Friday, June 12, 2015

Celebrate: Bird Box Fangirling & Lots of Giveaways!

On Facebook this week, I stumbled on an author I know and admire commenting on a friend's post.  It took me a while to work up the courage to "Send Friend Request." Then I held my breath -- and the next day he accepted!!


There may have been some Fangirling.


The author is Josh Malerman and here's his book (which has 12,700+ rates on Goodreads):

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it's time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat--blindfolded--with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

Interweaving past and present, Bird Box is a snapshot of a world unraveled that will have you racing to the final page.

This book was awesome!  And I'm super picky about horror reads.  It takes a lot to make me enthusiastic.  (I haven't even been able to get through any King or Koontz novels in the past year.)  But this book has an original premise, is exciting, dramatic, and scary, and I loved it!!

What have you "fan-girled" about?

A grateful shout out to Celebrate's own Angela Yuriko Smith of DandiFluff blog for her awesome review of my novel Soul Cutter: HERE.  Thanks so much, Angela!



My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Katie @ TheCyborgMom
Brief Note:  Katie has decided to step down as co-host starting next week.  She's been doing a great job for a long time, and I'll miss her a lot. So now that leaves L.G. and me -- unless anyone's interested in being a co-host.  It means posting every single Friday and visiting about 20 blogs.  You can email me if you're interested at: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:



 Celebrate the Small ThingsTo be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)



Foxy's Friday Freebies!

Foxy has been nosing around the net
When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Fridays Freebies posts -
  • Free short stories, novellas, and novels
  • Giveaways for books and swag
  • Free services for authors


Here are Foxy's suggestions for June 12, 2015:

Free 5 Novels and $5 Amazon Gift Card – Win 30 SECONDS by Chrys Frey, SOUL CUTTER by Lexa Cain, POP TRAVEL by Tara Tyler, CLOAKED IN FUR by T.F. Walsh, and OF BLOOD AND SORROW by Christine Rains plus a $5 Amazon gift card via T.B.Markinson’s Giveaway Rafflecopter. (ends June 30)

Free 4 Novels – Win THE KEYS OF THE WATCHMAN by Kathleen C. Perrin, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE by M.K. Tod, TAKING THE CROSS by Charles Gibson, and JOURNIES THROUGH FRANCE AND LIFE by Glenda de Vaney via entry form on the France Tours blog. (ends June 30)

Free Contemp Romantic/Suspense eBook – Win an ebook copy of HOPE IN EVERY RAINDROP by Wesley Banks via rafflecopter on Mythical Books blog. (ends June 24)



Free 2 Horror Novels – win ebook copies of UNDERTAKERS: Secret of the Corpse Eaters by Ty Drago and SHADOWS FALL AWAY by Kit Forbes via rafflecopter on Mythical Books blog. (ends June 17)


Free $25 Amazon Gift Card – To celebrate the release of SWEETHEART DEAL (romance) by Allison Morse, she’s giving away a $25 Amazon gift card via rafflecopter on Romance Novel Giveaways blog. (ends June 19)

Free $15 Amazon Gift Card, Choice of any “Clean Teen” eBook, Bookmark Swag pack – To celebrate the release of VANISHING ACT (drama/romance) by Erica Kiefer, she’s giving away a $15 gift card, your choice of eBook from Clean Teen, and bookmark swag via rafflecopter on Mythical Books blog.  (ends June 21)

Free $10 Amazon Gift Card – To celebrate the release of NEEDING HER (romantic suspense) by Allie Everhart, she’s giving away a $10 Amazon gift card via rafflecopter on Mythical Books blog.(ends June 17)


For Foxy's other Freebies, go to the Freebie page.

If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here!  Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

53 comments:

Melancholy and Menace said...

Ooh, I'm adding Bird Box to my reading list!

Have a wonderful weekend, Lexa :)

PlanetKimberly said...

That book sounds so scary and so good! I haven't read books like that in a long time, but I'll add that one to my to-read list. It reminds me of 28 Days Later but with the characters in an even worse situation.

