Anya Bast

I have one ARC of Witch Blood left. I will give it away, along with a selection of bath goodies and chocolates, to one lucky winner!

A water witch, Isabelle Novak has always led a chaotic, nomadic existence. But her life spins out of control when her sister—her only friend and emotional anchor—is killed by a demon. Driven by grief and a desire for revenge, she turns her back on the Coven and the rede they hold sacred: Harm thee none…

When Isabelle first encounters Thomas Monahan, she’s running on pure rage and sorrow, channeling her pain into power—and trying to freeze the life out of a warlock she holds responsible for her sister’s death. Together, they form an uneasy alliance to hunt and destroy a demon of tremendous power. As head of the Coven, earth witch Thomas must thwart Isabelle’s dark impulses, but his very presence stirs deeper desires she never knew she had…

Have a copy of Witch Blood before anyone else! Here’s your chance.

Witch Blood ARC, bath goodies, candy…not bad, right?

All you have to do is reply to this blog and you’ll be entered in a drawing. I’ll announce the winner on Thursday, February 14th — Valentine’s Day.

If you read this blog, you’ve probably read about my love of movie quotes. So…give me some! In the comments section, please share with me your favorite quote from a movie or TV program. If you don’t watch movies or TV (really?), share your favorite quote no matter the source.

I’m looking forward to reading them!

Note: Please make sure you leave your email address, so I can get in touch with you if you win. Only one entry per person, please. This contest is open to non-US entrants. Enter away!

I have one Witch Blood ARC left and I’m giving it away on this blog soon. Watch for details.

Also, I’m happy to report that Ellora’s Cave accepted a book from me recently! Right now the title is Strands of Sunlight (subject to change). It’s a menage a trois historical fantasy. I can’t wait to share it with you all.

And… LOOK at this gorgeous cover! It’s for the print release of an EC/Pocket book print book, Magical Seductions. It includes my story, Tempted by Two, along with red hot stories from Cathryn Fox, and Mandy Roth. It releases on April 15th, but you can pre-order it from Amazon.com now.

I haven’t been posting much lately because I’m under two deadlines that are getting a bit more pressing. That, and I’ve just been tired and a little overwhelmed by things in general. I saw this post that Patrice Michelle did (and before her Melissa Marr the folks at Fangs, Fur & Fey), and thought it was a cool idea.

Once upon a time I couldn’t write while I listened to music. I’d get too distracted and my productivity would slow. These days I do listen to music, although it has to be down pretty low volume-wise. I even have playlists for my books on my iPod. The music helps me get into the frame of mind I need to be in to write.

So here are six songs I’d associate with Witch Blood. I would say more, talk about specific scenes and such…but that’d push this post into major spoiler land. *g* I could list many more than 6, btw.

1. Black Light Burns — Stop a Bullet
2. The Tea Party — Temptation
3. Moby — Evening Rain
4. Jane Siberry — It Can’t Rain All the Time
5. Evanescence — My Last Breath
6. 12 Stones — Lie to Me

I posted these vids for anyone interested in hearing the songs:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUtYQFppbSY]

Stop a Bullet

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFzQX2i6mwo]

Temptation

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=327gNA2VUsY]

Evening Rain

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNOMQwTdmto&feature=related]

It Can’t Rain All the Time. (Best known from the soundtrack of the movie The Crow)

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juCt-yJPbvg]

My Last Breath

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SalTo8lqres&feature=related]

Lie to Me

In anticipation of the release of Witch Blood on March 4th, I’ve sent out something like 13, 000 book marks to various bookstores, mostly in the U.S. and Australia. It’s my hope that people will pick up one of them, decide the book sounds good and buy it. I’ve bought books in my life that way. That was back when I used to peruse the bookstores in search of fodder for my TBR pile.

These days, since I live far from any bookstore, I mostly decide what to buy through word-of-mouth on the Internet, or by looking at the coming soon lists at Amazon.com (the store where I mostly buy my books).

So, tell me, how do you buy books?

