Author's Animal Antics - Karen Mahoney + International Giveaway

Author's Animal Antics is a regular blog feature here at Feeling Fictional where I'm very excited to have some fantastic authors come and chat to us about their pets or share animal related stories.  I'm thrilled to introduce the lovely Karen Mahoney as my guest today...

**************************************************

Feline Muses by Karen Mahoney

It’s so nice to be asked to write a blog post on something other than my book – it makes a change. Thank you, Sarah!

Sarah asked if I have any pets, to which I can proudly reply: yes! I have two cats, Felix and Logan, who are now six years old. We’ve had them since they were very tiny kittens, and they’re brothers… even though they don’t look it. They really are from the same litter…

Even though Felix (named because he’s always up to some kind of mischief) is considered by most people as ‘my baby,’ I also have a strong bond with Logan (named after Wolverine from the X-Men because of his long claws). Logan had to have one of his back legs amputated when he was three, after a terrible accident, but he has bounced back amazingly well. He’s such a fighter, so he definitely has the right name!

While he was recovering from his operation I was actually writing the very first draft of The Iron Witch, and Logan would lay behind me on the radiator so I could reach over and touch him every so often. I’m sure he helped me to write the book – I was even going to put him in the Acknowledgements, but I thought that was probably unfair to Felix. I couldn’t leave him out… ;)

Especially for Sarah and her blog readers, I dug out some of my old photos of “The Boys” (as we call them) from their life growing up as Mahoney Cats. Enjoy!

They both like to climb:

But that can get pretty exhausting…

The birds have to be very careful, too!

Although Christmas is always entertaining…

**************************************************

Thanks so much for your lovely guest post Kaz, your boys are adorable!  I love their names too Felix looks just like the scamp in the adverts and I love the name Logan - it would suit my cat perfectly if she was a boy as she definitely has the Wolverine claws!  Thanks for letting me share these wonderful pictures :o)

Freak.

That's what they call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood at Ironbridge High School.  A horrific fey attack that killed her father when she was just a child left Donna branded with iron tattoos that cover her hands and arms - and magically enhanced strength, that she does all she can to hide.

Now, after ten years of wishing for a normal life, Donna finally accepts her role in the centuries-old war against the darkest outcasts of Faerie - the dark elves.  Aided by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout, Donna must save her best friend's life - and that means betraying one of the world's greatest secrets and confronting the very thing that destroyed her family.

Karen Mahoney's debut novel The Iron Witch was released in the UK and the US in January and is the first book in her new Iron Witch series. This is a fantastic debut with a strong heroine and a very hot love interest and I would highly recommend you check it out.  You can read my full review of The Iron Witch here

Find out more about Karen and her work here - Website / Blog / Twitter

For more information about the Author's Animal Antics feature click here

Giveaway Details:

I loved this book so much that I bought an extra copy of the limited edition Waterstones version (with lovely gold shiny edges to the pages that match the cover perfectly) for a giveaway.  Kaz very kindly signed this extra copy for me at the RHCB blogger brunch. 

• I'm keeping this giveaway really simple so all you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post for Kaz.
• The giveaway is international so anyone can enter
• You have until the 20th of March 2011 to enter and winner will be announced soon afterwards on my blog.
• The winner will have 48 hours to contact me with their address or a new winner will be chosen.
• There are no extra entries for following or spreading the word but if you choose to do either I'll appreciate it :o)