Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest involving the final decision over the back cover of my young-adult paranormal romance, Minutes Before Sunset! As I’m writing this, we had 68 responses, and I’m really happy, because I love it when my readers can influence the final product. The voting went as follows (we considered the third part a vote on both, because very few seemed to see it, since it wasn’t visibly available):
Longer Description: 11
Shorter Description: 14
(Third received 3 votes)
After speaking with my publisher, since the split was so divided, we decided to go with the medium description with the author reviews, that way we get the best of both worlds 😀 Here’s the official photo:
The winners from the raffle are: (Email shannonathompson@aol.com within the week to receive your prize)
Paperback:
L. Marie (El Space)
eBook:
kayuk (Where Do I Go From Here?)
whiteravensoars (Random Acts of Writing)
Nadeen Chrystal Davis (Nadeen’s Reading Corner)
Charles Yallowitz (Legends of Windemere)
Katsy Faustino (A Daily Dose of Katsy)
Congrats to the winners! But thanks go out to every person that contributed. If you still want a copy, Minutes Before Sunset is already available as an eBook through Amazon and Smashwords (includes Nook, Kindle, and more) along with Kobo! It will be specifically available on Barnes & Noble when the paperback is released.
I also wanted to thank follower, Tuan Ho (The Noif Matrix), for posting an interview about my novel, Minutes Before Sunset. I really recommend checking it out, because Tuan Ho influenced the serious with the humorous, and it’s a great read! (It may or may not involved Shania Twain and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.) Click here to read it.
And, as an extra, and special thanks, I wanted to post the two poems I read on Wednesday at the University of Kansas. Thank you to the Kansas followers who came out to listen to some talented poets I was blessed to get to know over the semester. (I had 10, so if you want more, I can post them. These are the two I specifically read.)
Terror-rium
We had an aquarium
A river, a lake, a sea.
On our desk—the ocean.
Our exotic fish, fished
from the very river, lake, or
sea which we have now.
On our desk—we provide forage,
food, plants, water, and fish.
The aquarium had us.
…
We had an insectarium
An arachnid, an insect, a butter
-fly. On our counter—the air.
Our countertop full of flourishing
flowers, fluttering wings of broken
butterflies, falling from feed, because
they drink—and we pluck their
wings, tape them to tapestries to
stare. Say, how pretty they are.
The insectarium had us
…
We had a terrarium.
A desert, a savannah, a floor of sand.
Our room is lit by a woodland, a
jungle, a place we’ve never been.
African violets decorate our reptiles,
all scales and shells and condensation.
It rains today—the lid which collected
our precipitation. Our pebbled floor,
formed over our marbled kitchen.
The terrarium had us
…
We had an arium,
and we destroyed it
to keep them on our desks,
nuzzled between family portraits and pens,
to remind ourselves of what
We used to have and
what we’ll never have
again, but at least they are
pretty, and no one needs
National Geographic to stare
anymore. We have our countertops.
…
In a world where traumas are written all over our bodies
He has a bipolar jaw line and a suicidal knee cap,
collapsing and shaking
and reverberating his thoughts through his PTSD lip.
It quivers, and she looks away with an autistic eyelid.
See her a deaf cheek?
Their blind foreheads fluctuate, and their arthritic fingers vibrate.
Reynard’s Disease. Or Disorder IV. Perhaps,
one we’ve never heard before consumes the heart that’s about to break.
…
I hope you enjoyed the contest and the poems as much as I did! I am so excited for the future, and I cannot wait for the paperback to be in my hands (and yours!) Time is moving forward so fast, and it’s astoundingly lovely.
As usual, thank you for your encouragement and support. In case you haven’t already seen, the acknowledgements page ends with this comment: “Thanks to the all the passionate writers, readers, and dreamers who follow me at ShannonAThompson.com and inspire me every day to keep writing.”
That’s for you guys 😀 Have a great weekend
~SAT
P.S. If you’re looking for something to do, and you enjoy superhero flicks, I definitely recommend the new Iron Man movie! I saw it Tuesday, and it doesn’t disappoint!
Shannon A. Thompson 
That is interesting and intense poetry. After reading ‘Terror-rium,’ should I feel guilty for ever owning a goldfish?
Haha! I hope not. I’ve had one before. We studied ecopoetics, so I wrote an ecopoetics poem and shared one at the end of the year at our reading.
~SAT
I am seriously in love with the cover!
Thank you :] (And, when I say that, I mean, thank you for the compliments and thank you towards everyone who’s helped)
~SAT
Squeeeeeeeee!!! Thank you so much, Shannon! I just emailed you! I can’t wait to read it! And wow. “In a world where traumas are written all over our bodies” really speaks to the hard issues more and more people are facing.
L. Marie,
Yes! Congrats! I will email you back soon. Excited to hear what you think. And thank you for your compliments. :]
~SAT
Thank you so much Shannon!! I’m emailing you now! I can’t wait to read it! And I love the final version 🙂 I think I’m one of the three who voted for the third option. 🙂
Katsy,
Congrats! And I will be emailing all the winners back later today 😀
~SAT
WooHoo! This is awesome, I can’t wait to start ‘turning the pages’! I have a friend with Tourettes who shares a blog with me and is a prolific writer so this book holds a lot of interest for me. Thanks so much!
😀 Congrats. Be sure to send me an email. I will be replying to them later today!
~SAT
Oops, forgot to mention that the ‘Terror-rium’ is worth a whole book in itself. Very graphic and thought-provoking.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. :]
~SAT
“Terror-ium”… wow.
On an unrelated note, congratulations, Shannon, for you have been nominated for a Liebster Award!
http://everonword.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/princely-or-and-the-patiently-waiting-nominees-are/
Thank you :] I really appreciate that. You’re very kind.
~SAT
Reblogged this on Wyndy Dee and commented:
Sorry I’ve been so busy…I haven’t forgotten about you!
I really like how the cover turned out. Even better than the other two. Cheers!
Thank you! I think so too 😀
~SAT
Striking cover; well done!
Thanks a lot for sharing this with all folks you really recognize what you are talking about!
Bookmarked. Please also seek advice from my website =).
We can have a link trade agreement among us
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He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this article to him.
Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!
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~SAT
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