WOLF BY WOLF release!

Obviously this is not a blog I update voraciously. *eyes the entire year that's passed without a post*

But TODAY I'm here to talk about my new (fourth!) book WOLF BY WOLF, which comes out in approximately 4 hours!

Code Name Verity meets Inglourious Basterds in this fast-paced novel from the author of The Walled City.

The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule the world. To commemorate their Great Victory over Britain and Russia, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor's ball.

Yael, who escaped from a death camp, has one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year's only female victor, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele's twin brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael's every move. But as Yael begins to get closer to the other competitors, can she bring herself to be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and complete her mission? 

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This is a strange hybrid project. Mostly alternate history, part thriller, with a dash of science fiction thrown in for good measure. It was, honestly, a terrifying book to tackle. History alone is an incredibly hard genre. The amount of research involved is... stunning. Alternate history requires you to not only know the facts, but to know them well enough to manipulate them and make the parallel reality believable. ACK! Reading about Adolf Hitler's vision for the world, and what the New Order would have looked like had he won the war, was simply terrifying. Bringing this world to life was so, so taxing emotionally, and I can only hope that I have done Yael's story justice.

You can get it for a great deal over at Amazon. Or you can order a signed copy from Blue Bicycle Books!

THE WALLED CITY's release day!

The day has finally come: THE WALLED CITY is out in the world!!!!

The emotional journey to this book has been, well, pretty much a roller coaster. I started writing it in October 2011. It was the book that pushed me into new depths as a writer. It is the book of my heart. (If you want to know why, go to Nova Ren Suma's blog. I explain all.)

My parents surprised me with this amazing print of THE WALLED CITY's original cover.

I then went to Barnes and Noble to get my first proper glimpse of THE WALLED CITY in the wild.

There were a lot of glimpses!! It was all over the store!!

I signed a lot of stock.

It even has ITS OWN STAND. (Am I dreaming? What is this? WHAT IS THIS???)

*hyperventilates*

If you want to get it online, Barnes and Noble has great deals on it.  My local indie, Blue Bicycle Books, is also selling signed copies.

To those of you who have been reading this blog since THE WALLED CITY was a wee "Cutthroat Novel," thanks for sharing the journey with me.

Doodled ARC giveaway!

The Walled City was blessed with an unusually ornate title page. A gorgeous dragon entwined into flowers and leaves. The past few weeks I've been doodling in one of my few remaining ARCs and decided to color in the dragon with some Stabilo pens. The result was not too shabby! 

I've decided to give this pretty, pretty dragon away! All you have to do to enter the contest is write a sign saying why you want to read The Walled City (an example is below), take a picture of it (with or without your pretty face) and post it on Instagram or Twitter. Be sure to use the hashtag #TheWalledCity so I can keep track of your entry! (If you post the picture on Twitter AND Instagram that counts as two entries in your favor). This contest IS open internationally, and will run until midnight EST on Sunday the 19th. 

Go forth and enter!!

THE WALLED CITY author copies

Guys, guys, guys!!!

I got my author copies of THE WALLED CITY today!!! And they're so shiny! I woke up my husband so that he could get me opening them on video.

Just over a month left to go! Don't forget you can pre-order for half off at B&N right now. And if you wanted a signed copy then go on over to Blue Bicycle Books and they'll hook you up!

THE WALLED CITY pre-order specials!

Hey! I'll let you in on a secret!

Barnes and Noble is currently offering THE WALLED CITY for 50% off! That's right! If you pre-order through them right now then you get the book for $9, which is a pretty sweet deal if you ask me!

Also, if you have extra $$ to spare and want to pre-order a signed and stamped copy of THE WALLED CITY and get an package of specially blended tea, then go to Blue Bicycle Books's online shop and order through them!

#TheWalledCity 3 month giveaway!

My friends, we have reached the three month mark, which means the book of my heart is almost out in the world!! I love THE WALLED CITY so, SO much and I cannot wait to share it with you guys.

Because I can’t wait so badly, I’ve put together a special prize pack in honor of this marked date! It has lots of special goodies in it.

So what do you get?

