Virtual R.J. on the March

Hey, things are crazy-busy right now preparing for this week, so here’s a quick note to let you all know where to find Virtual Me, and then, weather permitting, where to find Real Me the weekend after.

First up is a huge book promotion running three days in partnership with Bitten by Books. The event, in support of Virtual Blue, runs all day Wednesday. Up for grabs is a $25 Amazon gift card. You can participate at many levels, by reposting the event to your friends, and by asking me questions directly online during the event. Every action you take earns you virtual entries that count as chances to win the gift card.

For starters, you can earn 25 entries now by clicking here to RSVP the event!

Then, Friday, I guest post a new Flash Metafiction on the Cabin Goddess book blog run by the awesome Kriss Morton for this week’s Fourth Wall Friday. This story answers the question: if RJ Sullivan and Rebecca Burton ever met each other, how would that conversation go? Click here on Friday to read the post as soon as it goes live.

I am no stranger to the Fourth Wall Friday blog. Check out my 2012 post in which I chat up the magnificent Maxine Marie by clicking here.

Then, assuming we warm up enough to hold it, I’m off to the Fourth Annual Authors Fair from 10 am to 4 pm hosted by That Book Place in Madison, IN, a favorite annual event with authors, books, more books, more authors… just for people who love to read. I’ll do a followup post as soon as the weather report makes it clear what to expect. Fingers crossed.

Read all the details on the Book Fair by clicking here.

Hope to see you all live and online!

NEW REVIEW Bitten by Books gives Haunting Obsession 4/5

After a three-day redesign, Bitten By Books returns, which means I can link this new review that went up over the weekend for Haunting Obsession.

“Daryl is obsessed with Maxine Marie (think Marilyn Monroe) and has quite a memorabilia collection. His girlfriend, Loretta, has coped with this up until the night Daryl takes her shopping for her birthday present only to insist on buying himself a framed rent check Maxine had signed before becoming a household name. Storming off in a fury, Loretta makes her own way home, ignoring the advice of the Transit King to go wait for Daryl in his apartment. Unfortunately for Daryl, the rent check has become tied to Maxine’s ghost and, as she discovers the new world available to her as a powerful ghost, she doesn’t want to leave.”

Click here to read the rest of the review.

NEW REVIEW Bitten By Books gives Virtual Blue 5/5

Acclaimed review site Bitten By Books awarded Virtual Blue five out of five…tombstones, their highest rating and the same rating they gave the first book in the series, Haunting Blue, three years ago! (Click this to read that review)

The review:

This is a second book in a series, and I highly recommend reading the first book, Haunting Blue, first. I also read the in-between novella that isn’t necessarily needed but does flesh out some background of a new character,  Haunting Obsession.

Blue (Fiona) has never fully recovered from the events two years ago when her mother was killed and she almost died fighting a ghost.

Click to read the full review on Bitten by Books’ website.

New Virtual Blue Book Trailer now live!

Art by Bonnie Wasson
Art by Bonnie Wasson

Today Seventh Star launched the official book trailer to Virtual Blue, a collaborative effort with local fan and cosplayer Nikki Howard, who opened up and tapped her inner troubled punk girl. Thanks, Nikki, you are awesome! Special thanks to Eric Garrison for editing the pieces together for me so fast and efficiently.

So enough from me, check it out here!

Maxine Marie introduces Virtual Blue

Lily from the videoCheck out the new promotional trailer in which my movie star ghost Maxine Marie introduces Virtual Blue and explains why it’s really all about her!

Special thanks to Lily Monstermeat for all her hard work and for again channeling Maxine so “elegant”ly!!

View the video here!

The Blog Tour So Far…

We’ve hit the two-thirds mark of the Virtual Blue Blog Tour, a great time to post some link updates. Highlights include:

an ongoing Rafflecopter contest for a FREE copy of Virtual Blue and two Seventh Star books of your choice at Jess Resides Her; an analysis of Virtual Blue at Jorie Loves a Story; An overview of reading my series at Come Selahway With Me; Sheila Deeth and Armand Rosamilla host two blogs on Blue Shaefer; I’m interviewed by a fictional character on the John Allen site; Two fictional characters interview each other with entertaining results at Library Girl Reads and Reviews, and Rebecca Burton’s secret journal entry gets intercepted at Spellbindings! Click each link to see its entry.

October 28     Jess Resides Here                               Contest

October 28     Jorie Loves a Story                            Review

October 28     Come Selahway With Me                 Guest Post

October 29     Sheila Deeth Blog                              Character Interview w/ Blue

October 30     Armand Rosamilia                             Guest Post

October 30     A Haunted Head                                Special Post Tba

October 31     John F. Allen                                       Ivory Blaque Interview of RJ!

