RENEGADE's Release date

I'm just bursting with good news lately!  As of today, RENEGADE will be released in the US in exactly 8 months! For those like me who are having issues with the math :) the release date is:

November 13, 2012!

I love this date for many reasons, most of which you'll probably find as you're reading through R. :) Do keep in mind, though, that dates can change, but as of right now, that's the official date. :)

And, as of this moment, RENEGADE is also available for pre-order from Amazon.  Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Renegade-Elysium-Chronicles-J-Souders/dp/0765332450/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_1

I'm still waiting for it to go "live" in the other venues (like Barnes and Noble, book depository, etc), so if you prefer to buy your books from one of them, you'll have to wait just a little longer, but I promise to post links to all the places it's available to pre-order as soon as I can.

RENEGADE's first blurb!

I'm so excited to say that RENEGADE has gotten it's first blurb! If you follow me on Twitter, then you may remember me tweeting something a week or so ago about waking up in the middle of the night, reading an email and being so excited about it I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night.

Yeah, it was about this blurb, which is by the absolutely fantastic Ann Aguirre!

Here's the blurb:

“Grim, vicious, riveting. Renegade is a haunting, unforgettable debut.” – Ann Aguirre, author of Enclave.

I absolutely adore Ann!  And not just because of the blurb. I knew I wanted her to blurb my book since I read ENCLAVE (which is absolutely fantastic. You should read it, if you haven't). I'm even lucky enough to be on a panel with her at RT and I can't wait to meet her in person! The best part? SHE asked ME if she could read it for a possible blurb and, of course, I agreed to send it to her!

On top of the rest of the books in the Razorland trilogy, Ann also just sold another YA series (a paranormal, named the Beauty series) and I canNOT wait to read them. They sound fantastic.

ENCLAVE is be her first YA series, but she's a national best-selling author of several adult science fiction books!

Anyway, because of the momentous occasion this is (at least to me), I'm going to be doing a giveaway!  I'm going to giveaway a copy of ENCLAVE so you can see for yourself how awesome she is.

All you have to do is enter through the widget below.  There's no mandatory entries, but there's a few optional options for extra entries (see widget for details).



And, Ann, if you happen to be reading this, THANK YOU SO MUCH!  Again. :)

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

I have news!  I love sharing news. :) Especially this kind of news.

So...a riddle. What does Turkey and a Pegasus have in common?

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Give up?

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If you guessed RENEGADE, you'd be right! LOL.

I am ecstatic to announce that Turkish rights to RENEGADE have sold to Pegasus!

Here's the official announcement from PM:

Turkish rights to J.A. Souders's RENEGADE, to Pegasus, by ONK Agency, on behalf of Taryn Fagerness Agency and Natalie Fischer Lakosil of Bradford Literary Agency.

I have a funny story about this deal. I happened to be at Legoland (which is way AWESOME) with my family for a school field trip for my daughter when I asked my husband to check my phone for a message from my editor at Tor.

He gets all quiet and about a minute later says, "Well, there's nothing from your editor, but there's something from Natalie."

Me (not really paying attention because I'm trying to corral my daughter to her stroller): "Hmm?  Really? That's strange. What does it say?"

Him: "I don't know. Something about a Turkish deal for RENEGADE."

Me (turning around and snatching phone): "What? Gimme that!"

My husband watches me as I read the email twice.  Then stare at him, then go back to read the email again.  Then I squeal and grab him up in a hug, while everyone around me stares at me like I've lost my mind, including my kids.

I walked around on clouds for the rest of the day. 

I have more news, but I'll share that tomorrow or Wednesday. :)

Riddle Answer

Thanks to everyone who participated in yesterday's riddle.  I'm happy to say that everyone who answered got it right!  And a big congrats to Mindee for being the first. :)

It was the maid, because there are no corners in a circular castle.  :) 

Anyway, I've got my son thinking up and/or finding another great riddle for next week.

I've got some great news that I'll announce soon, so keep paying attention. :) I can't wait to share it.

Riddle me this

Almost every day my son comes up to me with a riddle. Either ones he's made up or ones that he's found through various means.  I love it when he comes up to me after I'm finished writing for the day. "Mom. Can I share one of my riddles now?"  I almost always say yes, because it's just awesome to see where his mind has gone for the day.  It's almost a game between us now. Can he stump mom today?  What about dad?  (Note: It's almost always harder to stump dad than mom.:P)

I think I'm going to make it a weekly feature on my blog where I choose one of my favorites from the week before and see if anyone else can get the riddle. 

The following one is really great. Or at least to me. :) So let's see how many can get this one right. And no cheating! LOL.

A king, a queen, and a princess lived in a circular castle. One day they all attended a ball in the ballroom. But when the king and queen left for the evening, they left the princess.  When they returned the next day, the princess was dead.

There were only four people who could have done it.  The cook who said he was sharpening his knives. The maid who said she was cleaning the corners. The knight who said he was sharpening his swords. And the butler who said he was guarding the door.

Who did it?