Teaser Tuesday: Special

Congrats to Cassandra Clare and Jace for their win in the YA Crush Tourney. Couldn't have asked for a better, tougher opponent then Jace.

So, no shirtless Ash scene (I will save that for something special), but since today is Tuesday, I'd thought I'd post an extensive teaser from Iron Knight.

A HUGE, HUGE thank you to everyone who voted for Ash. You gave Jace a good fight, and that's all we could ask for.

So, today's Teaser Tuesday is for Team Ash. Thank you again.

***

The door past the sphinxes opened to another narrow corridor, empty of fire-breathing dragons this time, but no less strange. It stretched away into the darkness, lit only by orange candlelight, flickering against walls. The flames seemed to float in the air, reflecting off the surfaces of hundreds of full-length mirrors lining the corridor on both sides.

Glancing at my own image, I paused, faintly surprised at the stranger in the mirror. The pale, dark-haired reflection stared back grimly, clothes tattered around the edges, eyes touched with exhaustion. I barely recognized myself, but maybe that was a good thing. After all, that was why I was here; to become something else, someone else. If all went as planned, Ashalyn’darkmyr Tallyn, third prince of the Unseelie Court, would no longer exist.

What will it be like as a human? I wondered at my reflection. Will I still be myself? Will I remember everything about my life in the Winter Court, or will all those memories disappear?

I shook my head. It was useless to wonder about that now, when we were so close, but still…

“Come on, handsome.” Puck put a hand on my shoulder, and I brushed it off. “Quit preening. I think we’re almost there.”

As we started down the corridor, wary of traps and pits and ambushes, I thought of Meghan, back in the Iron Kingdom. It would be dreadfully ironic, I mused, if once I earned a soul, I forgot everything about being fey, including all my memories of her. That sort of ending seemed appropriately tragic; the smitten fey creature becomes human but forgets why he wanted to in the first place. Old fairytales loved that sort of irony.

I won’t let that happen, I told myself, clenching my fists. If I have to have Puck tell me everything, even if he has to go through our entire history, I will find a way to make it back to her. I will not become human only to forget it all.

The hallway went on. The flickering candles cast strange lights in the opposite mirrors, endless rows of flame, stretching to infinity. From the corner of my eye, I saw my own dark reflection, walking along beside me. Smirking.

Except, I wasn’t.


***

Ash's toughest challenge yet

So, two things:

Tomorrow I will be in Nashville, TN for the final stop on the Ash to Nash tour with Beth Revis (Across the Universe), Victoria Schwab (The Near Witch), and Myra McEntire (Hourglass). We'll be at Barnes and Noble from 6:30pm to 8:30pm, and there will be a panel and giveaways and a good time will be had by all.

Details here.

AND...

Tomorrow (Monday, August 8th) is also the YA Crush Tourney, and its Ash vs. Jace Wayland, in his toughest battle yet! So, if you want to give Ash a sliver of a fighting chance against the mighty Jace, go here to vote for him. The voting starts at 8am Central time and will continue until 8pm.

Oh, and one more thing. If, against all odds, Ash manages to win against Jace Wayland, I will post another Ash/Meg scene.

And Ash will be shirtless. :D



(If it happens to be a tie, Cassie Clare and I discussed writing a scene with both Jace and Ash. Shirtless. Wrestling in jello. But only if there's a tie. How's that for a visual, lol!)

So go forth, and vote!

Tweeting and winning go hand in hand

Okay, Team Ashers and Team Puckers (that sounds weird, but go with it). How would you like to win a set of all three Iron Fey books, signed? Harlequin Teen is having a Twitter contest tomorrow, Thursday the 28th, to celebrate the end of the Iron Fey re-read month. Does that sound cool? If yes, here are the deets:


Contest is Thursday 7/28

From 11am to 11pm EST

Entrants should use one of two hashtags, #teamash or #teampuck (Don't forget to make it to @Harlequinteen)

Entrants need to tweet a favorite quote from that character using the above hashtags.

Each entrant has a chance to win one of two signed sets of The Iron Fey trilogy (King, Daughter and Queen).

One TEAM ASH winner

One TEAM PUCK winner

ETA: For more information and contest rules go here . The contest is open to U.S./Canada (excluding Quebec)

Quotes can be anything from Iron King through Iron Queen; no Iron Knight quotes since it is not out yet and we want to avoid spoilers.

