Cover Reveal GP Ching's Soul Catcher

It's here! I can finally share with you the cover of the fourth Soulkeepers novel, Soul Catcher.

Dane Michaels has been to Hell and back and isn't interested in repeating the experience. But as a human caught up in the Soulkeeper's world, his life isn't exactly his own. No one can explain why Dane was allowed through the gates of Eden, but it's changed everything. Now, the only one who can make him feel safe is Ethan, the telekinetic Soulkeeper with a dark past and a heart of gold.

When Malini asks Dane to be part of a mission to find the last Soulkeeper, Cheveyo, more than one team member thinks she's tempting Fate. But Malini suspects Fate has had a hand in Dane's life for some time and that he could be the key to unraveling Lucifer's latest plan of attack.

Add it on Goodreads!

About The Cover

Adam Bedore of Anjin Design creates all of the covers for The Soulkeepers Series. Book four revolves around Dane, pictured here, and introduces Cheveyo, a Hopi indian boy and the last Soulkeeper on the list Dr. Silva conjured in book 3. Cheveyo is represented by the dream catcher and adobe wall behind Dane.  Fate, also known as Fatima, plays a role in the story.  You can see her shadow hanging from the red stone in the dream catcher. (Yes, she is represented as a spider. She is a master weaver after all!) And if you think there is something up with that shadow behind Dane, you are not mistaken.  There's more to him than meets the eye.

 About The Book

Soul Catcher is slated for a March release and is the fourth book in the bestselling Soulkeepers series.

#Tweetsforthesoul

I hit a milestone this weekend with 400 twitter followers!

My incentive to followers was that if I hit 400 I would give away a signed copy of SoulKeepers by GP Ching and now that day has come!

So what can you do to win?

With all that has gone on this past week in the blogosphere with GoodReads drama, book blogger drama, and just so much bad juju, I thought we could all use some #tweetsforthesoul

All you have to do is sent me a tweet with the hashtag #tweetsforthesoul saying something uplifting. It could just be

@maganvernon SMILE #tweetsforthesoul

or something even more thought provoking

@maganvernon The best things in life are always worth fighting for #tweetsforthesoul

From now until WednesdayI will be looking through the tweets. Then by next Monday I will pick a winner. You can tweet as many times as you want and the more you tweet the better your chances are to win!

Happy Tweeting!

Writerly Wednesday: Bad Religion

To come up with a writing topic that I haven't talked about before can be a difficult process.

I've tackled things like weight issues, gay teens, sex appeal, and teenage drinking. So what is there left to conquer?

Well there are definitely alot of taboos in society that we see in everyday YA literature. With the spirit of the holidays in full bloom, I thought it was time to talk about religion.

Here's the thing, religion is very prevelant in YA literature with books about fallen angels and vampires with morals, but you never really get that full religious experience unless it's a christian novel. Why?

GP Ching and I were discussing her Soulkeepers series and she came up with a very valid point, you can't have a fallen angel story without talking about how the main character views religion.  There are touches of what some main characters think of religion in books like Fallen, but it is more or less danced around.

Why is religion so taboo? We can talk about sex, drugs, and eating disorders, but we can't talk about christianity?

 What are your thoughts on this?

Fangirl Friday: G.P. Ching

GP Ching is the author of The Soulkeepers series and rebel suburbanite who makes wicked cookies, kicks patootie at Guitar Hero, and thinks guinea pigs are the perfect pet.  You can find her online at GPChing.com

The Fangirl met G.P. at a local RWA meeting, after much proding from her crit partner (Kienna Riley), she decided to ask G.P. for an interview.  After being sucked into the first book of the SoulKeepers series, The Fangirl wants to share her Fangirlness of G.P. with the world.

Magan: For those that haven't read the Soulkeepers series, can you tell them what it's about?

Warning: Spoilers. If you haven't read the Soulkeepers yet, you may want to skip to the second question.

G.P.: Weaving Destiny is the second book in The Soulkeepers Series. In the first book Jacob Lau discovers he is a Soulkeeper after a brutal car crash leaves him orphaned. A Soulkeeper is genetically gifted human being that has the power to fight Watchers, otherwise known as fallen angels. Soulkeepers only come into their power when a stressful event activates the gene.

