Tens List: Sybil Nelson’s Ten Favorite Songs (& A Giveaway)

The author of Pricilla the Great, Sybil Nelson, is stopping by to discuss her 10 favorite songs!

                 

I thought this would be a tough question for me because I like so many different kinds of music. I could easily have a top ten list for pop songs, soundtrack songs, classical songs, R&B songs, alternative songs, 70’s songs, 80’s songs, foreign songs...you get the idea. So I decided in order to figure out my top ten songs of all time, I had to think of those special songs that I could listen to on repeat for hours straight and never get tired of.  In fact, the flowing ten songs I have listened to on repeat for hours on end at one point in my life or another. So, iIn no particular order, here they go:

1. Run by Snow Patrol. Smooth and relaxing this song can melt away the stress of any day.

2. Superwoman by Alicia Keys. An empowering tribute to what it means to be a woman. This was actually my personal theme song for 2010 (Yes, I choose personal theme songs for myself. That’s not weird is it?) Any time I felt down or depressed I turned on this song and listened to it over and over until I gathered the confidence to move on.

3. Pretty Wings by Maxwell . Maxwell is an R&B singer that I was obsessed with in my early 20’s. Then he kind of just disappeared. Then eight years later he lets out this song and reminds everyone that he’s still got it. I was in love with this song, so much so that my husband actually bought me tickets to see him live. This is a big deal folks. My husband is white and I’m black so my husband was the only white person at this R&B concert. That’s just how much he loves me!

4. Tighten up by The Black Keys. Fell in love with this song the first time I heard it. I didn’t even know who sang it, but I went and found them on the internet. They are the new big thing. And the video for this song is adorable. I just watch it over and over again on YouTube.

5. Love Will Come Through by Travis. Travis is a Scottish band. I have no idea what they’re saying when they speak. I mean, really, are they speaking English over there? But I hear them loud and clear when they sing. They are one of my favorite bands period. I love all their songs and their quirky videos, but this one is definitely my favorite.

6. Creep by Radiohead. Another great band. I love almost all their work. I could have chosen any number of songs, but this one sticks out to me the most.

7. Adagio Cantabile from Sonata Pathetique by Beethoven. Even though Gershwin and Chopin are tied for my favorite composers, this is hands down my favorite classical piece. (Technically, Beethoven was one of the transitionist from the classical period to the romantic period, but everyone calls the music from any time back then classical. That’s the music major in me speaking.)

8. Is this Love- Corrinne Bailey Rae’s remake of the Bob Marley classic. This is my theme song for 2011. See, this year my husband and I are celebrating our ten year anniversary and I still love him like crazy.

9. Melt my heart to stone by Adele – This girl could sing the ingredients of a box of cereal into a tape recorder and I would still be first in line to buy a copy of it. I love everything she does, but this was definitely the song that got the most repeats.

10. I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. This song goes on the list because it is my go to karaoke song. I’ve sung this song so many times I think the title should be changed to I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor and Sybil Nelson…Okay, maybe not, but you get the point.

What a fabulous list! Sybil, thanks for stopping by and sharing your favorites!

So as if that wasn’t awesome enough, there is also a super amazing prize package up for grabs by one lucky commenter.

Win a Priscilla the Great Prize Pack!

Prize Pack includes:

1 signed Priscilla the Great book,

1 Priscilla the Great t-shirt,

1 Priscilla the Great totebag,

and a $15 iTunes gift card!

That's over a $50 value! All you have to do is comment on one of the posts during the Priscilla the Great blog tour March 14th to April 8th and you're automatically entered! So follow the blog tour and comment, comment, comment!

Source:

 

Guest Post: Molly Harper talks ice storms and her next release!

Pocket author based new book on 2009 ice storm experience

An ice storm. Stranded in a strange, isolated place without power. Children with an unsettling ability to win staring contests. This is how horror movies start.