Oh and I know how you feel about being an excited fangirl. When radio host Art Bell accepted my friend request on Facebook I was shocked and excited. It was the same with radio host Dave Shrader on Twitter. Technology is amazing these days in that we can connect with, in our minds, "famous" people. Recently, one of my favorite illustrators accepted my friend request on his private account on Instagram. I was still shocked and excited to get the acceptance even though it has happened to me before with other people whose work I admire.

Yolanda Renée said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yolanda Renée said...

Bird Box sounds terrifying! I'll have to check it out, but darn, I really don't need the nightmares. Love the fangirl stuff, wish someone felt that way about my writing. :)
Wow, so many giveaways, awesome! Wish there was an edit button on these boxes. LOL

T.F. Walsh said...

How very cool... love meeting authors online and they are open to chatting with fans... yay:) The book sounds amazing:)

cheerfuloptimistic said...

I will definitely have to check out Bird Box at some point.

JeffO said...

I haven't fan-girled about anything because, well, you know. "Bird Box" has quite an original premise--I shall have to read it.

Natalie Aguirre said...

It's always great when you can become friends with an author you admire a lot. I really love Jennifer Nielsen's books and have gotten to be friends with her a bit through having her on my blog and raving about her books.

Cathy Kennedy said...

The whole viral, zombie, or alienation take over is hugely popular and while I have yet to get into the zombie cult phenomena, I do like flicks about strange viruses or life after an alien attack. Bird Box sounds riveting. Good book review!

Meet my grandparents part IV #FlashbackFriday

Cathrina Constantine said...

I've heard about the Bird Box!! And I know what you mean about friending someone like that. I sent a friend request to Terry Brooks on Goodreads, and he accepted!! And Beth Hoffman who seems very nice. Many famous authors don't even let you friend request on GR, only Fan them.

Unknown said...

Think I'm going to like that book. The scarier, the better.

Leandra Wallace said...

Rowing down a river blindfolded? That's an awesome premise! I'd really like to read this, but oh, I'm such a chicken! =)

Tonja Drecker said...

Bird Box sounds creepy! Maybe I'll swallow down the chicken in me and give it a read.
Congrats to the follow back! That is awesome...and yep, we all need to play fan-girl every now and then. It's good for the soul.

Blogoratti said...

Looks like a good read that one. I like the creepy stuff.

Mere Joyce said...

Oh, thanks for reminding me of this book! I heard about a while ago, and thought it sounded really interesting.

Dianne K. Salerni said...

I fangirled over having my friendship request accepted by CJ Cherryh, my number one favorite science fiction/fantasy author when I was in high school. Sure, I'm one of thousands and she doesn't know who I am, but I wish I could go back and tell my high school self that I'm "Facebook friends" with her. LOL.

Unknown said...

aw I love it!! such a great feeling when you're super nervous and then the person you admire goes and accepts the request or follows you back :) I fan girl constantly...I've gotten so many celeb tweets over the years and I screech like a tween every time lol

shelly said...

The book sounds great! Thanks for sharing.

Birgit said...

This book does sound scary. Reminds me of Pandora's box or Medusa. Glad the author accepted. I can't recall when I went goo-goo over someone but I am not on twitter or anything like that so I have no story.

stephen Hayes said...

Bird Box sounds intriguing.

Laura Clipson said...

Oh wow, that sounds like a spooky book! An interesting idea, though. Have a great weekend :)

L.G. Keltner said...

I'll miss Katie as co-host, but I understand that she needs to focus on other things. I love those fangirling moments too!

Have a great weekend!

Kate Larkindale said...

Oooh! That sounds like a creepy story! I'm adding it to my TBR pile now.

Suzanne Furness said...

Sounds like an interesting read. Thanks to Katie for her excellent co-hosting.

messymimi said...

It's nice to have Facebook friends, isn't it?

Sherry Ellis said...

Sounds like an awesome read for those who like horror books!

Sherry Ellis said...

Sounds like an awesome read for those who like horror books!

Anonymous said...

