Giveaway Winner - Signed Copy of Humanity Scar by Monique Doucette *EDIT

Yay! So I'm excited to announce that I have a winner in the Humanity Scar giveaway. This lucky winner gets a copy signed by miss Monique Doucette, the author herself.

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway! For those of you who didn't win I highly suggest grabbing a copy of this yourself. It's an amazing book and you won't be sorry that you did.

The winner was chosen using one of those random number generator thingies. Comments were numbered from those on the blog and those from the facebook page and then entered into the generator.

So without further ado...

*EDIT*

I had to pick another winner guys. The previous winner had an international address and the giveaway stated it was US only. Also, when I went back to recount the comments to do the drawing again, there were some on my "comments" page that I couldn't see on the blog post itself. So, to be fair, I accounted for those comments as well. So, I'm sorry to Andrea, but the new lucky winner was comment number 1!

With all eligible entries accounted for:

And comment number one belonged to:

Congratulations! Will be emailing you for your details! You have 48 hours from now to respond and collect your prize!

Author Interview/Giveaway - Humanity Scar: Last Words (Journal One)

Humanity Scar: Last Words (Journal One) by Monique Doucette started out as a Kindle release. I am excited to say it's now in paperback AND that Monique is offering up a signed copy of her novel (giveaway is US only guys, sorry!). And I have to tell you, I loved it. It's exciting (in the "my heart is hammering" kind of way) and suspenseful, and because it's written in journal format it makes you feel like you're right there with her (you can read my review here).

So... on with the interview!

1. What made you decide to write a zombie fiction novel?
I have always been a huge zombie movie fan, but I had never really ventured into any zombie fiction. I found an online journal chronicling the journey of an apocalypse survivor and my hunger for zombie literature began. I soon found myself reading book after book and I knew I wanted to be a part of that genre. I initially tried several other stories before I began writing Humanity Scar. What was lacking in my first attempts was a true connection to the soul of the survivor, I found that in Kat and I haven't been able to stop writing since!

2. How long does it take you usually to write your books?
I can usually write a complete rough draft within 6 - 8 months. My editing process is a lot more involved and can range from a year to 2 years until I am satisfied with my finished work. Oddly, Humanity Scar was written over the course of about a year and the final draft of the first book was edited in about 4 months!


3. How do you choose your character names? 
My selection process is very organic. I usually write whatever springs out of my mind first. Names usually embody the spirit of the character. I often find myself using names that are similar to people I know or have encountered. Very rarely will I change a name once it has been established in a story unless I find a really good reason to.


4. If you could describe Kat Lacey in 3 words, what would they be?
Determined, Brave, Hopeful


5. Was Kat fashioned after anyone in particular?
Kat has several influences from people in my life as well as a sprinkling of my own personality.


6. What is your favorite part of writing?
My favorite part of writing is having the world come to life in the minds of my readers and hearing how they have enjoyed or been impacted by my work.


7. What are your other passions, aside from writing?
I have a lot of passions! I truly enjoy being a wife and mother to my family. I am an avid gamer enjoying everything from PC games to the Xbox 360 and the PS3. I also enjoy movies (especially zombie movies, I have a nice growing collection), cooking, and nice long naps!


8. What's your favorite movie?
My favorite movie is Kill Bill. No, it's not a zombie movie, but I'd love to have Beatrice around in the apocalypse. (My favorite Zombie movie is a tie between Shaun of the Dead and the Dawn of the Dead remake)


9. If you could tell your readers one thing about yourself or your books, what would it be?
I write for my readers. There is nothing I enjoy more in my writing than transporting someone on a journey with me and sharing my stories with them.

To win, all you have to do is comment on this post with your email address (you HAVE to post your email address or the entry doesn't count, I have to know where to contact you at to get your information)! The contest ends a week (that's SEVEN days people!) from today. At that time I will use a random number generator to select a winner! Then I will email you and you have 48 hours to respond with your mailing address!

Now, after posting (I've said this before so you all should be old hats at this part) you should go visit Humanity Scar and join! It's fun and forces you to remember that you CAN be creative. The stories that people come up with are awesome to read. Even if you just go and register as an observer, you won't regret checking it out!

Thanks for the interview Monique! And thank you everyone for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Now get to posting. :-) We need a winner!

Goodreads Blurb:

Meet Kathryn (Kat) Lacey: a survivor, believer, leader, and slayer of zombies. Faced with overwhelming danger, she tells her story as she fights to stay alive. Her adventure takes place during the tumultuous time following the outbreak of a deadly virus that reanimates its victims. However, there is more to tell within the pages of her journal than a simple account of ravenous corpses.

After everything has been stripped raw, what is left at the core of her existence? What remains when the flesh is torn away? Can it really be boiled down to good and evil, life and death?

Perhaps there is more to the story, something hidden beneath the scar tissue of the human race. I invite you to share this journey with Kat, who is just like you and I: she fights, cries, makes mistakes, and celebrates victories.

