Sunday, March 3, 2013

March Madness Blog Hop + Giveaway!



SPRING!

What am I, Leanna Renee Hieber, looking forward to most about spring? Why, spending time in my favourite place in all the world: Central Park! At the capstone vista of 19th Century romantic imagination, The Bethesda Terrace.

As you can see from my blog title I write Gothic Victorian novels with fantastical, magical paranormal elements. If any of you have visited Manhattan's incredible 843 acre slice of heaven in the center of the big city, you might recognize that gorgeous expanse pictured atop my blog. That's the Bethesda Terrace in the 1880s, the time period in which my Magic Most Foul saga (Now Available) and upcoming ETERNA FILES saga (2014 from Tor / Macmillan) are set.

The park was always a bold venture representing an idealistic, imaginative city as ambitious and interesting as it is populated. It is a park for the people, entirely man-made and sculpted to beautiful perfection by visionary minds of Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux. The land was set aside by the city in the 1840s and construction on the park lasted for the next many decades with an ongoing maintenance budget that numbers in the millions of dollars. There were countless obstacles along the way to what much of the world considers to be landscaping engineering perfection but the park exceeded all its challenges, silenced any of its early critics, and has become a national treasure. It is impossible not to find its hundreds of varying vistas beautiful. It is the most valuable piece of real estate in the world, both financially and as a New Yorker, spiritually too. And I believe the Bethesda Terrace to be the park's crown jewel.

I've just launched my serialization of the finale in the Magic Most Foul saga, THE DOUBLE LIFE OF INCORPORATE THINGS, a Gothic paranormal adventure in 1880 New York City featuring two young lovers trying to escape a demonic conspiracy that has threatened not only their own lives multiple times and in elaborate measures but has destroyed their families, targeted their friends and if the ugly dark magic is not stopped, the entire city could plunge into chaos. And in the second chapter of THE DOUBLE LIFE OF INCORPORATE THINGS, I send my hero and heroine to that very Bethesda Terrace, giving some historical detail and context along the way. Stop by to catch the free serialization continuing every Tuesday!

TO ENTER TO WIN A COPY OF MY NOVEL DARKER STILL: comment below on your favourite spring activity or share your favorite historical haven for a chance to win a copy of DARKER STILL, book one in the Magic Most Foul saga! Please leave an email or Twitter handle so I can get in touch with the winner which will be chosen via randomizer on 3/31!

TO ENTER TO WIN THE SLEW OF AMAZING GRAND PRIZE STUFF: FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER here, but please comment below for DARKER STILL, as a separate giveaway: a Rafflecopter giveaway

HUZZAH! Come back every Tuesday for the first installment of THE DOUBLE LIFE OF INCORPORATE THINGS - Serializing just like the Victorians did, RIGHT HERE! Read 1.1 now!

15 comments:

houndstooth said...

New York City is one of the places I'd love to see. My dad dreamed of raising cowboys, but had two little girls instead. So, we had several fantastic vacations out West that were a lot of fun, but no amount of pleading would get him to take us to New York. lol As far as what we're most looking forward to, seeing green grass, leaves in the trees, flowers, and not having to dress like Nanook of the North to go for a walk!

Sheena said...

Never been to New York, but I think my favorite historical place would be....the entire city of Bath? Yes, that's it. So many interesting things have happened there!

Unknown said...

My Dad and I use to enjoy watching the Yankee's on TV; after he passed my Mom prefers not to watch any sports including basketball; which is fine because I love to read! LOL!
What I am looking forward to for the spring is my best friend is going to clean out my Dad's flowerbed for me; get rid of the weeds; I hate seeing it so overgrown when he kept it so beautiful!
Thank you for the contest!
bluebirdsub24 at gamil dot com

Unknown said...

Please forgive me for commenting again; but I forgot to include the logo previously
"#MarchMadnessHop

Thank you
bluebirdsub24 at gmail dot com

Tiffany Drew said...

My favorite spring activity has got to be playing badminton. My family is obsessed with the game and we can't play it enough. We go all out, even scoring two points for body shots. It's amazing that nobody has lost an eye yet, although we have all had our fair share of welts lol. Thank you!!

#MarchMadnessHop

jaidahsmommy(at)comcast(dot)net

Leslie Miner said...

Gardening. I love to dig in the dirt. Thanks for the great giveaway! #MarchMadnessHop
lcminer at windstream dot net

bn100 said...

Planting flowers in the garden

Thanks for participating in #marchmadness.

bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

Emily Genther said...

Just being able to be outside again. Thanks for participating in #MarchMadnessHop!

voice_ways(at)yahoo.com

Carla said...

Being able to take nice walks. #MarchMadnessHop!

Thanks!

Denise said...

Thanks for the giveaway during #MarchMadnessHop.My favourite spring chore is prepping the garden for planting. My favourite historic haven in our area is Dundurn Castle. denannduvall@gmail.com

Unknown said...

This #MarchMadnessHop is turning out to be a lot of fun! Sadly I just discovered it yesterday, but that still gives me enough time to hop around a bit and find new-to-me authors and books!

I really enjoyed reading about Central Park. I don't live super far from New York City, just a state over, but have never been there. One day I hope to get there! I love the top picture on the blog, it's incredible.

The book series sounds great as well. I am going to check it out more as soon as I finish typing this because it sounds like something that would be one that I would love and need to add to my list!

Thank you for the chance to enter the giveaway and have a happy spring!

Shelly H.
booski24@hotmail.com

tiffanynichole89 said...

planting flowers in the garden, or just being able to go out and take a walk at the park in the warm weather.

#MarchMadnessHop

tiffanynichole89 said...

sorry, i forgot to leave my email in my last comment.

tiffanynichole89@gmail.com

#MarchMadnessHop

Unknown said...

#MarchMadnessHop THANKS FOR THE GIVEAway ...

Leanna Renee Hieber said...

Huge thanks to everyone who entered! Random.org picked Shelly for the winner, thanks for stopping by and leaving your wonderful comments, have a lovely spring and please stop back to follow the serialization of the finale in the Magic Most Foul saga, THE DOUBLE LIFE OF INCORPORATE THINGS!