Legend Of The Fall Challenge

Legend has it that if a person were to guess the title of a movie that takes place during the fall, tens of thousands of dollars will fall into their laps... Okay, maybe just $10. The Hollyweird Tuesday Trivia Challenge is back with its Legend of The Fall challenge. Unscramble the movie jumble and win a free $10 Amazon gift card. Since we've only done the new format once, let me refresh your memory on how it's done:

Each challenge will consist of three separate jumbles. Three words or phrases you will have to unscramble all relating to the same movie. The subjects you will have to unscramble are: movie title, name of an actor in the movie, and one word that can be used in a description of the movie. The three jumbles are not necessarily going to be given in the order I just stated. Here is an un-jumbled example:

The X Men

Halle Berry

Mutants

In The Legend of The Fall challenge, the movie you are looking for takes place during the fall. Are you ready for the challenge?

Here ya go:

Pripe is Foacle

Kingtagnivhs



Nay Aeshes

And remember, while we call it the Hollyweird Tuesday Trivia Challenge, you don't have to enter today. You have 6 days to enter. The drawing closes Sunday evening, so everyone has plenty of time to come up with the correct answer. But just one entry per person will be accepted. The winner will receive a free $10 Amazon gift card. On Monday I will draw a winner from all the correct answers, and post the winner here next Tuesday. Remember, this is all from the same movie, and may not be in the order stated. If you'd like to play there are a few things you will need to do to qualify. 1) be a follower of this blog, or...
2) ...a subscriber at http://www.evanlowe.com/
3) leave a comment on this blog in the comment section on any of my posts anytime during the week of the current challenge. DO NOT put your answer in the comments, instead… 4) send your answer to me at info@evanlowe.com
5)mention the Hollyweird Tuesday Trivia Challenge either on your blog or in a tweet the week of the current challenge.
Do 1 +3,4&;5, or 2 +3 ,4&5 and you are entered to win. Remember, you must do four things to qualify to win.

We didn’t get a big turnout last time out so I held off holding the next challenge until now.  If you like the Hollyweird Tuesday Trivia Challenge, and would like it to continue, please spread the word.

The Orange County Children’s Book Fair

This coming Sunday, October 2nd, I will be live and in person, autographing Boyfriend From Hell at the Orange County Children's Book Fair at Orange College, in Costa Mesa, California. I will be in booth 26 from 1pm to 4:30pm.  Hope some of you will come out and support me and this wonderful event. The book will be for sale at a discount, and if you stop by my booth (whether you buy a book or not), I will autograph a hot off the press Boyfriend From Hell bookmark for you for free, just for coming out and supporting me.  Who knows? This bookmark may be a collector's item some day ;-) Seriously, I hope some of you will stop by and chat with me.  Peace.

Orange County Children's Book Festival

Hey Frans (Friend + Fan=fran), Several of you have been asking about my next appearance.  Well, it’s Sunday October 2^nd at the Orange County Children’s BookFestival.  It’s being held at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. I am honored to have been asked to participate. I will be in booth 26 from 1-4:30pm.  I will be autographing Boyfriend From Hell for those of you who’d like to buy it.  We’ll be selling the book at a discount.  It’s worth coming out just for that. But whether you buy a book or not, I’d appreciate it if some of you would stop by and chat with me.  It’s going to be an amazing affair with a stellar lineup of YA authors including Kami Garcia of Beautiful Creatures fame (The Caster Chronicles). 

You need to be at this event.  If you’re a yet to be published writer, here's a chance to soak up the atmosphere and get inspired by all the authors and books around. If you’re newly published, you can hang with your favorite children’s and YA authors—me included--and get tips on how to navigate the professional writing landscape.   And if you’re a fan of books, trust me, this is the place to be.

If you stop by my booth and I will autograph a hot off the press Boyfriend From Hell bookmark for you for free.  I’d really like to meet some of my OC frans.  I know you're out there. Meeting you guys is what inspires me.

The Orange County Children’s Book Festival. Sunday October 2^nd, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, booth 26, from 1-4:30pm.  Peace.

A Heart Warming Launch Party Story

Fans young and old attended my launch party.  That’s part of the fun of writing this genre—you really do have fans of all ages.

This post, however, is about two particular fans.  Let me tell you a little bit about these girls.  I first met them two years ago at Never Slow Dance With A Zombie Fest.  They arrived late because their guardians drove them all the way from San Diego (two hours) for the event.  At the time they had recently been taken in by relatives when their mother became unfit to raise them. They were going to go into foster care.  The relatives that took them in, did not want to break up the family, so despite personal hardship, they took the girls in.  Never Slow Dance With A Zombie Fest seemed a safe environment for a Halloween party, so they brought the girls. 

While they were at the fest, the guardians bought one copy of Never Slow Dance With A Zombie for the girls to share, and something amazing happened.  The girls enjoyed Never Slow Dance With A Zombie, so much so, that they became readers.  You know how hard it is to get some kids to read, and I hate to say it, but especially black kids. 

Suddenly I had two young fans dying for my next book.  That gave me a double thrill—what author doesn’t like to have fans?  But more importantly, we all know that reading really is fun-damental, and that while these girl's discovery of reading may not ensure their future, it will definitely put them on the right path to a getting a good education.

Saturday the girls had their foster parents bring them up to LA so they could each get their own spanking new copy of Boyfriend From Hell signed by me.