Watching the news coverage as cities across the Midwest are pelted by the much-touted historic blizzard, I’m having strange sympathy pangs. In January 2009, an ice storm ripped through Kentucky, taking out power and phone lines for thousands of homes, including mine. The first night I spent camped out in my in-laws’ darkened living room with my two young children, I was sure this was just a temporary blip.  It was going to be a funny story we could tell the next winter. As in, “Remember that night we had to sleep on an air mattress in front of Grandma’s fireplace and cook on a gas grill in the garage?”

By the sixth night, I was no longer amused.

Over the next week, Kentuckians were cold, cranky and progressively ill-groomed. I returned to my dark, cold house to forage for supplies one afternoon, only to find my neighbor shaving his head in his driveway. I sincerely hoped that was related to the lack of electricity and not just a personality quirk I'd never noticed before. Neighborhood block parties have been stilted and awkward since.

But I managed to channel my cabin fever, before going the full fire-ax-through-bedroom-door and elevator-full-of-blood route. I started writing. Having recently published the Nice Girls books, a vampire romance series about an undead librarian in small-town Kentucky, I’d already decided that I wanted to write a werewolf story. And being isolated, in the dark, in an increasingly crowded, enclosed space, I decided to set the story in the frozen regions of Alaska.

While we waited for the power to come back on, I wrote about twenty pages of notes by candlelight.  What emerged was the story of Mo Wenstein, a woman who moves across the country to escape her intrusive hippie parents and make a life for herself in the remote town of Grundy, Alaska. Cantankerous neighbor Cooper has been giving Mo a hard time about her place in her new community since day one. But when Cooper stumbles onto her porch, naked, with a bear trap clamped around his ankle, she realizes there’s more to him than a surly- though attractive- surface. A series of werewolf attacks, for which Cooper may or may not be responsible, dysfunctional werewolf clan drama, and romantic hijinks ensue.

The manuscript grew over the next few months and became HOW TO FLIRT WITH A NAKED WEREWOLF, which is due to be released by Pocket Books on Feb. 22, wherever books are sold.  The sequel, THE ART OF SEDUCING A NAKED WEREWOLF, will follow on March 29.

So, while the encroaching claustrophobia is frustrating, make the best of your snow days. Use the milk, eggs and bread you hoarded to make French toast. Plow through the To-Be-Read pile of paperbacks on your nightstand.  Write journal entries about the sights, sounds and emotions you’re experiencing as a blizzard survivor.

You never know.  You could turn this experience into your first manuscript.

_________________________________________

You can also visit Molly Harper’s website and blog to learn more about her and her books.

Source: I’d like to thank Ayelet with Gallery Books for providing me with this fun blog post by author Molly Harper!

Guest Post: The Familiars Halloween Blog Tour & Scavenger Hunt!

I’m happy to welcome back Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson, the authors of The Familiars, for their Halloween Blog Tour and scavenger hunt! 

A message from Andrew:

We are also having a special Familiars-themed Halloween Scavenger Hunt! At each stop along the blog tour, we will be asking a trivia question from our book. After you fill in your answer, the letter that falls in the place of the * can be placed in the corresponding number of the larger puzzle. So for example, since this is question number 19, the letter that lands in the space where the * is can be filled in where the 19 is in the larger puzzle. The larger puzzle will form yet another clue, and anyone who answers it correctly will be entered into a drawing for an autographed book as well as a few other Halloween treats!

Be sure to visit The Familiars blog at thefamiliars.blogspot.com to find links to all other blog stops and find out where to send in your answers! All entries must be entered by November 15.

19. What does Skylar cast an illusion of to try to fend off the cave troll?

___    ___ ___ ___ ___ ___    ___ _*_ ___

Hint: Chapter Twelve, Page 243

11 5 18 8 15 1 9 7 19 14 23 2 25 16 10 12 20
__ __ __ __ __ __ ' __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

17 3 22 6 21 4 24 13

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

www.thefamiliars.com (official website)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0djEE4OzdQ (book trailer)

Happy Halloween everyone!

Andrew & Adam