As an elementary teacher, I love finding books that will interest my students and The Adventures of Austin Girl and the Legend of Diablo is such a book. I'm excited to have Carrie Crain stop by to guest blog today. I hope you will enjoy the book as much as I do! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Guest Author: CARRIE CRAIN I am excited to welcome author Carrie Crain as she celebrates the release of her zany and just plum silly tween novel THE ADVENTURES OF AUSTIN GIRL AND THE LEGEND OF DIABLO Austin Girl is adorable, smart and feisty. She is thirteen going on twenty and she is thrown into a dystopian world where disco rules and the air reeks of polyester. Grandpa Lucky has been kidnapped by Diablo’s bumbling First Lieutenant, Tabby, and is being held on Planet Disco. It is up to Austin Girl to find and rescue him without becoming a permanent guest. *VERY* Important Dictionary of Terms Used in Novel Taken from either The Merrian–Webster Dictionary or Wikipedia.com or just made up in Carrie’s noggin Chevy Pie Wagon: Noun. Classic car. Sometimes, men will collect vintage cars and show them off at classic car shows. I saw my first one in Austin, Texas back in 2004, and I knew my character, Diablo, had to own this hot rod. Disco: Noun. 1. A nightclub for dancing to live or recorded music. 2. Popular dance music characterized by hypnotic rhythm, repetitive lyrics, and electronically produced sounds. I still listen to disco. DON’T JUDGE ME. Disco Ball: Noun. Also known as Disco Mirrored Ball or Glitter Ball. Novelty item. It’s a round mirror ball that reflects light. Pink Floyd used a disco ball on their 1987 and 1994 world tours. I can’t confirm this because I never went to see them live, but it sounds like something they’d do. Go-Go Boots: Noun. See: Nancy Sinatra CD entitled Boots. Hula-Hoop: Noun. A colorful plastic toy that is used to twirl around the waist, neck, arm, or leg. Great exercise and fun. Hyphenated. Don’t mess with me on this rule. I have confirmation. Lava Lamp: Noun. Invented in 1963 by some dude. A novelty item that contains blobs of colored wax inside a glass vessel, which is filled with clear liquid. My older brother used to have one, I think. You can buy these at Bed, Bath and Beyond unless they don’t sell them anymore. Magic 8 Ball: Noun. Novelty toy. A hollow plastic sphere resembling an oversized, black and white 8-ball. Inside is a cylindrical reservoir containing a white, plastic, icosahedral die floating in alcohol with dissolved dark blue dye. Each of the 20 faces of the die has an affirmative, negative, or non-committal statement printed on it in raised letters. There is a transparent window on the bottom of the Magic 8 Ball through which these messages can be read. I still have mine from the 1970s. DON’T JUDGE ME. Tarot Cards: Noun. Picture cards originally for playing, later would be associated with magic and the devil. Tarot cards may have been around as early as the 1227. Some guy with bad hair named Antoine Court de Gébelin from the 1700s claimed that the name "tarot" came from the Egyptian words tar, meaning "royal,” and ro, meaning "road,” and that the Tarot therefore represented a "royal road" to wisdom. I’ve had my cards read. I should be dead by now. Make sure you stick around and comment. Follow @CarrieCrain and @LegendofDiablo for double the chances. We’ll be giving away a copy of THE ADVENTURES OF AUSTIN GIRL AND THE LEGEND OF DIABLO either in paperback or e-book (winner’s choice) Meet Carrie Crain! Carrie Crain is an author of quirky comedies, adventurous romance and erotic horror including her Nov 2012 tween novel debut, THE ADVENTURES OF AUSTIN GIRL AND THE LEGEND OF DIABLO, and her 2013 erotic horror release, THE CONTRACT. Carrie received her bachelor of arts in Sociology from the University of Oklahoma and studied graduate-level screenwriting and creative writing in fiction at UCLA. When she is not writing, she is either painting, picking up dog poo, playing golf or writing lame jokes while drinking red wine. Contact Info: www.carriecrain.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarrieCrainBooks and www.facebook.com/LegendofDiablo Twitter: @CarrieCrain and @LegendofDiablo  THE ADVENTURES OF AUSTIN GIRL AND THE LEGEND OF DIABLO by Carrie Crain - The Kidnapping Austin Girl, a dispirited teenager, discovers a magic Samurai sword, leading her on a journey to Planet Disco to save her kidnapped Grandpa from the nefarious Diablo, and return to Earth before she becomes a permanent guest. Excerpt: The sound of a backfire rattled store windows on the downtown street as Lucky Stevens parked his piece of hippy junk on the East side of Lucky’s Antiques located at 13 Concho Avenue. He drove a flower power Volkswagen bus. The bus was one of those rare 23 windowed jobs with curtains—a residence on wheels. Straightening his suspenders, he stepped out into the dusty landscape, newspaper in hand. He moseyed past a 1960 black Chevy Pie Wagon parked up ahead, admiring the car. The hot rod was decked out custom style with red and orange flames painted horizontally across the sides and hood. He tipped his beaver Stetson hat to the female driver and grinned handsomely. The pink-haired woman was preoccupied with talking to a Magic 8 Ball and didn’t notice the fifty-year-old cowboy. Scratching his chin, he leisurely strolled up to a period oak and stained glass door. He reached in his Wrangler jeans front pocket and extracted a set of keys. He put the key in the lock and opened the door to a familiar sight. His antique store was housed in a red brick building in Checkered Past, Texas. He could sniff out valuable