Reserve a Review Copy of Pyxis: The Discovery

Get a review copy! :)

I set up a form for book bloggers to reserve a review copy of Pyxis: The Discovery. It will be released as an eBook sometime in October. I don't have the exact date yet, but if you fill out the form (it's really quick, I promise!), you'll get a copy. I'm aiming to give bloggers early copies, but don't know the ARC date just yet. :)

Click here to go to the request form.

If I've already told you that you're on my list for a review copy, you don't have to fill out the form. If you're not sure, you might want to go ahead and fill it out.


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA Paranormal

Review of HOLLOWLAND by Amanda Hocking

Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

HOLLOWLAND by Amanda Hocking (YA/young adult book)

1-Second Review: RECOMMENDED

10-Second Review:
This is the fifth book by Amanda Hocking I've read, and it's by far my favorite. I liked Remy, the main character, a take-charge heroine fighting zombies and trying to save her little brother. The cast of characters is much more interesting in this book than in the other Hocking books I've read, and the mystery about her brother kept me reading. Amazon says this is the first book in a series, but I haven't been able to find much of anything about a HOLLOWLAND sequel. I'd buy it if it ever gets published.

Book blurb (from Amazon):
Hollowland - the first book in the young adult dystopian series The Hollows.. "This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door." Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.


Find HOLLOWLAND in the Amazon Kindle store and other ebook outlets.

Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA Paranormal

Getting the Most From Twitter (Part 2: How to Find People to Follow)

Over about 6 months, my Twitter followers increased more than 12-fold (from 60ish to over 750), and I gain new followers every day. Plenty of other people have done it faster or gained a lot more followers in that timeframe. But my approach is all about making connections and having fun, and I don't use any aggressive tactics (or any "tactics" at all, really) to try to grow my list of followers. I'm happy with the way it's evolving, so I don't worry about the numbers.

The first thing to know is that if you want to gain followers on Twitter, you must follow others. Unless you're already famous, of course. :) If you're an author, you should be on Twitter trying to connect with readers (current and potential), book bloggers, other writers, people in publishing, etc.

But I know it can be tough, especially at first, to find people to follow. Here are some tips:

1. Leverage Your Other Social Networks
You're on Facebook, right? Go to your friends' pages and look for their Twitter links. Maybe post an update asking for your friends' Twitter handles. If you belong to FB groups, tell them you're trying to get more active on Twitter and ask for their Twitter handles.

Go to the blogs you frequent, look for bloggers' Twitter links, and follow them.

If you spend time on message boards, in Goodreads groups, etc, look for a thread where people have posted their Twitter handles. If there isn't a Twitter thread, start one.

2. Look at Who Your Friends Follow and Talk to
In the stream of updates from the people you follow on Twitter, pay attention to who they're talking to, take a peek at their profiles, and follow some of them; I do this all the time because it's so easy. You can also comb your Twitter friends' follow lists.

Look at your Twitter friends' Follow Friday (#FF) or Writer Wednesday (#WW) tweets. Ask your friends for recommendations. If you have a couple of Twitter friends who are pretty well-established, ask them to tweet a shoutout for you. I've done this a number of times for others, I'll say something along the lines of "Hey friends, book blogger so-and-so is new to Twitter - please follow and say hello!" Plenty of people are willing to help, just ask. And when they do help, don't forget to send out a thank-you tweet.

3. Look for Established Authors, Gurus, and Industry Leaders
If you read about writing, books, and the publishing industry - you are doing that, right? - find the Twitter accounts for people who write about writing, books, and publishing. Follow some of your favorite authors. Twitter is interesting in that it's one of the few platforms where there's a decent chance that someone relatively well-known could see your tweet and respond to you. It's happened to me a few times - nearly always in conversations that have nothing to do with writing or publishing, interestingly - and it's pretty cool.

Missed Part 1: Why I LOVE Twitter? Read it here.

Watch for the next post in the series, Part 3: Why You Need to Be Yourself


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA Paranormal

Read My YA-Aholic Interview!

Book blogger extraordinaire Haley interviewed me over at YA-Aholic.com. Find out which three Pyxis characters are named after real people, what career I'd like to have besides writing, and more.

Here's a little excerpt from the interview: 

What can your readers expect from your upcoming novel Pyxis?

