Heather McCorkle Archives ⋆ Be the Cat

Cover Reveal: To Ride A Púca by Heather McCorkle

Liana Gardner — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:00:28 +0000

One of the most exciting events during the road to publication for an author is the cover reveal. We’ve toiled over the words for what seems like half a lifetime, and it is finally time to put a face to our work. A graphical representation for the reader to convey a flavor of what will be found inside. It’s exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. Books are judged by their covers and the cover could mean the difference between a potential reader scooping it off the shelf (or clicking to read the sample) or leaving it behind to languish and gather dust.

Some authors have a say in the cover and others do not and it is the first measure of acceptance or rejection for the novel when the cover is revealed. So we are all nervous and excited when our baby is shown off to the public for the first time. Today I’m delighted to help Heather McCorkle share her fab cover for To Ride a Púca with the world. And I, for one, think the cover nails it… especially when you know a Púca is one of the most feared and mischievous of all the faeries in Ireland. It is a changeling who appears in many guises, the most common form is a sleek black horse…

So take it away, Heather!

Heather: I’m so excited to share the cover of my young adult historical fantasy novel, To Ride A Púca, with you. I’ve been waiting for so long to reveal the news and the cover that it’s been driving me crazy! This novel is special to me, as many of you know, because it felt like my heart and soul has gone into it. It isn’t a part of the channeler series, though it is a tie-in novel as it’s about one of Eren’s ancestors. This is a stand alone of a very different flavor and I hope you love it as much as I do.

Here is a bit about it:

Invaders are coming to take what isn’t theirs, again.

Neala wants to stand and fight for her homeland, but as one of the last druids, she may be standing alone.

Persecuted, hunted down, forced to live in obscurity, the druids have all but given up. Can the determination of a girl who has barely come into her power bring them together? Or, just when she finally finds her place among her kind, will they end up losing a homeland their very magic is tied to?

This novel is intended for mature teens and adults as it contains some difficult subject matter.

I had to throw that warning in because I had one person who was disturbed by some of the subject matter in The Secret Of Spruce Knoll. To Ride A Púca is a much darker novel than Spruce Knoll and will certainly not be appropriate for some readers. Slavery, oppression, and violent situations are within this novel. It certainly falls under the dark YA catagory. But it is also about hope, love, and belonging. It releases this May! To add this novel to your Goodreads lists click here. To pre-order a signed hardback (to ship at the end of May), click here.

The post Cover Reveal: To Ride A Púca by Heather McCorkle appeared first on Be the Cat.

Winners of the Tattered Blog Tour

Liana Gardner — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:02:35 +0000

I had a blast on the Tattered tour, and I think those who made it through all of the stops had a great time too. But now it has come to an end. After the holidays, I’m going to come up with some more promotional things to help get the word out about Tattered, but until then, I hope you visit all the stops, even though the prizes are gone and learn more about Katie McCabe and other characters in Tattered!!

Now it’s time to announce the winners of the prizes along with the winner of the grand prize, the Kindle Fire.

December 1st Winner: Michelle S. – Griffie World is where it started. Swag: A paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Can’t Catch Me and Other Twice-Told Tales by Michael Cadnum.
December 2nd Winner: Fiery Na – The Global Citizen – home on the web to Juliette Terzieff The winner will receive a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Prince of Wolves by Dave Gross
December 3rd Winner: Tanya – We’ll unravel secrets with Heather McCorkle The winner will receive a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle
December 4th Winner: Daria – Fly on over to Eisley Jacobs’ site where the winner will receive a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Born to Be a Dragon by Eisley Jacobs
December 5th Winner: Shannon – We’ll open the door to a new world with Christine Fonseca and the winner will take away a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans
December 6th Winner: Ellie – We’ll be hanging out with Julia Swank, the YA Book Diva and giving away a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with a copy of her mama’s book Here by Denise Grover Swank
December 7th Winner: Maddy – Get ready for the snark with the Snarktastic Ramblings of Rhonda Cowsert and winner walks away with a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Hammer by K. J. Parker AND an ARC of Tattered.
December 8th Winner: Iona -Head out for the party that is Katelyn Torrey’s blog. Put on your dancing shoes, and the winner waltzed away with a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Stoneholding by James G. Anderson and Mark Sebanc AND an ARC of Tattered.
December 9th Winner: Racheal – Find out if Molly Hacker is Too Picky! with Lisette Brodey and the winner picks up a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Squalor, New Mexico by Lisette Brodey AND an ARC of Tattered.
December 10th Winner: Gabi – Check out a review or two on the LL Book Review. Winner receives a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Mayan December by Brenda Cooper AND an ARC of Tattered.
December 11th Winner: Ellechim – Make a difference with Carolina Valdez Miller and get your chance to win a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Prophecy of Zephyrus by G. A. Hesse AND an ARC of Tattered.

