If you missed out last night here’s the recap! Thank you to everyone who came and hung out with me as we celebrated the release of Christoffer Johansen and the Gyllenhammar Flame.
Video: Seriously Fierce Launch Party: Book 7
I had such a wonderful time with everyone. Thank you fiercelings for joining me for the midnight release party for Christoffer Johansen and the Return to Jötunheim.
You’re Invited to the Launch Party for Book 7 in the Zaria Fierce Series!
Join me for an evening to celebrate the book birthday of Christoffer Johansen and the Return to Jötunheim.
There will be games:
- Seriously Fierce Scavenger “Wild” Hunt – You can start anytime on the quest as I’ve posted it in anticipation of the event. This gives everyone plenty of time to do it!
- Seriously Fierce Live Trivia Event – Play from your phone, computer, or tablet. It’s super fun and easy to do. Be sure to use a name that I can recognize and is all ages friendly. The highest scoring individual wins a prize!
- Seriously Fierce Book Bingo – Go ahead and grab your bingo card early. Print it out or play online. Make a note of the card number as it will be used to verify your card. The individual to call Bingo wins a prize!
There will be a live reading from the book.
There will be time for questions and answers.
At some point it’s basically guaranteed that there will be a dog stealing the show. Oskar is a cutie. If you see him give a shout!
The event is hosted live on Facebook and will be posted to YouTube for replay for anyone who misses the evening. So pop the popcorn, grab a drink, wearing your fuzzy socks, and comfy pj’s and let’s have a party!
RSVP so you don’t miss out on the fun:
Date: May 1, 2020
Time: 10:00 PM – 11:30 PM
Where: Online, Zaria Fierce Facebook page
Watch: Aleks Mickelsen and the Call of the White Raven Midnight Party
Hi Fiercelings,
Did you miss the midnight party for Aleks Mickelsen and the Call of the White Raven? Now you can watch the replay. Thank you so much to everybody who came and participated and to my lovely and talented cohosts – Tommy and Michele Carpenter. You are all amazing and made my night. Happy book birthday to Aleks (again ?)
Games are also posted here for your enjoyment. How many can you complete? They’re tough but doable! Good luck!!
Word Scramble:
Word Search:
Crossword:
Congratulations to Davita, Nate, Tommy, Gus for winning at book bingo. Thanks everyone for playing.
I can’t wait to meet up with everyone again at the next release. It is tentatively scheduled for late December 2018. What would you like to do or talk about? Let me know in the comments.
Don’t forget to leave reviews on the books! They help so much and mean the world.
Recap: Suntree Viera Library Book Reading and Signing on Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well
Thank you everyone who came out last Saturday for my book reading at the Suntree Viera Library! It was so nice to run into new and longtime fans. Some fun things I got to try out this time was my new table display for my book business cards, my new banner, and my Seriously Fierce scale necklaces. What do you think? Aren’t they fabulous?






If you missed the event, here’s a recap and rewind. You can watch my reading of chapter two from the book here:
Highlights from the Q&A + Transcript:
Audience: Do you work with Eoghan Kerrigan, as if he was like a police artist, so that this is actually what you’re imagining when you’re writing?
Me: I wouldn’t say he works like he’s a police artist. He doesn’t pick my brain to quite that extent. He gets documents (and the book itself) that have all the characters pulled out so that he has their descriptions. For the especially important characters, we do a series of mock-ups, and I pick the ones that feel more like my character. In that way we do what you’re talking about.
So if it’s a hooked nose, or a sharp pointed nose… he knows the details of how they’re described. He’ll take the information and interpret it. It’s as fun for me to see how what I’m saying from my mind and how I’m picturing it to how he interprets it. Some of them are really close, and some are so much better than how I pictured. They’re fabulous and I love working with him.
Audience: Good, good, because when you’re reading you’re always picturing in your mind, and if you got the illustrations as a visual clue for what they look like, instead of us going off on a tangent. It’s nice to know what they look like.
