Interview with J. Paulette Forshey

I’m interviewing J. Paulette Forshey today.  Please stop by and leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of one of her books.
1. How did you get started writing?My senior year in high school, I asked a guidance counselor about a writing career. His advice: “Find a good man, get married and forget writing.” I took his recommendation to heart and married my high school sweetheart at the tender age of nineteen. Nearly twenty years, and two children later, I took another man’s advice — my husband’s — and went back to the writing I’d given up. My husband is my biggest supporter, and I’m grateful for all he does so I can continue to write full-time.2. What genre(s) do you write in and why?

I write in paranormal, fantasy, contemporary, and erotica. The erotica is kind of a fluke. What I thought was good, old-fashion, hot, loving, turns out to be erotica in the industry. The world in my mind, consist of vampires, angels, fairies, wizard, and elves, so it’s natural to write about them. The contemporary comes about because I feel even the normal people need Happily Ever Afters.

3. What is your favorite part of writing?

The thrill you receive when you start a new book. Meeting the characters and finding out about their lives.

4. What is your least favorite part of writing?

Editing, having your editor send the first round back to you for corrections after I worked so hard to make it perfect.

5. What is your next project and when will it be released?

“The Estate”, a horror story, release date is Friday July 13, 2012, yep that’s why its scary. I had a lot of fun writing it, and meeting the quintet of southern ladies who help the hero Cuilean Keeley.

6. What are you currently working on?

That would be the next in my Tarczal series, “The Archway”, and a Ménage à trios for Whispers Publishing, titled “A Tango Trinity”. Hope to have both out by the end of the year.

7. What do you have planned for the future?

I’ve in mind several books continuing my Tarczal vampires, total of eight in all. I just love these powerful Alpha blood-drinking males that crumble when that special woman comes into their lives, and how they deal with her.

BIO
J. Paulette lives in a small Ohio town with her husband, a Basset Hound, and a Jack Russell who thinks she owns the place. Her mornings belong to her writing, her days are spent loving her five grandbabies, and her nights belong to her husband, the inspiration for her heroes. An award winning author, she is a member of Romance Writers of America, Central Ohio Fiction Writers, Southeastern Ohio Novel Writing Group, Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, and the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter of RWA. She also writes under the name of Genevieve Delacroix.

 
SPECIAL SNEAK PEEK

EXCERPT FROM SAVAGE BOND – A FALLEN NOVELLA

Thank you so much to RomCon for having me by today! I’ve had lots of fun before with the Reader’s Crown readers, sharing excerpts from my first two Fallen novels: Bond with Me and His Dark Bond. Both of these books feature bad boy fallen angels; stripped of their wings, they were kicked out of the Heavens and exiled to Earth… but with a promise of redemption. Each of the Fallen has one pre-destined mate. Find her and love her—and his soul will be redeemed and his wings restored. Of course, these guys are sensual alphas and warriors… and after three thousand years of failing to find their mates, they’re pretty jaded.

Savage Bond is a novella and part of my Fallen series, although it can certainly be read alone. The novella’s hero is Vkhin, who appears in both of the earlier books. He’s one of the oldest of the Fallen, a cold, merciless warrior-angel who’s perfectly okay with having lost his emotions and his soul when he was exiled from the Heavens. He’s always intrigued me because he’s so cold and emotionless—what would it take to stir him up and get him going? What kind of woman could help him rediscover his lost soul? How about a woman who is lost and running for her life with a set of photos Vkhin desperately needs to get his hands on? (What can I say—I’m a sucker for a good hunt!)

Ria Morgan jumps out of a helicopter and finds herself in the middle of a battlefield—and Vkhin is her only way out… but his help comes with a very sensual price tag.

Vkhin’s headset crackled, coming alive, as the slim figure ejected in slow motion from the open chopper bay. Ten thousand feet up, but his view from the helo was still ringside. The gloved hand hitting the small of the jumper’s back had him growling. That hand had touched her. He knew the body falling free of the chopper. Not as well as he wanted, but he’d been watching her for the last month and Fallen intel said she’d gone up in the plane. One pilot. One ride-along MVD agent. And Ria Morgan.

Ria’s body cleared the chopper and he fought his instinctive reaction. That bird was going down and he didn’t want her anywhere near the wreck. He’d warned Zer and the other Fallen that MVD was getting too bold, making moves that would take the human police division right into Fallen territory. Looked like he was going to have the proof he needed. Unfortunately, his professional responsibilities here were at war with something more feral. Possessive. Ria Morgan was his.

She might be a card-carrying member of MVD and an enemy hostile in his territory, but he wanted her. A rogue dropped away from others going after the chopper, circling back around the protective fire Ria’s human companion was laying down. The gunner laid in counter-fire and the rogue dropped. If Ria was lucky and the other MVD agent was a good shot, Ria just might make it to the ground.

Good. He commed in on his headset. “I’ve got a visual. One jumper. Rest of the crew is staying put. I’m going closer.”

Punching in his new coordinates, he drove the helo towards the chopper without waiting for confirmation from base.

His response to Ria was irrational. She was a backroom operative, a desk jockey. Smart as a whip—he wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating her brain—but she pulled her nine-to-five and left the dirty stuff to MVD’s field agents. She went into that office building every morning, real punctual. She stopped briefly to pick up a mocha—guilty weakness—and a doughnut, while he knew the same untouched energy bar banged around in the bottom of her over-sized purse every morning. She favored slim pencil skirts and buttoned up white blouses in real soft syn-cotton that clung to her breasts beneath the oversized cardigans she wrapped around herself because she was always cold. A sexy skirt and blouse like that just begged for four-inch heels, but, no, she paired the ensemble with an endless series of black ballerina flats. That mismatch intrigued him. Because, if she wore the flats because they were comfortable or she enjoyed them, what did that say about her taste in skirts? Those skirts cupped her ass, were made from soft fabrics that rubbed against her skin with every step she took, slid temptingly upward when she sat down at that desk of hers, crossed her legs, and leaned forward, going for the joystick controlling her drone. Those skirts were a sensual treat.

He just wanted to know who she was treating.

He, on the other hand, was a warrior, a hand-to-hand fighter who’d climbed into far too many trenches and done whatever killing needed to be done. He didn’t need to be jonesing after a woman who clearly not only didn’t know the meaning of down and dirty, but had no intentio
Excerpt: The Tarczal Alliance
“You disagree the painting is showy?” He turned the subject back to the painting, and with practiced ease, he returned what he surmised was a compliment from the flush blooming on her cheeks. He indulged himself by allowing his gaze to rake over her. A whine like a mosquito’s settled in his ears.

“The artist captured Kandinsky’s style completely,” she sputtered. Logan didn’t give a damn about the painting or the artist. He wondered if the large, dark purple sweater that hung mid-thigh on her was an attempt to hide her body. If that was her goal, the tight black stretch pants, and thigh-high ebony suede boots were a poor choice. Any movement pulled the sweater tight like a second skin over her compact, lithe body.

“Absolutely. He copied a style. You wouldn’t have, Ms?” She fidgeted, and the movement caused the sweater to pull snug over her breasts making them stand out like ripened fruit and accented her flat stomach. Nice. Bet that stomach quivers when a tongue is run over it. Wonder what she’d do with a tongue in her belly button? She’s probably a giggler. He licked his lips. And a squirmer. It was apparent she had no idea what she did to him. He didn’t mind. Several parts of his anatomy were already stirring in response. Her front equaled the heart-shaped derriere he’d seen earlier while she browsed the competition.

