Thursday, August 25, 2011

Seven Days To Hell



I just looked at the countdown clock on my website for the launch date of Boyfriend From Hell.  It read 7 days 6 hours and 23 minutes.  It's sweaty palms time, people.  My baby is about to be born.  I hope you like her.  So far it's been very good.  I have had some amazing reviews.  REVIEWS.  I've had thousands of requests for a copy of the book in my Goodreads giveaways. I want to thank all of you for your support.  If you'd like to read the first four chapters before you buy it, they're available now on my HOMEPAGE.  Just click on the Boyfriend From Hell Sample link, read and enjoy.

If you've already made the decision to purchase it, but haven't done so yet, remember it's on pre-publication sale for Nook and Kindle owners at just $2.99.  The price will go up in seven days.  If you'd like to purchase your copy now, go here. PURCHASE.

That's all the news that's fit to print.  Next up is my super awesome launch party on September 10th.  I will be talking more about it here next week.  Peace.


Monday, August 22, 2011

Boyfriend From Hell Bewitching Book Tour


The book launch for Boyfriend From Hell  is about to go into full swing.  I am so excited. Next up is my Bewitching Books Blog Tour. The tour was put together by the Amazing Roxanne Rhoades. Among her many talents, Roxanne is also an author.  You can check out her latest work here: Paranormal Pleasures.

 If you write paranormal romance or Urban Fantasy and you’re looking for a tour, look no further. The Bewitching Books Tour is just what you need. Thanks, Roxanne for taking such good care of me.
For my tour there will be twenty-six stops along with a radio interview on September 6th.   Please drop in on a tour stop or two, support me, and maybe meet some new friends. The tour schedule is below:


8/29 - Tour Launch @ Fang-tastic Books
8/29- Review @ Bees Knees Reviews
8/30 – Review & Guest Post @ Mama Knows Books
8/31 – Review @ Authors By Authors
 9/1 – Interview @ I Smell Sheep
9/2 - Review & Interview @ Truthfully Fictional
9/5 - Guest Post & Review @ That Bookish Girl
9/6 – Guest Post @ Laurie’s Thoughts & Reviews
9/9 – Review & Guest Post @ A Chick Who Reads
9/12 – Review & Guest Post @ Reader Girls
9/13 – Review & Guest Post @ Freda’s Voice
9/15 – Review & Guest Post @ The Book Faery
9/19 – Review & Guest Post @ All Things Books
9/20 – Guest Post @ Oodles of Books
9/21 – Review & Guest Post @ Red House Books
9/22 – Review & Guest Post @ Livin' Life Through Books
9/23 – Review & Guest Post @ MY Bookish Fairy Tale







Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Boyfriend From Hell Ebook Pre-Sale


I have had my good friend Tatiana at Creative Force Group do a total redesign of my website to more suit my personality, and to help promote the books.  Please check it out, and then come back and leave a comment.  I know you’re all going to love it.  http://evanlowe.com/ Tatiana is an awesome person and her prices are reasonable.  If you’re looking for awesome web design and your budget is tight, she’s your man… er wo-man. Creative Force Group.

Ebook Presale

My most exciting news is that my publisher is so excited about the prospects of Boyfriend From Hell that we are holding an ebook pre-sale.  From now until August 31st the Kindle and Nook versions of the book will be just $2.99.  On September 1st (when all the advertising starts) the book will return to it's original price.  If you have a Kindle or Nook now is the perfect time to buy.  Blogger reviews so far have been quite positive.  If you'd like to see some reviews go here: REVIEWS
It would also be quite generous if a few of you could tweet  the information about the sale to your followers. I’d like to prime the sales pump a bit before September.  The book can be purchased on my website  http://evanlowe.com.

Thanks for your support.

Peace

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Togetherness


A few weeks ago the lady in my life (I won’t mention her name here.  If you stay with me you’ll see why) suggested we have some together time.
“Let’s get up early one Sunday morning and go out to Venice Beach.  We can rent elliptical bikes, and ride along the bike path together.”
“Elliptical?”
“Yes, just like the machine I like to use at the gym.  You like working out.  You’ll get both a great arms and cardio workout.  And we’ll do it together.”

