Stacia Kane

Oh, geez, I just realized I didn’t update my home page yesterday. Duh. To be honest I was staying away from the net a bit–still am–in an attempt to lighten my release-day panic. Did it help? Maybe. Maybe not. I do know that I’ve spent several more hours now scrubbing the hallway floor with bleach–pretty much straight bleach–and it’s working. Slowly. Like, I scrub, and I let it sit, and I scrub and I let it sit, etc. etc. for a few hours, and when I wipe it clean it looks pretty good. Sigh.

Also, we had some fun with the oven yesterday! It’s a really cool old-fashioned gas oven. Like, when you use the oven part there are actually open flames in the back. I would take a picture, except–guess what?–it runs on gas/propane tanks, and they are empty! Which I discovered halfway through cooking out Very First Dinner In The New House–a steak pie. So much for that, and so much for the carrots I was going to roast and the potatoes I was going to boil in watered-down beef stock and serve with coarse salt and a bit of ground rosemary (delicious, btw). We had Chinese instead. They should be replacing the gas tanks today, so here’s hoping. The half-made pie is in the fridge but the half-cooked veg were a loss. Sigh.

My deep fryer arrived, though, which is exciting, and I can’t wait to use it.

But, of course, that’s not the big news of yesterday, is it? The big news is that SACRIFICIAL MAGIC is out there in the world, sinking or swimming on its own. Eek!

Like any anxious author, I’ve been keeping a semi-loose track of my Amazon and B&N rankings. They’re much better than I expected; SM on Kindle is around 500 overall, and in paperback it’s around 2000 (as I write this). For the Nook it’s at 171 overall, which is quite nice. And it’s been in the Top 25 for various Fantasy categories in both paperback and Kindle.

Like I said, it’s nice. It also means nothing, sadly. Nothing at all. A book can have a ranking that high and sell fifty copies. The rankings are nice but don’t exactly signify Runaway Bestseller, either. Amazon rankings are essentially meaningless; they always have been. Which is why you’ll never ever see me running around calling myself a “Bestselling Author” due to Amazon rankings. Is it nice to see? Sure. Does it matter, really? No. Hell, BE A SEX-WRITING STRUMPET has been in the Top 10 for its categories for like the last year. Still doesn’t mean it’s a bestseller or that I am a bestselling author. You get to be a bestselling author when you hit the USA Today list, or the NYT, or Bookscan or one of a few other legit lists. You get to call yourself a New York Times/USAT bestseller when you hit the Top 10 (afaik); if it’s not the Top 10 you’re a “National Bestseller.” Those are the rules, to my knowledge–I mean, they’re not “rules,” like you’ll get punished or something, but they’re general ethical guidelines–and I don’t violate them and am uncomfortable when others do.

So beyond that, let’s look at some stuff around the net!

The lovely Katiebabs is having a giveaway here; go comment!
(NOTE: Uh…okay, I saw Katiebabs’s links to this, and brought it up in a new tab so I could post the link here. But I didn’t actually get time to READ it until now. Wow. I’m overwhelmed. [And no, I had no idea.] Please go show Katie some support by commenting!)

An interview and giveaway at The Readventurer here!

The full text of my chat with Stacey Jay is up here, at Addicted2Heroines!

And how about some reviews? Because we got a bunch of them yesterday, and it’s pretty exciting!

Abigail at All Things Urban Fantasy says:

Everything about the Downside series pulses with paranormal perfection, not the least of which is Downside itself. It’s like New York from Escape from New York overrun with murderous ghosts and deadly magic. Gritty doesn’t begin to describe it. There is a wonderful contrast between the residents of Downside with their slang/dialect way of talking, and the hyper formality of the Church of Real Truth, the ruling entity that protects humanity by magically banishing ghosts. Seriously, everything about this series is so finely nuanced and realistic, frighteningly so in some cases, but always intensely gripping. I can’t wait for my next Chess and Terrible hit when CHASING MAGIC is published on June 26, 2012.

Tori at SmexyBooks gives it an A:

Sacrificial Magic is a force to be reckoned with and only enforces my belief that the Downside series is one of the top urban fantasy series out there to date.