This is not your average zombie story. This is a first person account of a survivor battling against all odds. Kat is a woman who is discovering what she is made of and what she truly believes in. She fights to save what is precious to her and protects what she holds dear. This is a story about choosing to become a hero and not looking back.

Monique Doucette was born and raised in Southern California. She began writing stories at a very young age, completing her first novel at the age of 14. She is now a wife and mother and continues to write as a way to share, explore, and expand the worlds that are created in her imagination. Monique's inspiration is found in her readers. Every person who is touched by her writing encourages her to write more. With a wide variety of material, she enjoys creating vivid experiences for them to get lost in. She is currently in the process of publishing several books, including an entire series of Humanity Scar Journals. She hosts a website for readers of this series to become even more immersed in the world she has created. You can check out this exciting project by visiting www.humanityscar.com. Monique Doucette hopes to continue to write and share her visions with anyone who has a moment to sit down, open up the pages of a good book, and read until the world fades away. If only for a moment...

Teaser Tuesday #29

Thank you to MizB of Should Be Reading for giving us Teaser Tuesday every week!
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser comes from my latest read Humanity Scar by Monique Doucette.

After lacing up the boots (only a little bit too big! Thank God for my long feet!) and picking up my trusty crow bar I decided to make my venture to the garage. I wish I had looked outside first. I would have seen him coming...

Seriously, who wouldn't want to read it after that teaser??

Now, because I am currently out of town, I won't be able to read ya'lls teasers until I get back, but I can't wait!

Review - Humanity Scar: Last Words (Journal 1)

My first book ever read on my Kindle Fire. Humanity Scar: Last Words (Journal 1) by Monique Doucette.

Wow.

Great story.

It really did read like a journal. Almost like I was watching everything play out right in front of me. Wicked suspenseful. And sad.

Each character is developed beautifully, even the ones we're only just introduced to. We get a feeling of where each one is coming from and why they are where they are in this whole story. We see compassion emerge from people who aren't supposed to have any and fear crippling those who would, in any other situation, have none.

We learn alot about Kat through "flashbacks" of the first days after the outbreak. She started out terrified and confused. Not knowing who to turn to or what to do. And we see her as she grows into someone skilled and calculating who, while struggling to survive amidst hoards of festering undead, still believes that there can be good in what's left of the world.

Amazing story. The way I felt about this story is the same way I felt while I was watching Unstoppable. Like what I'd read had actually happened and I almost had to remind myself that no, this wasn't real.

This is a must read for fans of The Walking Dead (comics and television). And if you all read this and want more of Kat's world (even if you haven't read it, you should still check it out!) visit the Humanity Scar website and register! If you don't want to post right away you can sign up and just observe! It's really fun, I promise. And it helps to bring out a creative side that maybe you never knew you had. You won't regret it!

Daring You to Read - Humanity Scar by Monique Doucette

Daring You to Read is hosted every week by Tynga over at Tynga's Reviews.

This week I'm daring you to read Humanity Scar: Last Words (Journal One) by Monique Doucette (was released in March for Kindle, is being re-released in paperback!).

Meet Kathryn (Kat) Lacey: a survivor, believer, leader, and slayer of zombies. Faced with overwhelming danger, she tells her story as she fights to stay alive. Her adventure takes place during the tumultuous time following the outbreak of a deadly virus that reanimates its victims. However, there is more to tell within the pages of her journal than a simple account of ravenous corpses.

After everything has been stripped raw, what is left at the core of her existence? What remains when the flesh is torn away? Can it really be boiled down to good and evil, life and death?

Perhaps there is more to the story, something hidden beneath the scar tissue of the human race. I invite you to share this journey with Kat, who is just like you and I: she fights, cries, makes mistakes, and celebrates victories.

This is not your average zombie story. This is a first person account of a survivor battling against all odds. Kat is a woman who is discovering what she is made of and what she truly believes in. She fights to save what is precious to her and protects what she holds dear. This is a story about choosing to become a hero and not looking back.

That's right. Zombies. Like the one over to the right of the page here. (If you all watch The Walking Dead you know who that is ;-) And if you know anything about me, you know how much I love Daryl!)

Anyways, this story falls along the same lines as that television show up there. Zombies aren't boyfriend material. They're not "people" with dreams and aspirations anymore. They don't have hopes for the future. They are mindless shells of what used to be people. And they aren't just partial to brains. They'll take any piece of you. It's an honest to goodness zombie apocalypse. And Kat is struggling to survive through it.

If you want to get an up close and personal look at the world after the zombie apocalypse, you can go to the Humanity Scar website and check it out. It's an online RPG where you post as a survivor yourself. If you're not sure whether or not you want to BE a survivor yet, you can also just sit back and read as an observer of the forum. Get a feel for it. It's a lot of fun and it's really easy to do.

So that's it. I dare you to read it.

How to participate in DYTR

- You choose a book you’ve read, loved and would dare your readers to read!
- The book you choose must be an older release (at least 6 months ago), because let’s be honest, we’re all quite aware of the latest releases.
- Write your own blog post, using the button and linking back to Tynga’s Reviews, inviting your readers to read your chosen book.
- Come back on Tynga’s Reviews and put your link in the linking tool.
- Browse other bloggers Dare and let them know if you’ve read their featured book, or plan on reading it.
- Super easy and an awesome way to discover that special book who might have slipped off your radar!

