click here to order yourself a copy of Up In Smoke by Katie MacAlister

Katie is giving away a free ARC (advanced reader’s copy) of forthcoming release Up In Smoke (the second silver dragon book).  Contest runs from 2nd July – 2nd August 2008.
How to enter: E-mail to katie@katiemacalister.com with “contest” in the subject line and include the following information:

1. Your name and e-mail address
2. A statement of which hero (mortal or immortal) from one of my books is your favorite, and why you should have exclusive dibs on him over all the other readers who probably wouldn’t kick him out of their respective beds. Your statement can be as short or long as you desire, will not be judged on either grammar or spelling, but the more inventive your reasoning is, the more likely you’ll make Katie giggle. And giggling is good.

You have until midnight 2nd August 2008.  There are ten ARCs to be won and winners will be drawn by 5th August.  You gotta be in it to win it as my mum says!

PS if you are not lucky enough to win a free ARC, why not order a copy for yourself using the above link.  Go on, you know you want to!

Katie MacAlister, author of the Dark Ones vampire series, has a great range of free stuff available to all you fans.

Click on the link to visit her freebies page where you can find a selection of goodies including bookmarks, postcards, temporary tattoos, door hangers, fridge magnets, myspace banners and more!

If you are not familiar with her vampire books, here’s a selection below.

I’m not going to bother with all the awards, but here are some highlights you might be interested in.

BEST CONTEMPORARY & PARANORMAL:

CONTEMPORARY PARANORMAL ROMANCE

TOUCH OF MADNESS
C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp TOR Paranormal Romance (June 2007)

SHAPESHIFTER ROMANCE

HOLY SMOKES
Katie MacAlister Signet (November 2007)

VAMPIRE ROMANCE

LOVER UNBOUND
J.R. Ward Signet (October 2007)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY NOVELS

FANTASY NOVEL

A COMPANION TO WOLVES
Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear Tor (October 2007)

URBAN FANTASY NOVEL

HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE
Jeaniene Frost Avon (November 2007)

URBAN FANTASY PROTAGONIST

Rachel Morgan FOR A FEW DEMONS MORE
Kim Harrison EOS (March 2007)

Visit the Romantic Times awards page to see the full list of winners, but only if you really want to

Katie has a nice list of available podcasts on her site but for our purposes, we are only interested in the vampire ones!

Here’s some info and direct links to listen to the podcasts below. The listing is in series order from book one onwards.

A Girl’s Guide to Vampires Podcast

A behind-the-scenes look at A Girl’s Guide to Vampires, the first Dark Ones novel. Katie discusses the origin of the series, characters, and even a little trivia.

Sex and the Single Vampire Podcast

A behind-the-scenes look at Sex and the Single Vampire, the second Dark Ones novel. Katie discusses the origin of the book, characters, and offers up a little trivia.

Sex Lies and Vampires Podcast

A behind-the-scenes look at Sex, Lies, and Vampires, the third Dark Ones novel. Katie discusses writing imperfect characters.

Even Vampires get the Blues

A behind-the-scenes look at Even Vampires Get the Blues, the fourth Dark Ones novel. Katie discusses the origin of the characters, idea formation, and offers up a little trivia.

Last of the Red Hot Vampires

A behind-the-scenes look at Last of the Red-Hot Vampires, the fifth Dark Ones novel. Katie discusses the origin of the characters, background on certain aspects of the book, and offers up a peek at the idea process.

Podcast Information A podcast is simply an audio or video file that is distributed using syndication feeds, and available for listening on computers and mobile devices such as iPods, cellular phones, etc. You can listen to podcasts via the web, or online podcasting services such as iTunes.

To download a podcast:
[PC users] - right click on the podcast title and select “Save Target As”
[Mac users] - control + click on the podcast title and use the “save” option