And now the moment you’ve been waiting for… the winner of the Kindle Fire!

ELLIE M.

Congratulations Ellie!! It was a pleasure to have you on the tour and have you get to know Katie McCabe and the other characters in Tattered!

And for validation, all winners were selected with the help of Random.org. Below is the Kindle Fire selection list.

The post Winners of the Tattered Blog Tour appeared first on Be the Cat.

Spruce Knoll Endangered Species Tour

Liana Gardner — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:00:23 +0000

Some of you may recall the Tour of Secrets in August to celebrate the launch of Heather McCorkle’s novel, The Secret of Spruce Knoll, well, she’s at it again.

A special edition of Heather McCorkle’s The Secret Of Spruce Knoll is releasing from Compass Press this month and she’s doing a special tour to go along with it. The special part, a percentage of the proceeds from every special edition sold (in every format) between its release date and 12-12-2012, will go toward Heather’s favorite charity that protects endangered species. Her goal is to make at least $10,000 for the charity.

Of course there are prizes during the tour which goes from December 1st through the 17th. Prizes include a symbolic endangered species adoption of the winner’s choice (a $50 donation by Heather to the charity for the endangered species of the winner’s choice, and cute stuffed animal for the winner!), signed copies of her novels and great swag. For full details, and to enter, go here. http://heathermccorkle.blogspot.com

For the tour Heather has asked each blog host to pick their favorite endangered species and she will tell us a fun or interesting fact about that animal. And I selected the arctic fox — who could resist this little guy?

Heather: The arctic fox has such amazing hearing that it can actually hear its prey beneath the snow. Sadly, they are losing their territory to the larger red fox, which is now unchecked due to the fact that their major predator, the gray wolf, has been hunted near to extinction in the arctic.

Where can you get one of these special edition books which will help protect endangered species? Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Just click the links. Go ahead, you know you want to.

The post Spruce Knoll Endangered Species Tour appeared first on Be the Cat.

Tattered Blog Tour

Liana Gardner — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:01:12 +0000

eBooks, Free Books, and a grand prize of a Kindle Fire.

Everyone is a winner! I’m so happy about the release of Tattered, I’m giving away copies of the first book in the series, Misfit McCabe and everyone can get the ebook version FREE! Here’s how to win:

For the daily prizes on each stop on the tour comment on the post of the day to be entered for the daily prize
To get a free ebook copy of Misfit McCabe:

Put together the puzzle and write down the code. Each day will give another part of the coupon code. Please note at the top whether it is for eBook or Print.
Once you have collected the entire code, go to Smashwords and purchase Misfit McCabe input the code and download whichever ebook version you need for free.

To get 50% off the print version of Misfit McCabe:

Put together the puzzle and write down the code. Each day will give another part of the coupon code. Please note at the top whether it is for eBook or Print.
Once you have collected the entire code, go to Griffie World Store and purchase Misfit McCabe input the code and receive 50% off the purchase price.

To win the KINDLE FIRE

Support this tour by commenting on each of the daily stops — It’s only 11 days, not even as long as the 12 days of Christmas.
And since each of the hosts was nice enough to help me promote my new book, honor their request on their post to follow, subscribe, tweet, etc.
And if you’re under 18 and would like to enter, but don’t have Facebook or Twitter, etc. if you have a friend comment on the posts saying that you sent them, we’ll consider that your entry for the Grand Prize. One friend for each stop (and they can enter too and bring all of their friends to the party).

But enough of that… let’s get down to what this post is about — Tattered!

What do Sunday afternoon court proceedings, cheerleader tryouts, and a book burning have in common? Katie McCabe is back in action.

