Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays -- and Lots of Reviews

I haven't updated my blog in quite a while; I've been swamped at work (due to the holidays). But I wanted to be sure to take a minute and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

I've also been remiss in posting SZJMB reviews and there's a lotof them. Hopefully, I haven't left anyone out:

First, way back in November Kayla Merritt did a great review over at The Bee's Knees Reviews closing her review with, "I would highly reccomend it for young readers over ten and zombie fans alike."

Author (in progress), Loren DeShon says, "SZJMB should be enjoyable to any young adult fan of the genre. " in his review.

The Little Library Muse calls it, "a must read." And even lists her favorite quote from the book.

The Alaskan Bookie did a great Mother-Daughter review. They loved the title and cover, but thought the ending was a bit sad. My reply, don't get too down, wait for book two!

Greta at Paranormal Wastelands asked her son to do the review and then interviewed him.

Alexa Loves Books closes her review with, "It's definitely one entertaining read!"

Wow, that's a bunch of reviews. Hopefully, they will spur sales; last month was great, but things have been dragging in December.

Again, I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Kindle Fire - First Impressions

I've probably played with my Kindle Fire for 2 hours or so. By far my biggest complaint is lack of apps. For example, I couldn't find Google Sky Map in the App store. This is a killer app and I'll be tempted to return if I can't get it.

But that's not the only app that's lacking. I had terrible time finding free apps for my daughter, even just trial versions. Amazon needs to quickly beef-up their app store.

Here's what I've found so far:

Good:
-Screen is nice and bright.
-My eBooks automatically showed up.
-Easy to use.

Bad
-Not many apps to chose from.
-Hard to configure. For example, I can't figure out how to require the password for app purchases (to keep my daughter from buying apps.)
-Lots of fingerprints on the glass.
-Music purchases over 90 days old can't be auto loaded.

Neutral:
-Battery seemed to run down fast, but after a recharge, it seems better.
-Heavier than I thought. Might be too heavy to read in bed for long periods.

I need some more time to play with it before I can decide if it's a keeper.

More Reviews for SZJMB

Gothical posted a 5-star review of Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb (SZJMB) on her blog. Here's a quote:

"...SUPER ZOMBIE JUICE MEGA BOMB was a fun, fast pace, unique read that I look forward to reading more from the author and MUST have a sequel I would sell a blue smurf for a sequel to this book."

Which leads to my only question about this review: I thought all smurfs were blue?

I also had two great kid reviews over on Goodreads. One by an eight-year-old and another by a fourteen-year-old. I was a little surprised that the younger boy seemed to enjoy SZJMB more and his review has to be my favorite so far:

"Nate & Misty are bestfriends. They decide to run away after they get grounded for sneaking out. When they come home they see the town is full of zombies. They are really smart and move in to a Walmart. By accident they find out that zombies can be killed with lemons and different things that have acid in them. They meet a genius named Kali that help them kill the zombies with a really cool firetruck.

Awesome book." 5-Stars

There's nothing like a review from a target reader to make your day!

If you haven't picked up your copy of SZJMB yet, the ebook is on sale now for 99¢ at Amazon and on my website (in 3 formats).

Happy Halloween!

First a reminder, Halloween is the last day to enter the giveaway for the final Zombie Survival Kit. There's tons of other great contests to be found over at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer's Spooktacular Giveaway Hop.

Check out the photo of it ranked #55 on Amazon's Freebie Bestseller List, right above Dracula and bellow some book called The Holly Bible.

Last, blogger David Stantos posted a great review of SZJMB yesterday. Here's an except:
"We aren't told what the kids did while they were gone. It turned me away a bit. I thought, well if this book is going to jump or skip 'scenes' it's probably not going to be very good."

Here's another:
"Anyways at first the two main characters Nate and Misty were kind of dull, no real personality."

Sounds bad, huh? Well, he goes on to say that it turns out he liked it so much he read it in one sitting--he gives it 5-stars. David actually warned me before I sent the book that he's a really frank reviewer. Hey, you know the critiques are going to come; it's a lot easier to swallow then they love the book!

Now I just have to wait for that 1-star critique--I don't mind waiting.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

First Zombie Survival Kit Winner & more chances to win!

Sorry, I'm a day late on making the announcement. Adding all the extra entries along with a last minute rush of entries make it a little more difficult to count the number of entries.

The Winner is:

Jeana K.

If you didn't win, don't dispair, your entries will be carried over for next week's zombie survival kit. Thanks to everyone who entered and everyone who posted the link, which is what really made the contest a success!

If you haven't entered the contest yet, there's still 3 chances to win. Just enter below:



Oh, and I'm giving away 5 more print copies via goodreads. Enter here:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb

by MJA Ware

Giveaway ends October 21, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Blog Tour Update

I was planning on posting something on the 8th, which happened to be World Zombie Day. However, I was in bed with a case of the flu that had me thinking I might actually be turning in to a zombie myself.