October 31     Spellbindings                                     Character Post with Rebecca Burton

October 31     Library Girl Reads and Reviews        Character Interview of Rebecca Burton

Blog tour day one!

Here are the live links for the first day of my blog tour!

Jess Resides Here has a contest: http://frellathon.com/2013/10/28/virtual-blue-rj-sullivan-book-tour-mega-giveaway/

Jories Loves a Story reviews Virtual Blue: http://jorielovesastory.com/2013/10/28/blog-book-tour-virtual-blue-by-rj-sullivan/

Come Selahway with Me has a great guest post: http://selahjanel.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/tcm-presents-virtual-blue-by-rj-sullivan/

You can see the master schedule here!

Yesterday my blog hit new high numbers,three times more than I’ve ever seen. A very cool surprise. Thanks, everyone.

Thanks to everyone sharing and participating.

 

Full Virtual Blue Blog Tour schedule now posted

RJ VB banner

Tomorrow Comes Media has arranged for an intense week of blog posts in support of my new release Virtual Blue, with contests and reviews, plus several guest blogs from me: new interviews, in-depth thoughts about writing, insight into the creative process and lots of observations about my characters and stories.

We have an exciting week ahead, so how appropriate that the tour straddles Halloween! Check back frequently for new links as they go live. Fans of Blue and Rebecca Burton will find much to love here this week, and we should snag plenty of new readers as well. Check out the full schedule here and don’t be shy about telling everyone you know! 

Vampires Don’t Sparkle True Blood auction now live!

FINALVDS_coverIt’s been a privilege and honor to have the story Robot Vampire included in the anthology VAMPIRES DON’T SPARKLE because all proceeds go to cancer research. The collection is a labor of love by editor Michael West and features a table of contents of some of the most talented (and kindest) authors in the field.

Cancer has affected so many of us in so many personal ways, and we all hope for the day when it will no longer have that power over our lives again.

For this one volume, cast members of True Blood have offered their help by signing one copy of Vampires Don’t Sparkle, and publisher Seventh Star Press has put up for bid on Ebay. As with all sales of the book, all proceeds will go toward cancer research. To read all the details and place a bid on this special volume, click here!  

Spooky Author Book Bag Benefit Raffle to benefit MAP during Arts in the Park

DSCN1678This Saturday, the Mooresville Arts Partnership is re-launching Arts in the Park, an annual all day festival exhibiting and celebrating all aspects of art expression in the area. Local author R.J. Sullivan  has ask for “a little help from his friends” and gotten it from, dark fiction authors John F. Allen, Matthew Barron, Nicole Cushing,  and Crystal Leflar to instruct beginning-level writer’s workshops for all ages. Read all the details and sign up for a workshop time here!

We’ll also hold an all-day raffle at our canopy for a “Spooky Book Bag” of our work–$1 per ticket gets  you one chance to win a set of books valued at over $60 without signatures–and the authors will sign and personalize each book on request.

This way, you can personalize a book for every horror reader on your gift list–or have all the books signed to you and keep them–we won’t tell.

To enter, find the Horror Authors Canopy. Raffle tickets are $1 each. Enter as often as  you like. For each ticket you buy, we need your name and phone number (preferably a cell phone number you will be carrying with you at 5:30 that day, the time of the drawing) on the half  you leave in the raffle.

Some notes:

  • Everyone who participates in the writer workshops earns one free ticket for the raffle. Children must have the ticket filled out by a parent.
  • 100% of all proceeds go to MAP.
  • We’ll draw the winner following the 4 p.m. workshop, so some time after 5 p.m.
  • All tickets will be discarded responsibly. Tickets are to contact the winner. The rest will be destroyed.
  • Books will be “flat signed” unless the winner requests personalization. This will allow the authors to personalize books intended as gifts.
  • Parents take note: The books in the raffle and at the vendor tent contain adult content. We’ll do our best to sell responsibly, but we’re not going to card, nor will we judge what you let your kid read.

The Spooky Book Bag in detail. Links take  you to the Amazon page:

The God Killers by John F. Allen; Secular City Limits by Mattthew Barron; We Are Dust and Death to the Brothers Grimm, both with a story by Crystal Leflar; Haunting Obsession by R.J. Sullivan–and maybe more! Plus bookmarks and other doodads.

These books and more can be purchased all day at the vendor tent! Authors will be around to sign all day.