Colleen Houck


“I took hold of that scourge -filled ship and crushed it between my limbs, hurtling it into the second sun, the red one that gave me strength. But I was too late." Terraformer

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  • Blog Tour- AFTER THE END by Amy Plum Truth or Dare and Giveaway!

    April 21, 2014


    Blog Tour- AFTER THE END by Amy Plum: Truth or Dare and a Giveaway!

    We are so excited to be a part of the  blog tour for AFTER THE END by Amy Plum!

    This 3 week tour kicks off on April 15th and wraps up on May 9th. The tour will include a variety of posts from both authors and bloggers. To see all of the tour stops, visit one of my most favorite bloggers ever, Mundie Moms!

    abouttheauthortemplatenew

    In addition to the blog tour, I’d like to tell you a little about the award winning author Amy Plum. She has a great book series called To Die For and has a new book coming out in early May entitled After The End which I’m very excited to tell you about!

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      Amy Plum

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    Amy Plum is not only a talented and witty author, but a personal friend of Colleen’s. They met a few years back at a Romantic Times Book Convention. Colleen recalls her first impressions and says that Amy is not only gorgeous but is the kind of girl you instantly know you would be good friends with. Amy has a thing for Christmas Captain Crunch cereal and somehow manages to meet a bunch of Hollywood Stars and get pictures with them. Admittedly, Colleen would be lying if she wasn’t a wee bit jealous of that perk and has been trying to figure out her secret ever since. 🙂 Here’s just one example,

    Amy with actors

       Lucky!! Amy also grew up in Birmingham, Alabama before venturing further afield to Chicago, Paris, London and New York. An art historian by training, she can be found on most days either daydreaming or writing (or both) in a Parisian café.”

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    Here’s her book series, TO DIE FOR

    Die For Me Series

    Die For Her Novella

    Here’s a little glimpse into this series,

    “In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

    When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

    Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate’s guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he’s a revenant–an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.”

    Click here to order your own copy of Die For Me. Click here to learn more about this series. Click here for book trailer.

    Now, for the first book in her new book series

    AFTER THE END

    to be released

    May 6th 2014 by Harper Teen.

    After The End

    A brief description,

    “World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness.

    They′e survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.

    At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.

    When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact.

    Everything was a lie.

    Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she’s trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.”

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    Click here to pre-order and as a bonus, the first 300 people who pre-order AFTER THE END and show proof of their pre-order will receive one of these limited edition After The End water bottles. *see below*

     

    So be sure to to send your mailing address and receipt to katieloumercier@gmail.com. * Water bottle offer is for those residing in US and Canada and is hosted by Harper Teen. This is NOT part of the blog tour, but something special we wanted to let you know about.

     

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    interviewtemplatenew

     Amy: The Truth-or-Dare theme is particularly relevant to AFTER THE END, since Juneau’s oracle has said she has to tell the truth or she won’t find her clan.

    Colleen: Opting for “Truth” Amy, has answered 26 vital questions—some of which she’s never answered before! So let’s get started.

    Colleen: What is your full name?

    Amy: My pen name is Amy Plum. You can make up any title or middle name for me that you want.

    Colleen: When and where were you born?

    Amy: I was born in Portland, Oregon when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

    Colleen: Do you have any siblings and If so, how many?

    Amy:  I have a brother and a sister. (I’m the eldest.)

    Colleen: What’s your favorite childhood story?

    Amy: My mom used to tell us The Twelve Dancing Princesses on long car rides. (This was before the day of portable video players. Or even cell phones, for that matter.) She would always add on bits and make it really long so that we would fall asleep. That story is still magical for me.

    Colleen: What’s your favorite color?

    Amy: Blue

    Colleen: What’s your favorite food?

    Amy: ice cream

    Colleen: Do you have a nickname and if so, how’d you get it?

    Amy: I have never had a nickname. Always wanted one, though. So I give all of my characters lots of them.

    Colleen: What kind of kid were you growing up?

    Amy: I was a nerd. A book fanatic. And pretty socially awkward.

    Colleen: Were you a good student?

    Amy: Yes.

    Colleen: What did you want to be when you grew up?

    Amy: An astronaut or a librarian.

    Colleen: What inspired you to write (or how did you start writing)?

    Amy: I always loved reading, so for me it was a natural step to start making up my own stories and putting them on paper.

    Colleen: How long did it take to get published?

    Amy: I wrote my first book (a comic memoir), and with it was able to get my agent. However, that book was never published, so it was a good year after signing that my book (DIE FOR ME) was bought by HarperTeen, and another year and ½ after that that it finally came out in print. Being published definitely necessitates a LOT of patience!

    Colleen: What sparked the idea for you to write AFTER THE END?

