Jeri Smith-Ready

Spirit Animal quiz and Contests!

One more chance to win a complete signed Aspect of Crow trilogy!

Since a lot of you have started reading the blog since the release of Wicked Game, I thought I’d tell you about my monthly prize drawing tied in with the ASPECT OF CROW trilogy:


If you were an animal, which would you be? Are you strong as a bear, loyal as a wolf, crafty as a fox?

My website features an interactive personality quiz to determine which of twelve Animals from the series you would be. Here are two sample questions:

1. How do you feel about crowds?
a. Love 'em - the more, the merrier!
b. Invigorating, in small doses.
c. I prefer small, tight-knit groups.
d. I'd rather spend the day in the dentist's chair.

12. How gullible are you?
a. I can spot a lie with my eyes closed.
b. I'm a skeptic, but I take most people's words at face value.
c. I'm my friends' favorite practical joke target.
d. I've bought the Brooklyn Bridge. Twice.

Each month belongs to one of the twelve Animals. E-mail me your quiz results (jeri AT jerismithready DOT com, or just use the contact form) for automatic entry in a prize drawing during your Animal’s month:

November: Crow
December: Wolf
January: Spider
February: Wolverine
March: Otter
April: Fox
May: Hawk
June: Bear
July: Owl
August: Swan
September: Cougar
October: Horse

For instance, if your quiz results showed you were a Wolf, you might receive a prize on December 31. Prizes include totem stones, jewelry, artwork, and more!

Here's a sample result for Crow:

You are a Crow! (your score: 22)

Characters: Rhia, Coranna, Damen in the Aspect of Crow trilogy; John in "The Wild's Call"

Powers: foreseeing death, communicating with the dead, resurrection

As a Crow, you are analytical, adaptable, and exceedingly clever. You like solving problems, sharing a hearty laugh with friends, and most of all, enjoying a good meal. Your inquisitive, philosophical nature leads you to constantly question authority and the status quo, sometimes just for the sake of asking, "Why?"

Best matches: Foxes, Wolves, Swans

Watch out for: Wolverines, Bears, Hawks

Have your friends and/or significant other take the quiz and see how well your Spirits get along. Argue about which one is cooler. And lest there be any controversy, if you're a Wolverine, yes, your Spirit can beat up anyone else's Spirit.

The drawings will take place at the end of each month through October 2009, but I'm going to hold off on the Crow drawing until December 15 to give newcomers a chance to enter.

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PLUS...everyone who tells me their Spirit Animal here in the comments or e-mails me between now and December 15 will be put into a drawing for a complete autographed trilogy.

PLUS PLUS...spread the word about this contest and get an extra five chances to win. Five chances per mention (so if you talk about it on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger, you get, uh, five times four equals...twenty! extra chances). Simply send me the links to your posts to qualify or put them in the comments.

PLUS PLUS PLUS...subscribe to my newsletter and get ten extra chances to win. The subscription box is on the right-hand side of pretty much every page of my website. Or you can check the newsletter subscription box on the contact form when you send me your quiz results.

The drawing for the trilogy will take place at 11:59 EST on December 15. Enjoy!

Labels: animals, Contests, current contests, The Reawakened

• posted by Jeri @ 12:19 AM
• 4 comments

Jim's story is live!

I’ve posted the third story in my “Days the Music Died”/how-the-DJs-became-vampires series (thanks to Renee S. for the series title suggestion!).

At the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, Jim tunes in and turns on to a group of hippies who promise him the experience of a lifetime. The last experience, as it turns out.

Here’s the opening line:


Read the rest!

This story’s page features an Isle of Wight set list playlist, as well as a video of The Doors performing “When the Music’s Over,” the song they sang while Jim, uh, broke on through to the other side.

BONUS GIVEAWAY: Everyone who e-mails me at jeri AT jerismithready DOT com (or comments on this post) with their thoughts on Jim’s story will be put into a drawing to win a choice of ONE of the following:

1) a DVD of MESSAGE TO LOVE: THE ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL, featuring performances by The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and Joni Mitchell
2) a CD of The Who’s Isle of Wight concert
3) a CD of Jimi Hendrix’s Isle of Wight act, which sadly was his final appearance before his death

The drawing will take place at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, December 2.

If you subscribed to my newsletter, you could've read it a week ago. I'm just sayin'. The signup box is on every page of my website.

Read the first in the short story series: “Crossroads” (Monroe’s tale).

And the second, “Rave On” (Spencer’s story).

I probably won't be blogging again until after the holiday weekend. I plan to spend the week catching up on e-mail, cooking scrumptious food, and nursing my convalescent post-surgical pupster.

For frequent updates, this week and always, come follow me on Twitter. You're more likely to see the real, spontaneous me there any day. If you need extra incentive, in February I'll be doing a Twitter-exclusive contest to win an ARC of Bad to the Bone. It's fun, it's quick, it's thoroughly non-annoying: it's Twitter!

(By the way, you don't have to be a Twitter user to follow me--my status updates have an RSS feed. But the contest will be for Twitter users only.)

Don't forget, I'll be signing books and doing a reading from The Reawakened at the Winchester, VA, Borders bookstore this Saturday, 3-5pm. Hope to see you there!


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Now playing: Snow Patrol - You Could Be Happy
via FoxyTunes

Labels: appearances, Contests, current contests, short stories, twitter, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 12:23 PM
• 1 comments

Guest blog and another chance to win a BAD TO THE BONE ARC

I'm guest-blogging over at Lori Devoti's 30 Days of Vampires about vampires and rock 'n' roll (go figure). Come tell me which rock star you think is a vampire (or should be), or how you would handle immortality, and automatically enter to win a choice of a signed copy of Wicked Game or a signed ARC of Bad to the Bone when they're available in February.

The contest runs until the end of the 30 Days, which is December 11 at midnight, so stop by and say hi!

Labels: blog tour, Contests, current contests, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 3:08 PM
• 0 comments

Blog Talk Radio group interview, guest blog, and Meadow update

Here's the link for the audio for yesterday's Blog Talk Radio interview, focusing on world-building (I'd hoped to have the embedded audio, but it's not working for me, so just follow the link if you wanna listen).

Also, today I've got blog duty at SFNovelists.com, where I bring up the question of not just where but when to set one's novel--specifically around holidays or certain times of the year?

Our greyhound Meadow just went into surgery to fix four ruptured discs in her back. We tried the "conservative" method, i.e., crate rest and pain meds, to no avail, so this was our last option. Her road to wellness will be a long one (6-8 weeks, maybe more), but the doc seemed optimistic about her chances for a full recovery. Not sure if we'll ever let her run again, and she's definitely hanging up her WWE title belt (do they wear belts?), but we'll be thrilled just to be able to take her for a walk without painful consequences.

Keep your fingers crossed for her!


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Now playing: Lisa Loeb - Do You Sleep
via FoxyTunes

Labels: craft, interview, pets, SFNovelists

• posted by Jeri @ 12:11 PM
• 0 comments

World-building podcast today at 3!

I'll be on Blog Talk Radio today at 3pm Eastern discussing world-building with fellow urban fantasy authors Mark del Franco, Ilona Andrews, Kathryn Smith, Jordan Summers, and Cheyenne McCray, along with Harper Collins executive editor Diana Gill.

Fans can call the following number to listen from their phone and ask questions live during the show.

CALL IN NUMBER: (347) 826-9684
Or, listen to the show and ask questions online:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/AuthorsOnAir/TheBeyond/2008/11/20/Fangs-Fur-and-Fey-team-discuss-worldbuilding

If you go there now, you can set a reminder to receive an email just before the show starts. We recommend you check out the site ahead of time in order to login to the chat room discussion.

I'll post the whole thing here after it's over. Hope to hear from you!


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Now playing: Donovan - Colours
via FoxyTunes

Labels: craft, interview

• posted by Jeri @ 11:49 AM
• 0 comments

Reminder and update on BTTB contest and interview

You've got three hours left to enter the drawing to win a choice of Wicked Game or an ARC of Bad to the Bone over at Bitten by Books. Also, people have been asking some great questions, so if you've only read the interview itself and want to know even more of my deepest secrets, check out the comments.

Good luck!



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Now playing: Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
via FoxyTunes

Labels: Contests, interview, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 11:48 AM
• 0 comments

Interview and your first chance to win an ARC of BAD TO THE BONE!

More big news on a Monday (scroll down for the other thing):

Bitten by Books has a brand-new interview with yours truly. One lucky commenter will win their choice of an autographed copy of Wicked Game or an autographed Advance Reading Copy of Bad to the Bone when it becomes available (probably January or early February). This is the very first opportunity to win the latter, so go read my sleep-deprived thoughts and leave a comment. Get extra chances to win by spreading the word (see the bottom of the interview post for details).

Thanks to Rachel at Bitten by Books for the interview! Comments will be taken from now until 3pm Eastern Time tomorrow. I'll be stopping by all day today and tomorrow morning, so feel free to ask more questions. See you there!


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Now playing: Joni Mitchell - Woodstock
via FoxyTunes

Labels: blog tour, Contests, interview, vampire series

• posted by Jeri @ 10:34 AM
• 0 comments

New Aspect of Crow short story is live!

Chapter One of my new Aspect of Crow tie-in story is now up on my publisher's website!

"Storm Reaper" takes place about two years before The Reawakened, but since it's set in a completely different area with different characters, you can read it either before or after that book.

Fans of Voice of Crow will remember Kiril, Filip's comrade from the Ilion cavalry. He's one of the protagonists of this story, along with a disgraced noblewoman named Helena. Filip and Alanka make an appearance in the story as well.

I was thrilled to be able to visit this world one last time. As I might have mentioned, several characters and plots were cut from The Reawakened as I was working on it. The biggest deletion dealt with how the war and revolution were affecting Filip and Kiril's native country of Ilios.

A new chapter will appear every Monday between now and January 19. Enjoy!

Labels: short stories, The Reawakened, Voice of Crow

• posted by Jeri @ 9:23 AM
• 0 comments