“Weston. Allyson Weston. How did you know I paint?” The tiny frown across her brow made him want to laugh. So this was the estranged wife of his latest hire, Michael Weston. During the job interview Michael had constantly moaned and bitched about his soon-to-be-ex-wife. Guess Michael didn’t grasp he’d let go of an extraordinary woman. Logan let his gaze travel down to her legs, dancer’s legs, long and well-defined. Legs any man would enjoy wrapped around him.

Smoothly, Logan reached down, slipping his hand under hers bringing both up to eye level. “You have paint under your nails.” His thumb brushed the skin of her knuckles.

“Oh.”

Quickly, she withdrew her hand from his. Next, she folded her arms across her mid-section, lifting the orbs and tucking her hands safely under her arms.

Logan’s smile widened. “Do you have family in town?” His attention wandered back to the boots she wore. The way they encased her legs from toe to over the knee were a wonderful enticement, and his imagination flared to a deliciously wicked conclusion when she interrupted his assessment of her intriguing appendages by blurting out. “An STB.”

How fresh, honest, and naive she was. Logan bit back a chuckle. Heroes and bartenders: everyone trusted them, confiding intimate details of their lives they’d never reveal to anyone else, an interesting quirk of human nature. He arched an eyebrow in query, and she clarified. “Soon-to-be-ex-husband.”

He stopped himself before he could lick his lips. At the same time the essence of her blood rose from beneath her skin to mingle with the pungent leather of her boots. He inhaled more deeply, drawing it inside him, and swirled his tongue in his mouth to better experience the bouquet. Sweet, delicate, and exotic. Fit for the gods. He stopped his feeder teeth from slipping into place. A taste of her blood would never be enough, and an ocean too little for a man to quench his thirst. Stunned, he wondered where that thought come from, while trying to wish away the growing arousal in his groin. The whirr in his ears grew a little louder.n of ever leaving the pristine confines of her office. He respected MVD’s field agents because those men and women put it on the line every day. Every weapon they strapped on, every fight they broke up or started—those were acts he could respect. Coffee and a doughnut were a whole different world.

So he shouldn’t have wanted to slide the zipper on her skirt down, peel that the soft fabric away from her even softer skin. She wasn’t his type. She was human. And she was off-limits.

To learn more about the Fallen series, come visit me at http://www.anne-marsh.com/ or on Twitter and Facebook.
One lucky reader who comments on my blog today will be randomly selected to win a copy of either Bond with Me or His Dark Bond – winner’s choice of book and format. Good luck!

The Swords of Gregara – Jenala SNEAK PEEK

One lucky commenter will win a coupon from Smashwords for a free copy of The Swords of Gregara – Jenala.  Be sure and leave a comment or question.

Swords clashed.  Jenala Delasa fought savagely for her life against the man who would dare try to get her kalcion mine.  And claim her.  The bastard Zlaten Vandalar.  The man she believed murdered her father five months ago.  He attacked her with the intention of kidnapping and raping her, giving her no choice but to be claimed under the law.  She’d fall on her own sword before she’d allow him to claim her.

A passerby, heard the gray metal swords clanging off of each other, sparks flying, and her shouts of rage, as he rushed to watch the spectacle.  Jenala dared him a quick glance when he yelled and ran toward them.  Momentarily startled, she missed her jab.  Zlaten sidestepped, turned and flayed open her back from the left shoulder to the bottom of her ribcage on the right side.  Jenala fell to the ground.  Zlaten looked up at the stranger approaching and visibly paled.  He sneered at her as he ran a finger through her blood as it dripped from the tip of his sword.  “You’re not fit now.  I’ll come when you’re healed then you’ll be mine.”   He looked up at the stranger getting closer, turned and ran.

The stranger came to her, her sword still tightly gripped in her right hand.  She’d dropped to her knees, but never released her sword.  She wouldn’t go down without a fight.

The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth from where she’d bitten her tongue.  She looked up with pain bleary eyes, expecting to see reproach or perhaps opportunity.  If this man decided to claim her as Zlaten had, she could not fight him off but she would try.  Instead she saw compassion.  He removed his shirt and took great care to wrap her back to staunch the flow of blood.  Jenala hissed at the contact, white flashing light blurred her vision.  She knew he tried his best to cause her as little pain as possible.  But it didn’t matter Jenala didn’t know if she could handle the searing pain another moment.  He picked her up and carried her toward town.

“Owww.”  She couldn’t help the moan of pain. “Take me to the nupenian,” she said, her voice little more than a croak.  The only person who could help was Brenton, the town nupenian, who cared for animals.  The quack they had for a doctor would surely kill her and she wasn’t taking the chance.  Brenton could sew her up as well as the doctor could.

There hadn’t been a decent doctor in Rucem, since she was born twenty-seven years ago.  Dr. Nort had retired after delivering every baby, treating every illness and wound in the entire province for the previous forty years.  Rucem was the capital and the largest outpost in the Golong province.  It was a months hard travel to get to the nearest large town with a decent doctor.  The distance was so far, she’d only done it once with her father.

*****

She was laying on her stomach on an examination table looking at someone’s shoes.  Her face was in a cradle and her arms were hanging loose on either side of the narrow table.  The pain was gone.  Brenton must have provided her a pain blocker, thank Krios!  She heard the stranger leave instructions that she was to be taken to the Wardson’s Bed Stay after the wound was fully sealed, though how he knew her accommodations she had no idea.  After the stranger left, Jenala wet her lips and finally asked.  “Well?  How does it look?”  She wiped at her mouth, the blood she tasted dripped on to the floor leaving a small crimson puddle

TOP 10 REASONS NOT TO READ MY BOOKS By Elysa Hendricks

Please help me welcome Elysa to my blog.  Please leave a comment to be entered into the prize drawing.

 

TOP 10 REASONS NOT TO READ MY BOOKS By Elysa Hendricks
10. You don’t like well-written stories about two people falling in love.

9. You have a medical condition that prevents you from getting too excited by sexy love scenes or fast-paced action.

8. Books containing humor and heartfelt emotions like love and joy conflict with your pessimistic view of the world.

7. You don’t like romance books because they aren’t realistic like books about maniacal serial killers, zombie wars, sparkly vampires or space ships. (Actually STAR CRASH has a space ship. No vampires – yet.)

6. Reading stories that might include cute kids, puppies and kittens gives you hives.

5. You only read (insert your preferred genre of fiction here,) and books that focus on the growing relationship between two people can’t possibly be as exciting or interesting.

4. You only read romances written by (insert your favorite romance author’s name here,) because – well, just because.

3. Your life is so full and exciting already reading is a waste of time that you could be using to climb mountains, fight alien invaders or zombies, make love, explore the universe, and sleep.

2. You don’t want to contribute to the growth of my massive ego which believes reading my books will entertain you and make you a better person.

1. As for the Top Reason Not To Read My Books I’ll leave that for you to decide and I’d love to hear them. Just remember that every time you don’t read one of my books a Joss Whedon show gets cancelled, a fairy dies and an angel doesn’t get his wings.

 

Excerpt

At the gate, a guard stepped in Cora’s path and whistled an incomprehensible command.

“What?” she asked.

Cora was no alien expert. A pilot and a mechanic, she knew engines and machines not people–and on this planet the Flock were the reigning “people.” Her translator chip still couldn’t decipher the Flock language. The chirps, cackles, whirs, whistles and trills they used as speech sounded like birdsong, but unlike birdsong she didn’t find anything pleasing about it. Her one required course on alien contact at the Academy wouldn’t do her any good if she couldn’t understand or speak their language.

The Flock whistled again. She tried to move around him. He smacked her arm with his rod then shoved her ahead of him.

“Go where?” she called out to the women.

One woman ran along the inside of the compound fence. “Make young.” The answer left a lot to be desired.

“What happen?” Cora asked.

