, fab, and Canadian blogger/reviewer. As a fellow .ca girl, I appreciate the support from home. Thanks Mel!

Another spine-tingling HOWWLLLL goes out to the rocking team of Amber and Cheryl at Just Your Typical Book Blog - actually, they're anything but typical. They have a kick-ass symphony of a blog and blend books and tunage. I so wish I'd thought of that. Thanks guys!

If that's not enough to make my Thursday stellar, the wicked-cool Rosemary Clement-Moore mentioned UMS in her post at Fresh Fiction. RCM provided UMS with a killer book quote. Truly an honour....I mean, have you read the Maggie Quinn series yet? Why the hell not?! ;)