Topic of the Week: Thrillers–What Scares You? March 30, 2009
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JT Ellison
Thriller novel sales make up a huge portion of book sales. Join us for LitChat this week as we chat about favorite thriller titles and why we love to be scared.
Guest hosting LitChat on Wednesday, April 1st is JT Ellison bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Taylor Jackson series, including All the Pretty Girls, 14, Judas Kiss and Edge Of Black. She was recently named “Best Mystery/Thriller Writer of 2008″ by the Nashville Scene.The Chicago Tribune said this about JT Ellison: “Fusing gritty cop drama with dark psychological thriller, Ellison distinguishes herself with exceptional character development, consistently breakneck pacing and a sense of authenticity.”
JT will offer a signed copy of Judas Kiss during her April 3rd LitChat appearance.
Follow JT on Twitter: @thrillerchick.
LitChat Topic of the Week: Middle Grade Fiction March 21, 2009
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Adrienne Kress
March 27: Wrapping up our Topic of the Week for March 23-27, Middle Grade Fiction, is the delightful Adrienne Kress. Adrienne is author of two children’s adventure books and is an accomplished actress. The daughter of two high school English teachers, it was only natural that Adrienne should fall in love with both creating and performing the written word.
Adrienne’s first book, Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, was featured on the CBS Early Show as “one of the books for children you should know about.” Alex was a finalist in Foreward Magazine’s 2007 Book Of The Year Award (YA category). Adrienne was featured in the New York Post’s “Post Potter Picks” column as one of six authors who have a chance to fill the void left by J.K. Rowling.
Released in mid-January, Timothy and the Dragon’s Gate, is a fantasy adventure complete with dragons, ninjas and enough thrills to keep young readers engaged to the end.
Read Adrienne’s blog here. You can follow Adrienne on Twitter here.
Topic of the Week: Beyond Black & White — Writing in Color March 14, 2009
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Week of March 16 – 20: As far as we’re concerned at LitChat, a good story is a good story, no matter the color of the author or the characters inside. Joining us this week for our Topic of the Week at #LitChat is the novel writing team of Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant. We’ll be discussing novels written by and for people of color. Virginia and Donna, known collectively on Twitter as @deberryandgrant, will guest host Friday’s LitChat. So, follow them now and be ready for the chat.
Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant
With five novels to their credit, Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant, best friends for 25 years, have turned a friendship into the most successful and enduring writing collaboration in African American fiction. Their first book, Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made, was a critical success, an Essence bestseller, as are all three of their books. Far From the Tree became a New York Times Bestseller, and Better Than I Know Myself received two Open Book Awards. Their most recent novel, What Doesn’t Kill You, was released in January.
Virginia and Donna will offer a signed copy of What Doesn’t Kill You during their appearance on LitChat.
LitChat Topic of the Week: Women’s Fiction March 9, 2009
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Kristy Kiernan, author of MATTERS OF FAITH and CATCHING GENIUS hosts #litchat on Friday, 3/14, 4 pm est.
Kristy Kiernan, author of MATTERS OF FAITH and CATCHING GENIUS (Berkley) will join us as guest host on Friday. To get ready for her appearance, we’ll discuss women’s fiction during our 1-hour #litchats on Monday and Wednesday.
Kristy’s first novel, CATCHING GENIUS, was published in March of 2007 and has become a book club favorite. Her second novel, MATTERS OF FAITH, was released last August to excellent advance reviews. Only last week she learned it won the Bronze medal for the Florida Book Awards. It was also chosen as an ABA IndieNext Notable Title for September 2008. Kristy just finished her third novel and perhaps she’ll give us a hint during our #litchat on Friday.
Monday 3/9: What is women’s fiction, why does it need a title different than general fiction, what distinguishes it from romance and chicklit. Book giveaway: A signed copy of CATCHING GENIUS sent to the winner directly from Kristy.
Wednesday 3/11: Women’s fic authors and favorite titles. Book giveway: A signed copy of MATTERS OF FAITH sent to winner directly from Kristy.
Friday 3/13: Kristy Kiernan guest hosts live during #litchat. If you haven’t yet read her books, visit her website to get to know her and then join us.
All #litchats are 4 pm est through Twitter. You will need to have a Twitter account to follow the #litchat. You may join Twitter here.
March 2-6 winners March 7, 2009
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Here are the winners from this week’s book giveaways:
Wednesday’s 19th tweet winner: @thrillerchick (see this)
Friday’s 28th tweet winner: @CollectedMisc
Friday’s “Get to Know Eric Barnes” question: @bookbuildersBOS
@bookbuilderBOS correctly answered the “Get to Know Eric Barnes” question, which was: “What is the name of the COO of the company featured in SHIMMER?” The correct answer was “Whitley.”
March 6th at LitChat March 6, 2009
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Today we’re giving away two books through Twitter. Unbridled Books has generously donated another two ARCs (Advance Reader’s Copy) of Eric Barnes’s SHIMMER. Eric is our first author guest host on today’s LitChat. Swing by at 4 pm est for an hour of fun, fast and friendly #litchat.
One copy will go to the 27th tweet in during today’s #litchat. To qualify, the tweet must be tagged like this: #litchat, and be on topic.
The second copy will go to someone who reads through Eric’s website to find out the name of the COO at the fictional company featured in SHIMMER. You must DM @litchat with your answer. At the close of today’s #litchat, we will put all of the names from those DMs into a hat and draw a winner. The winner will be notified through Twitter.
Books will be send directly to the winners from Unbridled Books.
First book giveway at LitChat March 5, 2009
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Yesterday we gave away our first book during #litchat on Twitter. Congratulations to JT Ellison, aka @thrillerchick, who won an ARC of SHIMMER by Eric Barnes (@ericbarnes2). JT Ellison is a voracious reader who devours big, fat books and enjoys suspense and thrillers. If her name sounds familiar, it’s because she is author of three novels (see here). LitChat chased her down after she won yesterday and she’s agreed to host a litchat in April.
Don’t forget tomorrow’s litchat with our first author guest host: Eric Barnes. His novel SHIMMER will be released by Unbridled Books in June. Get to know him in advance here.
If you are an author, agent, editor or other publishing professional who would like to connect to readers through LitChat, please email us at twitchat }at{ gmail.com.
LitChat Topic of the Week: Current Events in Fiction March 2, 2009
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Eric Barnes, author of SHIMMER (Unbridled Books, June 2009) Photo by Brad Johnson
Monday and Wednesday’s litchats will feature discussions about books that strike an uncanny resemblance to the news of the day, current events, trends, politics, lifestyle.
Friday we welcome our first guest author host, Eric Barnes, whose debut novel, Shimmer (Unbridled Books, June 2009) is a perfect example of a novel with an uncanny resemblance to current events.
From Eric’s website: Shimmer is a dark, sometimes comic novel about Robbie Case, CEO of a high-tech company in New York that is secretly built on a lie. Shimmer follows Robbie’s efforts to undo the financial and technical Ponzi scheme he has constructed, with Robbie struggling to protect the people and friends who work for him and to fight the fear that he might finally need — or want — to let the company collapse.
Sound familiar? Visit Eric’s website to read more about Shimmer and other real-world tie-ins, such as the recently crumbled Bernie Madoff ponzi empire.
If you have questions for Eric, feel free to post them in advance here and we’ll feed them to him on Friday during the litchat.
If you are an author and would like to host a litchat, please send us a DM through Twitter.
If you would like to suggest topics for litchats, we’re listening. Post them here or send us a DM.