Pyxis: The Discovery is a young adult paranormal book, the first in the Pyxis Series. The main character, 16-year-old Corinne, discovers there are two universes - the waking universe we live in every day, and a universe our minds enter when we're asleep. Her destiny is to protect a weakness between the two universes, to keep evil and harm from cycling between them, but the person who was supposed to teach her everything she needs to do this died unexpectedly. Her friend Mason has a role in all of this, too, and together they search for answers. I don't want to give away too much, but there are some fun paranormal elements to the story - ESP, pyrokinesis, things like that. I think readers will find it a fast-paced read that's full  of mystery. 

Read the full interview >>


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA Paranormal

Review of PORTAL by Imogen Rose

PORTAL by Imogen Rose (YA/young adult book)

1-Second Review: Not Recommended

10-Second Review:
I think the premise for PORTAL has a ton of potential and the author shows some great creativity, but the execution felt very uneven and the story seemed to wander a bit. Many of the characters seemed flat and some of the situations I couldn't quite buy into because they hadn't been properly set up. I was intrigued by the mystery about Arizona's mother's involvement in the time travel/life switching, but ultimately didn't feel there was enough conflict to hold my interest. I'd love to see this book reworked with the help of a really good creative editor.

Book blurb (from Amazon):
Come Find Me Two Years Ago... Six words that propelled ice hockey playing tomboy, Arizona, into an alternate dimension. She suddenly found herself in the past. In one moment she went from being an ice hockey playing teenager in New Jersey to a glamorous cheerleader in California. She found herself transported from a happy life with her dad, Dillard, to a new, strange one living with her mother whom she hates. Apparently it's a life she's always lived in. Everyone knows her as Arizona Darley, but she isn't. She is Arizona Stevens. As she struggles to find answers she is certain of one thing- that her mother Olivia, a brilliant physicist, is somehow responsible.PORTAL is the story of the repercussions of Olivia Darley's attempt at creating a perfect world for herself and her children. Arizona's quest for answers threatens to undermine the seemingly perfect world that her mother has so carefully constructed. PORTAL is the first book of the Portal Chronicles. Fans of time travel, romance, and the supernatural will enjoy Arizona's quest for answers.

Find PORTAL on Amazon in paper and digital formats, and though other online book retailers.

K.C. Neal :: Pyxis Series :: YA Paranormal

Getting the Most From Twitter (Part 1: Why I LOVE Twitter)

This is the first in a series of posts about Twitter. And I'm gonna be honest with you: in this post, I'm basically going on about how much I love Twitter and why. Practical info will come later. :)

How It All Started....
I created my Twitter account in 2009, not totally understanding what I was supposed to do with it. I mostly followed famous people. It was mildly entertaining, but not very engaging because I wasn't interacting with anyone. I found a few interesting non-famous people to follow, but still, it didn't really take off for me. No one I knew IRL was on Twitter.

Fast-forward to February of this year.... I decided I needed to ramp up my Twitter activity because I wanted to publish a novel, and it seemed like I was reading everywhere about how authors needed to be on Twitter, Facebook, etc, for marketing purposes. I had about 60 followers at the end of February 2011, and I knew I needed to change that. So I started finding writers and book bloggers to follow. I talked to them, and some of them talked back. A bunch of them started following me.

Hey, suddenly Twitter was kinda fun!

Followers Became Friends

In the months after I got more involved with Twitter, I became FB friends with many of my Twitter friends, and that just gave us one more way to get to know each other. We followed each other's blogs and reposted or retweeted each other's updates. I've gotten to know some of my online friends well enough that if I'm quiet for a day or two, they wonder where I am and ask if everything is okay. It's pretty cool. :)

Apart from connecting with other writerly and bookish people, I started following some local tweeters - turns out Boise is one of the most active U.S. cities on Twitter - and I've met maybe 20 or so IRL. For someone who normally hates talking to strangers (*raises hand*) and trying to make smalltalk (*raises hand again*), Twitter has been a great prelude because in most cases I've already had some online conversations with tweeps before I meet them for reals. So they're not really strangers.

It's not easy to explain to people who aren't on Twitter, but tweeps' personalities shine through remarkably clearly despite the 140-character limit. A person's sense of humor (or lack of it) somehow gets distilled and focused. And let's face it - you have to be pretty articulate to survive on Twitter.