A special red dragon paper cutout, a tiny porcelain “lucky cat”, the rice candy that Jin and Mei Yee always craved as kids, specially blended THE WALLED CITY tea (it’s lemongrass green tea) and a signed and stamped ARC with the coveted and increasingly rare first cover. Also, I’m slipping in a pamphlet from the Kowloon Walled City Park, which talks a lot about the real place the novel was based on.

See? Lots of goodies!

So, how do you get those goodies? Well, first of all, you must have a US address that I can ship them too. (Sorry, internationals…)

The contest will run from August 4^th to August 11^th  (11:59 PM EST). There are multiple ways to enter. Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram.

You can Tweet the following up to once a day (one tweet = one entry).

Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife. Preview @ryangraudin's #TheWalledCity at thewalledcitybook.com and RT to win a prize pack!

If you reTumbl this post you’re automatically entered to win. (Again, one post per day. We don’t want to get all spammy!)

If you regram this post on Instagram you’re entered to win. (One post. One day.)

I’ll pick a random entry when the contest ends!!

Hooray three months!

ALA recap

Day 1: Got to Las Vegas in the afternoon. My skin immediately started crying out for water. My hair immediately had no frizz. (What is this sorcery?) Got settled in Caesar's Palace. Ordered a room-service sandwich that cost a small travesty. Got ready for the LBYR dance party!!!

First I got to go to dinner with the wonderful LBYR staff and several other authors. Including Laini Taylor. My inner fangirl was, well, fangirling. I love, love, love her Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. (The writing! The characters! The plot! All genius! I recommend it to everyone). I think my rabid fangirl did a good job of keeping herself hidden.

Maybe.

The dance party itself was so much fun! I got to meet and greet and chat up librarians. Plus hand out with some really, truly amazing authors. Holly Black showed up later in the party and I got to meet Jim DiBartolo (the insanely talented illustrator of In the Shadows, who also happens to be Laini's husband).

The party place itself was a tad dark, so it was hard to get any truly good dancing shots. But trust me. We danced. And it was marvelous. By the end of the night I was ready to collapse in bed and never get up again. But I did get up. For...

Day 2: It was an early morning (for me), as I was the first one signing in the LBYR Booth. There were 260 pretty, pretty ARCs stacked by my publicists Jenn and Faye and my husband. 

The pile was signed and gone in about 30 minutes! I was kind of stunned at the end. The time felt like nothing! I've found that I really enjoy signing books for people. Meeting enthusiastic readers face to face is such an encouraging experience. So different from sitting alone in front of a computer screen in your dog-hair covered yoga pants...

Anyway. After the signing the husband and I explored the floor and hung out in the LBYR booth some more. I got to pose with my uber fabulous editor Alvina Ling (Y'all seriously, she's so talented. I'm so bleeping lucky to have her!)

Husband decided to become a Viking for the day:

He makes a pretty good Viking. IMHO.

Outside of a few other events, we had some time to explore Vegas. I'd never been before, and it was definitely an experience! The Bellagio fountains, Chihuly glass ceilings, slot machines... The place was so busy and neon and abundant.

Day 3: Once my ALA duties were over, we said goodbye to glitzy Vegas and the fantastic LBYR crew and went out into the wilderness. Just as I'd never been to Vegas, I'd also never experienced the Grand Canyon. So the husband and I drove out for a few days and hiked a nine mile trail into the canyon and back.

We stopped at Hoover Dam along the way.

The canyon was... majestic. And HOT. The temp sweltered up to 111 F while we were there. (Which is quite the opposite from the -30 F we experienced in China a few months ago.)

Flora and fauna were both in abundance. There were several fearless squirrels along the path who had no qualms trying to dig into our backpack for trail mix. We also came across this beauty:

He was massive. And almost as fearless as the squirrels. 

Our drive back from the Grand Canyon was eventful. We had to get back to Vegas for our flights home. We took a wrong turn and didn't realize it until we were in the wrong state. (WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA. Oops.) An hour in the wrong direction. Husband started driving a bit (okay, much) faster than the speed limit. Which was, of course, when state trooper saw us and pulled us over. He was very, very nice and understanding when we told him we were late for our flights and let us off with a warning (THANKS, CALIFORNIA!). We followed the speed limit when our gas light came on in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately there was a gas station five minutes up the road, and we managed to refill and get to Vegas. They were boarding zone 3 when we reached the plane.

Phew.

At least the drive was pretty.

All in all a fabulous ALA!