Back to School Deals: The Mall Fairies series! (Why you should go direct to publishers)

 Get The Mall Fairies: Exile and my other Mall Fairies titles for 30% off through September 30th!

Here's one reason why I'm a hybrid author. My publisher, Muse It Up Publishing, is having a great Back to School Deal. What did I have to do? Write my Mall Fairies series as well as I could.

And The Mall Fairies: Exile, The Mall Fairies: War and the stand alone short story, A foodie Fairy's First Foray are not the only Middle Grade, Tween and YA reads you'll find for sale, there's lots more (and having read several, I can say these are often great reads for adults too!). 

The reason to go direct to publishers? Two reasons are here: you get an additional 30% off the eBook already discounted sale price and the authors get a bigger royalty percentage of the sales  (as the publisher doesn't have to pay vendors).

Here's the directions and links (or just click on my titles). Enjoy!

The Mall Fairies: Exile by Conda V. Douglas

Save 30% this month during our BACK TO SCHOOL Event

Use discount code MUSEITYOUNG2015 in your Muse cart, save, then finalize the order.

Perfect time to stock up your child’s eReader for the holiday season or begin your pre-holiday shopping before the hustle and bustle begins.

Special exclusive at MuseItUp Publishing $2.99 plus an additional 30% off with code
MUSEITYOUNG2015 until end of September

http://bit.ly/TheMallFairiesExile

In Honor of Tell A Fairy Tale Day today, a FREE book with Fairy Tales and Recipes!

FREE today and full of fun stories and recipes!

It's Tell A Fairy Tale Day! What better than The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook, full of tales of my Mall Fairies? And to give you a taste, here's a story and a recipe from the cookbook, with our heroine, Swoop. Enjoy!

SWOOP SAVES THE COOKIE LADY

Now, I don’t like humans. Overall, they’re not a good thing for fairies. Overall, they’re dangerous for fairies. Overall, they’re fatal for fairies. Yeah, sure, we fairies live in the attic of a shopping mall that is full of humans, but they don’t know we’re here. If they manage to spot us, they think we’re birds or, ugh, bats. And that includes the Cookie Lady. We sure know the Cookie Lady exists, though. Her store in the mall’s Food Court is our favorite. Or it was. A couple of weeks ago, a sign showed up in her window saying the Cookie Lady would close soon.

We fairies panicked. No more snickerdoodles (my favorite), chocolate toffee squares or even the chocolate peanut butter no-bake oatmeal cookies? Unthinkable. So I snuck into the air conditioning vent to spy. And while almost freezing to death, I discovered that the Cookie Lady’s sales had fallen way off. The stupid humans had gotten bored with her selection. Who could get bored with snickerdoodles?

At first, I believed we were doomed to be cookie-less forever more, but then when I spotted the Cookie Lady working on the her computer and leaving it up and running, I got a great idea. It took three hours of me surfing the Internet by jumping up and down on the keys (I’m only five and a half inches tall) but I found a great new recipe for the Cookie Lady to try. I added directions for a “cookie launch” and left the printout where she’d be sure to find it. She took the idea and added more new cookie selections including mine, and now all the fairies and humans are gaining weight from eating all her cookies. And the Cookie Lady’s store is saved!

Here’s the recipe I found:

 WALNUT SHORTBREAD

Ingredients:

1/2 cup walnuts                                    

1 cup white flour

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, or baking margarine, room temperature, plus more for pan

1/2 cup chocolate bits (mini baking choc. bits work best, but any chocolate is great)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Pulse walnuts in grinder until finely ground. Transfer to bowl, add flour & stir thoroughly. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, add flour mix and beat until combined. Stir in chocolate bits. Butter 8 inch round cake pan, place dough in pan, cover with plastic wrap and press until dough is spread evenly in pan. Cut with sharp knife into eight wedges, prick all over with fork. Bake until golden and firm in center, 30-35 minutes. Re-cut into wedges and prick again. Done!

VARIATIONS: This works well with other nuts, especially pecans. But cashews, Brazil nuts and macadamia nuts may be used. Be sure the nuts are unsalted and not roasted and check the shortbread often to make sure it's not getting overdone. May also substitute coconut oil for the butter.

If you've enjoyed this story, check out my 3 in 1 book bundle, The Mall Fairies and save a bundle on these two novels and stand alone short story!

And to my readers, what's your favorite shortbread recipe? Mine is the one above, as it's simple and easy, two of my favorites!

 

Three Reasons To Bundle Books For Author Success! (One you'll never think of until you do it!)

 The Mall Fairies Boxed Set

Tis the season, when authors are working maniacally hard to promote/sell their titles. One useful instrument is the eBook boxed set or bundle. Why? Read on.

1. You will expand your readership.

Because they love to read, readers are always looking for a bargain. Book bundles provide that bargain. For example, the book bundle above provides the first two novels in my Mall Fairies series, plus a stand alone short story, for an estimated 602 pages of reading, all for $1.99!