Sorry the quality of the photo is not good.  Their dad (guardian) took it with his phone.  I wanted to share it with you so you could see how proud they are to each have their own copy of Boyfriend From Hell. That is too cute!

If you know me, you know I am sincere when I say how much I love my friends/fans ( I am now coining the phrase—Frans… friend + fan).  Knowing your work can have a positive influence on people makes writing these silly stories all the more worthwhile.  I love these girls. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  This post means a lot to me. Boyfriend From Hell is available right now on Kindle and Nook for just $3.99, $12.95 for a hard copy. http://evanlowe.com/  See for yourself what all the fuss is about.

Peace.

Launch Party Recap

The Boyfriend From Hell launch party was Saturday night.  That's a candid shot of me waiting to go on.  Once my publisher finished with the introduction, I danced up to an 80s tune by The Gap Band.  I had a wonderful time, dancing, reading and chatting with friends and fans. I'm so glad so many of you showed. 

That's me encouraging the ladies in the house to dance with me.  Some did.  You know who you are. Thanks for coming out.  Thanks to those of you who danced, and thank you all for purchasing 50 books, which is a Vroman's record for an indy publisher.  We sold out.

My caterer, Cousin Pam, unveiled one of her newest desert creations--cake pops.

Dancing, food, drink, music, and a reading by me.  If you weren't there you missed a great time.  But all is not lost.  I hear we are taking the show on the road.  Stay tuned.  You still may get a chance to dance with me yet  ;-)

Peace.

Launch Party

In my last post I said my next post would be about my role model.  That post is going to have to wait, because I need to remind you that my Boyfriend From Hell launch party is tomorrow, Saturday September 10^th.  It’s being held at an awesome and quite large independent book store.  Vroman’s in Pasadena.  It will start at 4pm.  There will be music, food, along with a reading and signing by me.  And it’s all free.  So, if you’re in Southern Cal tomorrow, and you’re not busy, come out and meet some of your blogging friends, a few authors, and of course—me  ;-)

That's me signing at the Never Slow Dance With A Zombie Fest, October 2009.  We had a Hollywood makeup artist make up fans as zombies.  All they  had to do was come early and bring their own wardrobe.  As you can tell from all the neat looking zombies in the room, I throw some fun parties.

This event again is being catered by my cousin, Pam.   Get a load of her spread:

So if you want to have a great time hanging out with people who love books, come on out.  And remember, Boyfriend From Hell is now available.  If you'd like to download a free sample, or grab an ecopy, go here:  http://evanlowe.com/  Peace.

How Lucky Am I?

I planned to sit down today and write a new forward to my Sal Conte 80s horror novel, Child’s Play.  I am bringing out my old Dorchester titles along with a new short for Halloween, and I thought a forward looking back would be a great addition.  As I considered what to say, my mind drifted back to the 80s—the awesome music, the house parties, the fun I had at USC hanging with all the young would be writers trying to get our nascent careers going.  It was a time of equal parts fear and exhilaration.

As I conjured up those halcyon days, my mind drifted back to my time in the South Bronx where I grew up.  I started thinking of how I got here in the first place and realized it was luck. How is it that I’ve led the life I’ve led, have the career I have?  Pure dumb luck. The police of the 41^st Precinct dubbed my neighborhood Fort Apache.  They felt any time they ventured outside of the precinct house into the streets, they were taking their lives into their hands. They even made a movie about it: “Where even the cops fear to tread.”  

It didn’t seem so dangerous to me, but I was just a kid back then.  It was all I knew, so what did I know.

It was back then,however, that my luck first kicked in.  The tough kids in my neighborhood liked that I was different, liked that I had ambition.  They looked out for me.  When something bad was about to go down they’d insist I get lost.  It was luck that after I graduated high school I had a friend going to Lehman College in the Bronx.  She said I should check it out.  It was luck that despite my terrible high school transcript they accepted me.  It was luck that I was looking at the bulletin board outside the English Department office where I happened to see a poster touting the USC Professional Writing Graduate Program.  It was luck I found a professor, George Blecher, to take me under his wing and nurture me.

It was luck that after arriving in Southern California (broker than I expected to be) I happened to read an article in The Writer about writing for romance magazines—which is how (after several tries) my professional career started.  It was luck that I was standing at a newsstand thumbing through horror novels (I couldn’t afford to buy one), and I noticed a number of them were published by Dorchester.   

Wow!  Some days I can’t help but look at my life and wonder “how lucky am I?”  Yeah, I know, somewhere in there comes hard work.  But we all need a little luck to go along with the hard work, and I've had my share.

Okay, that’s it.  That’s all I wanted to say.  No deep meaning here. Before I write the Sal Conte forward I realize I have another post to write.  In this one I will be thanking my role model.  If you’d like to know more about Sal Conte he has his own page on my website.  Check him out HERE. And my latest, Boyfriend from Hell, is still on Sale for $2.99.  The price was supposed to go up on the 1^st but it didn’t.  I know it will be going up soon.  If you’d like to read a few sample chapters click HERE and then click on Boyfriend From Hell Sample.

Enjoy your life.  Take advantage of all the luck that comes your way.  And remember to pay it forward. Peace.

Publication Day

Please excuse me for going on and on about my new book coming out.  Boyfriend From Hell comes out today, September 1st, and I am so excited.  Okay, I'm going to stop yammering now.   It's too early for tequila.  Guess I'll have a cup of coffee.  Peace.