The woman smiled. “Go. Much fun. Good. You like.”

“Yeah, sure,” Cora muttered. Whatever the Flock had in mind for her, she wasn’t interested.

She took the opportunity to look around as the guard herded her deeper into the compound, past the pen she’d occupied since her arrival. They moved down a wide path between a series of pens to where she hadn’t yet been. Farther ahead lay some buildings.

It appeared the compound covered several acres, consisting of many pens separated by wooden barriers. The inhabitants of each pen were segregated by age and gender. Her pen held ten women, all in their twenties like her. One pen held girls ranging in age from about five to fifteen. A larger pen held about fifteen women, all with babies and toddlers. In still another pen, fresh wood chips covered the ground, there were tent-covered low benches with soft cushions, and a fountain provided fresh water and cooled the hot, dry air. Six women in varying stages of pregnancy occupied this pen. Cora couldn’t help but gape at the women’s bulging bellies and swollen breasts. Sweet stars, she was trapped on a breeding farm for humans.

The women paid little attention to her or her guard as they moved through this human chicken coop. She noticed there weren’t any pens with grown men. If the women were hens, where was the rooster?

The next pen answered her question. Naked except for protective cups over their genitals, ten boys ranging in age from four to ten practiced fighting with wooden swords. Her attention shifted from the boys to the adult male who directed their training. Though his back was to her, he appeared as naked as the boys. Forgetting the guard, she paused to watch.

Bronze skin shiny with sweat rippled over powerful muscles as the man instructed the boys in swordplay. With his dark hair and straddle-legged stance, the youngest boy looked like a miniature version of the man. Cora smiled at his clumsy attempts to imitate his elder’s fluid movements.

The boy watched the man intently, but his small body, round with baby fat, refused to cooperate. He tripped and sprawled in the dust. His wooden sword slipped from his grip. The other boys’ laughter stopped abruptly at the man’s sharp command. The man knelt next to the boy, said a few quiet words then handed him back the wooden sword. The boy rubbed the tears from his cheeks with grubby fists, leaving streaks of dirt. The man’s compassion for the boy touched Cora, made these people seem less like animals. More human.

At one time she’d dreamed of someday having a child like this–Alex’s child. That dream had died with him. Losing Alex had killed that need inside her. Now she lived to explore. Relationships, love and caring for others were no longer part of her life.

Still, her gaze moved back to the man and traveled from the top of his head, covered with sleek shoulder-length ebony hair, down his broad shoulders to his narrow waist and taut bare buttocks. Her breath caught at the beauty of his form. His unashamed masculinity woke her buried femininity. Her nipples tightened in response. At some primal level her body recognized this man. No one since Alex had stirred her like this. “Turn around,” she whispered. “I want to see your face.”

Instead, he stepped back from the boys then lunged forward. Sunlight flashed off the blade of his sword as he whirled. Briefly, before the beauty of his motion recaptured her attention, she wondered why he didn’t use his own real sword to strike down his captors and seize his freedom. Dark hair obscured his features as his face whipped past. Why did he seem so familiar? She had to see his face. She started forward.

Pain radiated down her arm. Instinctively she turned to confront her attacker–the guard–and ducked the next blow. Acting on rage and adrenaline, she snatched the rod from his hand and cracked it across his neck. Without a sound, he went down and lay motionless.

An Interview with Camryn Rhys

Please help me welcome Cameryn Rhys to my blog today.   Camryn will be giving away a copy of her book to one luck commenter so be sure and leave a comment or a question.

Tell us about your current series.

Airship Seduction is the first of my “Magic Wars” steampunk paranormal books. It’s the story of Victorian Europe’s War on magic, and the fighting spirit of the magical Resistance. In the spirit of innovation, a league of European nations decide to attempt to eradicate all magic from their collective borders. For demons and creatures, witches and warlocks everywhere, there is no safe haven. But one woman with an airship tries to rescue the refugees and falls in love with one of them. But this is just the first book. It’s a planned series of seven.

 

What inspired your latest book?

I quite literally thought: what if there was a magical Holocaust? It’s interesting to me because typically in steampunk books, science is good and everything outside of innovation is bad. But my Magic Wars are sort of like the anti-steampunk. Science may be great for its purpose, but when left unchecked, it brings us into scary places, just like anything else. The first thing to come after the high concept was my heroine, who is just a kickbutt woman. I love her.

 

Tell us about your heroine.  Give us one of her strengths and one of her weaknesses.

Sacha Camomescro is an Empath demon with an airship. She’s been tasked by The Resistance to seek out pockets of magical creatures who are hiding from Empire assassins. Because of her demon nature, she has certain powers, and she doesn’t fully understand them all. In fact, when she was a girl, her powers killed her best friend, so she doesn’t use them extensively. But she can read minds, as you find out in the very first scene.

 

Tell us about your hero.  Give us one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses.

Javier. Oh, Javier. He is focused and driven. Almost to an extreme, at times. But when that focus is on Sacha, it is really a beautiful thing. Javier is an alpha werewolf whose pack has been decimated by the Empire assassins. He finds himself on Sacha’s airship, unable to ignore his desire for the pretty demon, but motivated by revenge. He can’t decide which one pulls him more into the future, but he knows he needs something to ground him, now that everything he’d worked for all his life is gone.

 

What is your next project and when will it be released?

I’m working on the second book in the Magic Wars series. When you read Airship, you’ll see that there are plenty of characters who could go on to find their own love stories. And the main character of book two will probably shock you a little bit. It shocked me when I started writing, but now it’s the absolute best way to follow up Javier and Sacha’s story.

 

What’s next for you?

I several other series I’m working on right now. I have a set of Western contemporaries, a set of sports romances, and a set of foodie romances. Plenty to work on. J And hopefully, something for everyone.

Right now, I’m running a Corsets & Cocktails release party on my website and blog tour. Every commenter on my blog or any post on my blog tour will be entered to win an iPad 2 or a Kobo ereader. I’ll also be giving away a paperback copy of Airship Seduction and books from my backlist, not to mention a list of other author’s books at the same time. For more information, check out my website or my Twitter feed. And thanks, Cynthia, for having me!

 

-Camryn Rhys

http://camrynrhys.com                  http://facebook.com/camrynrhys               http://twitter.com/camrynrhys

~~Romance So Good You Can Taste It~~

 

Airship Seduction

Camryn Rhys

 Sacha Camomescro, an Empath demon with an airship, is rescuing refugees from Victorian Europe’s war on magic when she meets a man unlike any other. Javier Vargas is a lone alpha werewolf, his pack nearly decimated by assassins, his appetite for justice superseded only by his desire for her.

But Sacha’s gift is also her curse. While reading minds is helpful in eluding the assassins sent by Europe for Progress, it cripples her ability to trust men, and enjoy sex, for she can always see the fantasies men have when they’re with her. But Javier has a single-minded focus when it comes to his pursuit, and he wants her.

Just when it seems she can trust him, Sacha’s crew starts getting picked off mid-flight, and it seems there’s a rabid animal at fault. Javier and his lone remaining pack member fall under suspicion, and in the hysteria, Sacha begins to lose control of her mission. Blindsided by passion, she must decide if she can trust the one man who wants her just as she is.

An Interview with Cora Blu

I have author Cora Blu on my blog today.  I hope you will help me welcome her.  Don’t forget to read all the way through, Cora has a special prize for one of you who can answer either of her questions.

 

What genre(s) do you write in and why?

I write Paranormal fantasy Romance and Contemporary Romance.
I love the idea of writing in a fantasy world where everything is just to the left of reality. Growing up with six other siblings, I develop an imagination too big to keep to myself. Fantasy was another way for my introvert personality to open up a little. Four older brothers, fifteen uncles, I tended to listen more than talk.