They are also looking to discover new authors with little risk. Bundles provide that, whether with a single author as above or with several other authors as in another bundle I'm in, Sirens on Death Starke Blvd. 

With five authors and four mysteries, and 825 pages for $1.99, why not?

Sirens on Death Starke Blvd.

I know this is all true because as a reader, I often buy bundles.

2. You will add to your brand.

Book bundles are one strong way of promoting your brand, especially when you have a one author (you) bundle. It's another way of having the readers find you. It sends out the message that you are not a one book wonder and can be trusted to provide more reads, always important to readers.

If you are in a bundle with other authors, your brand is strengthened by association with those authors' brands. For example in Sirens on Death Starke Blvd., it is obviously a mystery genre bundle, and if you like one book, you'll like another. It brands me as a mystery author.

3. And least thought of: Oddly enough, bundling my books led me to more story ideas! I never expected that. But seeing three of my Mall Fairies books together reminded me of what the whole series was about...and what the next could be about, or wait, here's an idea for another short story. Sometimes revisiting the prior work provides inspiration.

So dear readers, do you buy book bundles? If you're an author who has a book bundle out? If so, provide a link in the comments!

Free eBooks, free audio books, No eReader? No Problem!

The new edition with added bonus recipes and FREE today!

It has come to my attention that in this time of eBook prominence, there are a lot of people who still believe they can't participate in the wonderful world of FREE and cheap eBook promotions, including audio books, because they don't have an eReader. But these people usually have computers, cell phones and/or tablets and laptops (I know this because they complain to me that they can't get my books when they are free) and they can get all this and more! (EBooks are also usually cheaper to buy than print, just saying.)

Here's the secret: Download the apps to whichever device (or devices) to getting all sorts of great reads, for example go to Amazon and search for Kindle app (if they haven't already asked you if you'd like the Kindle app!) and Amazon will take you through the download step by easy step. Same for Barnes and Noble and Smashwords. They want it to be EASY to buy eBooks!

I've downloaded oodles of great stuff to my cell phone. I've got great reading wherever I go! AND when I'm doing a recipe from my cookbook I just set the screen to be on for the maximum time. It works great!

AND: if you visit The Cellophane Queen today and comment you'll be entered to win a copy of either The Mall Fairies: Exile or The Mall Fairies: War, the first and second in my Mall Fairies trilogy!

Easy Gluten Free Flour Recipe for baking Valentine sweets!

A Valentine's Day Valentine with a few of my covers, created by the incomparable Kim Scott!

This is the best and easiest gluten free flour I've found. But make sure you see the baking tips at the end of the recipe for close-to-regular-flour baking. I have yet to find an exact substitute for wheat flour--any of my readers have recipes? This comes close, but will have a slightly different texture.

4 cups brown or white rice flour
1 1/3 cups potato starch (not potato flour)
2/3 cup tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch) 

When measuring scoop the amounts lightly and don't pack into the cup. I double the amounts and put in a large plastic bin container and then shake the container over and around and up and down and side to side until well mixed. Great exercise! If you use the flour as a one to one substitute then baked goods will be a little dry, but here's a couple of tips:

For desserts: halve the liquid and/or oil amount and use non-sweetened applesauce instead. There is something about the fiber in the applesauce that retains the moisture. 

For all baked goods:

Xanthum gum: I often add a scant teaspoon to a recipe, again this retains the moisture while baking. Be careful with Xanthum gum, too much and it will cause an odd, bitter taste.

Often I also add a teaspoon or two of egg replacer as again this helps the texture. (Note: if you can use real eggs, they are best to use.)

You can find lots of recipes to use this flour with in my dessert cookbook The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook! 

Enjoy! And any tips/recipes happily accepted!

An Egg Free, Dairy Free, Delicious Chocolate Cupcake Recipe for Valentine's Day, Fast and Easy to Make!

Wacky Cake Cupcakes, Yum!

No time to make a spectacular sweet for your sweetie for that special day? No worries, here's a quick, easy and delicious recipe!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (may be omitted)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon white or apple or coconut vinegar

 6 tablespoons vegetable oil (canola oil works well or coconut oil warm to liquid, but not hot!)
1 cup cold water

Directions:

Preheat 350 degrees F.

Mix the dry ingredients well in a bowl. Make 3 small holes in the mixture. Pour the vanilla in one hole, the vinegar in another and vegetable oil in another. Pour water over the top and mix. Pour into cupcake papers in a muffin tin and bake for around 15 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Makes about 8-10 cupcakes, depending on size.

Plenty good plain or you can frost using one of the frosting recipes in The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook.

ENJOY!

A Free Cookbook! With Fairy Stories!

FREE on Kindle through tomorrow, Monday February 18th!

