Is Fido your bestie? Puff your BFF?

People who say diamonds are a girl’s best friend must not have a dog. Oh sure, I do have other friends. But none of them are waiting when I get home, so eager to see me they’re giving little whines and moans of excitement. (My husband stopped doing that—eventually—and if anyone else tried, police would probably be involved.) None of my friends guard my door against that rascal from Royal Mail who tries—every day!—to put things through the mail doggy viewing slot. (And don’t even get us started about that monster from UPS who keeps knocking on the pack’s door. He must die.) None of them dutifully follows me downstairs at 0:dark-thirty when I wake up with the latest idea of how to torture my characters resolve a plot hole.

So…who loves you? Email a picture of your best pet pal to barbtaub@gmail.com and show us. I’ll feature your pet in the Showcase on Wednesday, December 24th. AND (thanks to an anonymous benefactor) look what you’ll get in return:

1. Amazon will send a gift certificate—absolutely FREE— for one of the Null City books below, to you or the recipient of your choice.
2. You’ll help homeless pets. (All royalties before January 1, 2015 will support no-kill shelters US and UK.)
3. You’ll show the world why your best pal is a star.

BUT HURRY! All entries must be received by Tuesday, December 23rd. There are 25 gift certificates, so if more entries are received, winners will be drawn from a pool of all entrants. It’s easy:

• Email a picture of your pet to barbtaub@gmail.com. If you have a minute, tell what is so special about your pal, or how they happened to adopt you.
• Tell me the name and email address for the gift certificate.

Null City: In the world of Null City… Superpowers suck. If you just want to live a normal life, Null City is only a Metro ride away. After one day there, imps become baristas, and hellhounds become poodles. Demons settle down, become parents, join the PTA, and worry about their taxes. But outside of Null City, now that the century-long secret Nonwars between Gifts and Haven are over and the Accords Treaty is signed, an uneasy peace is policed by Wardens under the command of the Accords Agency.

Don’t Touch: Hope flares each morning in the tiny flash of a second before Lette touches that first thing. And destroys it.
Her online journal spans a decade, beginning with the day a thirteen-year-old inherits an extreme form of the family “gift.” Every day whatever she touches converts into something new: bunnies, bubbles, bombs, and everything in between.
Lette’s search for a cure leads her to Stefan, whose fairy-tale looks hide a monstrous legacy, and to Rag, an arrogant, crabby ex-angel with boundary issues. The three face an army led by a monster who feeds on children’s fear. But it’s their own inner demons they must defeat first.

I love that the villain of the piece is a horrific beast-like creature of folklore, said to be the son of Hel, and is part of a tradition which is centuries old. You just know when you read something written by Barb Taub it’s going to be vividly imaginative and full of humour, fun and excellent writing. –Between The Lines Bookblog

(Buy link: Amazon US | Amazon UK)

Tales From Null City (Anthology):
Payback is a Witch Claire Danielsen is a young witch whose goddess is house cat of unusual size. Peter Oshiro is a Warden policing a delicate truce between those who are human and those who… aren’t. It just would have been nice if someone told them the angels were all on the other side.

Just for the Spell of It Liam is an ungodly soccer-playing card sharp on a mission from God. Eirie is a beautiful punk fairy princess with her own daytime radio talk show. They’ve worked cases for the Accords Agency before, but with war between realms looming and her baby sister as the bargaining chip, partnering just got personal.

My favorite of these two stories was Payback is a Witch. I was reading along all, “La de dah de dah” enjoying a nice story when my husband tried to talk to me as the story took a sudden turn and I was all “Honey! Don’t talk to me! I have to read this!” and didn’t put it down or look up until the book was over. –Behind the Willows

(Buy link: Amazon US | Amazon UK)