Romance came into play watching the different ways in which the women in all those masculine lives dealt with their personalities and kept their families together. Whether I’m writing fantasy or Contemporary family is the backbone of the story.

Tell us about your current series.

My current series. Brothers of Element, is an ongoing family of six tiger shark brothers sequestered tot eh ocean because of an ancestors greed over five thousand years ago. Edward Bartholomew tried to unearth the Clear Coral, which is their source of shifting, and was transformed into a shifting tiger shark to protect Clear Coral forever through his offspring. Now this source is dying and the only way for her to survive is to feed her from what created her, eternal love. Without a true mating she will no longer be able to absorb the earth’s excess heat, of which we see today with the ocean heating at a rate of two degrees a year.

If she dies the ocean and all it’s marine life will boil and eventually overflow to the humans on land. In book I ,Dagger, he must convince his chosen mate, a human, to fall in love and live beneath the ocean. Not the easiest when not all marine life wants a human in their waters.

Each brother has an obligation to find his mate for Clear Coral while protecting the ocean.

What is your favorite part of writing?

My favorite part of writing is waking up and the scene is pulsing in my mind to the point of not being able to type fast enough. The rush of seeing the picture fill in on the screen as I type.

What is your least favorite part of writing?

I don’t care for “ugly” personalities or people with ugly personas so I tend to keep them out of my life, but I can’t keep them out of the story. So introducing people like that is draining to write about.

This is an excerpt of Drew, my heroine running into two teenage boys on her way to the lab down below.
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Preston, the shorter of the two boys said, “The king thinks you’re hot. He watches you all the time on the pier, says you’re…”

“You can’t say that to the queen, Preston! Don’t be an airhead,” Alexander chastised him. “You’ll have to excuse him, my Queen. He’s young.”

“I’m only younger than you by three months. It’s not like I’m a baby,” Preston said.

“Only a baby would dime out the king,” Alexander threw out.

“Yeah, but King Dagger said we shouldn’t call the queen smoking hot. It’s disrespectful,” Preston said. Drew didn’t know whether to keep listening or slip into queen mode and stop their banter.

“You won’t say anything, will you, Queen Drew?” Preston pleaded. “He’s cool, but he’s old. He tries to be down with the teens.”

Alexander said, “He is down. Not like Augustine, he’s a cool old dude, but the king is cool.” His excitement animated. “His brother Edge is awesome.”

“Yeah, Edge is crucial.”

She fisted a hand not to laugh, nails biting into her palm and said, “Crucial and awesome. Wow, sounds like Edge is your favorite Bartholomew brother.”

In unison the boys said, “Tipp.”

“Tipp. I take it that’s another brother?”

He nodded. “Then there’s Blade. He’s in the Pacific.”

“He’s older than the Atlantic King.”

Alexander’s green complexion paled. “You won’t tell the king we said he was old, will you?”

“I don’t care if she tells him.” Preston announced chest out.

“Really?” Drew said.

“I mean… no disrespect, my Queen, but doesn’t he know? He’s, like what, a thousand?”

She peered down the quiet street to keep from laughing. Composed, she said, “Close.” The boys were true characters. She saw why Dagger loved the kids so.
What is your next project and when will it be released?

My next project is a novella to Brothers of Element. Max which I was hoping to be out by the end of the month but my be pushed to the first of May. Max is a quiet character in book I and in the novella you find out why and what his relationship is to my heroine.

I’m also working on my first Contemporary Romance called “Stranded but Not Alone” An American woman is stranded in the mountains of Austria with a Russian looking for his twin. That should be out the end of May. An unedited excerpt of that is on my website.

Where do you get the ideas for your stories?

Ideas come from all over. Brothers of Element started out in my pond and on the beach at the Atlantic Ocean. My contemporaries, and there’s a number waiting to be flushed out, come from people I meet. The Russian character came from a man I met thirteen years ago and have never forgotten him. His personality was so curious I had to build him into my character.

Do you have a view in your writing space? What does your space look like?

I can’t see my wisteria vine growing over my garage from my desk. I have three ponds in my yard (I built them so take that into account) The smallest I can hear from the window which helped with the waterfall scenes in Dagger. They have two waterfalls in their bedroom.

My space is the corner in the dining room, an antique desk shaped like a kidney. A gift from my husband’s grandmother when I made her some curtains for her bay window. I also write outside during the warm months in front of the large pond and at the bar downstairs when I need to read out loud.

What genres are you drawn to as a reader?

Slightly outside of the box romances or regency. Amanda Quick is a favorite for that. I read what feels right when I read the back or blurb. I love to listen to mysteries on audio. Love stories I tend to read. I prefer a novel over a short story, so writing a novella was a learning curve for me.

I love sci-fi movies but don’t read them as much as I love to see them. Hooked on Star Trek, that could be all about Jean Luc Picard, though. You never know or Avery Brooks.

I have added some amazing authors to my mental get-a-way since becoming involved in different writing groups. I doubt I would have ever come across some had I looked for them on the store shelves, but should be front and center.

I hope your readers enjoy “Dagger” I enjoyed writing it and yes if you read the excerpt, their skin comes in an array of colors just like marine life.

Thank you Cora Blu

Dagger can be found in many different formats.

I do have a question for your audience. “Where is Dagger’s brother Blade from?”
Or “What is the father’s name?” I will give away a copy of Dagger to one viewer with the correct answer to either.

http://amzn.com/B007748JTG
(B&N)@http://is.gd/aY7l1o
http://www.allromance.com
http://www.smashword.com/books/94942

Interview with Karen Docter

Please help me welcome Karen Docter to my blog today.  Karen will be giving away a paperback copy of her book Satin Pleasures to one lucky commenter (US only), so be sure and leave a comment.  International winner will be given a PDF copy of the book.

 

What genre(s) do you write in and why?

I write two different kinds of romance novels. Books of Danger, Romantic Suspense: Women hunted by killers…men who’d die to protect them. Books of Heat, Contemporary Romance: The lighter side of romance – Not a killer in sight…unless it’s killer heat!

My contemporaries are cute and spicy – not erotic – novels of approximately 50-60,000 words. (Series contemporary length in traditional publishing markets.) I love writing about real men and women with dreams and goals that don’t allow for a relationship just so I can throw them in each other’s path…with a tickle and a smile.  Satin Pleasures is one of my four Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® Best Short Contemporary finalist novels and my debut release at Amazon on Valentine’s Day 2012.

My romantic suspense novels are longer (90,000+ words) and filled with heat, too, although the dangers the hero and heroine face are real and intense, usually because a serial killer is bent on ending one or both of their lives before they can fall in love. These are psychological “woman in jeopardy” stories about real, every day people like you and me who are forced to deal with danger that is unexpectedly thrust into their lives.

I enjoy writing on both sides of the line between light and dark romance.

Tell us about your current series.

I’m currently working on the first romantic suspense novel in my Thorne’s Thorns series.  Police officer Ross Thorne, and his wife, Evelyn, only had one natural born son. But they also fostered five boys into adulthood.  All of the boys were enough trouble at one time or another, they quickly became known as Thorne’s Thorns.   The six brothers are now grown.  Each is strong, masculine, and making his own mark on the world.  I’m throwing a little, okay, a lot of danger their way and introducing each to the one woman they are destined to love.  Patrick Thorne, the Thorne’s natural born son, launches the series in Killing Secrets.

Killing Secrets – Back Cover Blurb

Rachel James’ ex-husband is released from prison determined to reclaim her and her little girl — his key to the James fortune. Frightened, Rachel flees to Denver with the child who hasn’t uttered a word since her daddy went to prison.