How exciting to have a well-known author accept your friend request! I'd be fangirling, too. Bird Box sounds really creepy. It would probably give me nightmares. Have a great weekend!

Tyrean Martinson said...

It's awesome to read a really satisfying book, and even better to meet the author! Great celebrations!

I'm going to miss Katie, too.

Tanya Miranda said...

My sensibilities can't take horror. I'll loose sleep for days. Just to give you an idea, I lost sleep for almost a week when I saw The Blair Witch Project when it first came out and everyone thought it was a real documentary. I'm that chicken.

But cool that you got fb-friended back. That's one classy guy.

Patricia said...

Though Bird Box sounds fascinating it also sounds too scary for me. I can watch scary movies but rarely do but scary books, no. Maybe if I had a big dog to make me feel safe but as it is my two cats are real scaredy-cats and no good at making me feel protected and safe.

Anonymous said...

His book looks amazing. I've fangirled meeting authors online and in person.

kimlajevardi.com said...

I've heard good things about his book. I met his agent at a conference a couple of years ago, and she raved about it as a typically non-horror fan. If he can convert even non-horror readers, then he's definitely doing something right.

Wow! to all the free stuff. Foxy uncovered a gold mine this week.

Julia Thorley said...

I shall have to check out this book - a new author to me.

TheCyborgMom said...

Thanks for the kind words Lexa! How cool that you are now fb friends with an author that you admire...woot! Enjoy your weekend and I'll see ya around!

Unknown said...

Thanks, Lexa, I've had a website for a long time, but felt that I was duplicating everything on blogger. Don't know whether I can combine the two, spending so much time looking after my husband that anything else... :0)

Ava Quinn said...

Congratulations on the great review! Looks like some great giveaways--including yours! :)

Beverly Stowe McClure said...

Wonderful review of Soul Cutter. It sure makes a writer feel good to read something like that.
I haven't heard of this book, but it sounds interesting.
I don't guess I've fangirled about anyone. Have to think on that one. :)

Rhonda Albom said...

I haven't read horror in years, if a good scary novel like this one sounds to be, it gives me nightmares.

Nas said...

I will definitely check out Bird Box. Thanks for the intro.

Nas said...

Bird Box sounds chilling and thrilling! I'm adding it to my reading list.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Hey, you never know until you ask!

Kelley said...

Yay connecting with an awesome author! Go you!
Thanks for the note on my splash box not working properly. I updated the plugin, so I hope it functions properly, now.
Hope all is well with you!

TBM said...

I read Bird Box a few months ago and I agree with you, it did feel fresh. How cool you two are friends now :)

Bish Denham said...

I fangirled all over the place when David Crosby favorited, retweeted and replied to one of my tweets about seeing him preform!

Kimberly said...

OMGoodness, you've hooked me on Bird Box! I don't normally read horror but this sounds awesome!

Unknown said...

Bird Box sounds super scary and I love horror books and movies. This book even sounds like it could be on the big screen.
Good for you friending him, Lexa! And look at that! He accepted! Makes me wonder whether or not I should give it a try toward my idols, lol.

Julie Flanders said...

Oooh this book sounds SO good! I'm adding it to my list now. How fun that you got to have a fangirl moment. :)

Denise Covey said...

Josh's book sounds amazing! Lovely fangirl moment. Glad it worked out! :-)

Loni Townsend said...

That's so cool that you got to friend someone you admire. He sounds like a writer I should check out!

Crystal Collier said...

LOL! I really don't do the fan-girl thing, but I think it's awesome when people do. Bird Box sounds fabulous. Don't you just love when a book really reaches out and grabs you?

Shah Wharton said...

Based on the fact that I love your writing and we seem to love the same stories, I'm off to get me some Bird Box. :)

I'm off to read Soul Cutter's review (and dammit, before I forget, I'm off to review it too!).

shahwharton.com

Heather R. Holden said...

Don't think I've heard of Josh Malerman before, but wow, Bird Box sounds amazing. No wonder you fangirled when he accepted your friend request!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...