First Page of Forbidden Forest

I'm trying to decide whether to use 1st or 3rd person. There seems to be an unwritten rule that classic fantasy be written in 3rd (it sounds more formal, for one). But I kinda like to break rules. Let me know if the third person works for you.

Forbidden Forest

Chapter 1

Mud squelched between my toes. Shoving my spear-shaped hoe into the ground, I lifted a sodden lump of earth and scattered three seeds inside. I did this over and over again as rain ran down my face, dripping off my nose and chin, and my back clenched into one big cramp. But I didn’t let any of it slow me. If I finished fast enough, Shan and I would have time to go fishing in the river. And I’d finally be free of the mud and the drudgery . . . for at least a little while.

When I finally ran out of seeds, I straightened up with a sigh to roll the kinks from my neck. “Sella’s, time to go,” I called impatiently to my three-year old sister. When she didn’t answer, I threw off my damp smelling wool hood to look for her. But instead of freshly plowed fields, all I saw was a thick black-green line of the Forest.

All the blood seemed to leave my body, pooling with the water in cold puddles at my feet. I’d strayed too far from the village—dangerously close to the Forbidden Forest.
Like hunch-shouldered sentinels, the enormous trees strained toward me like reaching arms. I grabbed my hoe and held it like a spear—a dull, mud caked spear. I knew it was laughable, but I felt a little better with it in my hand. I took a startled step back, my eyes automatically searched their shadows for the dark face of a Treeman.

“Sella?” I called again, and even to my own ears, my voice sounded hollow. How long had it been since I’d last seen her?

Witch Song's Official Book Trailer + A Contest

I love my trailer! It's one of the best *book trailers I've seen, EVER. Because I'm so proud of it, I want to share it with the world.

So, here's how you get points:

1. Everytime you share the link for the trailer, you get one point. So if you post the link on Twitter and Facebook, that's two points.

2. Everytime you share the video for the trailer, you get 5 points. So if you share on your blog/website/forum you get five points.

3. If you post Witch Song's Trailer near the top of your sidebar and leave it there for at least one month, you get 10 points. 

Have another awesome idea for sharing the trailer, let me know and I'll hand you more points!

There is no limit on the number of points you can earn. If you'd like, you can tweet and facebook once a day until the contest ends (at the end of May). Be sure to tally up all your points!

And here's what you win:

A signed hardcover of MATCHED by Allie Condie. A signed bookmark from Traci Hickman, Mette Ivie Harrison, and Brandon Mull. In addition, one signed poster for the Thirteenth Reality by James Dashner.

*Special thanks to the following for making Witch Song's trailer so amazing:
My parents, Kent and Alice Argyle, for bringing the horses and helping out in a dozen other ways.
Marcie Cornia, the beautiful girl with the waist length hair.
Adam Argyle: my oh-so-handsome brother, for posing as Joshen.
Shauna Johnson for taking such fantastic pictures (and then editing them).
Cynthia Forbush for working tirelessly to sew the velvet cape.
Lindy Hough for make-up and hair.
Michelle Argyle for a few tweaks to the pictures.
Rhett and Emmaline Hoffmeister for throwing all of it together to make something wonderful.
And to my husband, Derek, for watching the kids so they weren't underfoot.

http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/p/giveaway-hop-page_04.html

Princess for A Day

I'm taking the liberty of naming myself Princess for A Day because of my interview over at Princess Reviews <--click on the link and read all about it.

One thing I mentioned is anesthesia's occasional lack of effect on me. Childbirth and later stitching was excruciating. My last c-section was horrifying. It makes writing about injuries very real though. :)

Needless to say, there will be no more children for me.

The Beauty of a Bookmobile

Want to learn how I feel in love with books? Find out at Immortality and Beyond.

Come check it out!

Witch Song Excerpt

Want to learn how the magic in Witch Song is different from anything you've ever seen? Check out two excerpts over at It's All About Books.

And thanks Aleetha!