Contractor Patrick Thorne wants nothing to do with another of his parents’ charity cases. He failed his own wife so abysmally she took her own life as well as his unborn son’s. After two years, it’s time to concentrate on the bid he’s won and the saboteur trying to destroy his construction firm.

There is no room for trust in either of their hearts. But trust is all that will untangle the secrets that dominate their lives, free a little girl of her silent prison, and save them all from a serial killer who stands too close.

What is your favorite part of writing?

I learn a little more about the human psyche with each book I write. My characters become real people for me quickly in the writing process and take over their own stories despite whatever plans I may have for them when I start.  It’s relatively easy to get them into trouble, but I’m often surprised by the solutions they come up with to solve their dilemmas. Sometimes I wonder where these people come from, especially when I’m delving into a serial killer’s mind.  I certainly don’t have any firsthand experience with killers but I often find them telling me what makes them tick. They often scare me!

I know I just ensured no one reading this will ever want to move in next door.  I find it funny that I often thought it would be difficult to live next to authors like Stephen King or Dean Koonz who understood too much about the depravity of the human psyche, and now I’m wondering if my friends think the same thing about me.

What is your least favorite part of writing?

This one’s easy…formatting the book for publication.  Throughout the formatting process for Satin Pleasures, I kept hearing the Enterprise (Star Trek) doctor, Bones, yelling in my ear that he was a simple country doctor, not a miracle worker.  I’m just a simple writer. I don’t know nothing about birthing no books! J

What is your next project and when will it be released?

I’m planning a June 2012 release for Killing Secrets. I want to share the story first with my fabulous readers attending RomCon “Where Readers Rule” 2012 Conference in Denver on June 22-24th.

Where do you get the ideas for your stories?

I draw ideas from my surroundings, articles I read, television programs, news…well, pretty much everything I see, hear, or do is fodder for stories.  I’m a “what if?” kind of writer.  My debut contemporary romance novel, Satin Pleasures, was “born” in a traffic jam in the middle of the San Mateo Bridge that spans San Francisco Bay.

The situation I used to introduce Dan and Tess actually happened to me.  I have to admit, I was a bit stressed at the time. Not only was I scared of heights and my family had just moved to the Bay area two months after the last major earthquake, I was supposed to be on the other side of the bay as one of the meeting organizers.  I won’t go as far as say I was as stressed as the “soon-to-be-born” Type-A heroine, Tess Emory, but I could relate to her angst in not getting to the other side of the bridge.  It seemed only natural that Dan McDonald would be the exact opposite of Tess although, in many ways, they were as alike as two peas in a pod.

Watching the various people around me spilling from their cars to chat and play was also a unique experience for me.  I thought things like that only happened in movies.  I was truly inspired when I finally drove off the bridge and went to my meeting.  I can’t tell you how tempted I was to turn right around and go home to write Dan’s and Tess’s story. And, no, that is not my Type-A personality showing! J

Do you have a view in your writing space?  What does your space look like?

I had a great view when my office was in the living room.  I could see ninety miles away to Pike’s Peak. But we all know how difficult it can be to get anything done if we share living space with the family. I’ve recently moved my office into our basement.  My office has a sliding wall that opens into the media room with a fireplace made up of hand-hewn limestone embedded with real ocean fossils. I love spending time on the sofa nest with my feet kicked up.  I’m currently painting the office walls a beautiful Emperor’s Gold. I have several paintings and screens with an Asian influence that will go on the walls when I finish.  I collect dragons, too, so they’re scattered throughout.  When the weather’s nice, I sit in the garden patio in the lower yard with my laptop, an easy thing to do now that I’ve got a docking station and am down to one computer. Of course, I have three monitors that are always turned on so I guess I didn’t trim down on my equipment. Which means I do my best writing outside…fewer distractions!

What genres are you drawn to as a reader?

I read across the genres. My favorite romances are suspense and contemporary, of course, since I write both. I also love paranormal/time travel/futuristic/fantasy and historical romance. Some of my favorite non-romance authors are Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ayn Rand, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, etc. I also have shelves filled with Star Trek and Star Wars. Yeah, I’m a nerd! I could easily read two books a day and not deplete my TBR pile in my lifetime.

With any luck, I hope to add a few more novels to other readers’ TBR pile. J

 

Bustiers, Birds and the Blues…

SATIN PLEASURES by Karen Docter – Available Now on Amazon!
ISBN-10: 1475082525  ISBN-13: 978-1475082524  ASIN: B0078VSY6G

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Satin-Pleasures-ebook/dp/B0078VSY6G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330384089&sr=8-1

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Satin-Pleasures-Karen-Docter/dp/1475082525/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1330384089&sr=8-1

 

Website: http://www.karendocter.com

Blog: http://www.karendocter.com/blog/

Twitter: @KarenDocter

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Karen-Docter-Author/112017712223396

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/

 

 

About the Author:

Nothing makes me happier than to help the very real men and women in my head to achieve their dreams and fall in love.  I write both romantic suspense and contemporary romance because my muse tends to dance across the line between light and dark on a whim. Imagine the challenge she presents when she’s dancing back and forth at the same time!

I’ve been fortunate to have won numerous awards including the Category (Series) Romantic Mystery Suspense unpublished division of the 2005 Daphne du Maurier Award. I’m a four-time Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® finalist and a charter member of The Golden Network® & RWA® PRO®. Also a member of Colorado Romance Writers, Kiss of Death Romance Writers & From The Heart Romance Writers, I’ve fostered literacy as a speaker at local Jr./High schools, tutored composition and reading classes, and taught college level English composition.

My debut contemporary romance, Satin Pleasures, was a Golden Heart® finalist and released on Valentine’s Day 2012. The first of my Thorne’s Thorns romantic suspense series, Killing Secrets, is a June 2012 release.

British historian, Arnold Toynbee, once said, “The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.” It’s one of my favorite quotes. Why? I derive the greatest pleasure blurring that line every day. Whether you prefer the suspenseful side of romance or the lighter side of humor and heat, I can’t wait to share my stories with you!

Excerpt:

Chapter One

“Colby, if I’d had that brunette in my bass boat instead of you Aunt Mary would never have talked me off the lake.”  Dan McDonald tore his gaze away from the view in the truck windshield to grin at his dog, affectionately named Colby, after the cheese the German shepherd loved so much.  “Bet she doesn’t kiss like you…the brunette, I mean, not Aunt Mary.”

The dog whined, then attempted to wriggle his massive bulk into his master’s lap.  Dan pushed his muzzle away.  “Phew!  Chances are she doesn’t smell like you, either.”

Colby bared his teeth in a grin.

Dan laughed.  “You won’t think it’s so funny when we reach San Francisco and you get a bath.”  He considered the stalled traffic.  “That’s assuming we get across the bay.”

A fully loaded semi had jackknifed across both lanes of the westbound bridge and wedged in tighter than a cork in a genie’s bottle.  The truck was to be dismantled for removal, the freight unloaded, and there appeared to be a debate as to which part of the process should be completed first.

He smiled at the speed with which the shock wave of information ran down the line of commuters.  Many spilled from their cars to chat.  A few lounged on their hoods, faces raised to the warm March afternoon sun.  A pair of students in Stanford jerseys zipped a fluorescent orange Frisbee between the cars with all the ferocity of Kamikaze pilots.

Dan shook his head when he realized he’d pushed his old life behind him far enough to find amusement in the scene.  He’d come a long way in the past year.  Was it far enough?  He’d been happy—well, content enough—with his solitary lifestyle…until his aunt tracked him down in Florida a couple of weeks ago.

She’d convinced him she and his mother needed him in California through June.  However, he’d had three thousand miles to wonder if his temporary return to the rat race might prove to be the biggest mistake of his life.  His impulse to turn the truck around had grown with each passing mile and he wondered if this traffic snarl was his last chance to save himself.

