Happy Holidays!!!!

I hope that you and your families all have a great holiday season! It's been a really incredible one for me. I think my best gift was that my favorite audio reader in the world is recording Erec Rex this weekend - as I'm writing this! His name is Simon Jones, and he's done The Thief Lord, The Bartimaeus Books, and the Charlie Bone series, among many others. He once played Arthur Dent in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy!!

Let's all make this new year our best one yet. I'm not sure yet what resolutions I'll pick, but maybe this time I'll follow them a little longer!

Enjoy, and have a fantastic one. :}

Love always,

Kaza

A Travelling Blog Award!

How cool is this! I just got a pass-around award for The Coolest Blog from Melissa at Bibliophile's Retreat! This was a definite honor to me, because I love Bibliophile Retreat blog. Thank you, Melissa!

Now, as a Butterfly Award winner I have the privilege of choosing up to 10 more blogs I'd like to nominate. If you are nominated, here are the rules:

The rules of the Butterfly award are:
1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate 10 other blogs (or fewer if you don't have time to do 10).
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

1. I nominate first James Dashner's blog, The Dashner Dude. James is the author of The 13th Reality, of which I have an autographed copy (and he has autographed copies of mine :}) I love to read James' blog - it's all about the real ups and downs of an author, which I can appreciate!

2. Chris Rettstatt has a fun blog, interviews lots of authors, and is an author himself! It doesn't hurt, of course, that he did a great interview of me (ahem!) Lol. Check out Chris Rettstatt's blog and also his books - he's the author of the Kaimira series!

3. Maybe this one should be first, but Kaleb Nation's blog is primo. Another author - Kaleb's book is coming out in Fall '09, Kaleb shares my same book agent, Richard Curtis (who is awesome.) And his blog is the absolute best. So funny and full of great homemade vids. Enjoy!

4. Kaleb wins twice with The Twilight Guy. How creative can you get, Kaleb? And what an awesome response this blog has had. Too cool.

5. Fanatic Space Blog is a definite winner. This is a fun, well-organized blog with lots of great info about fantasy and fandom. Well done!

6. Stephanie's Confessions of a Bookaholic should win for the gorgeous art alone - but is also chock full of great book reviews. Definitely worth checking out!

7. It is so cool to meet people all around the world. I know a great blogger in the Philippines, and love what she's done there. You should look at her blog Into the Wardrobe and get a taste of a fantasy and book fan's blog from around the world!

8. You like books? You like funny? You like cool blogs that make you smile and want to read more? Well, check out A Fort Made of Books (I love the name.) The blog author also reviewed books for a big Harry Potter fansite.

I could keep going, but I better stop here. Thanks to all the bloggers out there!!

Luv, Kaza :}

The FIrst Contest - Check it out!!

WOW, it's been a while since I've posted to my blog. It feels so good to be back!!

What have I been doing all this time, you may ask:
Well, it's really flown by so fast, because I've been about as busy as I've ever been in my life. Not only have I been traveling, visiting schools and conferences, and working on Book Four, Erec Rex: The Three Furies (working title,) but some big changes have been going on with the Erec Rex series.

Bigger and Better
The fantastic publishing giant, Simon and Schuster, bought out the Erec Rex series in an exciting (and rare!) eight book deal. This portends great things for the series, as this publisher is equipped to take the books to new and greater heights. They are also putting out audio books for Books One and Two in April - I can't wait to hear who will be reading my work! How fun. And, to make things even sweeter, the series continues to pop up in more and more countries around the world.

The Book Three Release
On the other hand, all things come with a price. This is worth it, I assure you, but there is now a delay in the release of Book Three, Erec Rex: The Search for Truth. This is because the new publisher will be re-releasing the first two books this coming April, which, of course, pushes the Book Three release back.

I assure you that it will be worth the wait! :}

CONTESTS for you!
During the wait, however, there is something fun to do on the ErecRex.com site for you and for me! I'm so excited about a series of contests - think the contests that Erec had to do during The Dragon's Eye - which will be posted on the forum site of the web page.

The first contest is being run now, through the month of November. It's a writing / fan fiction contest. All you have to do is post your own original story on the forum fan fiction page during the month of November and you are qualified to win.

PRIZES!!!!
The First Place winner will receive author signed hardcover copies of The Dragon's Eye and The Monsters of Otherness, plus a signed music CD.
The Second Place winner will receive a signed hardcover copy of The Dragon's Eye

Future contest winners will win other things including advance copies of Book Three!

I hope to see you all writing this month!!

Love always,

Kaza

Erec Rex hits Japan!