Me: What’s also fun that gives you another dimension of how the characters look is if you hear the audio book and how Michele’s does it, because she interprets how the voices are going to sound. In this book, there’s a bunch of trolls, and she has to go back and remember how the returning trolls sound. They were described as having voices, deep, and guttural, and grumbling, and so she has a variety of voices.
Now we have teenage trolls this time, who are all about the same age as the kids. There’s older trolls, conniving trolls, silly trolls, so they all have a variety of sounds and when she whips them out one right after the other, “I’m like how do you do that?” because it’s hard enough for me to do even Nori’s voice, and she’s not a troll, but a high pitched female.
Audience: So you have to remember which voice you’re doing?
Me: Yes, but she does a fabulous job with them and I feel it gives you a different dimension to how you picture the characters too. If a troll talks like this (deep) you’re going to picture him very (muscular) versus talking like this “Hello” (higher pitched). She also does the brownie voices and they get very squeaky, so you kind of get an idea of height and breadth simply based on how she does the voices. It’s really cool actually.
Audience: Who is Svein?
Me: He’s… well, I don’t want to say a throwaway character, because you never know when someone comes back, but he’s a character who’s just hanging around by the airport, when the kids go up and fly, and he knew Geirr. So he’s kind of like a copilot and tour guide. He’s like the older representative to convey to the inspectors and everybody at the scene after the crash that Geirr is an excellent pilot and knows what he’s doing. He’s there to be a witness to say that the plane didn’t crash because Geirr is a bad pilot, but to say the plane crashed because of something else, which is important because otherwise poor Geirr might never fly again.
I’ll wrap up by saying thank you again to everyone for making it out to see me. I had a blast!
Mark Your Calendars for a Fierce Book Event: 8-19-17 at the Suntree Viera Library
Join me for a reading from the fourth book in the Zaria Fierce Series at the Suntree Viera Public Library. Following the reading there will be time for a Q&A and a chance to get your books signed. There will be a limited number of books available for purchase at the event. I have a lot of fun planned and I hope to see you there!
When: Saturday, August 19, 2017
Book: Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Where: Suntree Viera Public Library
Address: 902 Jordan Blass Dr.
Melbourne, FL 32940
Phone: (321) 255-4404
Hours: Sat. 9AM–5PM
Book Cost: $15 ea.
Zaria Fierce and Aleks Mickelsen are the perfect gifts for a reader in your life.
RSVP on Facebook: Direct Link
Video + Recap: Midnight Release Party for Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well
Michele Carpenter and I had an absolute blast hosting the live event midnight release party on Facebook for Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well. We had lots of comments as we went which was so much fun! Thank you guys for making it so special. If you missed it you can watch the replay here:
There’s still some time to enter the scavenger hunt contest. Be sure you take the time to do so! The winner gets a signed copy of Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well. Contest closes 7/9/17 at 10 PM EST. This contest is open internationally, and your entry can be posted to Instagram or the Zaria Fierce FB page with the hashtag #zariafierceparty
It should look something like this:
Good luck! As for the other prize, the Zaria Fierce necklace, congratulations again to Megan for winning the Zaria Fierce book bingo!
The book is now available in e-book and print with the audio book soon to follow. Thank you again everyone who came out and joined Michele and I. We were so excited and thrilled to celebrate Aleks with you. I look forward to your thoughts on Aleks. Enjoy and happy readings!
Facebook Live Event: Midnight Release Party for Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well
One of my favorite things that I did for Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes, was hosting a midnight release party. I loved it so much, I want to do it again! Join me for a live Facebook event celebrating the release of the fourth book in the Zaria Fierce series.
When:
July 6, 2017 at 10:55 PM EST to Midnight EST
What to expect:
This will be a pajama party from the convenience of your own home. Grab your hot cocoa and fuzzy socks. We’ll hang out together in comfort.
Author Reading:
There will have a book reading during the release party. I will read an excerpt from Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well. (approximately 15-20 minutes)
Games related to the books:
Bingo, scavenger hunt/I-spy
- You may need a printer
- You may need a pen
- A phone or camera
- An Instagram account
- Layout (free app that works with Instagram)
Your Bingo Card:
Starts off blank. Under each category, fill out 5 different choices from the 8 options listed for that category. You may place your choice in any row in the appropriate column. I’ll be drawing during the event. First one to get bingo will win a prize. You can pre-fill and print your card ahead of the event.
