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Win a signed copy of The Gathering Storm! Details at the end of this post.

CHAPTER ONE

 Fall 1888, Saint Petersburg, Russia

An afternoon spent solving quadratic equations would have been infinitely more pleasant. I smelled like a salad. Cucumber slices for soothing puffy eyes. Blackberry vinegar for brightening dull skin. Goat’s milk and honey for softening rough hands. I politely declined when my cousin offered a pinch of her goose lard and pomegranate facial cream.

It was Friday afternoon and our lessons had been cancelled at the Smolny Institute so everyone could prepare for the ball. Because dressing up like a doll was much more important than studying literature or learning arithmetic.

Matrimony. That was the true mission of the Smolny Institute for Young Noble Maidens. It was nothing more than a meat market for Russia’s nobility, where princes from all across Europe sent their daughters, intending them to marry off well. So there I sat, Katerina Alexandra Maria von Holstein-Gottorp, Duchess of Oldenburg. Great-great-granddaughter of Empress Josephine on my mother’s side, great-great-great-granddaughter of Katerina the Great on my father’s side. Princess of the Royal Blood. Royal meat for sale. I would have rather been dead.

Once I told Maman I wanted to attend medical school and work at one of Papa’s hospitals in Saint Petersburg or Moscow. I always accompanied her to the Oldenburg Children’s Hospital when she made her charity visits at Christmas and Easter. I thought it would be wonderful to take care of sick children and discover cures for diseases. But Maman was horrified at the idea.

“What man would marry a doctor?” she asked, not bothering to wait for an answer. “What a foolish notion!”

Excerpt copyright © 2011 Robin Bridges

About the book:

A royal court steeped in magic.

A dark prince with a hideous plan.

A young girl with a forbidden power.

St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888

As she attends a whirl of glittering balls, royal debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue.

What people are saying:

“Bridges could become a worthy successor to Libba Bray with this historical fantasy. Her lush settings, secret rituals, and paranormal creatures make for an atmospheric political adventure… Katiya is a strong female hero whose further adventures are worth following.”–Voya

“An atmospheric and complicated vampire tale that’s worth the effort of reading it.”–Kirkus

“An imaginative, complex blend of history and magic.”–Publishers Weekly

 Released: January 10, 2012

About the author:

By day, Robin is a mild-mannered writer of fantasy and paranormal fiction for young adults. By night, she is a pediatric nurse. Robin lives on the Gulf Coast with her husband, one soon-to-be teenager, and two slobbery mastiffs. She likes playing video games and watching Jane Austen movies. THE GATHERING STORM is her first novel. You can visit her at www.robinbridges.com.

Giveaway:

Robin has been kind enough to contribute a signed copy of The Gathering Storm!

Just comment on this post to enter.

For extra entries:

-Be a follower of this site (just click “Join this site”) or a follower on Twitter [+1 entry each].

-Link to this contest on Twitter, Facebook, etc. [+1 entry per each link].

Please list your extra entries in the comments.

The contest is open in the US and Canada, and ends on January 26th at midnight EST.

Good luck and happy reading!

Win a copy of Dearly Departed! Details at the end of this post.

Prologue

Bram

I was buried alive.

When the elevator groaned to a stop in the middle of the rocky shaft, I knew I was buried alive. Trapped thousands of feet below the earth’s surface and hundreds above the bottom of the shaft, dangling in a ten-by-ten foot cage over the bowels of the very mine I had been so freaking relieved to get work in.

I pulled myself to my feet and pushed my best friend Jack aside, hitting the button that controlled the elevator. I hit it again and again, wailed my fist on it. Nothing. The glass-paned lantern dangling from the ceiling flickered wildly as the kerosene within dwindled, as if it were attempting to ward off its own death with bursts of exaggerated life.