Also, if you want to really support your fey boy, here are the links to the wallpaper that you can use for you avatar. Its not required, but it would be very much appreciated. (Also, Puck would get a kick of having his place plastered all over Twitter.)

Happy Faery Day

Happy Fairy Day!

Today is National Fairy Day! And, in honor of all Fey everywhere, we have some cool things for you!

First off, a giveaway! How does a signed Iron Fey trilogy sound to you? (That would be The Iron King, The Iron Daughter, and The Iron Queen.)















Good? Excellent! To enter, tweet a favorite faery quote with the hashtag #fairyday, or put it up on your blog/facebook/tumblr somewhere. Then leave your name, email, and the quote in the comments below.

Example: "Lord, what fools these mortals be." -Robin Goodfellow, A Midsummer's Night Dream. #fairyday (Open to everyone. Giveaway will run to July 16th.)

Okay, now for something really cool. Check these out.






































Pretty awesome wallpaper, no? You can thank Harlequin Teen for these gorgeous works of art. :D If you want one for your very own, check out Harlequin's Facebook page , they should have the links up very soon.

HAPPY FAIRY DAY, everyone! Don't forget to tweet a favorite faery quote for a chance to win. (And don't forget to comment about it with your name and email, else I won't know you've entered.) Now, go out there and dance a jig under the full moon, or make a wish in a faery ring, or take a ride on a phouka. Or, better yet, check out some awesome faery books. Lament by Maggie Steifvater, Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, Wonderous Strange by Leslie Livingston, and The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff are all great choices.


And, if you want to celebrate Fairy Day properly, just ask yourself: What Would Puck Do? ;)

The Iron Knight: back cover reveal

Okay, so today, we're revealing the back cover of THE IRON KNIGHT.





So, if you remember, this was the front cover:



























Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, here is the back:







...









...






































Yes, it's PUCK. Looking very Puck-ish with that little smirk going on.



















And for more awesomeness, here's the two of them together.









































So, where's the synopsis, you say? Worry not, that comes later. (Can't give you EVERYTHING now, that wouldn't be evil enough, lol.) We're planning something special, so stay tuned for more excitement. :)


What sayest thou?

Ash and Puck need your help

Hey, Ash and Puck fans!









Harlequin TEEN is offering an amazing opportunity. Today at 12pm EST, they are having a poll to decide the models for the cover of THE IRON KNIGHT. You, yes YOU, can vote to decide which Ash or Puck you want to see on the cover.


I have my favorites, but I'm not telling, lol.


Go to The Iron Fey Facebook page to cast your vote. Voting ends January 3rd, 2011.

Team Ash/Team Puck Winners!

And we have a winner!

First off, thank you to everyone who entered! It was so much fun seeing everyone's comments and reasons why they're Team Ash or Team Puck. (Or Team Grim.) And a HUGE HUGE THANK YOU to my four Team Captains, Gail, Erica, Stacey and Nicole. I could not have done this without you guys, so thanks so much!

Congratulations to the winners of the signed Iron King and the Grimalkin rocks:

Joy P.
Karen
Sonia
Giada

And now, the winner of The Signed IRON DAUGHTER is:

*drumroll*




SONIA!


Congratulations, Sonia! I hear you're a proud member of Team Puck! I will be emailing you for your ARC of The Iron Daughter. Congrats again, and thanks for entering!

Sooooooooooo, who won the Faceoff? Well, I went to all four blogs to tally up the votes and we have a very definite and clear winner. The tallies look something like this:

Ash: 139 votes
Puck: 74 votes
Grim: 21 votes
Undecided: 19 votes

Ladies and gentlemen, the masses have decided. The winner of the Team Ash/Team Puck Faceoff is:

Ash! (handsomely portrayed by the lovely BinBons--I MEAN--Ben Barnes)













So, Ash has prevailed in this fight. But, Team Puck fans, don't despair. Puck is and will always be the scrappy underdog. And he has more opportunities to sway people to his way of thinking. This battle is not over. Perhaps, after Iron Daughter and Iron Queen, there will be another Team Ash/Team Puck Faceoff.

Maybe next time I'll include Team Grim.

But then it would be no contest.



Thanks again, everyone!

Julie K.

