Day 12 (14 days to Smugglivus and counting)
Who: Angie Fox, writer of Paranormal romance with a Demon Slayer as the heroine, surrounded by quirky characters such as a Griffin (who happens to be the hero) and a whole bunch of geriatric Biker Witches. You can check out our interview with Angie here.
Recent Work: Angie debuted this year with her first novel The Accidental Demon Slayer and hit the New York Times bestseller list. You can check our review here. Her second book in the series, The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers is out in April and her third…well, read the post and you will find out!
And Angie Fox is here today with a VERY special Smugglivus giveaway!
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Angie:
Okay, I have to tell you that when Ana and Thea first told me about Smugglivus, I laughed out loud. How fun. I love Festivus. I have a Festivus pole. I didn’t think there could be anything better – until Smugglivus added books. I mean, a month-long online book party? Nothing can top that.
And 2008 was quite a year. I managed to do book research with a bunch of Harley riders and their dogs – without falling off a bike once (at least not while the bikes were moving). Then I met a building inspector for the city of Henderson, Nevada, who took me down into the bowels of the Hoover Dam to research the second Accidental Demon Slayer book (The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers – out in April). And then, of course, The Accidental Demon Slayer hit the New York Times bestseller list, prompting me to utter the words “Get out!” over and over to my agent before making her email me to make sure I wasn’t phone hallucinating.
2009 should be just as much fun. Lizzie and the gang are going to Las Vegas to confront a she-demon who has her eye on world domination – and worse, Lizzie’s man. I’ve just signed on to be in the next Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance (which is going to force me to learn how to spell the word mammoth once and for all – I always want to add a “u.”) And then I’m working on the third book in the Accidental Demon Slayer series, tentatively titled A Tale of Two Demon Slayers, where Lizzie and the gang go to Greece and learn all kinds of things about Dimitri’s past. This one is going to be extra fun because I was actually in Greece a few years ago and there are so many amazing things about the ancient ruins there that I now get to include in a book. Yay!
If you’ve been wondering what the heck I’ve been talking about, you can check out an excerpt of The Accidental Demon Slayer.
And if you’re into the joy that is today’s Smugglivus prize, you can enter to win a
Biker Witch Party Kit: Everything the modern Harley riding geriatric biker witch needs to celebrate Smugglivus.
The plastic bucket (hey, our witches aren’t fancy) includes:
Yankee Candle Mistletoe jar candle: The woody scents of mistletoe, berries, pine boughs, and holly create this holiday tradition.
Chocolate armadillos (you can pretend you found them on the road)
The Original Road Kill Cookbook
A “Kiss my asphalt” t-shirt (name your size)
An autographed, first edition copy of the New York Times bestselling book, The Accidental Demon Slayer
The contest is open to US and Canada residents only and all you have to do is leave a comment here, it can be anything but perhaps you would like to share your holiday tradition with us? Contest runs till Sunday Midday (East Coast).
GOOD LUCK!
Next on Smugglivus: another fantastic FLASH WEEKEND GIVEAWAY – because we luuurve to spread the love for books! *wink*
41 Comments
macbeaner
December 12, 2008 at 5:36 amSounds like you’ve had fun doing the research for your books!
A holiday tradition. We go to my husband’s family’s every year for Christmas Eve. And with the advent of kids, it has been utter chaos, but a fun utter chaos.
Tasha
December 12, 2008 at 6:22 amI am hopping to find a bookstore gift card in my stocking, as I really want to get this one!
Right now, my husband and I are beginning to create our own traditions. This year, all I want to do is survive it! It has been a long long year!.
Thanks,
Natasha
traymona
December 12, 2008 at 6:27 amOur traditions include having all of my family over for a Christmas feast. And I do mean Feast.
traymona[at]aol.com
tetewa
December 12, 2008 at 7:24 amI loved the first book and can’t wait for the second one to come out. With Christmas only a couple of weeks away, I’m looking forward to spending time with the family.
Cindy W
December 12, 2008 at 8:00 amOur Holiday Tradition is hopping in the car to check out Christmas Lights. On this same night, we head downtown to a park by the water (we live near a bay) and walk through the park that has been transformed into a winter wonderland. We’ve done this for about 10 years and all 3 kids look forward to it!
Would love to win the basket! Thank you Angie.
Angie Fox
December 12, 2008 at 8:38 amResearch was fun. And you know you've done something different when Harley bikers are in the romance section of the bookstore, looking for The Accidental Demon Slayer. I need to start stalking B&N with a camera and get a shot of that.
Angie Fox
December 12, 2008 at 8:42 amAnd, macbeaner, I hear you on the utter joy and chaos of kids. This is the first year my daughter is old enough to anticipate Christmas, and that’s been a total blast.
dan-phi
December 12, 2008 at 8:46 amSounds like fun books.
We head over to my mother-in-law’s house for a festive dinner and watch the cousins go crazy.
Eshani
December 12, 2008 at 8:56 amYour book research sounds like a great time, and it’s not every girl that’s lucky enough to get to ride on a harley!!
