Celebrate the 12 Days of Creepfest!

This is a whole new experience for me. I'm participating in a "blog hop." I was recently asked if I'd like to participate in the Twelve Days of Creepfest, and at first I wondered if this were a veiled insult... then I realized it's a group of independent authors coming together to promote their own work and that of others through their blogs.

My next thought was, "Why would they ask me? I'm not a horror writer!"

Au contraire. Apparently. I suppose there was a time when horror was defined primarily - if not solely - as stories in which monsters, ghosts, demons, and other bad-nasties make the lives of the human characters extremely unpleasant... or end them entirely. This is no longer the case. "Horror" has many sub-genres, including psychological suspense, paranormal, and urban fantasy, just to name a few.

Even when I was writing Monsters Unmasked, which is set in the zombie apocalypse world created by Living With the Dead author Joshua Guess, I didn't consider it horror because I felt I focused on the abuse and trauma suffered by Ellen and her attempts to recover and find her place in a society that no longer resembled life as she'd known it. There just happened to be a plague of zombies roaming about.

Little did I know, that's pretty much what makes a good horror story. Sure, you need monsters (real, imagined, supernatural, or all too human), but the heart of the story is the cast of human characters and how they survive, fight back, or work together in the darkest of circumstances.

So, yeah. I wrote a horror story.

This brings us to the Twelve Days of Creepfest. As of right now, I have seven fantastic independent horror authors in a variety of genres scheduled to appear here on Writecrastination. Some posts will be author interviews, others will be reviews of their featured work. And some of them will be offering free stuff for a lucky reader who takes the time to comment on their post! (Mmmmm... free stuff!)

In the true spirit of the Creepfest season, I will also be giving away stuff! Here's how that's going to work...

At 9:00 PM U.S. Central Time on December 23, I will give away five free downloads of my novella, Monsters Unmasked. (Winners will be contacted via email, and announced in the final Creepfest post on December 24.) Prize will be provided to the winners via a FREE coupon on Smashwords. Just go to Smashwords, put my book in your cart, and enter the coupon code at checkout.

I like Smashwords for this (rather than sending you an Amazon download) because of the variety of e-reader devices on the market. At Smashwords, you can choose the format you want, even a .pdf to read right on your computer if you don't have a dedicated e-reader. (Plus, if you're one of the smart cookies who already read it, you can give the coupon to a friend so they can share the zombie goodness!)

To receive entries to win, comment on one of my daily Creepfest posts. You can comment each day, on each post, and your comment is good for one entry. In addition, I will occasionally post "bonus questions," the answers to which can be found on this blog, or on my author page. (Don't worry, I won't make them too difficult!) These questions will be submitted to me via email at ripleygold@gmail.com, and must have Question of the Day in the subject line. Correct answers will receive two entries.

When you comment, it will be helpful if the profile you use to post leads to a profile page which shows your email address. That will make it easier for me to find you to inform you of your incredible good fortune. :-) If not, it will be the entrant's responsibility to check my 12/24 post announcing winners, and to contact me with details regarding where to send your coupon code. Winners who fail to do so by 6:00 PM U.S. Central Time on Tuesday, December 27 will forfeit, and the download will be awarded to someone else.

(You want it. You know you do!)

My method of "random selection" is rather unique. Entries will be printed out, and each entry will be crumpled into a ball and tossed on the floor in a big pile. The winners will be the first ones my golden retriever, Darwin, picks up and brings to me. Don't laugh. I've used this method for years, and it never fails!

Finally, as we gear up to celebrate indie horror authors, I have to offer one additional prize. I'm not saying when, but one of the questions will involve my contemporary romantic suspense novel, Make or Break. One person with the correct answer to that question will receive a free copy of the novel, in the e-format of his or her choice.

Be sure to visit daily! I'll post the Question of the Day and a reminder of the rules for the giveaway at the bottom of each post. I'll also announce when I'm appearing on other authors' blogs, too. You should check out those posts as well, not only because I might say something amusing and/or embarrassing, but because some of those appearances will also involve free stuff!

12/13 QUESTION OF THE DAY: This is an easy one. Won't take you more than a minute to find on my author page... In what state was I born and raised? (Remember, answers to this question don't go in the comments here. Everyone would see! Email it to me at ripleygold@gmail.com, with Question of the Day in the subject line. Good luck!)

Visit the Official Lori Whitwam Author Page for buy links for Monsters Unmasked and Make or Break
Be my fan on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter