Book Wars!

It's going to be bloody and brutal and merciless and...

Or maybe not, but you should check it out anyway. What I'm talking about?

"The Book Wars - Historical vs. Dystopian" hosted by YA Book Reads.

Writers like Saundra Mitchell (The Vespertine), Catherine Fisher (Incarceron), Y.S. Lee (The Agency) and many more debate in their guest posts why they write/love dystopian or historical fiction.

AND I'm happy to say that I was invited to write a guest post. It's titled "Nothing is Scarier Than The Unknown" and you can read it here.
And, of course, I'm talking about my love for dystopian. The Other Life is a dystopian thriller after all!

So my lovely followers, please leave a comment on my guest post and tell me here or over on the YA book reads blog if you love dystopian or historical or maybe both?

Tuesday's Top Ten

I think this blog needs more randomness. That's why I'm starting Tuesday's Top Ten. Every Tuesday (duh!) I'll post my top ten movies, books, food, cities, animals etc until I'll run out of things to list.

Today we'll start with one of my absolute favorite things...

...food.

(not in any particular order)

1. Eggs Benedict (Whenever my husband and I are in a hotel I order them for breakfast. LOVE them, especially with spinach and smoked salmon)

2. Pizza with arugula, Parmesan cheese and prosciutto di Parma

3. Kimchee Bockum (Spicy Korean dish)

4. Chili Con Carne (the spicier the better)

5. Saltimbocca (Italian food – yum!)

6. Vitello Tonnato (chilled veal in tuna sauce – can't get enough of it)

7. Risotto (with lemon, peas or mushrooms)

8. Burgers ( Any kind. I'm not picky when it comes to burgers)

9. Moussaka (Greek food - yum)

10. Lasagna

I love to cook, so I've already cooked almost all of the above (except for the Eggs Benedict and the Kimchee Bockum).

So what are your favorite dishes?

Good News!

Sorry for the long silence! I've been busy writing. I finished two first drafts in the last two weeks. One is the draft for the sequel to THE OTHER LIFE and the other is a secret project (nicknamed ALOMF).
BUT that's not the good news I wanted to tell you.
Here it is (from Publishers Marketplace):

Rights to Susanne Winnacker's THE OTHER LIFE, to Anja Schleicher at Heyne in Germany, in a two-book deal, at auction, and to Fernando Baracchini at Novo Conceito in Brazil, by Alex Webb at Rights People on behalf of Julia Churchill at Greenhouse Literary Agency.

THE OTHER LIFE goes international!

Brazil and Germany. *happydance*

Maybe I should start learning Portuguese and plan a visit to Brazil!

I don't need to plan a trip to Germany nor do I have to learn the language.

I live in Germany and German is my first language and my family doesn't speak English well enough to read my books in English, so it was very important for me that my book would be translated into German.

And Heyne? They are part of Random House and a fabulous publisher. They publish writers like Stephen King, John Grisham, Patricia Briggs (who writes the Mercy Thompson series that I loooove) and Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series.

Long story short: I couldn't be happier.

Back from London!

I spent the last few days in London with my husband. It's only an one hour flight from where we live in Germany but it was only the second time that I was there.

I loved it. Not just because of the sightseeing but because I finally met my lovely agent Julia Churchill! I had lunch with her, my editor Rebecca and Anna from Usborne. And I had dinner with my amazing crit partner Tracy and her husband.

Meeting all those people reminded me again why I love publishing so much. The people are just awesome.

Before we arrived in London I promised my husband not to buy books because we booked our flight with Ryanair and they don't allow passengers to take lots of luggage. Well, I was determined not to get any new books but then I saw the book shop and went in. My husband got that resigned glint in his eyes when he watched me browsing the books. I managed to take only seven new books back home with me. That's not too bad, I guess.

Oh, and I finally had Fish & Chips!

Check out my guest post for The League of Extraordinary Writers! It's about aliens and apocalypse and X-Files!

Winners!!!

It's time to announce the winners of my blogversary contest!

*drum roll*

erica_henry

and

Hannah (quixotic_girl on twitter)

Please contact me at books@susannewinnacker.com and let me know your book choice and address. I'll be on vacation in London where I'll meet my agent and editor (YAY!!!!) in the next week and I'll depart on March 9th, so it would be good if you could contact me as soon as possible.

Cover Love: POSSESS by Gretchen McNeil

My fellow Apocalypsie Gretchen McNeil revealed the cover of her debut novel POSSESS yesterday. Isn't it gorgeous?

Here's the blurb:

Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her overprotective mom, by the hunky son of the police officer who got her father killed, and by the eerie voices which she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Turns out the voices are demons--the Biblical kind, not the Buffy kind--and Bridget possesses the rare ability to banish them.

San Francisco's senior exorcist and his newly assigned partner from the Vatican enlist Bridget's help with increasingly bizarre and dangerous cases of demonic possession. But when one of Bridget's oldest friends turns up dead in a ritualistic sacrifice that mirrors her father's murder, Bridget realizes she can't trust anyone. An interview with her father's murderer reveals a link between Bridget and the Emim: a race of part-demons intent on raising their forefathers to the earth in human form. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the Emim's plan before someone else close to her winds up dead, or worse--the human vessel for a Demon King.

Awesome, right? RIGHT!

Blogversary contest!

I started this blog almost a year ago on March 5^th 2010. That's a reason for celebration! And there's no better way to celebrate than a contest!

As a 2012 debut author, I want to support this year's debut authors. That's why I'm giving away 2011 debuts.

There'll be two winners. Each winner can choose one of the following books:

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
XVI by Julia Karr

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Timeless by Alexandra Monir

Warped by Maurissa Guibord

So Shelly by Ty Roth

Clarity by Kim Harrington

The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

The contest is open internationally. Contest ends March 5^th (the anniversary of my first blogpost!). Winners will be announced on March 6th 2011.

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