I just got the Japanese versions of the first two Erec Rex books from Japan - they are beautiful! There are only a few English words, like Erec Rex on the covers and my name on the backs, and the title pages in English inside. Luckily I know someone from Japan who translated a bit for me. It sounds like the story inside is the same (well, except for a few words like "howl" changed to "the sound a wolf makes," I guess things that don't translate directly.) But the titles are different! The title of Book One is The Magic Eye of the Dragon, and Book Two is The Birth of the Dark Prince. Wow - that's a change!! It actually may read The Arrival of the Dark Prince - it wasn't clear.

The books are SO beautiful - more than you can tell from the pictures. They're big, too, and they have dust jackets over soft covers. I love the art! This is Book Two - The figure in front with the eyes coming out in his face is obviously Baskania - but such a cool looking Baskania! I love the way his long fingernails are poised around Erec Rex. Notice Erec's hair - straight in front, and curly in back...!

This is Book One - check out Bethany's outfit!! It's hard to see here, but there is an awesome dragon curved around behind them. They're holding a scepter - very cool!!


Can't wait to see the art from more countries as it pops up! Here is the Thai version, they used the same artist as the American version. It looks SO cool, I love it -

Hello Thailand!

Where to start?
So much has gone on since my last blog. Maybe that's why I haven't posted for a while! I had an excellent trip to Arizona, but more of that later. That was such a great journey that it deserves it's own post. So now I'll talk about something really cool that has been really fun . . .


A live webcam interview in Thailand!
As you may know, Erec Rex is coming out in many countries around the world, which is so exciting! One of the cool things is getting to meet some great people in other countries. For example, I got to do a live interview in Thailand, via a webcam, during the release / launch of Erec Rex at the Bangkok Book Fair! Because of the time difference, it was from 2:00 - 3:30 AM here, so I was a bit out of it, but it was still a blast.

A new Erec Rex website
The Thai publisher put up an awesome Thai Erec Rex website that you should really check out. I love the opening page - wow!! The flash and graphics are great, and even though I can't read the language, it's still fun to see and look for the few English words that pop up here and there.

The Bangkok Book Fair
I am so amazed and impressed with the release of Erec Rex in Thailand. All I can say is, I want one of those scepters! They had a picture of the Erec Rex cover set up so people could take their picture as Erec in front of the cover, holding a scepter. The scepters were exactly like the one on the book cover - that was incredible. Check it out here.

Even more . . .
The people dressed up as Erec, Bethany and King Piter were so cool, too! Erec actually has one green eye, and hair that's straight in front and curly in back. Bethany's dress is patched like in the book! I love it.


So for now, sweet dreams. If I ever get back onto Eastern time it will be a miracle.
Enjoy!!
Love,
Kaza :}

My First Con...!

The Con Experience...
I spent the weekend at my first fantasy convention - it was a local one here in Cincinnati, called Millenicon. Overall, I met some really great people, and had a lot of fun. This picture was me on a panel with Steven Barnes, who has written for TV quite a bit as well as novels, and Tobias Buckell who just won a Nebula award - very cool!


It was a fun weekend, and I always enjoy new experiences. I even heard my first Filk music - always something new!
I'll be going to Marcon in Columbus this spring as well, and I'm sure some more in the future...

Love and kisses,
Kaza

A fun interview from Kelly Parra!

Hot and Fresh of the wire...
Kelly Parra, author of Graffiti Girl and Invisible Touch, did a fantastic interview of me on the website she shares with YA author Tina Ferraro. It was really fun! I loved that her question about "sharing a typical writing day" was one she asked other authors. It was fun for me to look through her other interviews and compare. But I got jealous when I saw that Meg Cabot writes in bed all day, and has a husband who is a chef downstairs sizzling up lunch and dinner for her when she wanders down into the kitchen. Sounds like some writer's fantasy...

I'm getting ready to turn Book Three, The Search for Truth, in to my editor next week, and am polishing the last few details. I've been hearing a lot from my Thai publisher lately, too, who wanted me to write a letter to my Thai readers. I can't wait to see copies in the other languages soon!!

Love y'all!
Kaza

Beautiful Re-views

Here's to Reviews!!


Ka-blam!
I've been looking online and realized there are a few more reviews out there that I have not mentioned here before. They're all lovely, and give me giant smiles when I read them. So I'll share:

The Writer's Notebook has a great review of Monsters of Otherness posted. This fantastic site also has a review of The Dragon's Eye, which I mentioned before, and a "Best of 2007" book list where Erec Rex came into more winning slots than any other book - which I loved!! This site is chock-full of helpful information about books. Check it out!

Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-A-Holic asks if you Want a Little Magical Adventure? I was lucky to be a guest of Stephanie's blog on my cyber-tour, so I was happy to see her great review. Stephanie still wins in my book for Most Beautiful Blog - you have to see it...

Holly Parry of Meridian Magazine posted a great review titled Books for Boys
that was really sweet. Holly is a top-notch reviewer, and I was lucky she chose Erec Rex to read!

Of course it was Awesome when The Book Trolley reviewer, Robbie Fisher, put a review of Erec Rex on that famous site! I had to love that. Since it was a Harry Potter site, he did a great job describing that it's NOT Harry Potter, (something that continually needs to be explained!) and points out Erec Rex's merits in a very well put-together review. Thanks!

TCM Reviews is an interesting site with a short, sweet review of Monsters of Otherness by Ranaa Tasneem. It looks like a professional site for book reviews. An incredibly nice review from beginning to end -- with the small exception that the reviewer seems to think I'm a man! Oh well, that's life with a weird name like Kaza!!

Last but not least, Katie's Reading did a really good review of The Dragon's Eye back in November, but I don't think I mentioned it here. I love any reviewer that says one of the books we should all be reading is Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye! This was a highly detailed and wonderful review - thank you, Katie! I hope you were able to read Monsters of Otherness!

I'm waiting for notes from my editor on Book Three - The Search for Truth. This one is my favorite - can't wait 'til it's out!

Love, love, love,
Kaza :}

(Public domain image created by NASA and the European Space Agency. Hubble material is copyright-free and may be freely used on the condition that NASA and ESA are credited as the source of the material.)

What can ONE Author Do?

What can ONE Author Do?
James Dashner, Author of The 13th Reality, may have the answer to that!

I am proud to say that my new friend and fellow fantasy author, James Dashner, is doing something that makes me smile. He found a charity that is trying to "make poverty history." Who can't like that idea? And he is going to donate all the royalties he makes from the first week of sales of his new book to The One.

Here is James - check out his new book, The 13th Reality, new in stores now! I'm in the middle of reading it, and am happy to say it's great!!


By the way, James,
You aren't the only one who can do this! I'm going to look into similar things to do as well. I'm all for making this world much, much, better, but if every one of us doesn't do it, who will???

Love and Hugs,
Kaza

The Amazing Kaleb Nation

It's been a little while
since I posted here. Writing The Search for Truth got me off track completely, but I'm back in the real world finally ... for now!

Kaleb Nation
So before I'm lost again in the next book I write - I've got a lot to talk about. This post is dedicated to a great guy, a brilliant, talented individual who I am glad to know. Did I say he's talented? He's not only the mastermind behind my website, but he also composes music for fun when he's not writing novels (his first hopefully to come out soon,) hosting online radio shows, doing art and design work, and just starting college - in case that wasn't enough on its own!

Kaleb made this amazing video about the first Erec Rex book that I'm happy to share with you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHvopiire70
Check it out! I love it, and Kaleb is so funny.



He's also done another really funny video about "What College Guys Eat," that I loved -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8ITVV1etfM

You might also want to look at Kaleb's blog, too, at http://kalebnation.com/blog/
Who else could have created a huge controversy from one of his many tongue-in-cheek entries about what it's like to be chosen as the lead actor in the upcoming Stephenie Meyers flick? (He's not, actually, before I start that up again!)

I'm glad to know you, Kaleb, and may we someday meet in person!

By the way, I just found this sweet video someone made about Erec Rex on YouTube!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY7kHDgL7bY&feature=related

Love and hugs,
Kaza

Yea!! I'm Done!!!!!

I am floating on a cloud.
Yesterday night I finished Book Three of the Erec Rex series, The Search for Truth. I can't be happier with it. It was a ton of work and concentration, so it feels strange to be done with it! Now I just have to go through the edits and wait to see it on the shelves in October. Sooo cool!!!!

Thanks
for everyone who's given me support and fun emails during this time. It helped a lot! Now just a little breather before plunging into the book on Aoquesth...

Love always,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Sixteen!

Surprise! We have one more day of the blog tour added on for fun! It's at Young Adults Books Central - an awesome and fun blog all about my favorite topic!

So, rounding out a completely awesome tour of some of my favorite sites online, I get to end up with some really fun, light questions that nobody else thought to ask!
Hope you join me for this last day. And thanks for touring with me!

Luv,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Fifteen!

Yea!! My blog tour concludes (...or does it...?) with a stop at the awesome, the fabulous, the smokin' The Jay. It was not only a super-fun interview by this pop culture commentator and icon, but also a chance to meet a cool new friend. Check it out!

Is this the end of the blog tour? Or will there be one more mystery stop??

Only tomorrow will tell....