He certainly couldn’t complain about his first glimpse of San Francisco Bay.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  The sun stirred bright color into the murky waves and streaked light across mirrored office buildings on the opposite shoreline.  A light, salty breeze gave wing to a variety of raucous sea birds over his head and teased long tendrils of toffee-rich hair out of his brunette’s French twist.

His brunette.

Desire coiled deep in his belly as he watched her wiggle her bottom onto the hood of her car.  With one hand resting on the driver’s side mirror on the open door, she talked briskly into her phone, her expression hidden behind sunglasses.  The straight lemon skirt and fitted jacket she wore accentuated her rich, dark hair, full breasts, and slender waist.  Spiked heels showcased legs long enough to fuel a man’s fantasies for months.  Her hand waving in emphasis to whatever point she was making spoke to Dan of urgent caresses and wild passion.

The blend of cool professionalism and hot sensuality fostered the illusion a man only had to peel away one layer to expose the passionate woman beneath.  He’d never seen a woman who made him feel so needy, so primitive, with barely one look…which is why he hadn’t bothered to pursue a woman since Charlotte Betham opted for her career over him last year.  He might have made an effort to change her mind if she’d turned his crank this way!

Only a caveman would dream of ripping the phone from his lady’s hand.  Only a cretin would throw it into the bay before he dragged her away to his cave for a year or two.  Only a sex-starved man would allow such idiotic impulses to get out of hand.

“Maybe Aunt Mary dragged us back to civilization in time.”  Dan scratched behind his dog’s ears.  “Maybe I should go out on a date or two while we’re here.  Take the edge off.”

Colby barked, and then rested his muzzle on the dashboard, pointing the way.

“No, it won’t be with my sexy brunette.”

The last thing Dan needed in his life was another career woman to tempt him back to the competitive edge like the one he’d ridden in Chicago.  He’d leaped off that fast track without a backward glance—nearly dying did have a way of changing a man’s perspective, after all—but he could still spot a workaholic when he saw one.  He’d lived with one all his life.  First, his father.  More recently, Charlotte and himself.  And since he didn’t know yet if he’d beaten that particular inclination, once and for all, he wasn’t taking any chances.

The odd thing about chance, though, was the way it tended to come up and slap him when he wasn’t looking.  Dan stared with consternation at the bright orange saucer veering out of control across his vision, aimed directly for his brunette.  “Watch out!”

He jumped from the truck in time to see the rigid plastic disc slam into her right cheek with a sharp thwack, angle over her head and disappear over the bridge railing into the bay.  Her cell sailed right behind it.

Dan sprinted in her direction but she’d fallen off the hood of her car and slumped to the pavement, her back against the front fender, before he could reach her. Kneeling beside her, he placed a hand on her shoulder.  “Are you all right?”

She didn’t respond.

“I didn’t mean to hit her!”  The Frisbee thrower squatted next to Dan and watched him remove her cracked sunglasses.  “Oh, man, she’s out cold.”

Dan clamped a lid on his own spike of concern and thrust both hands into the woman’s silky twist of hair.  In the time it took him to run from his truck he’d seen her fall against the side mirror on her downward slide, and then ram her head against the open car door.  So, it came as no surprise when he located a sizable lump over her left ear.

He examined the welt rising on her cheekbone, his curse short, succinct.  Her head cradled in his hands, he brushed his thumbs against her temples.  “Can you hear me?”

The woman’s eyelids fluttered, lifted.  “W-What happened?  H-Harry?  Where’s Harry?”

Who the devil was Harry?  Dan gazed into cinnamon brown eyes fogged with confusion and experienced a surprising surge of possessiveness.  He couldn’t drag his hands away from her fast enough.  “If Harry’s the one on the phone, I believe he’s now conferencing with the sharks.”

“Oh. Oh! He’ll kill me!”  She shifted, wrinkled her nose in obvious bewilderment at the sight of her legs stretched in front of her.  “Why am I sitting on the ground?”

The student piped in.  “My Frisbee hit you.  You fell.”

“Frisbee?  Fell?”

Dan frowned.  A concussion wasn’t out of the question.  Although her pupils didn’t appear unequal or dilated, there was a large goose egg behind her ear and a welt across her cheek that grew more red and ugly by the minute.  He searched his brain for the standard questions used on concussion victims.  “What’s your name, and who’s the President?”

“Tess Emory, and Stuart Webster.”

“One out of two isn’t bad,” he murmured.  For all he knew, Tess Emory wasn’t her name either.

“Oh, man, she doesn’t even know—”

Dan glared the student into silence, motioning the kid to her other side so they could both help her to her feet.  “Which is which?” he asked, aware he needed to keep her talking.

“I’m Tess.”  She wobbled on her spiked heels.  “The president’s Webster.”

Dan quickly calculated the distance to the camper in the back of his truck.  “I think we have a problem.  Webster is not President of the United States.”

Her eyes widened.  “Oh. Wait. I thought you meant the president of my company!”  She assured him she did indeed know her country’s president.  “Now I know two presidents’ names and my own, but I don’t know your names.”

The student introduced himself and apologized for her injuries.  He wanted to share his doctor’s phone number but, when she refused his assistance, he shrugged and walked off to rejoin his buddy sitting on the hood of their car.

Which left Dan where he shouldn’t be now that the danger had passed…overwhelmed by the appeal of toffee hair, cinnamon eyes, and spicy scent.  Gasping for air like a wide-mouth bass in the bottom of his boat.  Alone…with his brunette.

Visit with Susan Macatee and the story behind Cole’s Promise

Thanks for being with me today Susan.  Readers, Susan is giving away a copy of Cole’s Promise to one lucky commenter, so remember to leave a comment.

The story behind Cole’s Promise, my new release with The Wild Rose Press, part of the ‘Love Letters’ historical series, was inspired by the main form of communication during the American Civil War.

I’m not talking about the telegraph, used mostly by the Union Army and newspapermen to communicate news from the warfront, but the main form of communication from soldier to family back home. Letter writing.

With e-mail, instant messaging, cellular phones, as well as land-line telephones, we of the 21st century don’t need to write letters to communicate and keep in touch with friends and family. But during the Victorian era, writing long letters was an important form of communication.

In order to be considered for the ‘Love Letters’ series, Cole’s Promise, had to include a letter that changed one of the main character’s lives. I instantly thought of the Civil War soldier, desperate for news from home. But what if the news he received broke his heart?

During the Civil War, with families being separated for long lengths of time, letters became vital for both the soldiers and their families back home.

According to Bell Irwin Wiley, author of: The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union, “… letter writing was one of the most pervasive of camp diversions.” Civil War regiments sent out an average of 600 letters per day.

Letter writing soldiers often had to improvise. They wrote by candlelight, sitting on the ground, using another soldier’s back or a knapsack as a writing surface. They also used such things as “… knees, tin plates, books, cracker boxes or drumheads.” – The Life of Billy Yank

Writing paper varied in quality from fancy stationery to ruled pages torn from record books. While men preferred to write with pen and ink, they often had to rely on lead pencils. – Soldiers Blue and Gray

They wrote about such things as battles, health, weather and new places and people they’d seen and met.

Soldiers also looked forward to receiving letters from home. One New Jersey soldier wrote in a letter to his family: “You can have no idea what a blessing letters from home are to the men in camp. They make us better men, better soldiers.” – Soldiers Blue and Gray

Men who felt they hadn’t received letters from their loved ones frequently enough would write angry letters home, demanding their loved ones write back to them.

Some of the most beautiful love letters were written by lonely soldiers to their wives and sweethearts.