Samantha at Fiction Vixen says:

This book was a rollercoaster. But when is life with Chess not? This series continues to be a must read for me. Terrible continues to rock my world.

5 Stars from Claire’s Book Corner:

As with the earlier books Ms Kane writes a very emotional scene that had me fighting back the tears and wanting to give Chess a big hug as well as a little shake. There aren’t many authors who can make me feel such strong emotions and have me rooting for such a messed up character but Ms Kane excels at this. If you are fans of this series you will not be disappointed and I cannot wait for the fifth book Chasing Magic to be released. I would like to give Sacrificial Magic 5 stars.

From Books to Brighten Your Mood:

What can I say about Stacia Kane, that hasn’t already been said or that will do justice to her work! This author is plainly brilliant and with Sacrificial Magic she just proves that once more! Sacrificial Magic was among my most anticipated titles for this year, and now that I read it, I can positively say that I wasn’t disappointed in the least.

Another 5 Star review, from The Romanceaholic:

Overall, I of course adored it. Chess’ self-hatred and self-sabotage did start to grate on me towards the end, which I admit almost kept it from being a 5-star read, but the ending was absolutely amazing and the setup for the next story has me frothing at the mouth at the thought of having to wait until June to read it, which more than made up for any irritation I might have had with Chess.

An incredibly solid 5/5 Stars.

And 5/5 from My Keeper Shelf:

I have a long held belief that no matter what book I pick up after reading one of Stacia Kane’s books it will not compare in any shape or form to the Downside Ghosts series. … If you’re already a fan of the series you will love Sacrificial Magic. If you have “Terrible Fever” you will love Sacrificial Magic. If you have a soft spot for Chessiebomb the most amazingly flawed female character out there right now you will love Sacrificial Magic. If you’ve never read any of the books and are currently wondering what the hell I’m going on about, go buy the them you will love them. Nothing out there right now compares.

My rating: 5 out of 5 (and then some).

My goodness, it’s almost here! Can you believe it? Because I sure as fuck can’t.

So. I moved house this weekend, from Bedfordshire back to Devon (the hubs works there/here; he’s been commuting for a few months while we waited to see if the position would become permanent, and since it has, here we are). Really not the best weekend to be moving, but what can you do? And it’s actually awesome. In Beds we had a little two-bed flat, a teeny place. I liked it, but it was teeny. This “new” place–and I say “new” because the house is almost two hundred years old, it was built in the 1830s–has four bedrooms, a front room, a dining room, a huge kitchen, a laundry room, one full bathroom and two half-baths. And three fireplaces. It’s pretty incredible. And the best part is that it’s owned by a gentleman my husband works with, so we’re paying very little for it (which is how we’re able to afford it, frankly). Like, we pay £20 more per month for this than we did for that little two-bed flat. So, we–I–feel extremely lucky, which is nice because I could use every bit of luck I can find this week, quite literally. Please luck please.

So, the house is amazing–it even has a front staircase and a back “servants” staircase–but man, is it filthy. FILTHY. Like, filthy to the point that I don’t even know where to start. (I have started, in the kitchen, but you know what I mean.)

Anyway. This explains, basically, why I haven’t been around much this last weekend. (I also don’t have internet, really–the BT guy is here now–so am using a pay-as-you-go dongle from 3. Which I really have to recommend, if you’re in the UK; it’s lovely and fast.) (ETA: The BT guy decided he didn’t feel like actually connecting anything or doing anything, so while the phone was technically switched on, the only working jack is above the front door. No, I am not kidding. He told me I should call an electrician if I actually, you know, want the phone jack somewhere else. He didn’t have any wires/cords with him to even just allow us to plug in the phone somewhere else. Thanks, BT. And it especially sucks because he was kind of cute [not that I'm looking] and seemed so nice. Anyway.)

I do have some pictures of the house, if anyone wants to see them?

SO. Moving on. There are some new reviews, and TWO interviews up with me today! (A reminder, since it’s been a while: All links on my blog open in new windows/tabs.)

An interview at BadAss Book Reviews, where we discuss characters and character flaws, and have a bit of fun.

An interview at Red Hot Books, where we discuss the Chess/Terrible relationship and what’s in store a bit.

Both interviews were a lot of fun to do, and I hope you go read them and comment and ask more questions or whatever.