Love and hugs,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Fourteen

Today's online visit will be awesome. I'm traveling to the blog of my friend and upcoming author Kaleb Nation. Kaleb has written a great fantasy book, and even better he did it while he was in high school! I'm so proud to call Kaleb my friend. He has come up with some interesting questions for me - most are aimed at things writers would enjoy finding out!

I hope you enjoy this. I know I am! Check it out here.

I just took a break from writing today and saw Mad Money. It was really funny! It's midnight, but I think I'll get another hour of writing in before I go to bed!

Love y'all!
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Thirteen

This was originally going to be the last day of my blog tour - but two more stops added on, and now I'm going until Day Fifteen!

Today I am proud to be a guest of Chauceriangirl, home of Faith, an amazing reader (and a Chaucer fan - could you have guessed?) Faith can read multiple books in a day, which amazes me, and had great insights about them in her blog - a real service! I used to be such a slow reader when I was a kid it would take me a month to finish a book! I actually pictured each sentance in my mind before going on to the next. Had to give that up, though, or I'd never get to read that much!

Hope to see you at Chauceriangirl!
Luv and hugs,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Twelve!

Today I'm the guest of the Ultra-Cool Real Gurlz Magazine! It's an awesome blog and magazine - and they asked some really fun questions! This has been quite the whirlwind tour. I'm enjoying every minute, too, because after this I'm completely immersed until Book Three is finished - which will be soon!!

Thanks for touring along with me...

Luv,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Eleven!

I am SO excited to dive Into The Wardrobe, a fantastic Blog from Quezon City, Philippines!! It's especially exciting, because Erec Rex will be published in the Philippines, soon. This is a fantastic blog, and I'm excited to get to meet some new and potential readers in the Philippines. Tarie's interview questions were fantastic. Join me there and check it out!

Also - I am VERY excited about a new review of Monsters of Otherness from the Bibliophile's Retreat! Check it out! This was so beautifully written - it inspired me, for sure!

Love and hugs,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Ten!

Today I am the guest of a great site called Deliciously Clean Reads. It's chock full of reviews of YA and kid lit books. But, even better, it's a handy tool for parents who want to know if a book is okay for their kids to read. There are no hard and fast rules on this site, just suggestions to be taken along with the age of your children. The site promotes books with a healthy attitude for growing kids. Good Clean Books.

More fantastic news! I found two more outstanding reviews online today!

One is a review of Book One, The Dragon's Eye, by The Writer's Notebook - here. I loved this review. It was very well thought out.

The other is a review of Book Two, The Monsters of Otheress, by FanaticSpace - here. This was a cool, perceptive review from a great reviewer. This was one of the stops on my blog tour!

See you in cyberspace!

Love forever,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Nine!

Today I am the guest of Author Chris Rettstatt's blog. How fun is that! Chris had some great questions for me, and it will be a fun day - check it out!!

I also just saw this really cool post in The Writer's Notebook. Erec Rex won for Best Fantasy World, AND was nominated as runner up for the first three categories - Best Debut, Best Title, and Best Series Starter! Check it out here. Sooo cool! I didn't see any other book that had even two nominations. Woo-hoo!!!

Gotta love it. Now I'll be writing with a big smile on my face.
Love and kisses,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Eight!

Continuing down the blogging trail, I now am at the great blog known as A Year of Books, full of reviews and info on the latest books, as well as a few other great topics!

I hope you get a chance to visit and leave me a comment! It's a snowy day here, this blog tour is making me glad I'm not on a real tour at the moment! (Unless it was in sunny Florida.)

Love as always,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Seven!

Today I get to be a guest
of the amazing Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-A-Holic. I think Stephanie wins the prize for art on her page - it's SO beautiful! Of course, loving fantasy, it has a lot of my faves in it. Unicorns, faries, a spectacular sunset, mystical castle in the background.

Well, check it out for yourself! Beyond being beautiful, Stephanie's site is full of fantastic info about books, and other great tidbits, too. I know I'll be a regular there!

Check out Day Seven of my blog tour here.

And, also, I found a fantastic review for Monsters of Otherness on My Clean Book Reviews!
I'm stopping there on my tour, as well, soon!

Great News about a Free Erec Rex book giveaway!
The great site, Fanatic Space is hosting two giveaway contests for The Dragon's Eye and The Monsters of Otherness.
Just click on these links, go to the one you most want to win, and follow the simple directions. Just post a comment, and you may win a free book!
Good luck!

Love and hugs,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Six!