The following is an excerpt from a letter written by Union soldier, Sullivan Ballou to his wife, dated July 14, 1861, while contemplating the possibility of his death in battle:

“But O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night–amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours — always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.” http://www.civil-war.net/pages/sullivan_ballou.asp
Click the above link for the complete letter, plus samples of others.

Another site where you can find samples of actual Civil War letters is:
http://www.civilwarhome.com/letters.htm

People of the Victorian period were sentimental and their letters show it.

Sources: The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union by Bell Irwin Wiley
Soldiers Blue and Gray by James I. Robertson, Jr.

Blurb for Cole’s Promise: Cole Manning, a Union lieutenant serving during the height of the American Civil War, expects a letter from his best girl, Hannah, who promised to wait for him. But her post contains an unwelcome surprise. She’s marrying someone else. Heartbroken, he vows no woman will ever fool him again.

Claire Hirsch’s fiancé died in battle during the first year of the war. Because she could no longer sit at home mourning, she volunteers to assist doctors in the camps. Scarred by his death, she knows loving a soldier can only lead to heartache.

Cole and Claire find solace in each other’s arms, but is their love strong enough to overcome the fear of losing the one they love?

Excerpt:

Her breath caught at the sight of Lieutenant Manning standing over Private Upwood’s cot. He leaned down and spoke softly to the lad. When he turned his head and straightened, his gaze caught hers.

“Miss Hirsch.” He patted the boy’s hand and stepped around the cot.

“Lieutenant, I hadn’t expected to see you back here today.”

He lifted his bandaged arm. “I’m supposed to see Doc tomorrow, but I had to see to the private. He said the boy’s taken a bad turn.”

Her heart burned at the raw pain in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I know you’ve been so worried about the lad. But it’s not your fault.”

He shook his head. “Everyone tells me that, but it’s not how I feel. Could I speak to you in private for a moment?”

Claire’s heart fluttered at the thought of being alone with him. But he obviously wanted to speak about the private out of his earshot. “Of course, Lieutenant.”

He reached for her arm and escorted her from the tent. She followed his glance. Men milled around conversing and sipping coffee. The lieutenant bit his lip.

“How about back here?” He gestured toward the rear of the hospital tent where it abutted the forest line.

Claire hesitated. “I-I suppose so.”

His gaze slid over her. “I promise to do you no harm, ma’am.”

His boyish smile reassured her. Of course he wouldn’t dare accost her in camp.

She allowed him to lead her to the rear. Great oak and hickory trees cooled the spot. A boulder sat just a few feet behind the rear of the tent. She turned toward him, thinking he’d meant for her to sit on the smooth top of the rock, but instead, he reached his good arm around her back and drew her close.

Her pulse raced. “Lieu—” Her question was cut short by his lips pressed against hers. His kiss was soft and sweet, not demanding. He pulled away, his gaze dancing over her, a small smile on his lips.

“I must apologize, Miss Hirsch, but after being in your company, I couldn’t resist tasting. I hope you don’t think me a complete scoundrel.”

Although Claire’s first impulse was to protest such improper behavior, she couldn’t resist grinning. “Not at all, unless you want me to think of you as a scoundrel,” she teased.

“In that case…” He kissed her again, more thoroughly this time.

Little moans escaped her lips as she returned his kiss. Her eyes closed, and the thrill of his touch sent her toes curling. Her knees turned to jelly in his strong grasp.

He released her lips but held her fast. “I must apologize again, I’m afraid.” His eyes smoldered, and Claire wondered what else he had in mind.

“Lieutenant, I—”

His mouth took her lips again, sending shivers down her spine.

“Call me Cole.”

“But, Lieutenant, it’s hardly proper…” Her protest died at his intense gaze.

“We’ve shared an intimate exchange, and I’d like to share much more with you. I suppose it puts us on a first name basis, at least in private.”

She hesitated, but nodded.

“I’d like to see you later, in private.”

“I-I, don’t know…”

“Miss Hirsch?” The stern voice of an older woman broke the spell. Claire’s face burned as she realized it was Mrs. Benson.
Leave a comment on this post for the chance to win a pdf copy of my new release.

Cole’s Promise, part of the ‘Love Letters’ series, is available today from The Wild Rose Press.

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=195&products_id=4821

Spirituality and the Paranormal with Carole Ann Moleti

Midwives have long been associated with the use of herbs and potions, as well as with witchcraft. Most of my colleagues are not witches, but before the advent of modern medicine, women were called upon not only to assist with childbirth, but also to use their knowledge to heal any number of ills, both physical and psychological, in men, women, and children. When the outcome was not good, or the one expected, the midwife was often accused of witchcraft or sorcery.

Modern midwifery practice embraces all belief systems and incorporates the use of herbs and alternative medical practices and, as such, Wiccans and those with less mainstream religious and spiritual practices often seek our services.

Though divination and connection with ghosts and spiritual beings lies outside the grasp of my mind and abilities, watching those who have the gift do their work has convinced me that all humans have the capacity to use parts of their brain in the same way, but few have developed it.

The first step is opening one’s mind to the possibility, then embracing it with a peaceful, accepting attitude. But in order to transfer that into credible fantasy and paranormal fiction, writers must, at the very least suspend disbelief and, at best, understand and accept it themselves.

In addition to mining my experience and harvesting story ideas from dreams, I’ve applied my research and journalistic skills to writing paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I begin with the facts. Huh? We’re talking paranormal, right?

Herbology, alchemy, astrology, tarot, and divination are as old as history. Prayers and offerings to deities in exchange for favors, intercessions, and miracles are part of most religions, as well as the belief in an all-powerful being or beings that manipulate events.

I value among my friends and clients many witches, energy healers, and spiritualists who have taught me much about their beliefs, and allowed me to experience how rituals (including births conducted in settings where the space is conducive to spiritual and metaphysical connections) generate energy, and how it is channeled to produce the desired effect or outcome.

I’ve carefully followed the instructions of a santera on the use of teas, banishing and cleansing, potions, offerings of fruit and burning scented candles to heal both physical and emotional distress (much the same way people use aromatherapy and many Catholics light votives and pray to saints).

Natural phenomena, like observing a woodland full of blinking fireflies, gave me pause to consider the possibility that fairies really do exist. I’ve talked with ghost hunters about their research and practice and learned how to monitor for electromagnetic activity.

I approach research for my paranormal fiction as a traveler who wants to enter the culture to best experience it. Showing up with a camera, pad, and pencil will not allow you to obtain the information you need, nor the context required to translate it into a compelling plot with believable characters. If you’re going to ask readers for leaps of faith, you’ll need to take a few yourself.

One result is my recent publication in Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/133489

“The Dhampir’s Kiss” introduces the characters in my current writing project. A gritty urban fantasy, Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams is set in The Bronx, notorious for its gang violence, arson, drugs, and prostitution. A beta reader compared to Sin City, and I describe it as and mix-up of the film Fort Apache, The Bronx and Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities with an updated paranormal twist.

Blurb:

Can any vow survive immortal life?
Excerpt:

No ordinary Bronx girl, though naïve and unaware of the vast power she possessed, Taina Aponte wasn’t desperate enough to offer her loyalty, her neck, or any other part of her body, to Raul in exchange for a hit of heroin, cocaine, or crystal meth.

Down boy. The desire to leap from his perch and take her, too compelling for even the most lovely of his harem to satisfy, must be restrained. His aura threatened to flare like a candle flame too close to gasoline. Raul suppressed his demon’s halo lest she become suspicious of his intent. Claiming The White Witch required more effort than he was accustomed to. Much more.

