KidLit Corner: Heather Vogel Frederick

We have a special holiday treat for you this month: an interview with Heather Vogel Frederick, author of The Mother-Daughter Book Club series! In this episode, Michelle and I chat about her latest book, Home for the Holidays, which has the book club members reading one of my favorite series of all time: the Betsy-Tacy books, by Maud Hart Lovelace. Heather is absolutely lovely, and so are her books!

CONTEST

But wait-- there's more! Heather is generously offering an AUTOGRAPHED copy of Home for the Holidays to one lucky winner. Just listen to this podcast episode and leave us a comment here on this blog entry. Tell us what you love about Heather's books, the Betsy-Tacy books, or share your favorite holiday tradition! And be sure to leave your email so we can be sure to contact you if you win. Deadline for entries is Saturday, December 17. This contest is open to US and Canada residents only.

Thanks, Heather! (Told you she was absolutely lovely!)


**EDITED TO ADD: The contest is now closed. Thank you for all your entries. The winner is REBECCA! Congratulations, Rebecca. We're emailing you.**


Would you like to download this podcast? Click here for the mp3. Or subscribe via iTunes!

NEW FEATURE

We also want to announce that this is the inaugural episode of a new feature on our podcast: KidLit Corner.
Our primary focus on this podcast is YA lit and rockin' music, but we both love children's literature, too. Avid readers as kids, now with little readers of our own, we have a soft spot for KidLit. So we thought it would be fun to feature rock star children's authors on this podcast sometimes, in addition to fabulous authors for teens. KidLit Corner will be an occasional feature of the program, and we hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do!


Thanks for listening-- please let us know what you think, and again, be sure to comment with some holiday cheer for the wonderful Heather Vogel Frederick and our featured musician, Debi Derryberry.

Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. "Baby Banana" by Debi Derryberry is our featured song for this podcast. You can learn more about where to purchase Debi's CDs over on her website.

December Podcast with Marie Lu, Author of Legend

Looking for an action-packed way to finish off 2011? Well then, Legend is the book for you! This month, we have author Marie Lu on the program to tell us all about it, as well as discuss her lifelong journey to becoming a published writer, the influence of video games and anime on her work, and more. We had so much fun chatting with Marie!

In this episode, Allison and I also share our book picks of the month - Across the Universe by Beth Revis and Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer, and we're happy to announce that Beth and Andrea will both be joining us on Authors are ROCKSTARS! in 2012. So excited!

Thanks again to Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena for being such awesome hosts and friends of the podcast. We love you guys!


Would you like to download this podcast? Click here to download a mp3. Don't forget - we're also on iTunes!

Before I sign off, I wanted to let you know that we now have a CafePress shop. It's pretty simple right now, but if you want to give the gift of Authors are ROCKSTARS! swag, it's the place to go. All of the money raised goes to our prize fund to be able to do even more signed book giveaways in 2012.

Thanks again for listening! Please drop us a comment to let us know what you think of the podcast.

EDIT:
Congratulations to Janina for winning our giveaway. We'll get this awesome book out in the mail to you right away.

Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Our song of the month is Not My Home, by Kate Pffafl (now Mighty Kate). Be sure to subscribe to Authors are ROCKSTARS! via iTunes.

November Podcast: Laini Taylor

Have you read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor? It's the book everyone's buzzing about right now, and definitely one of our top picks for 2011. We were so honored to catch up with Laini just before her book signing at the most excellent Huntington Beach Barnes and Noble last month.

We talked about the allure of the supernatural, travel experiences, and the challenge of creating a balance between parenthood and writing. We are thrilled to bring this interview to you-- Laini is brilliant.

Photo from Laini's blog. How cute is the girl on the right with her Karou hair??

The book signing was super cool. As you can see, we absolutely loved the snazzy blue masks provided by Little, Brown. They added such a unique touch to a fantastic event!

After Laini talked to the audience, we met up with several of her awesome friends and fans who were so kind as to record a little something for this episode of the podcast. We love getting sound bytes from the crowd at author events, and we hope you'll enjoy listening!

