Freebies

Blog friends have been my online support through thick and thin. I think you've all read Camelot & Vine by now. You've certainly heard enough about it. But as the publication of Act As If approaches, I want to give you some chances to read Camelot & Vine or share it with a friend for free. I want you to take a chance on the book so you can find out you love it, because you will. And then you'll buy Act As If.

Through October 30th, Camelot & Vine is available exclusively through these Amazon channels:

Kindle Unlimited: This is Amazon's ebook service where you pay $9.99 a month and they give you access to over 700,000 titles, including Camelot & Vine. Kindle Unlimited is great for voracious readers who read more than one book a month. Members read all they want for a monthly fee. You also get to keep the book on your Kindle as long as you keep your subscription going.

Amazon Prime Lending Library: Members of Amazon Prime can borrow one free ebook every month. Camelot & Vine is available this way as well.

Kindle Owners Lending Library: Essentially the same as Amazon Prime Lending Library when it comes to ebooks. Either way you need a Kindle.

Camelot & Vine is also part of the Amazon Matchbook Program, where you buy the paperback and get the ebook for 99cents, and you don't have to be a member of anything. And remember, the holidays are coming! Books make excellent gifts!

I don't know if you can see the spine: my publishing company is called Boz Books.

I don't know why it seems fitting that my book should be next to the works of Burgess. It's not fitting at all, really.

Boz Books Biz

This just in: I'll be reading from "Camelot & Vine" Wednesday, September 3rd at 8pm in Selfies, a showcase of self-published LA authors, at Traxx bar in Union Station. This is a fun, casual venue and it's easy to get there. Everyone will read a few minutes of their work. Come find out why best-selling authors are leaving their publishers to hop on the self-publishing bandwagon.

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Did I ever tell you that Boz Books is an actual publishing company? Yup. The company pays taxes and everything. And it's about to publish its second book.

Woohoo!

Act As If: Stumbling Through Hollywood With Headshot in Hand will be out very soon. I learned from experience with Camelot & Vine not to give an exact date until it's absolutely certain. But soon. I hope to have a coming out party this time so watch this space, you'll be invited.

There's also news for Camelot & Vine. It's now part of both the Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited programs, as well as Amazon's Matchbook program where you buy the paperback and get the ebook for 99 cents.

Kindle Unlimited is Amazon's subscription service for readers in the U.S. If you're a member you pay a monthly fee to read as many books as you want from a huge (ebook) library.

Not in the U.S.? Camelot & Vine is also part of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library (KOLL) available to Amazon Prime customers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, and Japan.

All you have to do is go to my links, or go to your account, and join.

Borrow, read, love, let me know...

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photo: The Mystery & Imagination Bookstore in Glendale, CA

Housekeeping

Have you noticed? My blog is now my website—my Online HQ. I've been working on it to the detriment of my other responsibilities. Except Wilma. Wilma keeps me to a standard.

You can now type PetreaBurchard.com, CamelotAndVine.com, BozBooks.net or LivingVicuriously.net into the url field. They'll all bring you here.

Then there are the nifty tabs. See, up top, beneath the title and subtitle? Click a tab, any tab. Let me know what you think.

The process has taught me a lot about patience. And Googling. But Blogger is pretty easy. So far I'm pleased with the results but I'm not finished tweaking.

This is all in preparation for the release of Act As If, my new book, coming out this month. My next task is to get the book online and ready to go. Then I can give the dust bunnies all the attention they deserve.

Litfest Pasadena, 2013

Litfest Pasadena 2013 happened yesterday, May 11th, and a good time was had by all. Such a good time, in fact, that I'm too tired to write much today. But I deserve a day off after Litfest!

 Setting up

The crowds loved it

 My partners in fun, Kat Ward and Des Zamorano

My husband John Sandel brought things I forgot and stayed to help for a while.

This was my first book fair/festival with Camelot & Vine. I loved it. Can't wait for the next one!

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This is a repost from PetreaBurchard.com/blog.

The Next Big Thing

Litfest Pasadena, 2012

I've been tagged by best-selling thriller author and former Pasadenamanian Dianne Emley to participate in "The Next Big Thing," an internet meme where authors share what they're working on. Big thank you to Dianne! She's been a friend to PDP since the beginning, and was the first author I profiled here.

The deal is I answer a set of questions about my novel, Camelot & Vine, then tag someone else to answer the same questions about their book next week on their own site or blog. Here we go:

1. Where did the idea come from for the book?
Some years ago I spent most of a summer in England, studying acting at Oxford. I fell in love with the country, its ancient architecture, history, and legends.

2. What genre does your book fall under?
I'd call it "historical time travel adventure." There's no such genre officially, but not every book fits a genre. A bookstore would probably shelve Camelot & Vine under general fiction, or maybe even fantasy.

3. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Update: We decided in comments not to reveal this, because people will picture the characters their own way. Although if you read the comments you'll see who I picture as King Arthur.

4. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
A failing Hollywood actress heals her past and finds her future when she falls through a gap in time and lands in a Dark Ages war camp, accidentally saving King Arthur's life.

5. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I'm publishing the book under my own label, Boz Books.

6. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The first draft only took a few months. The other drafts took forEVER.

7. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
The closest thing I can think of is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. There's no "onstage" sex in Camelot & Vine, though, so if you want sex with your time travel, Gabaldon is a must-read.

8. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I have a strong desire to visit ancient times, to really see history, and I wondered what it would have been like to know someone like King Arthur, had he existed. Because I can never know, I immersed myself in 500 A.D., studying it and visualizing it as completely as I could.

9. What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
I set most of the story atop Cadbury Hill, an iron age hillfort in the Somerset region of England. Legend says Cadbury was "Camallate." There's archaeological evidence of an early sixth century settlement on the hill, with a wall, a great hall and a church. We don't know if King Arthur existed, but if he did, the Cadbury settlement would fit. Using real places and real history made the story feel authentic to me.

That's the Q&A. With this Saturday's Bookmarks on PDP, I'll introduce you to Kate Wong, the talented artist who designed Camelot & Vine. We're going to reveal the cover!

My final task with "The Next Big Thing is to introduce you to Kat Ward. Kat is the owner, editor, and head writer at Hometown Pasadena. She's also a novelist. Her "Next Big Thing" post goes up next Wednesday, January 23rd. Be sure and visit her.