Month: December 2014

FINIS. On Super Sale for One More Day

On By angeliquejamailIn books, ebooks, fiction, Finis., literature, magic realism, urban fantasyLeave a comment

Hey there. You may be aware that my ebook Finis. has been on super sale for the holidays. There’s just one day left (tomorrow, Monday) to get it at the discounted price of 99 cents! After that it goes back up.

Remember that you don’t need an e-reader to access Finis. If you don’t have one, all you need is a smartphone or tablet or laptop. Amazon has a free Kindle e-reader app that lets you make any device compatible. I’ve used it myself on my phone and laptop and found them super easy to use.

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Here’s the blurb of what Finis. is about and some advance praise for the story:

Elsa’s family grows more unkind by the week. Her boss, a seven-foot-tall rage demon, has control of everything but his anger. And her cat wants to eat her. Things could be better.

In a world where one’s Animal Affinity is a sign of maturity and worth, Elsa’s inability to demonstrate hers is becoming more than a disappointing nuisance; it’s becoming a danger. She has no confidence she’ll ever conquer her Plainness by “blossoming.” She also fears both the wolf packs that prowl her neighborhood and being stuck in a life plummeting rapidly from lackluster to perilous. Fortunately, she has a cousin and a co-worker who know her better than she knows herself and can see through to what society won’t.

FINIS. is the magic realism of our time, a story of finding one’s way to the end of things, of persevering through the dregs of life to discover something more.

“It’s not often I get that viscerally emotional on behalf of a fictional character. In a setting of overt fantasy, Angélique Jamail has created some of the most real people I’ve encountered via text in a long time.” — Ari Marmell, author of the Widdershins series and HOT LEAD, COLD IRON

“A silver vein of irony runs through Angélique Jamail’s fantastic Finis. It is a witty tale of conformity, prejudice, and transformation, in a world that is disturbing as much for its familiarity as for its strangeness. In a place where everyone is different, Elsa is the wrong kind of different, and that means facing pity, discrimination, danger, and sharp teeth. Dive into this story, readers, and confront them for yourself; it may just change the way you feel about things…” — Marie Marshall, author of I AM NOT A FISH and THE EVERYWHEN ANGELS

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And here are the links where you can buy the ebook:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Oyster Books

Scribd

Kobo

Baker & Taylor’s Blio

Apple’s iBooks Store

I hope you’ll take advantage of this special offer. And tell your friends. Thank you, as always, for all of your support! I appreciate my readers so much. And if you’ve read Finis., please leave a review at Amazon or on Goodreads or on the story’s Facebook page — or anywhere else you’ve bought or seen it. I love hearing from you.

Thanks again!

12 Days of Christmas Music That Doesn’t Suck, 2014 Edition (Day 12)

On By angeliquejamailIn 12 Days of Christmas music, Christmas, holidays, John Roderick, Jonathan Coulton, music, New Year's, songLeave a comment

Happy Boxing Day!

I know it’s not Christmas anymore, and most people could really go without hearing another Christmas song for at least eleven more months, but this song, which I wanted to hold out until today, isn’t really about Christmas so much as the chill limbo between Christmas and New Year’s. Enter “The Week Between” by Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick. (I’ve inserted the plain song below, but you can easily find live versions on YouTube with all kinds of entertaining banter, if you’re into that sort of thing.)

This song concludes this year’s broadcast of Christmas Music That Doesn’t Suck. We’ll probably do it again next year. Let me know if you have any suggestions for next year’s series.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday, whatever it might be.

 

12 Days of Christmas Music That Doesn’t Suck, 2014 Edition (Day 10)

On By angeliquejamailIn "Silent Night", 12 Days of Christmas music, Christmas, Christmas Eve truce, holidays, Pentatonix, sleep, songs, World War ILeave a comment

It’s the middle of the night on Christmas Eve in a month that’s been unnaturally busy and hectic for my family. I’ve just finished wrapping gifts. The house is quiet around me.

It’s the centennial anniversary of a spontaneous trench truce, and some reports say that this song was sung and shared between British and German soldiers as they paused from slaughtering each other in World War I. It’s pretty.

 

 

Sweet dreams.

12 Days of Christmas Music That Doesn’t Suck, 2014 Edition (Day 9)

On By angeliquejamailIn 12 Days of Christmas music, Christmas, holidays, humor, Jean-Luc Picard, music, Patrick Stewart, song parody, songs, Star Trek: The Next Generation3 Comments

I have another parody for you to help get through today’s hectic silliness if you are, like me, handling last-minute stuff. You might have seen it already, but it’s always worth another couple of minutes out of your day. So get yourself a cup of Earl Gray, hot, and click on this video.

Let it snow? Make it so!

 

12 Days of Christmas Music That Doesn’t Suck, 2014 Edition (Day 8)

On By angeliquejamailIn 12 Days of Christmas music, Christmas, Christmas music, holidays, Love Actually, Mariah Carey, movies, songs6 Comments

So don’t hate me for today’s post.

The first time I heard this song was in a movie, and I assumed it was a song written for the movie. It was a movie I really, really enjoyed (and highly recommend), and the scene where the song appears is crazy-charming and filled with warm fuzzies. I loved it.

