All Hallows Read Giveaway!

I'm so excited to participate in All Hallows Read this year! Its a completely made-up holiday to celebrate reading and books. The idea is to give someone a scary book this month...Thats it!

Reading free books? Yes, please!

The yearly celebration was started by Neil Gaiman and I think the video of him explaining it is so funny because the people in the background are hilariously trying to create mayhem...

Its not only for individuals to gift someone they love with a truly breathtaking tale. Libraries, books stores, book clubs, and coffee shops all get into the tradition.  For more information check out the All Hallows Read website. They have downloadable posters, recommended reads for all ages, and bookmarks!

Some of my favorite reads are Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, Bride of Pendorric by Victoria Holt, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, and The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe.
To give you more ideas Goodreads has an All Hallows Read List! 

So if you like spooky books and there are people around, you can join in!  Pick up some scary stories to hand out from a library book sale, the thrift shop, or even me!

I am celebrating by giving away 3 Kindle copies of my spooky Gothic mystery, Whispers on Shadow Bay! The GIVEAWAY last from October 1-7th.

All you have to do is enter the giveaway below and the winners will have their books in time to join in on the fun!
Don't forget to check out the #AllHallowsRead hashtag on twitter and Instagram for inspiration on what to read this Halloween.

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Enter for a chance to win one of 3 copies  in time for 

All Hallows Read!

Click To Enter GIVEAWAY

Happy SpoOKTOBER!

I am a total child when it comes to October. I love it. Like...LOVE it. You see, its the month with no pressure.  No big holiday meals to prepare or houses to clean for guests.  In fact all the guests stay right outside my door...so, so nice.  

It is time when color combinations like orange and purple are not only acceptable, but encouraged.  I love bats and creepy "crystal" goblets and frothy black lace sleeves.  It is the month that brings joy to the Goth girl still hiding inside my head.

I totally ROCKED one of these!

I think is has to do with imagination. October is the month where whimsical and terrible play together. Pretty, pretty princess dresses hang next to the tattered shreds of a mummy suit. And the candy...THE CANDY!  

I love the creativity that comes out during this time of the year. I remember making costumes that were necessarily 'punny' because we could not afford real costumes.  So I was the "Freudian Slip"...aka the girl in the body suit and white dress slip with "Freud" cut out of construction paper.  It think I saw that in a movie and thought it was the height of sophistication...costume wise, anyway. 

ALAS, the night was misty and the black cut-out letters shriveled into dark clumps and people asked me if I was a girl snowman...?  Whatever, people. It was glorious in my living room.

All the good things are in October...

I was the "cactus" which was really a green sweat suit with glued on sponge wedges.  

It was awesome, I tell you.  AWESOME!

The one year I did buy a costume...I chose a bizarre inflatable, hat-like, goblin head. Why? Because it came with BOTH a cape AND face paint!  Whaaaa?!  I was in heaven.

October to me still means creativity and freedom from the expected. This time, however, I don't plan costumes. I plan books.  It is the month leading into NaNoWriMo. 

So I do all my outlining, planning, and preliminary research this month.  Last year it was for my final book in the Blackburn Chronicles...so lots of cogs and gears...zombie flesh...and pretty, pretty dresses that happen to have hidden weapons.  I AM still a girl, after all.

This month, I am planning my next book...a creepy fantasy with monsters and daggers and...pretty, pretty magic cloaks!  Wish me luck!

What is your favorite part of the year? Is it the pastel springtime?  The balmy summer?  What about the crisp winter?   What about them makes you smile?

Until next time...

Exhibition of Wonders

So for my Steampunk series I have absolutely LOVED doing research for these books. There is something so fun about world building when you're doing Alternative History because you get to delve into a sea of 'what ifs' and that is my FAVORITE.

Photo by Myrabella

This week I have been learning all about diving bells and anthropomorphic diving suits of the Victorian era for my third book, The Chasm Walkers, which has submersible vessels.

I am so shocked by what was already possible that long ago. This guy is from 1882. Does that not inspire! I mean...it could also be a space suit. Those face windows though!

Building upon the fevered dreams of those intrepid inventors was both an honor and a challenge.  How far can you push the boundaries, even in fiction, and still remain believable? The suspension of disbelief is an essential and truly delicate thing.

One of my favorite inspirational pieces was the Strandbeest by Theo Jansen. This innovative apparatus was just a wellspring for ideas for mobility out in the Wastelands in my second book, the Wind Reapers.

These strange contraptions propel themselves...so cool!

And although #steampunk can be filled with mystic and magic. I chose to ground my series in science. So when researching chemical cascades to create my Tremblers, I had to have monsters I could believe existed.

It seems like in the age of industry, nothing seemed impossible for a piece of properly designed machinery. Calculating engines, harvesting machines, scientific apparatus...all of it conceived in wonder.

LOVE IT. Its what gets me up in the morning.

After this series, I am debating on working on a Gothic Thriller. I love the spooky and the strange. Its sort of who I am. I remember once finding the prettiest music box ringtone for my phone. When it went off, my daughter said it was from a horror movie about ghosts.  I had no idea. It just appealed to me and sounded cool.

I wrote some Gothic Romances before...they were set in haunted carnivals and decrepit mansions. I LOVED writing them. So I may give it another go.  As I have been told before, "You do you, Boo."

I believe I will, thank you very much. I shall let my inner eccentricities out to play. Mwahaha!

What do you love most about what you do? Is it the people. The places? What draws you in, keeps you interested, and motivates you even when things get hard?

To learn more about my upcoming YA Steampunk Thrillers, check out The Tremblers or visit my Author Site.

+Raquel Byrnes