Are you a reader of reviews and decide what you’ll buy from those?

Do you listen to other reader recommendations?

Do you stick pretty much to a set author’s release schedule or branch out and try new authors?

Do you browse the bookstore shelves?

Do you browse the coming soon lists at online book retailers?

Or some combination of the above?

I’d love to know. How to do you decide what books to buy?

The winner from last week’s contest is….PamK!! Congrats, Pam! Can you please drop me an email at anyabast (at) yahoo.com with your mailing address?

For Witch Blood already.

*insert shameless promotion here* Witch releases on March 4th, 2008, but is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and B&N right now.

Witch Blood is a recommended read at Night Owl Romance Reviews.

Tammie says… “Witch Blood is the second in this series, but it can easily standalone. If you read this one first you will automatically want to rush to the store and get the first one, Witch Fire. The characters and world building were phenomenal and any paranormal fan will be guaranteed a Top Pick read. Anya has provided it all in this hot new paranormal series. You get great suspense, vivid characters and a world that just pops off the pages. This book is not too be missed. I’m anxiously awaiting the next book by Anya Bast.”

And Witch Blood recently received five blue ribbons at Romance Junkies (the review has not gone live yet):

Ann says… “WITCH BLOOD is the follow-up to WITCH FIRE and follows Isabelle and Thomas. Isabelle is a real spitfire who is full of anger and energy. As a water witch, she has several unique talents but it is her survival skills that make a difference between life and death. She has a real serious issue with love and trust because the people that should have taken care of her have let her down. With Thomas, she is afraid of taking that next step towards a relationship because she doesn’t think she can stick it through to the end. When things get tough, she has hidden reserves that she is unaware of. It has her rethinking her position on love.

Thomas is fully committed to his people and the Coven. He knows that he must stop the demon before it kills more witches but without knowing its true agenda, the entire Coven is helpless. He is used to being in total control but with Isabelle, he is at a total loss. He can’t make heads or tails of her but knows that the chemistry between them is real. As Thomas, Isabelle and their friends delve deeper into the mystery, they find surprising information and unusual characters that not only shocks them but will certainly ripple into future books. I’ll be curious to see what the future will hold for this Coven and its people.”

Lauren Dane tagged me for this meme.

Seven Random Facts About Me:

1. Winter is my favorite season. I prefer cold to heat and I enjoy snow very much. Although I also love the ocean and prefer the beach for vacations (even though I don’t tan and get heat rash like WOW. I was made for the northern places.)

2. I’m a little bit of a wine snob. I really only drink reds and I prefer they come from the Cote du Rhone.

3. That’s the only kind of snob I am. I am very friendly and easy to get along with, though I do tend to be very shy and introverted. Normally people have to be persistent in order to make friends with me. Once I do make a real friend, however, I tend to keep them as close friends for a very, very long time. (I still have friends from the second grade)

4. I have an incredibly soft spot for cats. I’m horribly allergic to them (and have asthma), and have been begged by my doctors to not keep any, but I love them enough to put up with the health complications. We have eight, all but one are rescues. They’re worth it to me.

5. My favorite poet is Charles Simic. He rocks the Casbah.

6. I am a Zen Buddhist in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. It’s a daily effort for me to stay on that path. Some days I do better than others, but I’m always trying.

7. I lived in the south of France for six months after I graduated high school (see wine snob). Years later I met and married a French-speaking Belgian man. I do also speak French (I wouldn’t say fluently, but I get along all right) and I translate French as part of my day job (which, yes, I still have).

I just got another shipment of Witch Blood book marks in. If you’d like one, send your address to me via the contact form on the web site. 😉

I think I will limit this to U.S. only, though, just because it gets really expensive for me to send stuff overseas. My contests are always open to everyone, but I’m going to limit this offer.

