November Podcast: Laini Taylor

Have you read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor? It's the book everyone's buzzing about right now, and definitely one of our top picks for 2011. We were so honored to catch up with Laini just before her book signing at the most excellent Huntington Beach Barnes and Noble last month.

We talked about the allure of the supernatural, travel experiences, and the challenge of creating a balance between parenthood and writing. We are thrilled to bring this interview to you-- Laini is brilliant.

Photo from Laini's blog. How cute is the girl on the right with her Karou hair??

The book signing was super cool. As you can see, we absolutely loved the snazzy blue masks provided by Little, Brown. They added such a unique touch to a fantastic event!

After Laini talked to the audience, we met up with several of her awesome friends and fans who were so kind as to record a little something for this episode of the podcast. We love getting sound bytes from the crowd at author events, and we hope you'll enjoy listening!

In this episode of the podcast, we also share our book picks of the month: The Future of Us, by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler, and The Iron Knight, by Julie Kagawa.


Would you like to download this podcast? Click here for an mp3.

Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Our song of the month is Wild Angel, by Joshua Kadison. Be sure to subscribe to Authors are ROCKSTARS! via iTunes.

Pitch Dark Giveaway!

Hi listeners. I've had a bit of a rough month, so we're running a bit behind here on the November podcast. Never fear though - it'll be hitting iTunes and the website sometime next week. LAINI TAYLOR joins us this month. She is so brilliant! I cannot even begin to describe how awesome she is. You'll just have to listen to the podcast and find out for yourself.

In the meantime, I wanted to do a giveaway! I picked up signed copies when I was at the Pitch Dark book tour with Kiersten White, Claudia Gray, Amy Garvey and Anna Carey. Would you like one? Well, okay. You convinced me. Fill out the form below. This contest is open internationally, but I'd appreciate it if international winners would help cover the shipping. Deadline to enter is November 17th, 11:59pm Pacific.

I'll be giving away one of these four books here. The remaining three will be given away on my personal review blog around Christmas time, so if you didn't win now, be sure to go follow me there. And be sure to go to Allison's blog too if you haven't already. She is such a fabulous reviewer.

EDIT:
This contest has ended. The winner was Mackenzi. She chose "Fateful" by Claudia Gray. If you didn't win, you'll get another crack at these beautiful signed books! The remaining three books will be given away on my blog (Michelle) next month.

Thanks to Random.org for helping me choose the winner.