[Promo & Guest Post + GIVEAWAY] Twisted Tales Series by Stephanie Fowers

I would like to WELCOME author Stephanie Fowers to the blog today! She is sharing a little about herself, how she chose her current book cover and The Twisted Tales series with us!!

Stephanie Fowers loves bringing stories to life, and depending on her latest madcap ideas will do it through written word, song, and/ or film. She absolutely adores Bollywood and bonnet movies; i.e., BBC (which she supposes includes non-bonnet movies Sherlock and Dr. Who). Presently, she lives in Salt Lake where she's living the life of the starving artist. Stephanie plans to share more of her novels, films, and even a musical in the near future. May the adventures begin.

LINKS:

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

How I Chose My Current Book Cover

by Stephanie Fowers

I have the rare opportunity where I can actually design my own covers. My sister, Jacqueline Fowers, is a graphic artist, and our friend, Kristi Linton, does photography. Both of them worked very closely with me to help me decide what I wanted to do for my “Twisted Tales” series.

I wanted covers that portrayed the vision that I had for the books, and would accurately illustrate what they were about. More than anything, I love covers with elegant dresses, but elegance and my books? They didn’t go together. So, we threw a silly slant to it. First of all, I wanted to have real girls on my covers, not paper doll cutouts. And secondly, I didn’t want my models to have faces like cold marble like I had seen on other books. My characters were quirky, and I wanted their expressions to show that. So I needed to find models who weren’t too vain and we’re okay with looking less than perfect. That’s when I noticed my nieces’ Facebook pictures—these were normally beautiful girls crossing their eyes and giving themselves triple chins. As soon as I saw that, I knew they were perfect for the parts.

In my first book, “With a Kiss,” Halley Starr has a sour expression. This is because she has heart troubles (a curse and all that). I put the poster of it up on my wall at work and even now, my coworkers get scared when they think she’s watching them. In “At Midnight,” Bridgette looks a little watery-eyed and overwhelmed. Well, what’s a girl to do when she has to work like Cinderella doing fast food double shifts and when she has fire-starting demons chasing her? In “As the Sun Sets,” Daphne is confident, bubbling over with fun and has a sense of humor—but maybe she looks a little too much like an airhead. My niece’s grandmother on the other side of the family looked at the cover and asked, “Hey, is this what you really wanted?” Yup, they are EXACTLY what I wanted. This is who these characters are supposed to be.

When I gathered the dresses for the shoot, I went to a secondhand store and found a bunch of wedding dresses for cheap (then carried them home on the train in big bags with everyone on the train congratulating me on my nonexistent-coming nuptials). The dresses were all big and white, which was according to the instructions my graphic designing sister gave me because she said it would be easier to make them any color we wanted in post. Kristi set up the scene in her shop. The care and precision she puts into her photography astounds me. She is all about details—angles, lights, colors. She’s read all of my books and she knows the look I’m going for.

For the layout, Jacqueline poured over pictures that I gave her. She studied the covers that had inspired me and she put her own spin on it. I’m blessed my sister has such a creative touch. She does a lot of film, so we support each other’s creative endeavors. I’ll act in her stuff and be a screenwriter when she needs it and she does graphics for me—it’s a great trade.

And finally, we have the “Twisted Tales” logo, which you will find in the back of the cover in the paperback version (on the title page for the ebooks). My coworker, Ian Anthony, at Westech Engineering (where we spin straw into gold, i.e.; scanning documents into digital formats) is a medical student. He didn’t know he had a creative bone in his body until he discovered he had a knack for fonts (and maps as you’ll see on my site and at the back of my ebook). So the “Twisted Tales” logo he designed was the perfect touch.

All in all, making my covers was a joint project that I think turned out pretty well. I’m grateful for all the efforts everyone put into it. Now, I’m just excited to show them off to the world.

BOOK 1:

With A Kiss

Stephanie Fowers

Series: Twisted Tales, #1

Publication: April 2013

Genre: YA Paranormal (Faeries)

    There are seven rules of the faery kingdom that Halley Starr must never break:

    1. No trespassing sacred faery territory

    2. Don't ever say thank you

    3. Using a faery’s given name is a no-no

    4. Never break a promise to a faery

    5. Faery music is forbidden

    6. Resist all faery food

    7. And never, never fall in love with a faery

    But Halley is cursed. Yeah. No joke. She can barely survive Omak High with that shard of ice in her heart. How could she possibly be a proper godmother and stop Rumpelstiltskin from taking the heir of the faery kingdom? And let’s be honest, there is no way she’ll go with Goldilocks (some hot faery guy) who won’t bother telling Halley his name or that she looks like she’s talking to herself when he’s around. Not a chance.

    And really, who can blame her?

    If Halley wants her heart back again, she can’t worry about the rules…

BOOK 2:

At Midnight
Stephanie Fowers
Series: Twisted Tales, #2
Publication: April 2013
Genre: YA Paranormal (Faeries)

    Stop the clock from striking twelve

    Who is Bridgette anyway?

    1. Loser of Omak High
    2. Girl who rubs her fingers raw working fast food
    3. Victim of the evil stepmother who runs the group home
    4. Not-so-proud owner of a hearth where fire-starting goblins live
    5. Asylum wannabe with occasional schizophrenic episodes

    Not even Bridgette knows. Not that she can do anything about it. Besides, her godmother is supposed to save her, not the other way around! But Halley Starr is a little busy fighting Rumpelstiltskin flunkies and his beanstalk, so her godmother sends some rude faery guy to help Bridgette instead. It’s up to him to make sure she gets that true love’s kiss that will undo the banishment curse, except he seriously knows nothing about love or faery hunters, red riding hood, spindles…or high school!

    Excuse me?

    Even if he did, how is Bridgette supposed to find true love if everyone she loves disappears?

BOOK 3:


 As the Sun Sets
Stephanie Fowers
Series: Twisted Tales, #3
Publication: April 2013
Genre: YA Paranormal (Faeries)

    Will it be happily ever after or the end?

    Daphne’s sister and stepsister are in big BIG trouble!

    1. It’s the third and final day
    2. Rumpelstiltskin plans to suck their powers dry
    3. The queen wants them dead
    4. The wolves switched sides
    5. The world is about to end
    6. And did they seriously expect to keep this all from Daphne?

    Oh yeah, A LOT of trouble! Daphne Starr pricks her finger on a spindle and it awakens the power that was always within her. That’s a big time no no! Now Rumpelstiltskin and some evil queen are after her. Even more annoying, the biggest player at Omak High is a shapeshifter and he goes beast on her, dragging her into a beanstalk and getting them stuck in a time-warp. He won’t stop asking her to marry him to get to her powers. I mean, give up already! Sure, it’s cool when she scores matching boots with the weirdo cat, and some cute faery guy accidentally tags along for the ride, but…

    Enough is enough already!

    Halley and Bridgette had better get her out of this—especially since she only has until the battery runs out of her cell phone before she loses…to a beast.

 

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