Haiku Hello...

...to writer Jacqueline Pearce, [here disguised as a pirate!] who has very kindly invited me to visit her blog! Jacquie is the author of many wonderful books for kids and teens, including Manga Touch, the Truth About Rats and Dogs, Doghouse Blues and Discovering Emily.

Now, when Jacquie is not dressed like a pirate, she often spends time on her blog Wild Ink, and that's where you'll find me next. You can still comment to win a book or two -- if you hurry.

See you over there!

~Darby

Who Is this Mysterious Man...?

He swshbuckles with the best of them -- an actor, an author, a bon vivant... It's Chris Humphreys, also known as CC Humphreys, and I'm visiting his blog today!

Chris is most recently the author of VLAD: The Last Confession, but he's also written all the Jack Absolute books and many others.

I believe I hold the honour of being his first guest blogger EVAH, so you should scamper on over there and leave a comment.

Just click HERE, and you'll find yourself THERE.

Maybe you'll win a copy of my new book, FACING FIRE...

See you there -- and thanks for having me, Chris!

~Darby

Darby Communes with the Secret Elephant

This is amazing. Today I get to visit with another author-illustrator -- this one named Kirsti-Anne Wakelin. Kirsti's got THE most beautiful blog I've ever seen. [Check out that dragonfly!]

She usually posts pictures of her illustrations and the process of making picture books, but today she very generously invited me to visit.

I hope you take the time for a good look around while you are there -- it is a beautiful place, and if you look really hard, you may even find a secret elephant!

~Darby

Today's stop...Ev Bishop!

The things I do for this blog. Today I flew all the way up to Terrace, British Columbia, and boy are my pixels tired...

Okay, okay -- it was a virtual flight. But I'm excited because I got to chat with the wonderful writer Ev Bishop. She confesses about how her journals shape her work, and we've got contest entries already.

Go check it out!

Ev's Blog is HERE.

More tomorrow!

~Darby

FACING FIRE Blog Tour Begins!

This is Boris.

[Not to be confused with my Nan's cat Maurice.]

He is a relative of the incomparable A Novel Woman. I'm visiting her blog today -- check it out HERE!
[Hint: Prizes to be won...!]

Have you entered the Book Trailer CONTEST yet? Better get on it!

~kc

FACING FIRE CONTEST!!!

So, have a look at this...

Pretty lame, eh?

That's what you get when you let an author who only got a B- in her university art class put together a book trailer.

Can YOU do better?

Here's the challenge...

Make a book trailer for FACING FIRE [or for both of Darby's adventures in FACING FIRE and A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW]. The trailer needs to be family-friendly [a bit scary is okay], between 15 and 30 seconds long, and postable on-line. Bonus points if you work in some fire or a stone window...

Then just send a link to me here at Darby Speaks, along with your contact information, and you're IN!

EVERY SINGLE ENTRY to the contest will win a signed copy of FACING FIRE. And on Hallowe'en night, kc dyer will bring her judges together [ghosts and ghouls and a few zombies, likely] and hand out the BIG prizes.

Now, we are going to add prizes as the month goes along, but for today, I'll tell you that one of the prizes is a $100 gift card to Chapters.ca or Amazon.com!

You can enter as often as you like. Spread the word -- let's send do a better job than kc did of sending my new book out into the world in style!

~Darby

I'm back....!

Hey guys -- great to see you again!

Summer's over and I'm back with a new story. We'll be starting a celebration of the launch of FACING FIRE all month here on Darby Speaks, with a blog tour all around the internets, launch events galore and an AMAZING contest with some really fantastic prizes.

Check back here tomorrow for contest details, and daily for links to the places on the web where you can win copies of BOTH my books --  A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW, and FACING FIRE.

Nice to see you again!

~Darby