Dread became a solid, burning thing within me, something twisting my own flesh to its will, speeding my heart and making my skin slick with sweat. Before I knew it was coming up, I doubled over and retched through the grated floor. Jack sat calmly beside me as I heaved, his bloody eye sockets and the gaping wound in his throat mocking me, mocking my attempt to rescue him. He looked like some kind of hellish funhouse clown.

The dam broke, and I finally started screaming. At Jack. At God. At everything. There was nothing left to do but scream. I hadn’t screamed when the monsters had descended on us. I hadn’t screamed when I’d had to run from them, or fight them, or when I’d dragged Jack to the elevator, blood bursting from the hole in his neck. Everything had happened so quickly, it’d seemed there’d been no time to scream.

Excerpt copyright © 2011 Lia Habel

About the book:

A cyber-Victorian/steampunk romance – with zombies.

Almost two hundred years in the future, Nora Dearly lives in a world of bustled gowns, fake manners, watery tea, and uppity lords and ladies.

Thank God the zombies came to rescue her.

Dragged into the night by the living dead, Nora soon finds herself fighting for the father she thought long gone, the friend she was forced to leave behind – and the love of a handsome, noble young army captain.

Who just happens to be a walking corpse.

Released: October 18, 2011

About the author:

Lia Habel was born in Jamestown, NY, and has lived there the majority of her life. Her first book, Dearly, Departed, is a sweeping tale of zombie-living romance set in a cyber-Victorian/steampunk future. When Dearly, Departed sold, Lia was swimming in debt incurred from her studies and years of un- and underemployment, with only a few dollars to her name. Miss Habel enjoys attending anachronistic and steampunk events, watching zombie movies (she has watched over a hundred of them), commissioning ball gowns, and collecting Victorian and Edwardian books. She is incredibly grateful for the opportunities she has recently been given. You can visit her at liahabel.com.

Giveaway:

Lia has been kind enough to contribute a copy of Dearly Departed for a giveaway!

Just comment on this post to enter.

For extra entries:

-Be a follower of this site (just click “Join this site”) or a follower on Twitter [+1 entry each].

-Link to this contest on Twitter, Facebook, etc. [+1 entry per each link].

Please list your extra entries in the comments.

The contest is open in the US and Canada, and ends on October 18th at midnight EST.

Good luck and happy reading!

Bridget stared at the clock on the wall and cursed its painfully slow progression toward three fifiteen. Was the big hand even moving? She slipped her cell phone out of her backpack for cross-reference. Damn. Seven more minutes. It was so like a Catholic school to make Latin the last class of the day. Institutionalized Purgatory.

“Hey,” Hector whispered from the desk in front of her. “Want to hit House of Pies after school?”

“Maybe.” The last thing Hector needed was another slice of Triple Chocolate pie.

“Maybe?” Hector swiveled his torso around to face her. “You got a hot date or something?”

Before Bridget could tell Hector to shove it, Peter Kim cleared his throat. “Shut up, you guys. Sister Evangeline’s going to kill us.”

Bridget glanced at the wizened little nun sitting motionless at her desk, engrossed in a romance novel. “Live a little, Peter. Seriously.”

Excerpt copyright © 2011 Gretchen McNeil

About the book:

Enlisted to help in dangerous cases of demonic possession, a teenaged exorcist discovers a race of part-demons intent on raising their forefathers to the earth in human form.

What people are saying:

“With demons, secrets, and a butt-kicking heroine, POSSESS is a whole lotta dark and twisted fun!”–Kimberly Derting, author of the Body Finder series

“A dark, unique, and intelligent novel with frightening twists around every corner that left me breathless.”–Courtney Allison Moulton, author of ANGELFIRE

Released: August 23, 2011

About the author:

Gretchen McNeil is an opera singer, writer and clown.  Her YA horror/paranormal POSSESS debut with Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins, August 23, 2011.  Her second novel, TEN – YA horror/suspense about ten teens trapped on a remote island with a serial killer – is tentatively scheduled for a Fall 2012 release. Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4′s Code Monkeys and she currently sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. Gretchen is also a founding member of the vlog group YARebels where she can be seen as “Monday.” You can visit her at www.gretchenmcneil.com.

