Signing tonight!
My first ever booksigning will take place tonight at 7pm at the Tempe location of Changing Hands. I’ll talk! Read! Likely with a stupid grin the whole time!
Oh yeah, and FOOD. Have you drooled over my Bready or Not recipes? Tonight you can stuff your face. The offerings (subject to substitution if quality control issues arise):
– MAPLE FUDGE BITES. Because I had to serve something maple.
– A whole new recipe for Candy-Stuffed Cookie Cups. Imagine chocolate chip cookie dough, with a Rolo or mini Milky Way stuffed inside, baked in a mini muffin pan. I’ll do a special feature with the recipe soon. I want to see how people like them tonight.
– Also, for the gluten-free folks, I’m doing a batch of brownies using Cup 4 Cup Brownie Mix, which looks like it has great taste reviews from Amazon, though I bought mine at Sprouts.
If you’re in the Phoenix area, do come by. Say hi. Just remember I’m at the TEMPE location. If you go to the Changing Hands in Phoenix, they are doing a signing with a dude who makes all kinds of food in a waffle maker. It looks downright awesome. So yeah, if you to the wrong store I’ll be sad, but you get to find out how to make dinner in a waffle press so you don’t really lose.
Read MoreI am HERE
There are interviews with me in the two big Phoenix newspapers. I’m still gobsmacked about this.
– Buckeye author Beth Cato at Changing Hands Sept. 19
– Beth Cato on The Clockwork Dagger, Her Debut Steampunk/Fantasy Novel
Plus, I continue to visit fantastic blogs in the far reaches of the internet!
– Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds, where I discuss novel writing and depression in ACME Anvils and the Long Unicorn Ride to Publication.
– Literary Escapism, where I talk about the book’s Supporting Cast.
– Heroes and Heartbreakers with a list of Seven Steamy Steampunk Couples!
– No More Grumpy Bookseller with a guest post on Colorful Secondary Worlds.
The Big Blog Tour continues! Win a book and a parasol!
- The Schedule
- 9/8 – YA Bibliophile, post
- 9/9 – Irish Banana, promo post
- 9/10 – Mundie Moms, excerpt
- 9/11- Reads All The Books, review
- 9/12 – YA Sisterhood, guest post
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- 9/15 – My, My Shelf & I, excerpt
- 9/16 – Curling Up With A Good Book, guest post
- 9/17 – Fictitious Delicious, Q&A
- 9/18 – Page Turners Blog
- 9/19 – Fangirlish, promo post
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- 9/22 – Novel Novice, guest post
- 9/23 – Reading Teen, promo post
- 9/24 – Chapter by Chapter, author interview
- 9/25 – Jenuine Cupcakes, promo post
- 9/26 – Good Choice Reading, excerpt
Bready or Not: Cinnamon Bundt Cake
Am I still alive? Did I survive The Clockwork Dagger’s launch into the world?
I don’t know. In the interest of my sanity (hahahaha) I am scheduling this far in advance. I suspect I will be 1) exhausted, 2) exhilarated, and 3) terrified, with a potpourri of other emotions mixed in.
I mean, MY BOOK IS OUT. How crazy is that? I’ve only wanted to publish a book of my own since I was, oh, four. Thirty years later, here I am.
Pardon me while I go to hug my book again. It’s real.
… ahem. Well, it’s Wednesday, and it’s Cake Month, so I suspect you want to see that Cinnamon Bundt Cake mentioned in the title, right? (I can shut up about the book for a little while. Honest.)
This is a gorgeous cake that’ll slap you upside the head with cinnamon goodness.
The recipe doesn’t produce a large bundt cake, but it’ll still feed a crowd. This is one of those cakes that’s awesome for breakfast, coffee breaks, dessert, or whatever other occasion you want to stuff a slice of cake in your face.
Now, you have a few options for the liquid in the recipe. The original version used Cinnabon creamer; instead, I used heavy cream and greatly increased the cinnamon. Therefore, toggle the cinnamon to your tastes. I love using flavored creamers in recipes like this, so I imagine the Cinnabon-branded one or any other would be delicious here, too.
I guess I should make this again to test that theory out. Oh, darn.
Also, let’s talk about the glaze. Please.
Okay, I really don’t have much to say about the glaze. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
Modified from Cinnabon Bundt Cake at Shari Blogs.
Bready or Not: Cinnamon Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the Batter:
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 cup heavy cream OR cinnamon-flavored creamer
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon [reduce if using flavored creamer]
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
For the Streusel:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
For the Glaze:
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 4-6 Tablespoons heavy cream or cinnamon-flavored creamer
- 1-3 teaspoons cinnamon to preference
Instructions
To make the bundt:
- Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Thoroughly coat a bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, oil, cream/creamer, and eggs.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and flour.
- Gradually add the flour mix into the wet batter until just combined.
- In another small bowl, mix up the brown sugar and cinnamon for the streusel.
- Pour half of the batter into the greased bundt pan. As evenly as possible, sprinkle the streusel all the way around the batter later. Top it off with the rest of the batter.
- Bake the bundt cake for 45-50 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test. Let it cool for 15 minutes and then carefully tip the cake onto a plate. Transfer it to a wire rack to completely cool.
To make the glaze:
- Once the cake is cool, mix up the glaze until it's at just a pourable consistency. Add the cinnamon to suit your tastes; sample it and check.
- Dribble glaze all over the cake.
Store the cake covered in the fridge.
OM NOM NOM.
THE DAY
ZOMG it’s here! The Clockwork Dagger is out! There is much rejoicing!
I’m over on Reddit today for an Ask Me Anything. Log in, post me a question! I might hop in during the day to answer some, but I’ll definitely be on at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific Time to hang out and answer stuff live. Or semi-dead, depending on how I feel at that point.
Another option to the links below: HarperCollins is now directly selling books, and they have a special deal for The Clockwork Dagger. Through 9/22, you can buy the trade paperback for 15% off and free shipping, and 20% off the ebook.
Happy links! I AM LIKE CAT HAIR ON THE INTERNET. I AM EVERYWHERE.
I’m Cooking the Books with Fran Wilde today! Listen to a podcast where I talk about ice blocks and cheese (firm and hard varieties preferred), and you have a chance to win an ARC of The Clockwork Dagger!
Holy moley, I have an article on the Huffington Post: “The Genre Jumble of Steampunk and Why It Works.”
I’m interviewed at the Qwillery.
Over at Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog, I discuss how My Favorite Bit in The Clockwork Dagger happens to be map geekery.
The Clockwork Dagger is prominently featured in an article at Entertainment Weekly. Oh boy.
At Spec Fiction Hub, I talk about how gremlins took over the book.
Beyond Historical Fiction: How I Came to Steampunk is posted at SFSignal.
“Why Beth Cato Made Her Fantasy Heroine a Healer” can be read at Bookish.
A list of 10 Things to Know About The Clockwork Dagger is at Niteblade.
Book book BOOK BOOOOOOOOK! Buy it everywhere!
Amazon Barnes & Noble Powell’s Books-A-Million Poisoned Pen Changing Hands Mysterious Galaxy