The Great Faery Faceoff--halftime

Monday, Monaday...

Well, we're a week into the Team Ash/Team Puck Faceoff, and here's how things stand:















Ticket to Anywhere

Ash: 33 votes
Puck: 12 votes
Grim: 1 vote
Undecided: 2 votes

The Book Cellar

Ash: 32 votes
Puck: 11 votes
Grim: 1 vote
Undecided: 2 votes

So, on the Team Ash captain's blogs, Ash is clearly dominating. But its a different story on the Team Puck blogs.














WORD for Teens

Ash: 16 votes
Puck: 18 votes
Grim: 2 votes
Undecided: 3 votes

Page Turners

Ash: 20 votes
Puck: 16 votes
Grim: 2 votes
Undecided: 5 votes


So, Ash is the clear winner for now, but there is a week left to vote, so Puck could still make a remarkable comeback. Don't forget about all the cool prizes you could win by showing your love! The Team captains can tell you all about it.

Team Ash
Gail: Ticket to Anywhere
Erica: The Book Cellar

Team Puck
Nicole: WORD for Teens
Stacy: Page Turners


Puck still has a chance. He's always been the underdog, and he's scrappy. But he needs your help to win. OR you could vote Team Ash and bury him completely. Its all up to you.

Also, it seems The Iron King is a finalist in the Debut Author Book Battle at The Shady Glade Go check it out; it looks very cool!

The Team Ash/Puck Faceoff

Grimalkin here. I could introduce myself, but that seems unnecessary. I am a cat. And I have been asked by the author to host this Team Ash/Team Puck fiasco as, apparently, she believes I am a neutral third party who will not care either way which team wins or not.

She is right. I do not care. In fact, find it vaguely amusing that these two have accumulated any followers at all, as they are both impulsive and reckless and lack any sort of feline charm whatsoever...but now the author is glaring at me, so I suppose we should get on with it. Hopefully, this will be over before my nap.

Anyway, on to the Faceoff (!), insert fabricated excitement. Here are your contenders, human readers. And if you hear someone laughing hysterically in the background, worry not, it is just me.






Ash: Prince of the Winter Court. Dark, brooding, icy, and dangerous. Surprisingly graceful dancer and handy with a sword, but with the bad habit of threatening to kill you every time Mab shoots you a dirty look. As an added bonus, he can keep your drinks cold without using ice.







Puck: Oberon's jester and a nuisance to fey and humans everywhere. Words he would use to describe himself: witty, playful, mischievous, devilish. Words others would use to describe him: I cannot list for fear small children might see it.


Not much of a selection, if you ask me. But, to each their own. Apparently there are prizes for choosing a side, as well. The things humans do to entertain themselves.

Rules and prizes:

So, if you wish to vote for your favorite team, and perhaps win one of FOUR signed copies of THE IRON KING by Julie Kagawa (there is also a doodle of ME gracing the pages beneath the autographs, so that in itself is reason to grab one.), head on over to the team captain's blogs--shown below--and comment for your chance to win. Remember, there are FOUR copies up for grabs, so the more blogs you comment on, the greater your chances to win.

Oh, yes, and there might be a few painted Grimalkin rocks up for grabs as well.














And one more thing. One lucky grand prize commenter will win a signed ARC of THE IRON DAUGHTER. I understand that these are extraordinarily hard to come by, so it would be foolish to miss this opportunity. Besides, I am in the book, saving the day once again, so you will not be completely bored out of your mind.


So, now that you know the stakes, here are the links to the Team Captains blogs. Go...make your comment, cast your vote, throw tomatoes at members of the opposite team, whatever you wish to do. The Faceoff will run to the 3rd of May where, after the carnage dies down, the bodies are gathered up, and the votes are counted, we will see whether Team Ash or Team Puck has prevailed.

Team Ash
Gail: Ticket to Anywhere
Erica: The Book Cellar

Team Puck
Nicole: WORD for Teens
Stacy: Page Turners

So, in conclusion...wait. You really want me to say this? Sighs. Oh, very well. If I must: Ice or fire? Team Ash or Team Puck? Who will reign supreme? Only you can decide the winner. Choose your side now.


Good gods, I sound like a cheesy movie commentator. There will be repercussions for this, Kagawa. I WILL come to collect, have no doubts about that.

Grimalkin