It starts with a crack, a sputter, and a spark.

The match hisses to life.

“Please,” comes the small voice behind me.

“It’s late, Wren,” I say. The fire chews on the wooden stem in my hand. I touch the match to each of the three candles gathered on the low chest by the window. “It’s time for bed.”

With the candles all lit, I shake the match and the flame dies, leaving a trail of smoke that curls up against the darkened glass.

Everything seems different at night. Defined. Beyond the window, the world is full of shadows, all pressed together in harsh relief, somehow sharper than they ever were in daylight. Sounds seem sharper, too, at night. A whistle. A crack. A child’s whisper.

“Just one more,” she pleads, hugging the covers close. I sigh, my back to my little sister, and run my fingers over the tops of the books stacked beside the candles. I feel myself bending.

“It can be a very short one,” she says.

My hand rests against an old green book as the wind hums against the house.

“All right.” I cannot deny my sister anything, it seems. “Just one,” I add, turning back to the bed. Wren sighs happily against her pillow, and I slip down beside her. The candles paint pictures of light on the walls of our room. I take a deep breath.

“The wind on the moors is a tricky thing.”

Excerpt © 2011 Victoria Schwab

About the book:

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children. 

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company. 

And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life. But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

What people are saying:

“Romantic, haunting, and truly original—The Near Witch cast a spell on us from the very first page.”–Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, NYT bestselling authors of Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness

“Victoria Schwab has crafted a richly atmospheric and lyrical masterpiece. This novel mesmerized me from the first line to the last.”–Carrie Ryan, New York Times best-selling author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Released: August 2, 2011

About the author:

Victoria is the product of a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a southern upbringing. Because of this, she has been known to say “tom-ah-toes”, “like”, and “y’all”. She also possesses a dangerous case of wanderlust, and a penchant for staring at clouds. You can visit her at www.victoriaschwab.com.

Chapter 1

I thought by the time I’d transferred to the Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railway, this foolish tendency to jump at every sound, to blush each time someone looked me in the eye, would have subsided. If Papa had been sitting next to me, he’d have patted my hand, his mustache curving into a smile. “All the world’s a stage, Willie,” he’d have said, “and you’re playing your part out of necessity, as have many before you.”

But Papa was dead, and the space next to me was empty. Staring at that void, I knew in my heart I was something much worse than a player on the world’s stage. And more than the summer heat made the perspiration trickle down the back of my neck. I jumped and blushed and perspired for good reason.

I was a liar and a thief.

The conductor called all passengers aboard, and I breathed a sigh of relief. But before I had time to celebrate my solitude, a young man bounded up the steps of my car and slid into the opposite seat. I stiffened, bracing myself for the prying questions strangers asked so freely of young ladies traveling alone. But he only removed his hat and, with a quick nod to me, slumped against the window with his eyes closed. The train jerked into motion with a great metallic screech, but even this did not rouse him. Grateful, I turned back to the window and studied what I could of Van Buren, Arkansas, branding my memory with details of the landscape before we entered Indian Territory.

Excerpt© 2011 Sonia Gensler

About the book:

When Willie arrives in Indian Territory, she knows only one thing: no one can find out who she really is. To escape a home she doesn’t belong in anymore, she assumes the name of a former classmate and accepts a teaching job at the Cherokee Female Seminary.

Nothing prepares her for what she finds there. Her pupils are the daughters of the Cherokee elite—educated and more wealthy than she, and the school is cloaked in mystery. A student drowned in the river last year, and the girls whisper that she was killed by a jealous lover. Willie’s room is the very room the dead girl slept in. The students say her spirit haunts it.