After her nemesis Harvey is found guilty and sentenced to community service, Katie wants to believe her troubles are over, but Harvey won’t rest until he gets revenge. When blackmail rears its ugly head, she’s caught between friends and enemies putting her growing relationship with Tom at stake. Books go up in flames and Katie’s world rains down in tatters.

Each of the stops along the way will introduce you to the characters you will find in Tattered and Katie is very excited because she will get to do most of the commentary about the people you will meet within the pages. Speaking of which, since today’s puzzle is a picture of Katie, I’d better say a little something about her. Katie is at bottom, a good girl, but she tends to get in a lot of trouble… sometimes through no fault of her own, but usually, she has a hand in it. She is impulsive, has a good sense of humor, is loyal to her friends, and has a good heart. Her main goal? To figure out this thing called life. But you’ll get to know a lot more about her during the tour. Now for the stops:

**Note** All winners must have a US or Canada mailing address — but comments from all countries are welcome.

Tour Stops

December 1st – You found it… here is where it all starts. Today’s swag: A paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Can’t Catch Me and Other Twice-Told Tales by Michael Cadnum. For Kindle entry, please Like my Misfit McCabe page on Facebook (link in the sidebar to the right)
December 2nd – The Global Citizen – home on the web to Juliette Terzieff The daily winner will receive a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Prince of Wolves by Dave Gross
December 3rd – We’ll unravel secrets with Heather McCorkle The daily winner will receive a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle
December 4th – Fly on over to Eisley Jacobs’ site where the daily winner will receive a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Born to Be a Dragon by Eisley Jacobs
December 5th – We’ll open the door to a new world with Christine Fonseca and the winner will take away a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans
December 6th – We’ll be hanging out with Julia Swank, the YA Book Diva and giving away a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with a copy of her mama’s book Here by Denise Grover Swank
December 7th – Get ready for the snark with the Snarktastic Ramblings of Rhonda Cowsert and you might walk away with a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Hammer by K. J. Parker AND an ARC of Tattered.
December 8th -Head out for the party that is Katelyn Torrey’s blog. Put on your dancing shoes, comment and waltz away with a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Stoneholding by James G. Anderson and Mark Sebanc AND an ARC of Tattered.
December 9th – Find out if Molly Hacker is Too Picky! with Lisette Brodey and pick up a chance to win a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Squalor, New Mexico by Lisette Brodey AND an ARC of Tattered.
December 10th – Check out a review or two on the LL Book Review. Comment to win a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Mayan December by Brenda Cooper AND an ARC of Tattered.
December 11th – Make a difference with Carolina Valdez Miller and get your chance to win a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Prophecy of Zephyrus by G. A. Hesse AND an ARC of Tattered.

If the puzzle does not load correctly, please refresh your browser and it should display correctly.

provided by flash-gear.com

The post Tattered Blog Tour appeared first on Be the Cat.

Tour of Secrets Contest

Liana Gardner — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:00:57 +0000

I love book releases. There is something special about all of the efforts the author made finally coming together and having them share their inspiration with the world. And the release of a debut novel is even more special. Knowing the writer is finally seeing the end product and is sharing something so intimate with the world for the first time. Because the book writing process is an intimate one and I know from personal experience, the blood, sweat, and tears that go into the process. That’s why I’m especially glad to be able to participate in The Secret of Spruce Knoll Tour of Secrets.

The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle

Following the tragic death of her parents, Eren Donovan moves to Spruce Knoll to live with her aunt. Little does Eren know the entire town of Spruce Knoll is filled with “channelers”~a magical group of people who immigrated to the small Colorado town when they were driven out of their own lands.

Channelers are tied to the fate of the world. As the world slowly dies, so do they~and they alone have the power to stop the destruction of Earth. Now, Eren learns she not only lives among them, but she is one. When she meets local boy Aiden, his charm convinces her that being a channeler may not be all bad.

WOW! Something tells me the fate of Earth might be tied to Eren. And who can resist a charming boy named, Aiden? But since this is the Tour of Secrets there must BE secrets involved…and my secret I’m going to reveal is related to Aiden, but not about him.

