New Book Club With Benefits

Pure. Fiction.

Astraea Press has started a new book club on Facebook you will want to join. Why? For a two week period at the beginning of each month, Astraea Press will offer ONE free e-book to readers to read and enjoy 🙂 At the end of the month you can come back for a chat with other readers and the author. Readers are encouraged to post a reader review on Amazon, B&N and/or Goodreads with their thoughts on the book 🙂  There will also be the opportunity to win author swag!  You really don’t want to miss out.

The fun starts in June, and you must join the group HERE to be eligible to receive the book.  The very first free read will be…Come on over to Facebook and join the fun.

~ S.G. Rogers

Uncle John’s Flush Fiction G*I*V*E*A*W*A*Y

UPDATE:  Using Random.org I’ve picked a winner!  Congratulations, Angie!

I’ll admit it, I’m flushed with success.  One of my flash fiction gems has found its way into the one and only Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader series.  Uncle John’s newest throne room publication is entitled Flush Fiction, and it’s jam-packed with all sorts of short stories designed to be read sitting down.  88 different stories, in such genres as mystery, nostalgia, monsters, science fiction and (in my case) humor.  What’s The Not-So-Ancient Chinese Proverb about, you might ask?  It’s about 1,000 words. *winks*

Wanna win your very own paperback copy? Just leave a comment, below!  I’ll pick a winner Sunday, midnight (EST), May 13th.  Good luck, and may the flush be with you.

~ S.G. Rogers

P.S.  Can’t wait to buy your own copy?  Amazon has it.  BN.com does too.  To learn more about Uncle John’s Bathoom Reader series, visit their website, follow them on Twitter, and find them on Facebook.

P.P.S.  Sorry…this giveaway is limited to the USA only. 😦

No Blarney Fairytale G*i*v*e*a*w*a*y Weekend

UPDATE: MY WINNER IS…MOLLY!

If your Irish eyes are smiling, you just might find a pot of gold right here at Child of Yden. To win a copy of my fairytale romance The Magical Misperception of Meridian, in any digital format, please add it to your to-read list on Goodreads HERE, and leave a comment below.  I’ll pick a winner Sunday night at midnight, EST (USA). Good luck! ~ S.G. Rogers

The Magical Misperception of Meridian

Back Cover Blurb:  Railing against convention in the kingdom of Meridian, Jona thinks a girl should be able to wear trousers, fight like a boy when necessary, and marry whomever she pleases. She happens upon the queen’s nephew, Lee, who stammers and cannot speak to girls at all…that is, until he meets Jona.

When the queen hires Jona to help her nephew acquire proper social graces, Jona experiences a blissful summer of pure enchantment. Jona and Lee learn to dance, perfect the art of polite conversation, and discover which fork to use at the dinner table. Although they become best friends, Queen Gaia considers Jona a mere servant. At summer’s end, Jona’s job in Meridian is done.

Lee and Jona keep in contact through a set of magical mailboxes given to Lee by the Wizard Farland. When the friends are finally reunited after ten years, their budding romance is torn asunder by an edict from the queen. Against impossible odds, Jona and Lee will fight for an uncertain future. But unspoken secrets and mysteries long in the making have yet to be revealed.

Will true love be denied…or can the differences between commoners and royalty be shown to be just a matter of magical misperception?

Excerpt:

At their first lesson, Jona and Lee kept dissolving into laughter, leaving Mr. Rapp peevish and cross. After an hour of working with them in the castle ballroom, the dance instructor threw up his hands in disgust. “It appears I’m wasting my time,” he snapped. “If you two cannot take this seriously, I shall be forced to inform the queen.”

He stormed out, followed by his mousy pianist. Suddenly Jona and Lee became somber.

“If Mr. Rapp tells The Dragon we aren’t learning to dance, I’ll be sent home,” Jona said.

“I don’t want you to go. We’ll just have to find a way to impress Mr. Rapp.”

That night, after everyone had retired, they sneaked into the ballroom to practice. Lee turned up some of the gas lamps so they wouldn’t trip over each other in the dark.

“I can hardly wait to see Mr. Rapp’s face when he sees us waltz perfectly tomorrow,” Lee
said. “He’ll probably think it’s because he’s a brilliant teacher.”

“Mr. Rapp is an evil sorcerer, you know,” Jona said with a playful wink.

“Evil, you say? What’s the man done now?”

“He transformed a beautiful princess into one of those peach trees in the garden.”