I don’t use the elliptical machine at the gym.  I used to use the Stairmaster, but 30-45 minutes of going nowhere didn’t do it for me.  But this was different.  We’d be at the beach, riding along in the open air.
She even had a Groupon for a two hour ride.  So Sunday before last, we got up early and headed out to beautiful Venice Beach.  As we got closer to the beach, the sky clouded up.  The weather man calls this the inversion layer.  I was hoping the beach would be sunny, but my lady pointed out that since we were going to be working out, the cool air would be welcome.

We arrived at the bike rental just after they opened for the day.  We signed up for bikes, watched a short video on how to ride the darn things, and then the clerk took us out to the parking lot for a practice run before we headed off to the bike path.


That’s me in the parking lot, getting up on the bike for the first time. 
We got on our bikes and I took off around the parking lot.  I noticed the faster I went, the easier it was to hold my balance.  I stopped, looked behind me.  My lady was not there.  I walked my bike back to where she was standing next to hers.  Let me tell you, walking an elliptical bike is not as easy as walking a two-wheeler.  It’s more like walking an octopus.
“You okay?” I asked, out of breath from walking the bike.
“Yes.   It’s different than the one at the gym.  It kind of sways back-and-forth.”
Do I remind her the machine at the gym is a stationery bike, and this is the real deal?  No.  That wouldn’t go over very well.  I said nothing.
A short time later, we made our way to the bike path.
“I’ll be right behind you,” she said.
“I won’t go too fast.  I’ll let you get the hang of it.  But you know, the faster you go, the easier it is to keep your balance.”
“Got it,” she replied.
 I didn’t see her again for half an hour.  After riding for a few minutes I looked back and saw that she had stopped.  I figured I’d ride very slowly so she could catch up.  But she didn’t catch up.  After a while, I stopped along-side the bike path and waited.  Ten minutes and probably twenty bikes passed me by.  A group of four on ellipticals (that I had passed a long time ago) went flying by.

I decided to go back.  I figured when I saw her coming up the bike path, I’d make a U-turn, and we could ride along together.  About twenty feet from where she first stopped I saw her alongside the path.
“You okay?”
“Yes.  I’m just getting the hang of this thing.  Don’t worry about me.  You ride ahead, when I see you on your way back, I will turn around and join you.  Don’t let me spoil your fun.”
It was then I decided she should take a picture of me riding the bike.


I’m glad I did.  This was the last time I saw her before our two hours were up.  When I got back to the parking lot, she was standing by her bike.
“I thought you might come back here to practice some more,” I said.
“I didn’t practice.  I just came back and waited for you.  Did you have fun?”
“Yeah, but I thought we were going to do this together.  We did do it together.”

Do I point out that the only time we were together was in the car on the way to the beach? No.

Afterwards, we went to lunch.  She told me how much fun she’d had, and that she’d like to do it again.  That’s when it hit me (any guy reading this needs to let this coming part soak in) for a woman, togetherness is not a state of being, togetherness is a state of mind.
“It had fun,” I said as I drove her home.  “Let me know when you’d like to do it again.”
I write paranormal novels about young women, their thoughts, their hopes, their dreams.  I think I just learned something I didn’t know.  Maybe I can use it in my next book.

BTW, I was sore for a week.

Peace.

Friday, August 5, 2011

High School Book Drive

This post is a reblog.  I don't normally do reblogs, but this one is important.  Please read:

Danielle over at Frenzy of Noise wrote a post about a high school who only had 63 books in their library. So I decided to pass the word along and let everyone know that this high school desperately needs book donations. Here's the info. directly from Danielle's post:

I know I'm part of a community that bands together to stand up for literary injustice, backlash, plagiarism and everything in between. We build hashtags on twitter and give small ideas a way to be big. We're awesome.

That's why when the director of my MFA program sent us an email about a book drive, I knew I had to bring the need to my community. This community. Why? Well...
"The literature section of Ballou Senior High School's library in Washington, DC has 63 books, not enough to fill five small shelves. In the area marked "Pure Science," there are 77 volumes. The generally accepted standard for school libraries is 11 books for each of Ballou's 1,104 students." THAT'S WHY.

What they need:
Everything. From Shakespeare to Octavia Butler to Richard Wright. Fantasy, sci-fi, YA, adult fiction, history books, poetry, classic literature, science. Basically anything and everything that's suitable for high school. They will take anything as long as it is in GOOD condition and has no writing in it.