Your I-Spy/Scavenger Hunt:
There will be 9 items you need to find and take pictures of. Using the Layout app, you will composite these images according to a graphic I will be posting later. Submit your entry to Instagram with the hashtag #zariafierceparty and you will be entered to win a prize.
Prizes:
- 1 – Zaria Fierce necklace
- 1 – Signed print copy of Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well
Sign-up for event reminders here:
Open Mic Night: Reading from Chapter 2 of Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword
I got an opportunity to head to a friend’s open mic night that they hosted late last year. Should have posted this earlier. Whoops! It was quite fun. Lots of wonderful individuals stood up to sing, play music, read poetry, and book excerpts. I got to do the last one. Let me know what you think!
Mark Your Calendars for a Fierce Book Event: 12-17-16 at the Suntree Viera Library
Join me for a reading from the third book in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy at the Suntree Viera Public Library. Following the reading there will be time for a Q&A and a chance to get your books signed. There will be a limited number of books available for purchase at the event. Zaria Fierce is the perfect gift for a reader in your life. I look forward to seeing you there!
When: Saturday, December 17, 2016
Book: Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes
Time: 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Where: Suntree Viera Public Library
Address: 902 Jordan Blass Dr.
Melbourne, FL 32940
Phone: (321) 255-4404
Hours: Sat. 9AM–5PM
Zaria Fierce Book Talk: Melbourne Public Library 7-13-16
I had a great time at my book talk today sharing an excerpt from Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes. The kids were great and had a lot of good questions, good interactions, and really paid attention. I’m so glad I got to meet them.
Things we learned today from the Melbourne Public Library reading:
- How many animals make up a winter-wyvern.
- How many animals make up a water-wyvern.
- What an enraged water-wyvern sounds like as it roars.
- What a water-wyvern sounds like when it’s been shrunk.
Questions for you:
If you could create your own hybrid creature, what would it be? And, can you make those water-wyvern sounds?
Thanks for watching!
Photos from the Event, plus ice cream social:
Thanks for sharing everyone!
ICYMI: Unboxing Author Copies and Midnight Book Release Pajama Party
Hi everyone! In case you missed it here are the videos from when I did a few live videos this past week leading up to the release of Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes, the third book in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy. Oskar pie steals the show I think in both cases. xoxo
Unboxing Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes:
The necklace I’m wearing in the above video can be purchased here.
Midnight Book Release Pajama Party:
#teamstaglord #teamhart #teamellefolken LOL
Thanks for watching!
In other news the print and ebook versions are available at Amazon. The audio book version is coming soon. Michele is hard at work putting on the finishing touches.
Lots of great reviews are starting to come in for the third book. Check them out!
Brenda’s at Log Cabin Library:
Zaria is able to fall on her friends for support and their continual encouragement give her just the confidence she needs to keep trying, to persevere. They never hold her mistakes against her and won’t allow Zaria to take the blame for being tricked. For me, it’s one of my favorite parts in reading this series, well that and the unique qualities that each character brings to the story.
Ner’s at Cup of Coffee and Book:
As always, I’m completely mesmerised by how much the Norwegian folklore is present in these books. There were a few new “beasts” such as the banshees and the mares (which scared the living hell out of me to be honest) but the same old creatures made a cameo. We had the trolls, witches, the dwarves, the ellefolken, dragons, the lot. The fantasy in these books is strong and so beautifully explore and described I almost felt like I could wander through Norway and stumble upon these eerie creatures and realms.
Recommended for middle grade collections where fantasy is popular. I’d book talk this with other hero’s journey tales like CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson/Magnus Chase series; they’ll have a firmer frame of reference when you present the series with these popular fantasy tales. Talk up Zaria as a strong female character who overcomes her fears and self-doubts to outwit monsters, and save herself and her friends!