The YAmazing Race with MGnificent Prizes!

Update: The YAmazing Race is now over. Thanks so much to everyone who played! Prizes for the big race and for my own blog contest will be announced in the next day. 

Welcome once again to the YAmazing Race with MGnificent prizes (or, if this is your first race, just a regular ol' welcome): a blog hop with 50+ debut authors involving a ton of prizes like books, swag, and more.

How does it work, you might ask? Well, first, make sure you've gone here to the Apocalypsies blog for the complete rules. From there, you're going to be led to a series of our blogs where you'll learn a little bit about each of our books. File away the book info in your head because you will then use it to take a short quiz. There will be four quizzes in all. You can do one, you can do them all. Naturally, I recommend being thorough (because you will have a much better chance of winning awesome prizes and 100% chance of learning about awesome books.)

Got that?

So, without further ado, here's a little bit about my book:


The Mapmaker and the Ghost by Sarvenaz Tash


Goldenrod Moram loves nothing better than a good quest. Intrepid, curious, and full of a well-honed sense of adventure, she decides to start her own exploring team fashioned after her idols, the explorers Lewis and Clark, and to map the forest right behind her home. This task is complicated, however, by a series of unique events—a chance encounter with a mysterious old lady has her searching for a legendary blue rose. Another encounter lands her in the middle of a ragtag gang of brilliant troublemakers. And when she stumbles upon none other than the ghost of Meriwether Lewis himself, Goldenrod knows this will be anything but an ordinary summer . . . or an ordinary quest.


Got it? Ready to find out about the next awesome Apocalypsie book? Click here to go to Jenny Torres Sanchez's blog.

Also...since it's Halloween and I wrote a ghost story AND my birthday is this week, I'm giving away a signed hardcover of The Mapmaker and the Ghost and some swag right here on this blog! Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below -- you'll see there are extra ways to get entries by leaving a comment (about your Halloween costume this year), following me on Twitter, liking me on Facebook, following my blog or adding my book to your Goodreads shelf. My contest will be open until Tuesday, October 30th at 11:59 PM EST.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Geek-Off #3: Vote for the Winner!

Update: And the winner of the third Geek-Off is...Billy! For incorporating Spider-Man, Sandman and Star Wars into one wedding, there is one Geek mug coming your way.

It's New York Comic Con week here in ye ole NYC. I am SADLY unable to attend this time around. But to make me feel a little bit better, let's honor that glorious celebration of nerddom by voting for a winner of the Geek-Off!

Without further ado, the entries are:

1. The person who incorporates Transformers into his breakfast specials, wakes up to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures, creates Power Ranger memes, and pretends his pizza was delivered by everyone's favorite Italian plumber.

,

2. The person whose wedding included Lego Princess Leia and Han Solo cake toppers, had a reading from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and had a ceremony incorporating this line from Spider-Man: "With great power, comes great responsibility."

3. The person who made all of these pie toppers for her wedding:

4. The person who named his son Logan after Wolverine. When his son found out that Logan's birth name was James Howlett, he asked to be referred to as James and still believes it should be changed legally.

5. The person who has the following 3 items in the top drawer of his desk, within easy reach to be used at any time:

 (from left to right in the photo)
1) OBD-II diagnostic scanner, to tell what's causing the Check Engine light in a car, or perform emissions inspections in his garage
2) digital calipers, precise down to smaller than a millimeter
3) a wristwatch spanner, for removing the backs of watches when you need to replace the battery inside

6. An unlinkable video of two people singing along to Train. Unlinkable for fear of dramatic repercussions.

7. The person attending the Otakon manga and anime convention with her daughter.

Vote now for your favorite(s)! You can vote for more than one. Voting will remain open until Monday, October 15th at 5 PM EST.

Who should win this Geek-Off?

It's Time for Another Geek-Off!

Friends, Romans, countrymen. Lend me your [Spock] ears.

It's time for another round of my favorite contest: The Geek-Off!

How does it work? Simple. Just comment on this post (or tweet at me) with your submission for what makes you worthy of being called the winner of the Geek-Off. It could be an object, an experience, an alien abduction...whatever you think will get you the highly coveted title.

As an example, previous winners include:

The owner of this Bat Symbol-engraved wedding band.

The creator of these "Potter Bucks."

Get your submissions in by this Thursday at 5 PM EST. And then all submissions will be put to a vote. (Democracy is soooo geeky.)

The winner will receive this stunning Geek mug designed by yours truly.

 
And bragging rights of course.

As a tip: posting links to pictures is recommended. We geeks are highly visual people.

Let's do this, geeks!

Bouncing Back

Well, hello there. I know what you're probably thinking:

Who is this and why have I landed on this page?

It's true that for the past couple of months I've been a terrible blogger. So once upon a time you may have followed my blog and then forgotten all about me. And now you're probably all like...Sarve-what?

I was going through some stuff and I was taking a break from writing. I was actually taking a break from authorship too, hence the blog hiatus.

I'm still on a break from writing but the good thing is that I'm no longer feeling guilty about it. Instead of writing I've been:

- going to the gym
- planning my wedding
- reading
- watching some questionable TV
- watching some awesome TV
- attending a whole bunch of friends' weddings

So, you know, living life. Which I think I forgot somewhere along the way is something you actually need to do in order to write about it.

Before my break, I was in the middle of a WIP and I honestly don't know when I'm going to get back to it. But I do know that this morning, for the first time in probably about two months, I woke up thinking about those characters and story again. And that is a very good thing.

So I am going to try to get back to blogging more. And hopefully someday soon I'll be writing again too. But for now, I just wanted to say hi! And hope you're well.