“The black-hearted villain!” Lee exclaimed.

“Each time we perfect a dance, it weakens his wicked spell.”

“I’m all about rescuing damsels, as you know,” Lee said. “Let’s get to it.”

Jona frowned. “It would be easier if we had music.”

“Oh, but we do. The Wizard Farland enchanted the piano in the corner. It’ll play anything
we want.”

Lee patted the instrument. “A waltz, if you please.”

When the instrument responded with a tune played in three-quarters time, Jona clapped her hands in delight. “I do so love magic!”

Buy links: MuseItUp Publishing and Amazon.  Coming soon to BN.com.

To return to the Sweet Saturday Sample Linky List, go HERE

Desperately Seeking Faeries

UPDATE: THE WINNER OF THE DOUBLE GIVEAWAY IS ATOASTTODRAGONS! CONGRATULATIONS AND A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO STOPPED BY TO LEAVE A COMMENT!

I’m welcoming awesome author Jacquie Rogers (no relation!) to my blog today in an author exchange. Not only do we share the same last name, but we’re also both fascinated with faeries and dragons. You can find MY guest post (Got Dragons?) on HER blog HERE.  We’re also giving away digital copies of Faerie Special Romances by Jacquie Rogers and The Last Great Wizard of Yden by S.G. Rogers.  Leave a comment, below, to enter the drawing. The winner will be selected Sunday, March 11th, midnight EST.  Good luck! ~ S.G. Rogers

Finding Faeries by Jacquie Rogers

(author of Faery Special Romances & Faery Merry Christmas)

We storytellers have lots of choices when it comes to picking faery lore. Depending on when and where the story is set, the Fae World can differ drastically: Norse, Irish, Scottish, Bavarian, French . . . each pre-Christian region and era developed its own belief system. Faery lore has only one universal truth: Tinkerbell is an invention of L. Frank Baum and Disney.

I found several sites that helped tremendously when I was building my world for Faery Special Romances. Maybe you will find these sites interesting, too.

Here’s one of my favorite starting-off sites, Faerie at Monstrous.com. Not only is there an image gallery and links to other great sites, you can also find brief essays on these topics:

• Existence of faeries
• Definition of faeries
• Description of faeries
• Faeries across history and cultures
• Organization of faeries

. . . you get the picture. Lots of info (although not in-depth) on this site.

Here’s a faery good site: The Fae. You’ll find a terrific recap of general Fae history, and then links to other pages, which get more specific. For instance, there’s a listing of the various categories of faeries, from Pixies to Goblins. Another site, pjentoft.com, has a couple pages of Faery Herbs and Charms. Browse around and you’ll find all kinds of good stuff on this website.

For instance, you could find out (like I just did) that faeries didn’t get wings until the Elizabethan period. Oh well, my medieval faeries have wings. I made them up so I can give them wings if I want to. (That’s what’s so great about being a writer—you can create any world, and populate it with anything you want to!)

The Faery Crossing is a beautiful site, and can give you pointers on such things as “The Care and Feeding of Faeries.” You might want to head straight for A Compendium of Faery Folke, where you’ll find very nice listing of all types of Fae from A to Z. Here’s a sample: “Gean-canach: Ireland. “Love-Talker”; a solitary faery who personifies love and idleness. He appears with a dudeen (pipe) in his mouth. It is very unlucky to meet him.” (Check out this dude on other sites—he’s known for seducing young women.)

When I first began gathering information to create my faery world, I soon realized that many of the internet sites combine the old mythologies with the contemporary. Even though the new are based on the myths of, say, the Tuatha de Danann, be aware of modern influences.  Lots of gaming sites add their own nuances to the myths.

All these sites help, but as a writer or a reader, you can imagine faeries any way you want.  I mixed mythologies from at least five regions, including Russia and Africa, to create my faeries.  The Norse, Celtic, and Gaelic traditions are strongest in the USA, but other regions have faeries and elementals just as intriguing.

I hope you have a faery good time surfing the ‘net! If you find some good sites, please let me know!

~ Jacquie Rogers

♥ ♥ ♥

Jacquie Rogers is the author of the popular western historical romance series, Hearts of Owyhee (Much Ado About Marshals, Much Ado About Madams); a contemporary western, Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues; and two faery fantasy romances, Faery Special Romances and Faery Merry Christmas.  She lives in Seattle, loves baseball, cooks up a storm (but hates doing dishes), but is utterly hopeless at singing or drawing.

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