Anyway, I'm well on my way to recovery (and no cravings for brains), but I've been remiss in updating the blog:

First, today is the last day to enter to win the first Zombie Survival Kit. And, in answer to a reader's questions, it's a enter once contest, so if you don't win the first week, there's no need to re-enter. You (and your extra entries) will automatically be part of each of the four giveaways. I'll post the name of the first winner tomorrow.

Second, last week Rebecca and Scarlett at Everything To Do With Books posted a great review and giveaway (yes, there's still time to enter).

Also, you might have missed my guest post with Zombie Survival Tips over at Death, Books and Tea where there's another chance to win the book.

Tomorrow, they'll be yet another chance to win a copy over at: Guerrilla WordFare.

And later this week, Angela at Turing The Pages is going to be doing a review and giveaway.

That's about it for this week. I just want to thank everyone who has participated in the blog tour, has reviewed, or read SZJMB!

Win a Zombie Survival Kit

Okay, I've finally got the link for the first Zombie Survival Kit ready. Only your name and e-mail address are required to enter.

There are 3 opportunities for getting more entries:

-Plus 1 for following this blog.

-Plus 1 for "liking" my Facebook page.

-Plus 3 for posting a link on your website, blog, twitter, Facebook, or Goodreads account.

I really want to try to get the word out, so I'm including two chances to get 3 entries for posting a link to the contest (6 entries total). Link here: http://themissingword.blogspot.com/2011/10/win-zombie-survival-kit.html (a bit.ly link is okay).

A winner will be picked by random on or around Oct. 10th. His/her first name and last initial will be posted online shortly thereafter. The winner will also be notified via e-mail and will have 30 days to claim their prize. Unclaimed prizes will be given to charity, re-listed, or disposed of.

Contest valid in the continental US only and void were prohibited by law.

The winner will be required to provide a valid US shipping address. E-mail addresses will not be disclosed, except as required by law. I will not use your e-mail as part of my mailing list, give it away, or anything like that.

Finally, after they read the book, your kids might be inclined to put lemonade in the squirt gun; don't let them--you'll end up with crying kids and red eyes!

Good luck and help me spread the word!

SZJMB Blog Tour List

I just got back from Disneyland late last night and I still have a bit of a Disney hang-over. I have a question about that place: If it’s really the happiest place on earth, why is there a kid balling his eyes out like every twenty feet?

I’m going to try to get entry for the first zombie kit up tomorrow. But as promised, here’s the list of sites hosting the SZJMB blog tour. This includes the giveaway dates for the Zombie Survival Kits too. I might add a couple other sites, or add another contest or two. All the sites are doing giveaways, most are giving away a copy of the printed book, so they’ll be lots of chances to win!

Blog tour:

Oct. 3^rd – Jackie B’s Housewife Blues & Chihuahua Stories
Oct. 5^th – Death Books & Tea
Oct. 9^th – Everything To Do With Books
Oct. 10^th – Zombie Kit Giveaway #1 (here)
Oct. 11^th – Guerrilla WordFare
Oct. 16^th – Turning The Pages
Oct. 17^th – Zombie Kit Giveaway #2 (here)
Oct. 18^th – Lady D’s Dragon Views
Oct. 19^th – Teenage Reader
Oct. 24^th – Manga Maniac Cafe
Oct. 25^th – Zombie Kit Giveaway #3 (here)
Oct. 26^th – M.Pax, The Wistful Nebulae
Oct. 30^th – Fantastic Adventures
Oct. 31^st – Zombie Kit Giveaway #4 (here)

Let me add a big Thank You to all the sites that agreed to host me!

Zombie Survival Kit Giveaways

This weekend I’ll be kicking off my blog tour. At each site I visit, I’ll giveaway an ebook or printed copy of SZJMB (a printed copy at most stops). I’ve got 10-12 sites lined up and I’ll post a schedule soon.

I’m also giving out a zombie survival kit each week. The kit consists of survival essentials, especially those that appear in the story:

• A copy of Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb
• A high-powered water gun
• Lemonade mix
• Zombie snot (decontaminated)
• Recipe for making your own zombie snot
• LED flashlight
• Duct tape
• Personal first aid kit
• Rope
• Misty’s strawberry flavored lip-gloss
• Emergency glow stick
• Water balloons for making zombie juice bombs

Good luck to everyone. These have some great toys (not to mention great reading) and are the perfect way to kick start your Halloween!

SZJMB Featured on Blog Talk Radio's Journal Jabber

I just found out SZJMB was featured on tonight's episode of Journal Jabber. They were doing a special feature on boy books, though they said SZJMB would probably appeal to both sexes. You can listen right here:

Listen to internet radio with JournalJabber on Blog Talk Radio

In other news, I got a short, but killer review on iTunes, " I could not put this book down I really hate reading but this book I could read it 1000 times if I could"

Because of lack of punctuation (often, teens writing on iPhones skip the punctuation, for the sake of speed) and the hyperbole, I'm assuming it was written by someone in the MG or YA age groups. Which, to me, is sooo much more important than an adult review; it means (at least one person from the) target audience gets it!