    You: I liked the idea of this girl living off the land—a survivor. But I also wanted to base the story in the here and now. So I had to come up with a device to allow her to be totally isolated from the modern world—which is why I came up with the idea that her parents had chosen to hide from society. In the beginning I thought of them as anti-capitalist, but that seemed to lack depth—it was harder to build subplots off of it. In the end, I decided that they had discovered something that they felt they had to hide from the world. And that is how Juneau and her clan came to live in the wilderness of Denali, Alaska.

    Colleen: What was the hardest part to write in the book?

    Amy: I figure out the plot as I go along, and this one was particularly difficult to piece together. I never have a problem with my characters. They come with their baggage packed—I just have to listen to them to figure out who they are. But the framework behind the story was very hard to decipher and translate.

    Colleen: What are some of your favorite books?

    Amy My favorite book is Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale. I heard they made a movie of it recently, and am afraid to see it in case it ruins the magic for me. Otherwise, I love Neil Gaiman, especially Neverwhere.

    Colleen: If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

    Amy: My mom. She died when I was 32. I wish I could tell her what I’ve made of myself since then, show her her grandchildren and ask her the million questions that I never did.

    Colleen: Do you believe in love at first sight?

    Amy: Absolutely. Although, I’m not sure how much it should be trusted for finding The Right Person.

    Colleen: If you could hold on to only one memory, what memory would you choose and why?

    Amy: I have one memory from my teenage years that is so strong. I was in Birmingham, Alabama, and it was Easter morning—I remember because I was driving to the Easter sunrise service. I was singing along to some ‘80s hair rock anthem with the windows down, the early morning cold blowing in my hair, and I passed someone who was mowing the lawn. The smell of freshly cut grass was so strong, the song so wild and perfect, the air so chilly, and the feeling inside me was as big as the city itself. It was the feeling of freedom. Of power. Of independence. I think that one memory has driven the rest of my life.

    Colleen: What do you like to do for fun?

    Amy: Read

    Colleen: What was your life like before becoming an author?

    Amy: It always felt like something was missing. At all other jobs I’ve had, I felt I was faking it. I was made for this.

    Colleen: How personal is your writing?

    Amy: Very. There is an element of autobiography in my stories, even if I don’t realize it.

    Colleen: Do you outline?

    Amy: No. I’m a pantser. I don’t even know what I’m going to write until I sit down at my computer each morning.

    Colleen: What is your writing routine?

    Amy: With first draft, I try to write 1500 words a day and send them to a friend of mine at the end of each day. If I don’t do that, I get lost in the words.

    Colleen: Which comes first, the story or the character?

    Amy: It has been different for each book idea.

    Colleen: What advice would you have for someone who would like to become a published writer?

    Amy: Read a lot. Write a lot. And read Stephen King’s ON WRITING.

    Colleen: Who has inspired you and influenced your work?

    Amy: Madeleine l’Engle was one of my big influences. I read her books and heard her talk about being a writer, and was hooked. I also met her in New York City where she was writing in the library of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. She was married to an actor and lived a bohemian lifestyle, while still being grounded. I wanted to be her.

    If you’d like to follow Amy Plum, check out her website at www.amyplumbooks.com

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    giveawaytemplate2

     It’s time for the giveaway! Here’s a list of items you could win:

     


    – 13 SIGNED After The End books

     

    – 6 iPhone After the End shells.

     

     

    To enter, click on the link below and be sure to fill out the form featured on each stop along the tour.

    *This is open Internationally*

     

     a Rafflecopter giveaway

     

           

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     So that’s it, happy trails for now and hope you enjoy reading Amy Plum’s books as much as I have! Feel free to leave a comment or suggestion and until next time~

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    This entry was posted in Events, Featuring Authors.

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    Linda
    Linda

    I’m Linda Louise, one of the bloggers on this website and Colleen’s little sister. I’m just a girl in her mid-thirties who feels thirteen when I play outside with my boys, fifteen when I sing my heart out listening to tunes while driving by myself, and sixty five when I go out past ten at night. I have a thing for junior mints, Mt. Dew, shrimp and kale (though not all at once) and I have a crush on Superman. I still get girlish butterflies when I read Twilight, cry when I read These is My Words, and smile from ear to ear when I read Anne of Green Gables. I have nightmares about aliens on a regular basis and I have a bad habit of midnight snacking. I love everything sports, except golf (although can that honestly be considered a sport??), and I hate anything that slithers, hisses, or stings. I have a problem with giggling at inappropriate moments and I sometimes wish life was a musical. I love science, hate math, love Dr. Seuss, and hate olives. My family is my world and my joys come from their happiness. I’ve learned I don’t know much about anything and I live for a good adventure, naps, cuddles, stories, exceptional food and The Shire.