antiques just by employing his sixth sense. Lucky adjusted his string tie that matched his belt that matched his ostrich quill boots. He was in love with ‘vintage everything’ including his clothes and gentleman accouterments. Ambling through the door, he removed his Panama Jack sunglasses. His gait was deliberate, like a sore racehorse. Bells jingled like rowels on a spur letting out the sounds of commerce. Lucky may have been a little deaf, but he wasn’t so deaf that he couldn’t hear money jingle in the pockets of those who entered into his world. Lucky flipped on the lights and made a silly face at the store’s security camera. Lucky laid his morning Austin American-Statesman newspaper down on the cracked countertop beside the turn of the century cash register, and looked at the time on his 40 year-old Rolex he’d won in a bidding war at an estate sale of one of Lyndon Johnson’s cousins so many years ago. It was still early for shoppers, just a little half past seven a.m. on Friday. A set of white pine plank stairs off to the side began to creak. They led to the attic. Lucky housed antiques there that were part of his private collection, including one secret item in particular that oddly wasn't for sale. He ditched his attention to the paper and walked over to the bottom of the stairs, looking up into the darkness. “Skinny, you up there?” Lucky hollered sharply. His young stock boy didn’t answer. Shrugging, he turned around to walk off. A thump on his noggin sent Lucky crashing to the hardwood floor. His Stetson flew off of his gray haired head and skidded across the floor like ice on marble. Staggering to his feet, he rubbed the back of his head. “What the—?” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Download the FREE desktop image from "The Adventures of Austin Girl and the Legend of Diablo" from Carrie's Website under FUN AND FREE STUFF! 
 Carrie Crain
Website Goodreads Author Bio: Carrie Crain received her bachelor of arts in Sociology from the University of Oklahoma and studied graduate-level screenwriting and creative writing in fiction at UCLA. She is a housewife and writer who is challenged by bipolar, anticipatory stress, and generalized anxiety. Her debut tween novel, The Adventures of Austin Girl and the Legend of Diablo will be published by Two Crain Teen, an imprint of Two Crain Publishing, LLC in October 2012 and available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony Reader Store, and iTunes for ebook readers, Kindle, iPad, and Nook. Also available as a paperback online and at select indie bookstores. If you’re on Goodreads, follow her there, now. She plans on doing some kind of #LegendofDiabloBookClub. Crain wrapped up her first independent short she wrote and produced called Sould, which was filmed in Oklahoma last summer and included local talent as well as a Hollywood comedian and LA director. The story is about a zany film director desperate to enter a film competition and reluctantly picks a screenplay about a woman who sells her soul. The short will be entered in film competitions both in the States as well as abroad. For more information about her short, visit the Facebook Fan Page at ww.facebook.com/souldshort and follow along on Twitter @SouldShort. Crain is currently penning her memoir, a collection of humorous essays, Sould: Memoir of Bipolar to be published in 2014, and is the story of a middle-aged housewife’s adventures with bipolar as she struggles to write the next Great American Novel. She has been a freelance writer for Austin Monthly Magazine and was a contributing writer at Crazytownblog. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three dogs. For speaking engagements or book inquiries, please e-mail: wildcatterswife@gmail.com or tweet her @CarrieCrain. Creative Influences: Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Tim Burton, and Wes Anderson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Want to purchase Carrie’s novel, The Adventures of Austin Girl and the Legend of Diablo? Here are the buy links: *Amazon (ebook) http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Austin-Legend-Diablo-ebook/dp/B00A7CEYGM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1353002022&sr=8-3&keywords=carrie+crain Amazon (paperback) - http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Austin-Legend-Diablo-Volume/dp/061563530X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1353002061&sr=8-2&keywords=carrie+crain B&N.com – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-adventures-of-austin-girl-and-the-legend-of-diablo-carrie-crain/1113508801?ean=2940015504682 Smashwords – http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/251062 *Amazon is experiencing some formatting issues with kindle. Please check back in a couple of weeks! ************************************************ CONTEST: Carrie is giving away a copy of her ebook or print book along with some swag to one lucky person who leaves a comment on this blog. Don't forget to leave your email address so we can contact you!! 11/28/2012 02:15:37 am
How fun! Thank you for having me today! I had two English teachers + 3 kids in advanced reading class read the story and they said only good things, except for the part where they thought I was weird. LOL One of the teachers recommended the book to a library and wants to use it in her writing/reading class for a project. I hope your readers will enjoy the silly plot and crazy characters. 11/28/2012 11:45:17 am
Thank you! I'm glad to have you on my blog. I wish you much success with your books! Comments are closed.
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