I grew up in Minnesota and moved to Kentucky when I was 18. I’ve been in Kentucky now for, well, more years than I would like to say. 😉 The accents in these two places are pretty different. When I moved down here I had a hella Minnesotan accent. Now I have a bit of a Kentucky drawl to my words. But mostly I fall somewhere in between the two accents, saying some words (like ‘bag,’ for example) Minnesotan-style and other words (like ‘hi’ and ‘bye’) Kentuckian. If I’m talking to a Minnesotan, my accent will become more like theirs. If I’m talking to a countryish Kentuckian (the accents around and in Louisville aren’t that thick), I speak more like them.

I’m a little bit of an accent chameleon, I guess.

But sometimes I run into people here that show me that I’ve never truly grown a good ear for the Kentucky accent. Here’s a little case in point.

Last night on my way home from the day job, I stopped at a small country store to buy some pet food. I live in horse country and this was a horse/farm type of place. They were moving stuff around or moving in or out, or I don’t know what. In any case, the store was in disarray. I asked the man where the specific cat food I wanted was and he says (much to my surprise)….

“It’s over there sitting on that slab of semen.” He jerks his head toward a pile of horse blankets and other things and goes back to his box.

I stand, head cocked to the side, blinking. Semen? There’s semen here? Wait…there’s a whole SLAB of SEMEN??!!

“Uhm?” I start to say, eyebrows raising. “Where’s the s–s–slab?”

He turned to me and points at the pile of horse blankets again. “Over there.”

I walked around and find a slab of CEMENT upon which rest the cans of cat food I seek.

Oh.

Cement, not semen. I am relieved. The guy had pronounced cement like SEE-meant, only he’d dropped the ‘t’ or I hadn’t heard it because he’d already been turning back around to his box.

I say sa-MEANT, he says SEE-ment.

Yeah.

I’m always struck at how on some days I am only able to write 500 words and some days I can write 5k. Yesterday was a good day, I wrote about 3k. Since I have deadlines looming, that’s a positive thing. I am well over halfway done with Witch Heart and I’m in that place where things are zipping along because I’m gathering momentum toward the climax. It’s a good place to be.

We just had some renovations done to our living room. In the process, we had to move the BAJILLION books I own. I’m actually not much of a pack rat, so I’ve decided to get rid of over half my books to make the house a bit lighter. I’m giving most of them away to the local women’s shelter, but I definitely have some to spare for a contest or two. I have everything from Linda Howard to Kresley Cole to Jacquelyn Carey. SO…I can’t guarantee what books you’ll get, but if you leave a comment you’ll be entered to win a mail sack full of used paperbacks. Kind of like a readerly grab bag. You can comment about anything you want, from what you’re doing this weekend, to what you’re reading right now, to whether or not YOU’RE a pack rat. 😉

I just sent out a bunch of stuff, btw, so if you’re waiting on a prize from me it’ll probably be there within the next couple days.

Lastly, Jacquelyn Frank is holding a day-long party today to celebrate the release of Elijah and I’m hosting from 12-1pm (eastern). If you can, stop on by and say hi! I’ll be doing some contests for prizes and stuff. The chat room is HERE.

My TBR pile is getting awwwwwfully short. Anyone read anything good lately? I am looking for recs in urban fantasy, horror or SF. Oh, and fantasy. I do love me some fantasy. I’m not a huge romance reader right now, (although a paranormal rec or two would not go unappreciated). Because I write it, I don’t usually read it. Doesn’t mean I don’t LOVE it, just means I’m already immersed in the genre 24/7 and need for my leisurely reading to take my mind elsewhere. Also, I’m NOT into reality very much. 😉 Give me something fantastic.

Small press recs or mass market recs would be best. No ebooks ONLY because my ebook reader just broke (wah!) and I usually read in bed. I spend all day on the computer and don’t want to read there too. I will be replacing my ebook reader soon because I’m normally a huge ebook fan. But if it’s an ebook-to-print book, that’d be fine! I’m thinking of buying a kindle, btw, but only if I can get small press ebooks on it. I still need to find out.

Anyone got any suggestions for me?

Right now I’m reading the fourth Lilith Saint Crow, Saint City Sinners. I’m also reading The Gypsies Stole My Tequila, by Adrienne Jones.