I've asked if they would accept ARCs (new and old), and the director of the book drive, Lisa, said YES. Please note however, that they really need finished copies. ARCs are fantastic, but the lasting value isn't always standing.

How to donate:
If you have books you want to give, please mail them directly to:
The Art of Living Center
International Association for Human Values
c/o Filiz Odabas-Geldiay
2401 15th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009

There should be a note inside donation boxes that says:
Green Line Initiative Book Drive
attn: Lisa Pegram
They will be accepting books until August 22!!

Also, if you'd like to include some kind of quick note for the kids, words of encouragement, that would be awesome!! But it's not mandatory.

Spread the word!

Reblog this post on your blog. Tweet this post. (we're on twitter at #HSBookDrive) Tell everyone. Send books.

I really hope you guys can all participate in some way. (Even if it's just blogging or tweeting about it.) My high school library had quite a lot of books and I was in there all the time. I'd like to help create a library like that for these kids. So let's get them some books to read!

Peace

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Bad Boy, Bad Boy, Whatcha Gonna Do?


Lots of female friends have told me they’ve had boyfriends from hell. I’ve heard some horror stories and some very funny stories as well. Many women thought they were getting involved with sweet guys, only to find out they were going to hell. But others, many others, chose to date bad boys… on purpose.

In writing Boyfriend From Hell, I tried to deal with what a girl feels dating a bad boy. I created Guy Matson, the handsome, bad boy Megan is instantly attracted to. In truth, I have no idea what it feels like being a bad boy. Although when I was growing up I really, really, really wanted to be one. When I was fourteen I fell in love with a girl who had a thing for bad boys—the guys who ditched school, and drank, and made out with their girlfriends right on the school steps; the boys who didn’t seem to care if they got busted by a teacher or the cops.

One day I got up the nerve to walk Carolyn home from school. She only lived two blocks from school, so I could walk her home and still get home before my mother started a sweep of the neighborhood looking for me. My mom was a stickler for us getting home on time. But Carolyn didn’t know I had a three o’clock curfew. For all she knew, I didn’t have to be home—ever.

We walked and she asked me if I’d ever been to a certain community center on Friday nights. They had dancing. I grew up in a tough neighborhood. The community center she spoke of was in the toughest part of the neighborhood. I did not walk down that street after dark.

“Dancing, huh? I love to dance.” I did like to dance. Of course, it was mostly at home alone in my mirror, or with my mother. But she didn’t need to know who my partner was. For all she knew, I was dancing the night away at wild parties every weekend.

“You should come,” she said.

“Will you be there?” This was the height of flirting for me. My palms were sweaty when I asked the question. What did you expect, George Clooney? I was a fourteen year-old who had to be in the house by three o’clock for chrissake.

“Yes,” she said. The way she said yes left no doubt in my mind, that if I swaggered into that community center looking like the Fonz, Carolyn would be mine.

Friday evening I announced I was going to the community center. Mom didn’t need to know which one. By the time I got there my heart was beating a mile a minute—partly because I was nervous about seeing Carolyn, and partly because I feared for my life. When I arrived outside, Carolyn was on the steps talking to a bad boy who had the youthful swagger of James Dean. He was very close to her, and she seemed to like the closeness. She looked up and saw me.

“Oh, hi, you came,” she said with a smile that was warm and inviting.

“Yeah. I come here sometimes, just to kick it, you know.” I said trying to sound like I had swagger as well.

That’s when I noticed the boy she standing with eyeing me like I was just the person he had been waiting to punch in the face. He whispered something in her ear, draped his arm around her shoulder. She laughed.

“See you inside,” she said.

I nodded and went inside. A short time later I slipped out the side door and went back home. I didn’t know if the boy was her boyfriend. But I knew I wasn’t a bad boy. I could never whisper seductively in her ear, or drape my around her shoulder without sweating out my undershirt. I was destined to be a nice guy. In retrospect, I realize there’s nothing wrong with that.

In Boyfriend From Hell, when Megan is flirting with the idea of being a bad girl she muses: You can’t be a bad girl, unless you actually do something bad. Megan couldn’t fake it, and neither could I.