This blog tour has been so much fun. The questions have been great, and I've gotten to meet some new faces (well, avatars anyway! :})

Today I will be the guest of The Children's Literature Book Club, especially cool for me as it based in Columbus, Ohio, not far from me! More new questions (bet you never thought you'd get to know me this well!) and a slightly older baby picture await you there!

And I have another new blog to announce! The Worlds of Genre is a cool new blog that won my heart by discussing Erec Rex in it's opening post (3rd paragraph!) Yea!!!

Love,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Five!

I am so excited today to be a guest of the marvelous Bibliophile's Retreat, a wonderful blog by a self-proclaimed voracious reader. She does reviews, and did a wonderful review of Erec Rex in the past. Come check out her fantastic interview questions - they're all unique to her site along my tour! And see me grow up more in the pics...!

Speaking of reviews, Jason Wigley at FanaticSpace.com gave Erec Rex a great review here.
I love the way it starts: Erec Rex is not a Harry Potter Clone. Thank you Jason! Cleared that up right away...!

Hope you come and visit me on tour today!
Luv always,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Four!

I'm off again, soaring further into the web. Today I visit the Fan-tastic Blog at FanaticSpace, with Jason Wigley. FanaticSpace is not just a blog - the blog is part of a wonderful site that is created for fans of ... well, practically everything! And in case the extensive list of fan topics (anime, games, movies, SciFi, fantasy, horror, books, music, comics, TV...) don't include your favorite, you are welcome to add your own! They have news, forums, links, and more.

As I'm going to be on panels at two upcoming fantasy cons (Millenicon and Marcon,) I think Jason will be the perfect person to give me advice.

I found another interesting review today of The Dragon's Eye at http://www.jerm.us/archives/331

Hope you come see me on FanaticSpace - and leave me a comment there!

Luv always,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Three!

Continuing my further adventures in blogland, I am going today to the blog of an inspiring and sweet mother, reader, and much more. It's called Baseballs and Bows - a sweet name for this mother's lessons of the ins and outs of motherhood.

Again, all of the questions will be new ones on this post, as well as all the others.

I'm honored to be her guest! I hope you join us and add to the discussion.

Hugs,
Kaza

Blog Tour - Day Two!!

Come check it out! It's Day Two, and I'm being hosted at Books4Ever, a great site about childrens' and YA books. More fun questions - and find out what the hardest part about writing is for me. You'll also see another new baby picture - those have been fun to spread around!

Day One had some great comments, and was a lot of fun. I hope to see you at this new site today!

Luv, Kaza

Blog Tour - Day One!

Yahoo!! Today is the first day of my blog tour!!
I get to whiz around through cyberspace and stop by some of my favorite blogs to say hi!

Some of the interview questions I've gotten have been great. The cool thing is that none of the questions or blog content will repeat between any of the blogs - everyone had their own, separate topics! Pretty cool, I think.

I hope you come stop by and visit at my first stop - it's A Fort Made of Books, a fantastic blog by MuggleNet's own Robbie Fisher, who does the Book Trolley reviews! How fun!
Hope to see you there!
Luv,
Kaza

Revving up for the Great Blog Tour!!

It's starting soon!
I can't wait. I'm going on a cyber-tour of 13 incredible blogs (I think it's a lucky number!) and it starts in two days, on Monday, January 7th!

Here is my schedule:

1/7 – A Fort Made of Books

1/8 – Books4Ever

1/9 – Baseballs and Bows

1/10 – Fanatic Space Blog

1/11 – Bibliophile's Retreat

1/12 – Children's Literature Book Club

1/13 – Stephanie’s Confessions of a Book-A-Holic

1/14 – A Year of Books

1/15 – Author Chris Rettstatt's blog

1/16 – Deliciously Clean Reads

1/17 – Into the Wardrobe

1/18 – Real Gurlz Magazine

1/19 – Chauceriangirl

I am proud to be hosted by such an amazing group of bloggers. Maybe some of them will make new connections with each other!

Come check out the tour - it will be fun!

Hugs,
Kaza

It's Up, and it's Amazing!!

The Erec Rex Website
It's completely updated and redone, and it's beyond awesome! I am so excited about it.
You have to check it out:
http://www.erecrex.com

I hope you had a happy New Year! I went to a party - a lot of fun. And my new site went online the next day - what a great way to start the New Year!


The castle art on my website was done by a great artist named Matthew Liam Brady. I'm so impressed with it! The site was designed by Kaleb Nation, and he did an amazing job, too!

There are still a few spots under construction, but hopefully soon it will be all finished!

Great Review
I saw a really nice review of Book One up on Thunderweasel - check it out:
http://thunderweasel.blogspot.com/2008/01/erec-rex-dragons-eye-kaza-kingsley.html

Happy New Year!
Luv,
Kaza