Willie doesn’t believe in ghosts, but when strange things start happening at the school, she isn’t sure anymore. She’s also not sure what to make of a boy from the nearby boys’ school who has taken an interest in her—his past is cloaked in secrets. Soon, even she has to admit that the revenant may be trying to tell her something. . . .

What people are saying:

“This first novel effectively covers a good deal of ground: race and class issues, history, and a compelling ghost and love story are all entwined as plot points are teased out a bit at a time. The uncommon setting and time period add to the appeal . . .”–Booklist

“This debut presents an intriguing look at a little-known piece of American history . . . the well-drawn characters and suspenseful plot should keep readers fully engaged.”–Kirkus

“Gensler makes a solid debut with an eerie and suspenseful work of historical fiction in which everyone is a murder suspect . . . Readers should be drawn in by the mystery and moved by Willie’s struggles to fit in and negotiate her independence.”–Publishers Weekly

Released: June 14, 2011

About the author:

Sonia Gensler grew up in a small Tennessee town and spent her early adulthood collecting impractical degrees from various Midwestern universities. A former high school English teacher, she now writes full time in Oklahoma. So far, her husband and cat are putting up with this. The Revenant is her debut novel. You can visit her at www.soniagensler.com.

A gray hall monitor in wrinkled clothes walked silently in front of Jana on her way to the school counselor’s office.

Grays moved so quietly that even when you were with one you felt alone. Their hearts weren’t in anything they did. Jana opened the door to the office, expecting to be greeted by someone.

There was a wide oak desk in the middle of the room with toys arranged on it. The room smelled like furniture polish. Antique arcade machines lined the walls to either side. The green leather chair behind the desk was occupied by a half-size dummy of a clown. Its face was enameled white, with an orange red nose in the middle. Red paint outlined a pair of wide-open lips. A red wooden tongue rested inside the clown’s hinged mouth.

“Knock, knock,” Jana said. “Anybody here?”

If the clown answered, she was leaving.

Excerpt© 2011 Randy Russell

About the book:

Jana loved her boyfriend to death.

What people are saying:

“Not your usual paranormal romance. Romeo and Juliet meets Daniel Waters in folklorist Randy Russell’s wry teen debut…Wickedly clever.”–Kirkus, starred review

“Randy Russell has created the ultimate paranormal romance but has also infused a dark comedic element that sets the novel apart from others in the genre.”–Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Gray

“It’s humiliating to die in a bowling accident, especially when it means going through the afterlife in a pair of bowling shoes. Even more serious for high school junior Jana Webster is the separation from her one true love, Michael…Laughter, for Russell, is not an act of mockery or ironic distance, but rather a marker for empathy with his very human characters.”–Publisher’s Weekly

Released: June 21, 2011

About the author:

Randy Russell lives in the woods in Western North Carolina.  He writes ghosts and dead people. You can visit him at www.ghostfolk.com.

Giveaway:

To enter Randy’s “The Dead Rules Giveaway to Support Teen Reading” for a chance to win $500 in free books of a reader’s choice and $1,500 in free books to classroom teachers and librarians–all through independent bookstores–visit www.ghostfolk.com/free.asp. The contest ends July 31, and you get a free Dead Rules button just for entering.

CHAPTER ONE

“I believe that myths, like every living thing, are born, degenerate and die. I also believe that myths come back to life.”—Octavio Paz

Consuela wrestled with an armload of jeans, trying to catch the hangers on insufficient hooks. Squeezing into the tiny dressing room, she tugged on the first pair. No good, she pulled them off. Tried another pair. And a third. Step-step on, step-step off; a ten-minute workout in a three-by-three space. It was as if the room was specifically designed to make her feel big. Consuela hated how she looked in jeans. It made her want to eat a donut.

Eventually she found two pairs that weren’t too bad; the question was whether they were worth buying. Consuela compared price tags. She didn’t like the jeans enough to buy both. It was tough to feel good when clothes were made for size-four white girls. She felt heavy, unsuccessful, and annoyed—the exact opposite purpose of her coveted shopping therapy break.