CONduit 21

I'll be appearing at the Radisson Downtown Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah to present at CONduit 21 writer's conference May 27-29, 2011. I've been asked to participate in four panels on the following topics:

1. What are the new monsters today?

• We have Hellboy and a few others, but more and more, writers are going back to the old standbys. Where are the "new" monsters today? Amber Argyle, Larry Correia, Paul Genesse, Dan Wells, Roger White

   2.  Women in Fantasy

• L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Amber Argyle, Dene Low (M), Elisabeth Waters, Carole Nelson Douglas

   3.  How to Write Great Villains

• Clint Johnson, Amber Argyle, Roger White, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells

   4.  High Fantasy: it's more than just elves and unicorns

• Amber Argyle, Ami Chopine, Chris Weston, Peter Orullian, Stephen Gashler

I'll also be doing a reading of Witch Song on Friday from 4:00- 4:25 (Should I admit that I'm panicked no one will come? Cause I am. So if you're going to CONduit, you HAVE to come to my reading. There will be signed bookmarks for those that do (no, I'm not above bribery)).

Also, stop by and say hi. If you'd like to do lunch or dinner, email me at amberargyle at yahoo dot com and we'll work something out. :)

What do Beef, Scars, and Haiku Have In Common?

They all came up in my interview, or course. I'm over at iLive, iLaugh, iLove books with Lucia today. We're discussing such vital things as chicken or beef (or tofu), I write some really bad haiku (thanks for trying to make my feel better by saying it was good, Lucia), and Lucia teases me (quite cleverly, I might add). ;)

Also, come find out where on my body I have a six inch scar (well, besides the c-section scars).

And thanks Lucia! I loved all your fun responses. 

Random:

• Witch Song is now available at Book Depository for the super low price of $10.49 + free shipping.
• I'm sick. Again.

In Which I Rant About Love Triangles

I'm over at AwesomeSauce Bookclub today. Stop over and read my rant about love triangles!

And thanks so much to Amber (her mother picked a beautiful name, BTW)! Also, her blog is awesome (another awesome name chosen, go figure).

And now that I've used the word "awesome" four times in five sentences, I'M OUT!

Peace!

Review of the Wild Soccer Bunch by Joachim Masennek + Updates

Review by my 9 year old son. *disclosure: we received this book from LibraryThing earlier reviews.
This book is about kids who love to play soccer. Their coach is Larry, but they’re not really an official team; they mostly just play in a field for fun. Fabio, the son of a
famous Brazilian soccer star, wants to practice with the Wild Soccer Bunch. Instead, he plays for the Furies and his famous dad won’t let him switch.


The Wild Soccer Bunch finally gets a chance to play the Furies. They have to find a sponsor and logo. The game goes back and forth. The Wild Soccer Bunch eventually looses 11-4. Fabio’s dad is so impressed by the Wild Soccer Bunch’s courage that he hosts a party in their honor and announces that he’ll allow his son to play on their team. He buys them jerseys and helps them get their team going.

I liked this book because it shows that you can face really hard challenges and even if you don’t win, good things can come out of it. The funniest part where when they jumped off the eight foot bridge. My favorite part of the book was when the Wild Soccer Bunch faced the Furies.

Corb

There he is, folks, my uber cute son. He's also writing two books at present. I'm so proud I could pop. :)

Random:

• I still have two giveaways going on. Both books are signed. Matched by Ally Condie and The Third by Abel Keogh
• ARCs for Witch Song aren't in yet. For those of you eagerly awaiting your copy, patience young padawans. It will get done.
• My kitchen faucet is broken. Water will only come out the sprayer. This has been going on for 3 weeks, and the part is on backorder. Do you have any idea how many times I soaked myself when I've turned on the faucet without thinking? (There may or may not but definitely was swearing involved.)
• I have a cold that has rendered my nose much like my kitchen faucet. Broken. This has been going on for over a week now.
• I am, once again, freaking out. MY BOOK COMES OUT IN 3.5 MONTHS! What if everyone hates it! What if there's a big grammatical error! . . . I am forcing myself to replace this crippling fear with positivity. What if everyone loves it! What if it sells like crazy! What if . . . well, you get the idea.
• BIG BIG BIG things are in fact happening with WITCH SONG. And I can't tell you about any of them. Gosh, don't you just hate teasers?!?
• My current WIP is up to 60,000 words. I'm kinda stalled out on how to delve deeper into my magical system. The magic comes from trees, so the trees have to communicate with people somehow. Mindspeach and dreams feel so cliche. Any ideas?
• Barnes and Noble has increased the price of WITCH SONG from $9.44 to $13.99. Those of you who have already preordered the book have therefore saved over $4 bucks! So sorry for the rest of you. :(

Blogger Shout Out

In keeping with my post last month about authors who have helped me succeed, I wanted to give a shout out to all the bloggers who've featured Witch Song on their blogs. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and for loving books! Check them out!

Fragments of Life

The Bookish Type

Tales of a Ravenous Reader

Amaterasu Reads

Books Are Wonderful

Girl About Books

My Precious

Stalking the Bookshelf

The Reader Bee

Utah Writing

The Book Faery

Book Flame

iLive iLaugh iLove Books

Splash of Our Worlds

Alise On Life

Book Lovin' Bitches

Simona

Dallen Rose

Benjamin Rose

Book Purring

Luke Piper

Krystal

The Teen Book Scene

Michael Offutt

Jemima Valentina

Fade into Fantasy

Book Fantatic

If I've missed you, send me your link and I'll add it!
Also, don't forget to enter both the contests I have going this month.

• Win Matched by Ally Condie
• Win The Third by Abel Keogh
• Sign up to review an ARC of WITCH SONG on the tabs at the top of my blog.

Giveaway of The Third (signed!) by Abel Keogh

First impressions: As I've said before, I love the cover. It conveys the dystopian feel of the novel perfectly. The white, embossed font is a great contrast against the gritty earth colors. Here's the cover copy:

When Ransom Lawe, a recycler in the Pacific Northwest, finds out his wife is pregnant with their third—-and therefore illegal—-child, he’s forced to choose between the government who proclaims a desire to save the planet and his hope for a place where his family can live in freedom. But with the Census Bureau Sentinels closing in on his wife and unborn child, Ransom’s choice will either save his family or tear them apart forever.


My thoughts:

I love a good dystopian novel, but to be honest, they're all starting to read alike. The Third is completely different. First, the main character is male, married, and mid-thirtiesish. No love triangles. No hiding secrets from mom. Honestly, it was a refreshing change.

My favorite character was Esperanza. I like characters that are a bit of a juxtaposition. Esperanza is a little Hispanic woman with a baby--totally helpless, right?

 Nope. Esperanza runs an underground operation to smuggle women pregnant with illegal thirds out of the city. She also carries a little dart tipped with a powerful sedative which she uses to knock out men twice her size.

As tough as she is, she's also compassionate and full of confidence. In all honestly, I wouldn't mind a whole book centering around Esperanza and how she got her start in the baby/momma smuggling business.

If you'd like an adult dystopian, I think you'll enjoy it. Check out Abel Keogh's website to read the first chapter.

OR you could win your very own signed, numbered (#57) copy. All you have to do is read and share your thoughts on the first chapter of WITCH SONG <--this is a link, click on it to read the first chapter.

• 1 point for sharing a quick thought on Facebook or Twitter (2 pts for sharing on both) with a link to the first chapter: http://bit.ly/kpXDzf 
• 5 pts for blogging about the first chapter, make sure you include the link: http://bit.ly/kpXDzf 
• 5 pts for mentioning it in on forum/website/anywhere else. 
• Leave me all appropriate links.

Have fun!

Also, don't forget to enter to win a signed hardcopy of MATCHED by Allie Condie.