I Just... Freaking LOVE Twitter
I love every part of the Twitter experience: the pithy updates, fast pace, highly interactive yet low-obligation format... and yeah, the sense of voyeurism you get when "listening in" on a bunch of public conversations.

Back in Feb I had about 60 followers. Now, I have around 700 (I'll talk more about how I gained followers in my next post). I've connected with so many people on Twitter who I'm sure I never would have found otherwise. I started out thinking I'd be using Twitter as a marketing tool, but that's taken a back seat to keeping up with my friends... and just having fun. :)

Read Part 2: How to Find People to Follow on Twitter


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA Paranormal

Review of EXILED by M.R. Merrick

Exiled by M.R. Merrick

EXILED by M.R. Merrick (YA/young adult book)

1-Second Review: RECOMMENDED

10-Second Review:
I love that this book features a male protagonist, which seems somewhat rare in YA these days. EXILED has elements of urban fantasy earlier in the story and morphs more into high fantasy later. The characters and their relationships are well-developed and memorable. I liked the wit and play between Rayna, a half-demon, and point-of-view character Chase, a demon hunter exiled from the Circle of hunters. The fantasy elements were really imaginative and fun, and there were a lot of great action sequences. I'm eager to read the next book in the series!

Book blurb (from Amazon):
Chase Williams is a demon hunter in the Circle, or at least he was supposed to be. On his fifteenth birthday, Chase stepped up to the altar to claim his elemental power, but it never came. Elemental magic is passed down to a hunter through the bloodline, but on Chase's birthday, the bloodline stopped. Exiled without the Circle's protection, Chase has spent two years trying to survive a world riddled with half-demons and magic. When he has a run in with a frightened, and seemingly innocent demon, he learns the Circle's agenda has changed: the Circle plans to unlock a portal and unleash pure-blood demons into the world. Vowing to stop them, and knowing he can't do it alone, Chase forms a reluctant alliance with Rayna - a sexy witch with an attitude and a secret. In their attempt to stop them, Chase and Rayna find themselves in the middle of the Circle's plan, leaving one of them to decide what their friendship is worth, and the other's life depending on it.

Find EXILED in the Amazon Kindle store, the Barnes & Noble Nook store, and other ebook outlets.

Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA Paranormal

Unresolved Mysteries

Your endless string of cliffhangers annoyed me!

Cliffhangers can be really annoying. As a reader, they can make me feel manipulated when they're executed with a heavy hand. I don't like feeling manipulated. (Ahem, THE DAVINCI CODE, with your damn cliffhangers every three pages.)

What about the cousin of the cliffhanger, the unresolved mystery? In PYXIS Book 1, I set up several major and minor mysteries throughout the story. I don't resolve hardly any of them in Book 1, and I expect that this will irritate some readers. But I'm gonna do it anyway. :)

How do you feel about cliffhangers and unresolved mysteries when you're reading?


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA Paranormal

Review of AIREL by Aaron Patterson & Chris White

Airel by Aaron Patterson and Chris White

AIREL by Aaron Patterson & Chris White
(YA/young adult book)

1-second Review: RECOMMENDED

10-Second Review:
Airel weaves together two stories that at first seem completely unrelated. One story is told from the first person point of view of the title character, a modern-day teenager. The other, written in the style of epic fantasy, takes place in a mythological world. This book builds slowly at first, but gains such momentum that the final pages are gripping, and the ending is truly stunning. It was still hitting me days after I finished reading it.

Book blurb (from Amazon):
All Airel ever wanted was to be normal, to disappear into the crowd. But bloodlines can produce surprises, like an incredible ability to heal. Then there’s Michael Alexander, the new guy in school, who is impossibly gorgeous…and captivated by her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she can hear the sound of pages turning, and another, older story being written. It is the story of an ancient family, of great warriors, of the Sword of Light, and the struggle against an evil so terrible, so far-reaching, that it threatens everything. Airel knew change would be an inevitable part of life. But can she hold on when murder and darkness begin to close in and take away everything she loves? Will she have what it takes when the truth is finally revealed?

Find AIREL in the Amazon Kindle store, Barnes & Noble Nook store, and other ebook outlets.

Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA Paranormal