I'm trying something new in my writing life. For the first time ever, I'm self published! It's The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook. Here's a taste of one of the recipes:

BROWN SUGAR CHOCOLATE COOKIE BARS

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1-3 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups unbleached flour

1 to 1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add flour. Stir in chocolate. Press into a 15” x 10” x 1” pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a lovely medium brown. Cut into squares and remove while still warm (if you wait you’ll never get it out of the pan). Really yummy while warm too.

Variation: add a cup of chopped walnuts, peanuts or pecans. You can substitute nuts for the chocolate as well, but why?

 Since this is my first try at self publishing anything and my first go round KDP Select I have a few questions.
So readers I'd be thrilled if you downloaded my cookbook and let me know:
Do you think the stories and recipes together work? Or?
If you are a writer, and have experience with KDP Select, what do you think?
And everyone, how do you like my recipes? Be honest!

And many thanks!

Christmas Story and Tofu Pumpkin Pie Recipe

 In honor of the holiday season here's a short Christmas story with the two main characters of my Mall Fairies series and a fantastic tofu pumpkin pie recipe following (best pumpkin pie ever). Enjoy!

SWOOP'S ZIPPY GIFT

            Swoop flew through the corridors of the just closed Sprite Mall. Her stomach rumbled as her nose filled with the aroma of pumpkin pie. The Cookie Lady always baked her signature tofu pumpkin pies and gave out slices to the last minute Christmas shoppers on Christmas Eve. At first, Swoop went "eww" at the thought of tofu and pumpkin—until she tasted a bit. Creamy. Yummy.

She scolded her errant tummy with "Shop first, eat later."

She paused and hovered at every display window, then shook her head and flew to the next. Nope. Nothing there for a one-winged fairy in the next store either. She bit her lower lip and flapped her white wings in slow arcs. It’d been easier when they were first Toddle Wings and their folks got the little toys for them to exchange. But now she and One Wing were both 13 years old. And last year One Wing got her a gorgeous flying jacket in Flight Instructor Green. She’d gotten him a pencil. Okay, it was tough to find one of those tiny, tiny pencils, usable for a five-inch fairy, but still—lame.

            She stopped at the Tiki Hut Travel window. The humans in the Idaho mountain town of Sprite loved to “get away” to warmer climes after the holidays. They spent the holidays selling stuff to other humans, those who loved to come to snow country. Swoop would never understand humans. Huge posters showed the various warm destinations. She stared at the central one while synapses sparkled in her mind. Now, she knew the perfect gift.

*   *   *

            Swoop dithered. While she waited for One Wing, she checked her construction once, twice and again and again. Checked the line where it stretched from the second floor balcony around the central court, past the two story poinsettia display, down to the bottom of the support pillar on the first floor. Checked the eyelet and string handles she’d spent the last few nights making. It would work. But where was her best friend? Much later and there’d be no time for his gift. The Toddle Wings would be getting up and racing to the bottom of their Christmas trees to see what Santa had brought. Days ago, she’d told One Wing to come to the second floor balcony before dawn for his Christmas present. She’d gotten up an hour earlier. She yawned.

            “Don’t you know Santa won’t come if you don’t sleep?” a familiar voice interrupted her mid-yawn. One Wing.

            She snapped her mouth shut as a horrid thought came to her. What if he hated his present? What if he thought she believed him a cripple and was taking pity on him? So not true, One Wing got around the vast-to-fairies mall a lot better than the rest of the fairies. Often Swoop forgot he was missing a wing and couldn’t fly.

            “Since I got up so early, where’s my gift?” One Wing asked.

            Worried and unable to think of what to say, Swoop pointed at the line.

            “This is it? Um, great,” One Wing said. “What is it?”

            “It’s a zip line,” Swoop said. At One Wing’s blank look, she explained, “You grab the handles,” she picked up the handles in either hand, “and leap off the balcony and then you’ll zip on the line down to the first floor.”

            She looked over at her friend, whose mouth stood wide. “Um, I didn’t mean—” she started to apologize when he snatched the handles and leaped on the balcony railing. He looked over his shoulder at Swoop. “Best Christmas gift ever, thanks!” Then he jumped off the railing, single wing held straight out. He laughed the whole way down, so loud it echoed.

            So happy it made Swoop’s heart sing. Best Christmas gift ever.

TOFU PUMPKIN PIE
1 (16-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar OR 1/2 cup (real) maple syrup
1 (10- to 12-ounce) package silken soft tofu, extra firm works best
1 teaspoon ground allspice (optional) 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 (9-inch) pie shell
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Process the tofu in a blender or food processor until smooth. Blend the pumpkin and sugar. Thoroughly mix in tofu, and spices (allspice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and cloves). Pour mixture into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for another 45-60 minutes (check for firmness at 45 minutes. Chill and serve.