In this episode of the podcast, we also share our book picks of the month: The Future of Us, by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler, and The Iron Knight, by Julie Kagawa.


Would you like to download this podcast? Click here for an mp3.

Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Our song of the month is Wild Angel, by Joshua Kadison. Be sure to subscribe to Authors are ROCKSTARS! via iTunes.

Pitch Dark Giveaway!

Hi listeners. I've had a bit of a rough month, so we're running a bit behind here on the November podcast. Never fear though - it'll be hitting iTunes and the website sometime next week. LAINI TAYLOR joins us this month. She is so brilliant! I cannot even begin to describe how awesome she is. You'll just have to listen to the podcast and find out for yourself.

In the meantime, I wanted to do a giveaway! I picked up signed copies when I was at the Pitch Dark book tour with Kiersten White, Claudia Gray, Amy Garvey and Anna Carey. Would you like one? Well, okay. You convinced me. Fill out the form below. This contest is open internationally, but I'd appreciate it if international winners would help cover the shipping. Deadline to enter is November 17th, 11:59pm Pacific.

I'll be giving away one of these four books here. The remaining three will be given away on my personal review blog around Christmas time, so if you didn't win now, be sure to go follow me there. And be sure to go to Allison's blog too if you haven't already. She is such a fabulous reviewer.

EDIT:
This contest has ended. The winner was Mackenzi. She chose "Fateful" by Claudia Gray. If you didn't win, you'll get another crack at these beautiful signed books! The remaining three books will be given away on my blog (Michelle) next month.

Thanks to Random.org for helping me choose the winner.

Jaclyn Dolamore - October Special Edition

It's been a crazy busy month here at Authors are ROCKSTARS!, but an exciting one. Today we have an awesome interview for you with Jaclyn Dolamore, author of Between the Sea & Sky. This book is adorable and absolutely magical, as is Jackie. We hope you enjoy hearing about this sweet story, how being "unschooled" informed Jackie's writing, and what she's cooking up for us next!


Want to download this podcast? Click here for a mp3!

Isn't she wonderful? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Be sure to subscribe to Authors are ROCKSTARS! via iTunes.

Road Trip Edition - Pitch Dark Tour

I am a lucky lady. I got to chat with Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, Anna Carey, and Claudia Gray before their signing at the Huntington Beach Barnes & Noble as part of the Pitch Dark Books tour. Unfortunately, Allison couldn't make it so it's all me today folks. This was such a fun interview! These books are all SO awesome and unique. There was so much to talk about!

Well you already get enough of me in the podcast, so I'll be quiet now and get this show on the road.

Would you like to download this podcast? Click here for a mp3.

Thank you to the audience members who participated! We love having you on the program. Please feel free to approach us if you see us at book signings. (We'll be the ones walking around with a mic.) We'd love to hear your thoughts and get you "on the air". Also, thanks again to the wonderful Huntington Beach Barnes & Noble for accommodating us. You guys are great!

Stay tuned. There may just be a giveaway coming up related to this podcast. So listen and stick around, okay?

Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Our special edition song choice is Lavender by Eric Wilson. Be sure to subscribe to Authors are ROCKSTARS! via iTunes.

October Podcast - OMG! It's a bird, it's a plane... IT IS SHANNON HALE!!!!

We have been Shannon Hale fangirls for the longest time, so you can imagine how thrilled we were to have the chance to interview this fabulous Newbery Honor winning author for this month's podcast! Shannon is just as delightful as you would expect from reading her books. We talked about the gorgeous special edition of Forest Born, her experiences collaborating with her husband on their graphic novels, and how she manages to do it ALL as a busy mom.

Our book picks of the month this time around are suitably creepy for October-- The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin and The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson. Grab a mug of hot cocoa and enjoy!

Would you like to download this podcast? Click here for an mp3.

Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Our song of the month is Fairy Tale by Jana Fisher. Be sure to subscribe to Authors are ROCKSTARS! via iTunes.