Screw it.

Consuela pulled her T-shirt over her head, unhooked her bra, and posed for herself a few times, half-naked in the dressing room mirror. She flashed a smile over her shoulder, feeling better than she had all morning. Perfect white teeth, no cavities—her smile was her best feature.

Getting dressed, she decided to keep one pair of light denims and hand the rest back with the two plastic, yellow #6 cards. She hung the remaining eleven hooks neatly in her palm for easy counting. The baggy old attendant had glared at her earlier as if she suspected Consuela of shoplifting. Like she could hide a pair of True Religions in her cleavage. She could all but hear her best friend, Allison’s, voice in her head: You know, you probably could! Allison could always make her laugh.

Consuela held her head high as she stopped at the dressing room exit. The old woman lifted her hangdog eyes.

“Find anything?” the woman asked, only because she had to.

“Yes, thank you.”

The gnarled, arthritic hands took the jeans as a sudden lurch of vertigo brought Consuela to her knees.

Excerpt© 2011 Dawn Metcalf

About the book:

Sixteen-year-old Consuela Chavez suddenly and inexplicably finds herself in the parallel universe of the Flow, where she and other teens with extraordinary abilities safeguard a world where they no longer belong.

What people are saying:

“LUMINOUS is a stunning debut, a remarkably original fantasy with a wonderful heroine that effortlessly mixes beauty and horror. I found LUMINOUS an utterly intoxicating, entirely magical feast, and I can’t wait to return to the vibrant world of the Flow.”–Karen Healey, GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD

Released: June 30, 2011

About the author:

Dawn Metcalf grew up in an old Victorian home filled with fairy tales, art supplies, magic, and love. Now she writes about myths that never happened and worlds that might have been. She lives in Connecticut with her two cats, two kids, and amused husband, raising the next generation of wild imaginations. You can visit her at www.dawnmetcalf.com.

Win a Sirenz Prize Pack! Details at the end of this post.

Shar

A Mismatched Pair

God, you’re wearing those clunky things again? How stupid, wearing five inch wedge heels on cracked and frozen New York City sidewalks. What if you break an ankle?

“Great shoes,” I said, faking a beauty queen smile at Meg.

“I think I paid five dollars for them. They’re from the 70s,” she said absentmindedly.

No kidding. You should have left them there.

“Feet cold?” I wiggled toasty toes in my crystal-studded Ugg boots. My feet were warm, and they looked good.

She shrugged.

Poor toesies.

When I scored a spot in the coveted Fourth Year Live-in, a program our alternative school offered to 12th Grade students who ‘show promise, initiative and vision in their chosen field of study’, I was psyched. It was a sweet deal that included the perk of on-campus housing, just like college—no parents, no curfew, and Manhattan living for nine months! Only top students were offered the opportunity. I knew I had to have a roommate, but how awful could that be?

Then I got paired off with Meg Wiley.

We couldn’t be more mismatched. Black hair, black clothes, old clothes, not to mention voodoo, hoodoo or whatever else she was into, the Academically Independent High School of New York we both attended had saddled me with a vampire out of a 40s horror movie—and an argumentative one too. She always had some smart ass remark about my love of cashmere or my Starbucks addiction. As if she had no habits to complain about.

I looked at her, clomping along the sidewalk in those outrageous wood-soled Kabuki shoes and completely black ensemble, and shuddered. On my tall and fair-skinned body, that much black would make me look like the walking dead. She could never squeeze her curvy frame into my pink sweaters even if she wanted to. Besides, Meg only wore clothes that made her look like she was in a perpetual state of mourning. My skinny jeans, ballet flats, and Victoria’s Secret PJs were safe. I shrugged it off.