The lovely ladies at Stellar Four review SACRIFICIAL MAGIC:

Readers of Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts series, let me reassure you: The things you love about the series abound in Kane’s fourth novel, Sacrificial Magic. Terrifying ghosts. Malicious evil-doers. Magic, both pure and vile. That distinctive Downside cant. And — perhaps most importantly for many of us — the crackling, fraught passion between Chess and Terrible.

Cathy at Greyt Thoughts says:

So, to try and sum things up a little bit, Chess’s emotional story, both the romance and the drug addiction, as well as her strength and bravery when it comes to doing her work and defending the people she cares about, adds tremendously to the fact that these books are serious novels with a lot of layers to explore, not just light adventures. They’re still a lot of fun to read, don’t get me wrong. The mysteries are exciting and interesting. It’s not going to depress you, I’m super sensitive to that, I hate dark and depressing books. The balance it terrific, it’s fun, exciting, thoughtful and smart writing with layers that will leave you thinking for a long time to come. I really recommend this book and this series.

Under the Covers gives it five feathers:

Ms. Kane is one of the very few authors that can make me feel a myriad of emotions, all in one book. Sacrificial Magic is no different.

From the amazing writing, to the non stop story and characters that have stolen my heart. Sacrificial Magic will take you on such a ride, I really didn’t want it to end. THAT I CAN GUARANTEE!

Last but certainly not least, Red Hot Books says:

It’s like watching a star explode: It’s beautiful and destructive and you can’t take your eyes off of it. And before I convince you that it’s all heartwrenching sadness, remember that joy and elation I talked about earlier. It’s not all one way or another. This book took my emotions on a roller coaster. When it was over, my heart was in my throat; I felt satisfied and exhausted; and I’m already dying to get back on the ride. If you have never read this series or if you gave up on it early, you are truly missing out. 5 stars.

…I think that’s it for new reviews, and as always if you’ve written one and I haven’t mentioned it, let me know it’s out there!

And tomorrow is release day, and I am panicking.

Eight days until release, can you believe it?!

Okay, lots to cover today. First, I want to direct those of you who missed it yesterday to the fact that SACRIFICIAL MAGIC’s first three chapters are available as a PDF download on the book’s page here on the site!

Next, a few new reviews!

From Vampire Book Club (bolding theirs):

Chess will infuriate you. She will break your heart. She will surprise you. And by the end you’ll be both exhausted and sated. Sacrificial Magic is dark, and brings the requisite Downside craziness of sex, drugs and magic, but it’s also the most introspective of the novels to date. Clever plot twists, character surprises and brutally honest writing make Sacrificial Magic a must read.

From The Bookaholic Cat:

Sacrificial Magic not only great addition to a great series, it is Urban Fantasy at its best. I can’t recommend enough this book and this series in general.

From My Bookish Ways:

The author’s trademark tight plotting and prose are on full display here, and the killer in this one will give you chills (the ghost too *shudder*). This is a watershed book for Chess, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for her in the next book!

(And as always, if you’ve written a review, let me know! I like to give you all credit for the hard work you do.)

Okay, moving on…

Tomorrow I start “officially” participating in the Goodreads Q&A Group! There are already some great discussions happening there, and I’d love to see more, so please do sign up and come chat!

Aaaaaaaand…*drumroll*

Our contest is beginning!

It will officially start tomorrow, Tuesday the 20th, and I have a fantastic prize or two in store. Especially the grand prize, which is this:

And THAT is Chess’s pillbox made into a locket, designed by jewelry designer extraordinaire Janet Cadsawan at Cadsawan Jewelry!

The necklace (including 26″ chain) will retail for $45, and pre-orders will open on the Cadsawan website tomorrow (I believe) and start shipping on SACRIFICIAL MAGIC’s release date.

I hope you all love it–like I do, and of course I hope you all order one, but this is your chance to get one for free.

I’ll be doing a random drawing for one on April 3rd; one week after SM’s release date. (I will also give away two signed copies of SM, so there’ll be three winners in all.)

