Behind the Scenes: Kobo’s Going Going Gone Contest #2. The Call.

This is part of an ongoing series of how I, Melissa ‘Yi,’ a member of the great unwashed authors, became the centrepiece of Kobo’s international Going Going Gone Contest celebrating Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Start at Part 1. The E-mail.

June 25^th, 2014, 10:40 p.m.

After the speeches and hugs for my departing doctor, somehow, it was past bedtime before I got home and texted Mark.

I wouldn’t text the average person at bedtime, but Mark barely sleeps. That’s only way he can cram in the job he loves, his family, his writing, and commuting to and from Toronto with a skeleton named Barnaby Bones.

Right away the little “…” dots started working on my phone, so he was up and answering. I warned him that I use Google Chat to call long distance. My friends are always either refusing to pick up because they think I’m a telemarketer, or they’re like, “Are you in California?”

Then I dialed him. “Sorry to call so late.”

“No problem. I’m driving to Sudbury, and I still have two or three hours to go.”

“You’re driving to Sudbury?” I’ve never been to Sudbury, even though it’s the main trauma centre in northern Ontario. In my mind, it’s hideously remote, although I’ve worked further north, including Cochrane (north of Timmins) and Dryden (near the Manitoba border), as well as various towns in Nunavut, Quebec.

“I’ve got some events for Spooky Sudbury and Tomes of Terror.”

Hard core, thy name is Mark Leslie Lefebvre. But I already knew that. So now he had to tell me about the Secret Deal.

Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl hit the New York Times bestseller list in 2012, wowing everyone with its clues and plot twists. The movie premieres October 3^rd, 2014. If I wrote two or three stories as a thriller-mystery, readers could solve the puzzles and win a prize.

“We wanted a woman, because Gillian’s a woman. Someone who wrote thrillers. A good writer that we could take to the next level. And someone who can write fast. There aren’t very many of them. But I said, ‘I think I know someone.’”

Um, I think I know a dozen of someones who fit the bill. But I just coughed and said, “Great!”

Kobo did this last year with Joanna “JF” Penn. Her three “Descent” short stories tied into Dan Brown’s Inferno, with a prize of $5000.

I couldn’t help thinking, what a draw. People could get paid FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS to read my stories. Hello.

Writing often feels like shouting into the wilderness. No one hears you and no one cares. Editors reject you. Friends have flat out told me that they don’t read (no time, don’t care, would rather watch TV). Remaining readers pass over your work. I’m lucky enough to have built up a teeny fan base, but loyal readers are as rare and as precious as gold-plated rubies.

But everyone loves money.

Sign me up!

___

Psst. Would you like to scoop up that briefcase of $5000? Plus a Kobo H2O Aura, the world’s first waterproof e-reader? Without having to murder anyone? Then enter Kobo’s Going Going Gone Contest, download three Melissa Yi stories for free, solve the riddles and win! Contest closes October tenth, 2014. Story #2 launches Sept. 16th.

Download the first story for free and solve the riddle! http://www.kobo.com/gone

P.S. My last shift before I’m taking the week off for my Books & Bodies launch. Wish me luck on both.

Saturday, Sept 20th: Student Body debuts at 10:30 a.m. at R&L’s Book Nook & 2 p.m. at the Cornwall Public Library

Terminally Ill…with Kobo’s Mark (Leslie) Lefebvre and Scarlett Rugers

Written by melissayuaninnes August 22, 2013 Chris York Christy Evans Hope Sze indie publishing J. Steven York Kobo books Mark Lefebvre Mark Leslie medical mystery Scarlett Rugers Terminally Ill Writing

Hope Sze’s third medical mystery adventure, Terminally Ill, will hit the stands on February first, 2014, with a kicking cover by Scarlett Rugers, commissioned by Kobo:

And a mini picture of the upcoming print book:

As I mentioned in the Kobo interview, I was very excited to win this cover, since the last thing I remembered winning was a very nice set of bath soaps. More details here: http://kobowritinglife.com/2013/08/20/meet-the-winner-of-kobos-win-an-ebook-cover-contest-melissa-yi/

And here’s the blurb:

Magic? Dr. Hope Sze steers clear of magic.

But when “Elvis the Escape King” chains and nails himself inside a coffin and lowers himself into Montreal’s St. Lawrence River, he can’t break free.

So Hope restarts his heart and saves his life. But now Elvis demands to know who sabotaged his stunt.

Hope hung up her amateur detective badge two months ago, in order to tend to cancer patients on palliative care. The only cases she solves right now are case studies on pain and over-stuffed emergency rooms.

Which gets just the tiniest bit boring.

Hope could escape Montreal any day now. She could transfer to Ottawa to join her beloved ex-boyfriend, Ryan. No more unspeakable Montreal drivers and stymied medical care. No more working with the charming yet infuriating Dr. Tucker.

Hope the Escape Artist can afford to act generous. As parting gift to Montreal, city of festivals (and murderers), she could help Elvis out. Just asking a few questions won’t hurt anyone.

Right?

And so Hope plunges into her most unconventional and, possibly, her most terminal adventure yet. Where the magical art of escape and the dastardly art of crime vie for centre stage, and the better man may lose. Forever.

—–

I got to meet Mark Lefebvre, Kobo‘s director of author relations, at the Advanced Master Class in Oregon in July. I hadn’t realized that he was also Mark Leslie, the editor of Tesseracts 16, who’d recently published my short story, “Burning Beauty,” which just meant I liked him even more.

I could fawn all over Mark, who’s one of those guys that you just meet and you’re like, yup, I like you. I could give a shout out to Kobo, with it’s beautiful and simple interface, writer-friendly approach, and Canadian roots, but that sounds totally self-serving now, right? So you can read J. Steven York’s much more informative Kobo post here, and I’ll just show you some pictures of me and Mark L, hanging out on the Oregon Coast.

First, we did the traditional standing side-by-side thing. You can see that a) he is much taller than me, b) Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith own a lot of books, and c) I am fake-smiling.

So then I suggested that we do more crazy pictures. Those are more fun. Mark immediately decided to pick me up, which is great. I love wacky people. Also, you can now see my surf shoes. Unfortunately, Kobo chose to run the picking up picture of me where I seem to have giant hips, but what can you do? (This one is a little better.)

We brought out a chair next. Props are always fun, and we reprised a classic pose. Clearly, he was saying something fascinating, like “Rutabagas, rutabagas.”

Then we realized we had much better props–books! And what if we looked fascinated, reading each other’s books? Fortunately, Chris York happened to have a copy of her latest Christy Fifield book. And who wouldn’t jump on Mark’s books, like Haunted Hamilton?

Which was cool, except I was like, Are we supposed to pretend to read while surreptitiously displaying the covers, or what? (I just think that Sean Young, the photographer, captured a pretty funny expression, so I included it.)