Excerpt© 2011 Natalie Zaman and Charlotte Bennardo

About the book:

Bickering New York city room mates and high school seniors Meg and Shar are recruited by Hades, Lord of the Underworld to be his special-assignment Sirens.

Released: June 8, 2011

About the authors:

Natalie Zaman is the co-author of Sirenz, the first in a YA contemporary fantasy series published by Flux. Her work has appeared in various magazines, newspapers, e-zines and anthologies for adults and children. She’s currently plotting disasters for the characters of Sirenz and working on a Victorian fantasy for teens. Natalie lives in central New Jersey with her family and several fine looking chickens.

Charlotte Bennardo is the co-author of Sirenz, the first in a YA contemporary fantasy series published by Flux. When not contemplating embarrassing situations for the characters in the sequels, she works on her own YA, MG and adult level novels. She has been published in magazines, newspapers, e-zines and anthologies. She is held captive in New Jersey by three sons, husband, cat and friends.

Giveaway:

Natalie and Charlotte have been kind enough to contribute a Sirenz prize pack for a giveaway! The prize pack will include a signed, glittered-up copy of the book, bookmarks, phone charms, and buttons.

Just comment on this post to enter.

For extra entries:

-Be a follower of this site (just click “Join this site”) or a follower on Twitter [+1 entry each].

-Link to this contest on Twitter, Facebook, etc. [+1 entry per each link].

Please list your extra entries in the comments.

The contest is open in the US and Canada and ends on June 22nd at midnight EST.

Good luck and happy reading!

Chapter One

I am Josephine Darly, and I intend to live forever.

Excerpt© 2011 Tessa Gratton

[This is, indeed, the whole first page! See a picture of it here.]

About the book:

A novel about two teens who meet in a cemetery and plunge into a dangerous world of dark magic, first love, and the deadly secrets that hide in blood.

What people are saying:

“Love buried in cemeteries, horror hidden behind masks, and the whispered language of blood. I adore this book.” –Maggie Stiefvater

“I loved BLOOD MAGIC;   it’s absorbing, it’s well-written—it’s full of little throw-away lines like ‘His lashes curled like birthday ribbons’—it has a climax of blood and fire that scared me silly.”–Robin McKinley

Released: May 24, 2011

About the author:

“You don’t want to kill me,” I said.

“Of course I don’t, Clare. But I have to.”

If I wasn’t already bleeding, with the room tilting and swaying, I would have slapped myself. I never saw this coming. I had let my personal feelings cloud my judgment. And now I was looking down the barrel of a gun.

I never thought it would end like this, me on the hardwood floor in my house, propped up on my elbows, begging for my life. On my right was the crumpled body of a guy I hadn’t fully realized the depths of my feelings for until I saw the bullet rip into him.

I tried to use reason again. To buy myself just one more minute of life. “This isn’t you,” I said, pleading. “You’re not a murderer.”

“A couple weeks ago, I would’ve said the same thing. But you should know more than anyone how people surprise you. People can do things you never imagined they would. You think you know someone and then . . .”

My would-be killer shrugged and cocked the gun.

Then the world went black.

Excerpt© 2011 Kim Harrington

About the book:

Clarity “Clare” Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch an object and the visions come to her. It’s a gift.

And a curse.

When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare’s ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case — but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare’s brother — who has supernatural gifts of his own — becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?

What people are saying:

“Harrington’s well-developed characters and tight plot are simultaneously charming, realistically complex, and intriguing. While recalling classic sleuth stories, Harrington creates a fiery and sharp-witted heroine who’s more Veronica Mars than Nancy Drew (Nancy almost certainly never used the term “Skanky McSkankbag”). Clare is a teen detective for the 21st century.”–Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Released: March 1, 2011

About the author:

Kim Harrington lives in Massachusetts with her husband and son. When not writing, she’s most likely reading, watching one of her favorite TV shows, or fantasizing about her next vacation. She has no psychic powers and is cool with that. You can visit her at www.kimharringtonbooks.com.