You can enter as many times as you want, and here’s how:

Have you pre-ordered SACRIFICIAL MAGIC, in any format, from any retailer? Forward your receipt to DownsideArmy AT gmail, and you get 2 entries!
Are you planning to buy SACRIFICIAL MAGIC in the first week of release (since that’s when the contest runs)? Do so, and forward the receipt–either by forwarding the email or scanning the actual paper receipt to the DA address, and that is also 2 entries!
Tweet about the book, using the tag #sacrificialmagic: 1 entry per tweet
Blog about the book: 2 entries
Mention the book on Facebook*: 1 entry
Change your Facebook avatar/image to SACRIFICIAL MAGIC’s cover: 1 entry per day the avatar is up*
Change your Twitter Avatar/image to SACRIFICIAL MAGIC’s cover: same, 1 entry per day*

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you’re changing your avatars, please @ me, or send me a link, or comment on one of my Facebook posts, so I know you’ve done it! If you’re tweeting/blogging/FBing and also forwarding me receipts, please include your info (as in Twitter handle etc.) so I know who you are and can keep all of your entries in one place (i.e. if I get a receipt from Jane Doe but Jane tweets as BookLover, I don’t necessarily know you’re the same person)! If you blog about the book please send me a link, or @ me with it or use the tag. I don’t want anyone to miss out on entries. Once I know you’ve changed your av I’ll check your link every day, so you don’t need to update me, but I do need to know you’ve done it.

This contest is WORLDWIDE, although do keep in mind that SM won’t be released in the UK/IRE/AU until May and I’ll be doing another contest at that point, so…

Aaaand, I guess that’s it. I think that’s all I have for today. So:

Reviews!
Q & A Group!
JEWELRY!
CONTEST!

ONLY ONE WEEK TO GO!! EEK!

Whee!

A while ago I found out that the lovely people at Random House were planning to offer UNHOLY GHOSTS at a special promotional price. VERY exciting. I didn’t want to say anything about it because we hadn’t set on a specific date or anything, but now that’s it happening I can shout it from the rooftops (and if you all would help me do so, I’d be very grateful).

So, UNHOLY GHOSTS is now available for Kindle AND Nook–and I assume, any number of other ebook sales sites in North America (Random House only publishes me in Canada and the US, so the special price only applies to those territories)–for ONLY NINETY-NINE CENTS.

Yes, NINETY-NINE CENTS.

So if you haven’t read the book, now’s your chance. If you have a hard copy but just got an ereader and are converting your paper library to electronic, now’s your chance (wouldn’t it be cool if you could buy the paperback, and like for an extra buck or two the ebook would be bundled with it?).

If you’re still on the fence, you can download and read the first five chapters for free, just by clicking here: UNHOLY GHOSTS sample.

But wait! There’s MORE!

UNHOLY MAGIC and CITY OF GHOSTS are both also on sale, for $4.99! That’s UNHOLY MAGIC–book 2 in the series–on Kindle and Nook, and CITY OF GHOSTS–Book 3–on Kindle and Nook.

Yes, that means you can download the entire series for eleven dollars.

I’m very excited about this!

In other news, I handed in my “final” version of HOME, the short Downside story I sold to Heroes and Heartbreakers, a couple of days ago (I had a couple of minor changes I wanted to make before it went to the editor there) AND–tah-dah!–handed in my “final” draft of Downside 5, CHASING MAGIC, to my editor at Del Rey. Of course, I know she’ll have edits for it, so the book isn’t “finished” yet, but still. It’s done, and the handed-in version ran 108,000 words. I figure after her edits it’ll be around 110 at least. So, shorter than SACRIFICIAL MAGIC, but long enough that I feel you guys are getting some value for money. And I’m still quite excited about this one; I think it’s pretty fast-paced and exciting, and there’s a whole bunch of twisty-turny stuff happening in Chess’s life, and of course I just really hope you’ll all enjoy it.

So. Go forth and read!

1. I tried to approve a comment this morning that had ended up in my spam folder. It was a comment to my post about Elder Griffin and the commenter had a gay brother, I think? And was also an addict. Please, please re-leave your comment if you’re the one who left it; you and your comment are important to me, and I appreciated your words, and I honestly don’t know why it ended up in my spam folder to begin with but I feel awful about whatever dumb clutzy thing I did that made it disappear.