My favorite holiday tradition is actually one my mom started a long time ago. Our whole family would get together to decorate the tree (and we have a big family now) and she would make real hot chocolate and ginger cake..It’s definitely chaos every year, but oh so much fun 🙂
Amanda
December 12, 2008 at 9:11 amOh what a fun prize! I enjoyed the previous interview with Angie Fox as well. Ok…hmmm…holiday tradition. Well, I always have to watch the movie White Christmas and we always open one gift on Christmas Eve. I guess we need more holiday traditions!
donnas
December 12, 2008 at 9:13 amI loved the first book and cant wait for the second and the third, will be cool to see what happens in Greece.
For holidays we all gather at my sisters and open presents on Christmas Day, then eat lots of food and talk. Great time to spend with family.
Raven99
December 12, 2008 at 9:32 amOne of our holiday traditions is going to my parents’ house on Christmas Eve night for dinner with the rest of the family. We watch Miracle on 34th Street and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation while we exchange presents and eat lots of food.
miish
December 12, 2008 at 9:43 amI would have loved to see bikers looking for your book Angie. How great to be able to take a picture of that!! (=
My holiday tradition, not too many going on these recent years, family is a bit broken up. But I try to keep my head up and hold on to the holiday spirit.
Angie Fox
December 12, 2008 at 9:51 amAh, I love Christmas movies. Last night, my daughter was a bit wound up after her holiday concert at preschool, so we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas before she went to bed. It was really cute. And as we were watching, my husband tried to explain to her how he looked forward to watching Charlie Brown’s Christmas every year when he was little. She wrinkled her nose and asked, “Why didn’t you just Tivo it?”
Angie Fox
December 12, 2008 at 9:55 amThanks tetewa and donnas. The Accidental Demon Slayer was a blast to write. And having Lizzie and the bikers in Greece has been wild. Heck, Dimitri deserves to have a book on his own turf – even if things are getting quite out of hand.
Angie Fox
December 12, 2008 at 10:00 amI have to get a picture of those bikers, miish. Stone, who is huge (works construction and has the body to show for it) walks in to B&N in full biker gear and asked for the book (I met him at a biker rally and he helped with research). He didn't even know B&N had a romance section. He emailed me and said, "I told the lady that I didn't think they even had romance books outside of Wal-Mart."
bamabelle
December 12, 2008 at 10:36 amOur only sustained tradition (we won’t mention the gingerbread house massacre lol), is that the kids and I make cookie trays every year to take to our local nursing homes. It’s a little way to teach the kids about compassion and giving back, as well as fun for all of us. Yes, we do keep some cookies too. Hey, a girl can’t be good all the time lol.
Happy Holidays!!!
Candace
December 12, 2008 at 11:41 amI’m adding your books to my TBR list. They should like fun!
Carolyn Jean
December 12, 2008 at 11:45 amGreat interview! And you have a Festivus pole? Very cool. Also, all that research is impressive The Hoover Dam indeed! Good luck on the upcoming release-I can’t wait.
Kate
December 12, 2008 at 12:02 pmMy family Christmas tradition? The Christmas lobster.
Quite a few years ago my mum got sick of turkey all the time once November hit – we’d have something like three turkeys in a two month period (one for practice – don’t ask me why – one for Thanksgiving, and another for Christmas.) So she put her foot down and said that there was to be no turkey at Christmas: she wanted lobster. So ever year Dad finds live lobster and we eat the now-traditional Christmas lobster(s) with shimp cocktail, salad, baked potatoes, and peppermint stick ice cream.
I’m really hungry now.
Thanks for the great post and giveaway! Your books look fun and interesting – I’ll have to check them out.
Cathy
December 12, 2008 at 12:07 pmWe always watch The Christmas Story when we decorate the tree, and drive the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights the Saturday before Christmas.
And your excerpt is hilarious, and always has me chuckling.
Angie Fox
December 12, 2008 at 12:08 pmThere’s a company up in Milwakee that makes festivus poles. Here’s the link: http://www.festivuspoles.com/pages/Festivuspoles.htm
The prices have gone up since I bought mine, but hey, think of what you’re saving in ornament costs. 🙂
The Hoover Dam research was a lot of fun. We went into some of the old inspection tunnels they used in the 1930’s and 40’s when the dam was first built. They’d mark notes and dates in chalk, and those marks are still down there. I got a real kick out of it.
Angie Fox
December 12, 2008 at 12:09 pmLOL I’ve never heard of Christmas lobster…but now I want one. And the peppermint stick ice cream. Yum.
Kate
December 12, 2008 at 12:32 pmI LOVE my Christmas lobster. And funny enough – for being in Indiana – it’s easier to find the lobster in late December than it is to find the peppermint stick ice cream! Apparently it’s only a seasonal thing 🙂
Shooting Stars Mag
December 12, 2008 at 1:46 pmOh, yay! Definitely enter me. I really want to read this book, and have yet too!
