Release Day – Prizes and Fun!

It's Live!

Today’s the Day!! Big celebs; big par-tays, big hair, big smiles and big bowls of Smarties!  Whatever I’m doing today will be BIG. Today, February 27th to be exact, is the day that Dead, Actually hits book stands all over Australia. I’m about to go out hunting it down; to wish it well and tell it to perform and behave. No scrap that. I don’t care if it doesn’t behave – I want it to stand out!

And I’ll be taking photos! And it would be such fun if you could play along with me? Let’s play SPOTTO!

Here’s the 411: if you see Dead Actually anywhere on the shelves and you’re able to catch that on camera, please send it in and we’ll post it here!  I’m happy to run this game indefinitely, <g>  but we’ll at least be doing it for this debut month. All contributors will go into the draw for a fabbo prize fit for a gal who knows she’s special and deserving…

But wait there’s more. Every day this week there will be a prize. It’s my way of saying thank you, I love you and I love that you’re helping me celebrate.  All you have to do is leave a comment. Easy!

Today’s prize?  It sparkles and glitters – and it’s useful. OMG – I’m in love. It’s the most gorgeous silver-coated book mark that is topped with a heart of diamentes. And of course we’ll throw in some choccies and some swag!

Please just drop in and say hi, or if you’d rather, tell me if you’ve ever seen a ghost. A real live – or is that dead(?) – ghost. In Dead, Actually, Willow has a resident one:  JoJo.  A totally difficult, demanding, bitchy ghost who is making Willow’s life a misery. Understandably the first time she ‘saw’ JoJo she completely freaked out.

                The road to insanity takes twelve minutes. I’ve timed it.    

               That’s how long it took for me to get from Pete’s to my house, charge up the  stairs and dive into my room. Twelve minutes before the first strangled scream was ripped from my throat.         

          Contrary to popular belief, the air in hell is freezing – because surely that’s where I’d somehow landed.  My breath caught; my heart jerked…              

         My body froze.             

        My brain shut down.       

        I clutched at the doorframe.

       But still she stared at me.

       Her… A dead person. In my room.

      Let me clarify: not a body, a dead person.

      An already-buried dead person.

      Call me naive, but never once had I asked myself what I’d do if ever I found a dead person in my bedroom. Or anywhere for that matter.

      Now I knew. Scream and bolt.

       Which I did. I bolted straight out of that room and was halfway back down the stairs before I realised that I was being crazy; that buried dead people cannot just turn up in your room. That JoJo was an illusion; she wasn’t real.        

        Still, I didn’t barge back in, I kind of slid my head around the  door, ready to run again if I had to.  

      “Are you through playing hide and seek?” JoJo’s bored voice reached over and froze me to the spot. “If you are, perhaps you could come in and tell me what I’m doing here.”    

     I shook my head and remained right where I was. “You’re not real. You don’t exist. I’m just seeing things.”  This had to be a stress-induced hallucination.  

   She flicked imaginary lint – oh wait, this was my house, it was probably real lint – off her hot pink top and frowned at me like I was lower on the food chain that the dust she was picking off herself. I was still staring. I recognised that top. She’d been wearing it that last day…

 Willow coped pretty well, really. But then it helps of the dead person insists on giving you a hard time, and trust me, it gets bad.

 I have to say I’m a sucker for ghost stories. Love them… Have you ever seen a ghost? Do you believe in them?  What do you think you’d do if you saw one?

Please drop in and say hi. I’d love, love to celebrate this special time with you. Don’t forget the week is full of prizes.

Oh – and in case you missed the book trailer? Enjoy!