2. All this talk about short stories has me thinking. And there may be some stuff going on this summer as far as promotions etc. Certainly I have that story in HOME IMPROVEMENT: UNDEAD EDITION which frankly needs no promotion from me at all, given that the other authors in it are actually successful, but I’d like to do something for it and I’d certainly like to have some stuff to offer to piggyback from it a bit, if you know what I mean. I like my story in the antho pretty well–certainly I think it’s the best short I’ve written, but then you all know I’m not crazy about my short stories in general.

But that brings me to another question, actually. I’ve mentioned here that there’s a (very) dark erotica/erotic romance story I want to do. But I also have HOME, the Downside short which would have gone to the MMBO GHOST ROMANCE, (which made me realize earlier that I also have TRUST ME, my short from the MMBO VAMPIRE ROMANCE II, which is now essentially reverted to me–it was a non-exclusive contract after the first year). And I’d really, really like to get some more Downside stuff out there for you guys, and have been considering a few options.

So…

I thought there was a way to do a proper voting poll on WordPress here but I can’t find it. So I’ll just ask and you guys can leave our thoughts in comments or @ me on Twitter or whatever.

I’m having some thoughts re the following short/novella-type projects. Keep in mind that not only do I of course want to do something special for you guys but I’m hoping to do something that might be accessible to those who haven’t read the books, something that might entice them a bit and get the word out? I know there are people who think the series is very successful because of the great reviews it got last summer but really that’s not the case, so I’m working really hard on finding a way to reach a larger audience.

Here are some of the ideas I have in mind; I may actually end up doing all of them, but I’m really interested in what appeals to you:

1. An “origin”-type story for Chess from her Church training

2. UG/UM/CoG from Terrible’s POV

3. ” ” ” from Lex’s POV

4. Some shorter in-continuity stories; nothing you’d have to read to understand/follow later books (I hate that) but, you know, “Further Adventures”-type things (HOME is one of these already)

5. Origin-type stories for other characters (Bump, Terrible, Lex, Edsel, etc.)

What do you guys think?

Anything I don’t have there that you’d really like to see?

Let me know!

1. You all know my pal Jackie Kessler, right? Remember her excellent Jezebel books, the HELL series? Which were total sexy fun. Anyway, Jackie’s releasing a NEW Jezzie story on her blog, in installments! FREE SUCCUBUS STORY! It starts here. You don’t want to miss it!

2. I am guest blogging today over at Marta Acosta’s Vampire Wire, about how I created Chess Putnam and giving a little more insight into what kind of character she is and yes, into her addiction. Come read it and comment! One lucky commenter wins a copy of UNHOLY GHOSTS! (But you’re still going to go buy it, right?)

I actually find I’m discussing the drug use in the book quite a bit these days, and there’s a reason for that, same as the reason why I uploaded the first five chapters of the book here.

Yes, of course I want you to read it and decide you can’t wait to read more, and rush to buy the book on Tuesday or pre-order it now, which you are of course perfectly welcome to do. But I also want to make it clear exactly what the book is, and what you’ll find inside. I don’t want there to be any surprises. The back cover copy tells you very clearly that the book is about a drug addict. That is true. She is. Drugs are used in the book(s), quite a bit. If that’s a problem for you don’t buy the book, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. I don’t want you to buy a book you’re not going to like, or that will upset you or make you uncomfortable! I want you to be happy with it, and enjoy it. So please do be aware. The back cover copy isn’t lying to you. It’s there to tell you what you’ll find inside the book. You should pay attention to it, and that goes for all books, really.

One more thing. Remember how I was going to do a little thank-you giveaway, where if you buy UG I’ll send you the first three chapters of UNHOLY MAGIC? Yeah, I figured what the heck. Why go through all that trouble, for both you and me? Instead I’m just going to go ahead and load those first three chapters onto the site, probably next Friday or Saturday. If you are absolutely dying to get the chapters earlier, go ahead and email me anyway, with your overflowing heartwarming praise for UNHOLY GHOSTS, and I’ll send you the chapters. But it’s not necessary. I want to give you guys a sneak peek, so that’s what I’m going to do.

So come hang out with me at Marta’s!

Oh, and tomorrow I’ll be doing an interview at Wicked Lil Pixie’s blog, so make sure you come by and say hello, because I’m giving away a book there too!