Christmas tradition? I honestly don’t really have one! We normally always open gifts on Christmas Eve, but probably not this year…we are going out of town.
🙂
lauren
lauren51990 AT aol DOT com
Danielle S.
December 12, 2008 at 2:28 pmDude, our holiday tradition is get the last ham before the fat lady next door does 🙂
it’s a blood bath, let me tell you…
I would LOVE the giveawayyyy 🙂
Angie Fox
December 12, 2008 at 2:47 pmLOL That reminds me of an Easter a few years ago. We were at my brother-in-law’s out in the country and his golden lab, Sunflower, comes running up to the house with a huge ham. Mark tries to get it away from her, but chomp – that thing is gone.
So my poor brother-in-law has to start visiting nearby neighbors to fess up. It was the neighbor an acre or two away – they’d had the ham (and other goodies) out on the sun porch, getting ready to eat and hadn’t even missed it yet.
I Heart Book Gossip
December 12, 2008 at 2:53 pmI dont have any traditions. I wish we did though.
Please enter me into this contest.
Z.M.
December 12, 2008 at 2:53 pmLove the interview! Please enter me into the contest too.
zmtc21 at yahoo dot com
Ana
December 12, 2008 at 3:37 pmWow, great stories!
We don’t have a Christmas tree, but we have a very tall wicker vase, so every year I decorate it like a Christmas tree *g* , then I put the presents all around it, and Rudolph sitting on top of them, taking care that no ones open them. *grin*
Angie Fox
December 12, 2008 at 3:54 pmI like that, Ana. Very creative!
Karin
December 12, 2008 at 4:10 pmYour research sounds like fun, even if it’s also work.
The holiday traditions for my family center around an incredibly hectic Christmas Eve. We all go to afternoon mass before heading over to my dad’s mom’s house, which ends up getting packed with 60+ people at any given time as all the extended family wander in and out to celebrate the holiday. After that, we all head over to my mom’s parents’ house to celebrate the holiday with them and my mom’s brother’s family. By the time we get home, it’s been about 9-10 hours of holiday fun.
Julia M
December 12, 2008 at 4:39 pmKate – can I come have dinner at your house – yum!
At my parents’ we always are boring! 🙂 We do puzzles, but each year it gets more complicated, we started doing the 3-D puzzles that take far into the new year to finish. Yikes.
Angie, you’re on my I-keep-meaning-to-read-that list. switching to the must-find-it-now list. 🙂
Kammie
December 12, 2008 at 9:01 pmI love your sense of humor! Congratulations to you on a great year and wishing you the same for 2009.
We use to have a family get together and make Swedish Glögg each year for Christmas. We’d have a great time chatting, laughing and playing cards while the Glögg was on the stove cooking. The only bad side to that was the house smelled of it for months following. lol
Angie Fox
December 12, 2008 at 10:57 pmMmmm…glogg. I say that, but you have to tell me – what exactly is in glogg? This may end up being book research. 🙂
And thanks, Julia M. I have a lot of those lists myself.
Karin, your holiday sounds like what mine is going to be this year. We’re hosting Christmas eve and planning around everyone going to afternoon mass. I’m also trying to figure out a way for us to go and still have dinner on the table. It’s so much easier that way.
Kate
December 13, 2008 at 12:59 amJulia M – the more, the merrier! 🙂
Tia Nevitt
December 13, 2008 at 5:10 amI forgot all about The Accidental Demon Slayer! And this was one urban fantasy that I did want to read. Thanks for the reminder!
Beth K
December 13, 2008 at 7:27 amTraditions Hmmmm…. my brother and I head home to the parents house but I am the youngest of the family so its not a large gathering and no kids traditions. We do all our cooking the night before so absolutely nothing has to be done on Christmas. Most of the time we stay in pajamas the whole day anyways. We just laze about and do whatever strikes us movies, cards, hanging out.
Margay
December 13, 2008 at 12:57 pmMy holiday tradition is to take my daughters and mother over to my sister’s house where we enjoy a fabulous meal – and try not to reenact Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation movie. We do have some near-misses, though, that would make great scenes in a book. Hm….
Lori T
December 13, 2008 at 7:15 pmOur holidays are always about family. We all meet at my Mom’s on Christmas Eve and have White Chili and Lobster Bisque…then the little kids all open a present.
Then on Christmas morning, we open presents at our individual houses (my two oldest daughters, my brother, sister, and I). We do not plan this but it seems that each year we all end up at the same Village Inn or IHOP for breakfast and then head to my Mom’s were we open all the presents to each other and all Grandma and Grandpa’s gifts. We sit around for the remainder of the day…playing games or with our new toys and then have a wonderful Christmas dinner.
My brother and his wife have to find time to get over her parents house, but for the last few years they have done Christmas for her family on Christmas Eve and sometimes we have to share our day with my sister’s inlaws. And my daughters have to spend some time with their boyfriend’s family, but in the end we all end at my Mom’s house.
Ana
December 14, 2008 at 1:09 pmFolks, the contest is now closed. Thanks for all the comments!