Fast forward a year or so, and I hear this song on the radio. It’s being sung by someone whose music I don’t generally listen to. But I still love the song, and I like her version, too. I know this song annoys a lot of people — and I know this is in part because of who’s singing it — but I think it’s really fun in a way that lots of older carols just aren’t anymore. Maybe in a few years I’ll be tired of this one, too.

Just a spoiler alert: if you haven’t seen the movie Love Actually but are planning to, watching this scene is going to spoil some of the ending for you. Bear that in mind before clicking play, if you care about that sort of thing.

 

12 Days of Christmas Music That Doesn’t Suck, 2014 Edition (Day 7)

On By angeliquejamailIn "Merry Christmas Eve", 12 Days of Christmas music, Better Than Ezra, Christmas, Christmas music, crowdsourcing, hectic, holidays, music, rock and pop, song2 Comments

I crowdsourced some of the music in this series this year.

I asked my readership what their favorite holiday songs were, with the understanding that their suggestions might not all make the list. Lots of people responded with some really fantastic music! Sadly, it won’t all fit on the list this time around, but I am keeping it all in reserve for next year.

One song that did make this year’s cut comes from Cindy, who suggested Better Than Ezra’s “Merry Christmas Eve.” It’s a nice, mellow song to listen to when everything around you is hectic, and I don’t know how your week is going, but I could sure use some chill.

12 Days of Christmas Music That Doesn’t Suck, 2014 Edition (Day 6)

On By angeliquejamailIn "Christmas Can-Can", 12 Days of Christmas music, a cappella, consumerism, cousins, family, Finis., holidays, shopping, Straight No ChaserLeave a comment

So have you finished your holiday shopping yet? I sure haven’t. Maybe I can get around to that on Tuesday, because, you know, hope springs eternal.

You know, if you’re stuck trying to figure out what to get for someone, Finis. just went on super-sale today. No idea how many days that will last, but it won’t be very long. You can find it at the various links below for just 99 cents, for a limited time.

And in honor of the shopping frenzy — but also very much because I’m thrilled that some of my cousins arrive from out of town tomorrow — I’m giving you a Straight No Chaser song today, “Christmas Can-Can.” What’s the family connection, you might ask? One of the guys in Straight No Chaser is my cousin-in-law.

Enjoy! And get that consumerism on. Time’s a-wasting!

*heavy snark*

*maybe*

 

 

And speaking of cousins, where can you buy Finis.?* So glad you asked! Be sure to spread the word. (It’s just about the only way to sell books these days.)

Amazon

Smashwords

Oyster Books

Barnes and Noble

Scribd

Kobo

Baker & Taylor’s Blio

Apple’s iBooks Store

*  Did you see what I did there? Yep, those of you who’ve already read Finis. will understand.

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P.S. — It appears that the music videos aren’t showing up in the emails when these posts go out to my blog subscribers. Don’t know why that’s happening, but the videos are showing up nicely when you click on the link in the email to go to the blog directly. Thanks for subscribing, and thanks for clicking in!

12 Days of Christmas Music That Doesn’t Suck, 2014 Edition (Day 5)

On By angeliquejamailIn "Shake It Off", 12 Days of Christmas music, Chanukah, dreidel game, Hanukkah, holidays, music, Six13, song parodies, Taylor SwiftLeave a comment

If you’re wondering why I’m posting two a day this weekend, go back and see the opening of Day 4 for an explanation. (Another benefit is this allows me to reach both the morning and evening readers.)

A whole lot of really entertaining song parodies have come across my desktop this year. Weird Al’s latest album — a real award winner this time! — just about made my August, and the entertainment has continued. One of the holiday-themed parodies a friend sent me recently has to do with Hanukkah — which I KNOW is not Christmas, thanks, but the two seasons are often celebrated concurrently. My family celebrates both most years.

Because of our home renovation woes, we had to very unfortunately miss a “Merry Christmanukkah” party tonight, and so I’m going to post instead this parody of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” by Six13. (This is also in honor of the dreidel game’s being my kids’ favorite pasttime this time of year, and a favorite of mine when I was their age, too.)

Happy Happy Whatever You’re Celebrating This Month, if you are.

 

Six13’s “Chanukah: Shake It Off” parody

12 Days of Christmas Music That Doesn’t Suck, 2014 Edition (Day 4)

On By angeliquejamailIn "We Three Kings", 12 Days of Christmas, Barenaked Ladies, Christmas, Christmas music, Gentlemen", holidays, radio, Sarah MacLachlan, songs4 Comments

Dear readers, I apologize. If you follow me on Facebook, you already know that I’ve been without a lot of reliable computer access for most of this week because of some home renovations we have going on. Oh, and it was finals week. Great timing, but that’s another story.

Anyway, I haven’t been able to post to my blog the last several days, which meant my 12 Days series got interrupted. Never fear, though; I’ll make it all up by Monday.

A few years ago, I heard this song on the radio and absolutely fell in love with it. It was played — and still is — on Houston’s Official Christmas Music Station, which is proof that their station’s programming director has at least some taste and a few brain cells to rub together. When I first heard it, I recognized the voices immediately as being the Barenaked Ladies and Sarah MacLachlan (two musical acts I rather like, especially the first), and it’s a clever blending of two very cool songs: “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” (which always reminds me pleasantly of Charles Dickens for some inexplicable reason) and “We Three Kings” (a song I loved when I was a kid).

Enjoy!