Teaser Tuesday #20

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Now, for those of you who didn't guess my last teaser, it was from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. If you guessed right.. kudos to you. :-)

Now, this weeks teaser is from Humanity Scar by Monique Doucette. It's currently in E-Book form and is available on Amazon! She's a wicked cool person and she also runs the Humanity Scar website which is post-apocalyptic RPG (which I never thought I'd be able to get into, but it's freaking awesome. I love it!) message board for survivors of a ZOMBIE outbreak. Yes, I said it... ZOMBIE. Go check it out.

On to the teaser...

"How much can the scar protect? How many of us are left? And of those that still breathe, how many actually deserve it?"

Follow Friday #14

Q. What do I do when I are not reading?

When I are not reading I do lots of things. Hehe.
 
But seriously.
 
Umm... I take pictures. I have a photography blog and a photography/design Facebook page (which is updated more than my blog). My camera is really like an extra, freaky appendage. I've been taking photos for as long as I can remember. And I've been actually SERIOUS about photography and editing and design and all that stuff for at least the last 10 years.  I LOVE taking pictures. I love being able to see things through my camera that people don't even see without one.
 

I spend time with my beautiful little girls (both pictured above, 3rd picture is my nephew playing frisbee in the ocean). They are my life. My world. I love them both more than anything else. My ongoing divorce issues have not exactly made things easy for either one of them... me either, but they're more important than I am. Long story short, I am just happy that I have both of them here and together now. They are my sunshine.

Like I said above somewhere, I do design too. Mostly my own but I do stuff for friends every once in a while. I like to make mock covers for up and coming novels too. Those are wicked fun.  

(ps, click on each one of the 3 pictures immediately above and it will take you to their respective pages!)

I really don't know what else I do. Haha. I'm sure there are other things. Like for a while, my mom and I were feeding a starving horse we named Lilly. She's about 30 minutes away and her owner just wasn't feeding her. Wasn't feeding her, she had nails from her shoes coming through her hooves. She was dirty. She was lonely. We fed her hay twice a week for 3 months until my brother in law died. Two days after that happened we went back and filled up her grain bin so that my mom's friend could distribute her food when she fed her own horses (Lilly had jumped the fence to join the other horses in THEIR pasture and has been there ever since). Her "owner" has been buying her grain ever since then with my mom's friend putting it out for her. We haven't been able to make it to see her as much as we'd like since then. But she's beautiful. She always was beautiful but now I look at her and my heart is just filled with so much happiness.

She went from this: 

Skinny and scraggly... to this:

Beautiful creature.

We may have saved her... but she saved me. And I will love her forever for how she saved me.

And I reckon that be it. How about you?

Humanity Scar - Monique Doucette

From Goodreads:

"Meet Kathryn (Kat) Lacey: a survivor, believer, leader, and slayer of zombies. Faced with overwhelming danger, she tells her story as she fights to stay alive. Her adventure takes place during the tumultuous time following the outbreak of a deadly virus that reanimates its victims. However, there is more to tell within the pages of her journal than a simple account of ravenous corpses.

After everything has been stripped raw, what is left at the core of her existence? What remains when the flesh is torn away? Can it really be boiled down to good and evil, life and death?

Perhaps there is more to the story, something hidden beneath the scar tissue of the human race. I invite you to share this journey with Kat, who is just like you and I: she fights, cries, makes mistakes, and celebrates victories.

This is not your average zombie story. This is a first person account of a survivor battling against all odds. Kat is a woman who is discovering what she is made of and what she truly believes in. She fights to save what is precious to her and protects what she holds dear. This is a story about choosing to become a hero and not looking back."

I've had the privilege for the last couple months to be a part of the Humanity Scar website. I've never had this type of experience before as far as books are concerned and I think it's just absolutely amazing. It's so much fun. It's a role playing board where you get to choose your own character and create, basically, you're own story.

Humanity Scar by Monique Doucette is written journal-style after a zombie apocalypse. Aside from the fact that it's about zombies, it's super realistic. Obviously written from the point of view of Kat Lacey who's an incredibly strong character. You can buy the e-book on Amazon for $2.99.

Now, the website is a survivors message board. I highly recommend you checking it out and either taking part as an observer or as a survivor. I've never been very creative as far as writing stories goes. I've written a couple children's stories for my girls. So I thought this was going to be difficult. But it's really really fun. And totally easy to get in to. I just take things that happen in my ever day life and I add zombies to them. The people on the board are great to talk to and the stories that everyone comes up with are often just as amazing as the original book itself.

You get to converse and share tips with Kat Lacey and other people from her camp. You can create your own camp or maybe join someone else on the board if you're located close enough. Or you can stay on your own and go from there. The possibilities are endless.

So everyone please go check out Humanity Scar and see about taking part in the story!