At the end of the first book, Jacob's girlfriend Malini shows signs of carrying the Soulkeeper gene. Weaving Destiny is Malini's story and picks up three months after the end of The Soulkeepers. Malini desperately wants to determine if she's a Soulkeeper. She's frustrated because she's thrown into The Soulkeepers' battles without the necessary power to protect herself. Fitting in matters because the Soulkeepers are so much of Jacob's world and she's afraid if she doesn't find her power, she'll lose him. It doesn't help that a new Soulkeeper named Mara comes to town who takes an interest in Jacob. Malini has to sort out her insecurities about Jacob while she figures out who she is and what she is becoming.

Magan: What inspired you to write this novel?
G.P.: After I wrote The Soulkeepers, which was inspired by a conversation I had about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Weaving Destiny just came to me. The characters in my head decided what would happen. I wrote the book in a fraction of the time it took me to write the first.

I will say that as the story unfolded, I thought a lot about self-esteem in young women. Girls sometimes define themselves by their boyfriends. Sometimes, women don't give themselves enough credit for what they can accomplish on their own. It was important to me that I write a story where Malini is the hero of her own destiny. She changes during this book from someone who things happen to, to someone who makes things happen.

Magan: Did you have to do any sort of research to write this novel? How did you go about that?
G.P.: I did some research on the game of cricket. There's a scene where Malini has a vision of her father and grandfather talking about a game. Of course, since Malini is Indian, it couldn't be baseball. The more popular pastime in India is cricket. So, I needed to learn enough about the game to write the scene. Most of the other research was done as part of book one.

Magan: How did you decide to go with Darkside publishing? What makes it the best home for your novel?
G.P.: DarkSide Publishing specializes in Young Adult novels for the eBook market. There have been many publishers in the romance genre that have done this for years but for YA it's still an emerging market as more young people get eReaders. I think ePublishing is the way of the future and felt that DarkSide had the most attractive business model.

Magan: Did you have any pitfalls or times that you wanted to give up on writing? What kept you going?
G.P.: I've never seriously considered giving up writing entirely. I love writing. I'll do this until I die. I certainly have enough manuscripts started to keep me busy until I die!

As far as pitfalls, sure I have bad days when I'm not happy with a review or with how many books I've sold that day. That stuff can be frustrating. But reviews and sales are just the icing on the cake. The joy is in the writing itself.

Magan: What's next for you writing-wise?
G.P.: The Official Weaving Destiny Blog Tour starts September 12! Visit www.gpching.com to enter to win your choice of Kindle or Nook. Plus over a dozen blogs are participating with reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways. If you want to win a free copy of either of the Soulkeepers eBooks, follow the tour!

Return to Eden, Dr. Silva & Gideon's story, will be available Winter 2012. There is room in the story for additional books beyond Return to Eden if readers want more from the series at that point.

I also have a stand alone YA called Grounded, a futuristic dystopian. I can't talk too much about that one yet, but I'm very excited about the possibilities.

Magan: Did you have any sort of a musical playlist for this novel? If so, could you share it with us?

G.P.: Yes. My playlist is available at www.thesoulkeepersseries.com, on the Weaving Destiny page. You can also watch the book trailer there.

Magan: If Soulkeepers were to be made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
G.P.: This is a tough one. I think Jacob and Malini would have to be played by yet unknown talent. There just aren't enough young multi-cultural actors. However, generally speaking, if I had to pick well-known actors that fit the descriptions in the book, I would say Parminder Nagra as Malini, and a young Keanu Reeves as Jacob.

Magan: Favorite book, movie, food?
G.P.: My favorite books (I couldn't possibly name just one): Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Memiors of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.

My favorite movie is a classic - Better Off Dead with John Cusack.

My favorite food is a cheeseburger and onion rings from Schooners in Bloomington IL.

Magan: Words to live by?

G.P.:"Don't you know about destiny, Malini? Destiny is not a place that we navigate to like a pinpoint on a map. Destiny is a fabric woven from our choices. It is the cloak we wear every day and the shroud that covers us in our death. You can't wait for destiny to find you. You make it for yourself." -From Weaving Destiny


Thanks again for the interview!  And blog readers, look for my upcoming review of SOULKEEPERS and a special giveaway!