I got it from the secret master, herself, Heather McCorkle. Aiden’s adoptive father, Virgil is abusive — and it’s tough to have any sympathy at all for him. What he tries to hide is that he (and his wife) desperately wanted to have children, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for channelers to have children. After years of trying they became so desperate that they adopted Aiden (how I can’t tell you, that’s another secret!). But shortly after the adoption, Virgil’s wife became pregnant. That certainly complicated Virgil’s feelings about Aiden!

While that doesn’t make up for the abuse, it gives Virgil a layer as a character that we wouldn’t expect. But wait! there are PRIZES!!! Hop on over to Heather’s Blog for the full rules (and to find out how you can score extra points). And here’s what you can win:

1st place:
*$50 gift certificate to B&N (or the Book Depository if you’re over seas).
*Autographed copy of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll
*Special swag bag

2nd place:
*Swag bag filled with:
*Autographed copy of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll
*Spoiled by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
*Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
*Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
*A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

3rd place:
*Autographed copy of The Secret Of Spruce Knoll
*Swag bag

And don’t forget to pick up your copy of The Secret of Spruce Knoll — available NOW!!!

The post Tour of Secrets Contest appeared first on Be the Cat.

And the Party’s Over

Liana Gardner — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:00:13 +0000

Awwww!!!! I was having so much fun celebrating Carol’s agent representation, I almost forgot the party had to come to an end. But someone let the air out of the balloons, so now it’s time to clean up the confetti. I love to throw it – the sparkly kind always – but hate to clean it up. Have you ever noticed how it gets everywhere??? Where’s the janitorial service when you need it? But I don’t have to be too sad, because NOW I can give stuff away. YAY!!!!

But wait!!! I can’t have deflated balloons for a winner announcement! *puffs and puffs and puffs* And now the contest winners – we have balloons again!!! If you recall, my giveaways are one signed copy of Misfit McCabe and one signed copy of Nowhere Feels Like Home and a stellar book bag. And now for the winners!

***drum roll please***

The winners are:

Jewelz
Alicia
PamelaJo

Thunderous applause

Thanks to everyone who participated and helped celebrate the happy day of Carolina’s agent representation. And just think what kind of party we’ll have when she hits the best seller lists.

The post And the Party’s Over appeared first on Be the Cat.

Blog Party Celebration

Liana Gardner — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:00:03 +0000

Happy Agent Representation – Carolina Valdez Miller

Being a writer can be a tough proposition, because along every step of the way you face rejection in multiple forms and most likely multiple times. So, most writers I know love any reason to celebrate, and I’m NO exception. So, because my friend fellow Bling-Babe, Carolina Valdez Miller announced her agent representation today with the fabulous Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst and Associates Literary Management, join us for the rest of the month in the:

Agent Celebration Mega Giveaway

YOU get to be the winner because Carol is such a sweetheart, her first thought for a celebration was to get a bunch of people involved to give away swag!! How can you beat that? So from today through midnight April 1st (Eastern Time), you have a chance to win one of the fabulous prizes below. The contest winners will be posted on April 4th.

How do you enter? Easy, check out the list of prizes below, click the links (the names) to the site and enter by either filling out a form or posting a comment on the Agent Celebration Mega Giveaway post. And NOW on to the prizes!!

From LK Griffie (Me)

To enter, comment below. Please also click one of the Like buttons in the sidebar

Winner 1: A signed copy of Misfit McCabe (or ebook) Preview available in the sidebar
Winner 2: A signed copy of Nowhere Feels Like Home (or ebook) Preview available in the sidebar
Winner 3: A canvas book bag

Click the picture to view larger version

From Carolina Valdez Miller

Winner 1: A 1st page critique from agent Vickie Motter!
Winner 2: A Kindle Wireless Reading Device

In order to win this one, you will need to follow all the blogs in the giveaway to qualify. **Note** Since this blog does not have the follow buttons, either Like one of the two Facebook pages in the sidebar (or both if you want) or follow @lkgg on Twitter. Please also put a comment on this post so your follow/entry for the Kindle can be confirmed.

Winner 3: Signed copy of Escaping into the Open: the Art of Writing True by Elizabeth Berg
Winner 4: Signed Hardback of Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
Winner 5: Signed Hardback of Passing Strange by Daniel Waters