Taina bound a circle in the witches’ area. Sun glimmered through the trees, speckling the grass with flecks of gold. Brighter than he liked, but private. The multitude of castings over the years kept mundanes away. Poor bastards weren’t even aware of bumping into the transparent curtain of energy that snaked off in the other direction like a magickal path to the noisy playground.

No sign of her defacto bodyguard Arnaldo. Good. This evening he could get Taina dhamp drunk and willing, scratch a fang across her throat, penetrate her. It only took one encounter to inoculate with the virus and begin the change, to absorb the elixir of life, to transfer the soul, the body, and the mind to his service. To advance the evolution of his kind.

 

Author Bio:

Carole Ann Moleti lives and works as a nurse-midwife in New York City, thus explaining her fascination with all things paranormal, urban fantasy, and space opera. Her nonfiction focuses on health care, politics, and women’s issues. But her first love is writing science fiction and fantasy because walking through walls is less painful than running into them.

Carole’s work has appeared in a variety of speculative fiction venues including Lightspeed, The Internet Review of Science Fiction, Tangent Online, The Portal, and The Fix. Her short stories set in the worlds of her novels are featured in Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts and Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires.

http://caroleannmoleti.com

Writing the Future by Lynn Crain

Welcome Lynn.  I’m so glad that you could join me today.  Everyone please be sure and leave a comment to be entered into the prize drawing.

 

Many times during book signings or at conferences, I’ve been asked where I get my ideas. I’ve come up with some things that one might consider outside the box – way outside. Most of the time, I’m happy to tell people from my imagination and while this fact is true, I’ve usually taken something that is known and twisted it to an unknown.

Still, I’m sure many would like to know just where the germs of my imagination come from…well…I’m a science fiction affectionado from way back. I devoured authors like C.J. Cherryh, Isaac Asimov and many, many others as I grew up. These fine people told me what was possible for my future. If one looks at the history of today’s gadgets, you will find it in a science fiction novel somewhere. But I’m an author and need to think of some things on my own. I need to take what I know, look into the future and come up with a maybe to include in my books.

One of my mainstays that I read constantly is a magazine called Science News. Articles from there got me on a trend with nano-technology that I still use quite frequently today. This magazine runs the gamut of information from space technology to what’s happening in the human genome, all prime fodder for sci-fi tales.

Another place that I frequently turn to is a couple of web newsletters sent out by the Syfy channel called Device and their general newsletter to members. Device has given me more information on really obscure technology and then I play the what-if game to my heart’s delight. Some of the ideas don’t make it very far, and others find themselves winding their way into some of my storylines.

I watch every science show on TV that I can find. The Science Channel and the History Channel are two of my main sources as well. Each of them has a different perspective about something I love. TSC keeps me up to date with the latest, or close to the latest, discoveries from around the world. History keeps me abreast of where we’re been and the pitfalls to avoid.

I also keep a notebook of my more interesting finds. Like a screen that rolls up like a pencil. Or how nanites are changing the world of medicine. Or how bucky balls work. Or what a new world really has to have to be habitable with humans or anything from this world. Things that I might want to use in a book one day are all put in there when I find them, what websites and more.

My latest novel, The Harvester, has a heroine who has optics similar to those found in cameras in her eyes. She can see light spectrums that humans only dream about. She also has a bit of alien wear that has adapted itself to her use as a weapon of self-defense. Those ideas would never have come about if I hadn’t read an article or watched a TV show somewhere about the possibility.

The biggest thing writers of science fiction has to remember is that no matter what they produce, it must be believable in the world as we see it. Our world is changing so fast, computers purchased today are obsolete tomorrow, that even those who live in it are having a hard time adapting. Who would have thought we would have Tribes all connected to each other to help promote our writing as a group? Who would have thought that we’d be talking in 140 character phrases just 5 years ago?

Not I…and that’s what makes writing the future so fun…it’s never boring!

Lynn Crain has penned over 25 novels in romance in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and contemporary romance, general to steamy in nature. She always knew that writing was her calling even if it took years at other professions to prove it. She has belonged to EPIC and RWA for more years that she cares to think about. Currently, she lives in Europe while her husband of nearly 30 years pursues his dream of working internationally. Her state-side home is in Nevada where family and friends wait patiently for their return.

Her latest book, The Harvester, is due out from Shooting Star Books this month. You can find her hanging out at A Writer In Vienna Blog (www.awriterinvienna.blogspot.com) and various other places on the net (www.theloglineblog.blogspot.com; www.twitter.com/oddlynn3; www.lynncrain.blogspot.com ). Still, the thing she loves most of all is hearing from her readers at lynncrain@cox.net.

Silver Storm by Michele Callahan

SILVER STORM

(Timewalker Chronicles – Book 2)

By Michele Callahan

 CHAPTER ONE

Friday,    5:17 A.M.

Glowing silver embers fell from the sky over Chicago and all of her suburbs.  The glittering snowflakes spread over the city faster than dawn could shoot its rays of new morning light.  The early risers, gasped in awe and cried at the unearthly beauty floating down over them like a billion falling stars.

Then the screaming began as everything and everyone, nine million people, burned to ash.

 

 

Three Days Earlier…

5:17 AM

Silence hovered over the water and a few moments of peace settled over Tim like a cool blanket on a hot July day.  He grinned and finished tying the spinner on his line.  The softly lapping water, smell of wet vegetation, and geese gliding around the edges of Hendrick Lake were as far from the deserted lab, blazing heat and gunfire as he could get.  Tuesday morning meant most people were back at work, leaving the lake and the best fishing spots empty…just the way he liked it.

Bandit curled up in her bed on the floor of the nine-foot aluminum boat, content to sleep for a few more hours.  The tiny Pekingese mix was used to his routine.  Fish.  Run.  Scan the news headlines every night for things he dreaded to see.  He’d sit at the computer and she’d curl up in his lap.  She did everything with him now.  When he’d flown home to bury his parents, she’d been a four-month old puppy he could fit inside his combat boot.  He’d come home on six months mandatory leave to ‘get his head back in the game.’  The top brass didn’t like the fact that his research was turning up nothing but rotten eggs.  Nothing was said, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know they hoped the death of his parents would push him deeper into the game.  He had nothing left now but a dog, an empty house and scars.  Lots of scars.

Bandit hopped up and yipped at him, happily wagging her tail as if to remind him that he had her.  And how dare he think he needed anything else?  The princess of a puppy had been his mother’s whim and a completely spoiled lapdog.  The tiny pooch had lived a life of luxury traveling in his mother’s purse everywhere she went.  He’d considered giving the pup away after the funeral, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.  That was four months ago.  The little girl wasn’t much bigger now, a whopping ten pounds soaking wet, but she kept him company, she was smart, she liked to fish, and she was the only family he had left.

“Let’s see what we can catch today, girl.”  Tim cast his line out over his favorite fishing spot and let the spinner sink a few inches before slowly reeling it back in.  The rhythm and monotony chased away the last of his lingering nightmares.

Bandit growled low in her throat and paced over her pillow, rumbling like a tiny electric toy stuck in the ‘On’ position.  The hair on her body started to rise, forming a round fluffy brown and white snowball with huge brown eyes Tim would’ve laughed , but then the hair on his arms crackled with static electricity as well and rose to attention like a thousand tiny soldiers.  The water puckered as if it were being hit by raindrops, but there were no clouds.  No rain.  No thunderstorms on the horizon waiting to zap him and his boat into oblivion with a stray bolt of lightning.

Tim reeled in his line and stashed the fishing pole in its spot along the side of his seat.  Bandit stood at rigid attention on her fluffy brown bed and continued to growl, a steady little rumble of warning that set his teeth on edge.  They were too exposed on the water, too out in the open.  He clenched his jaw to keep the stream of expletives from rolling off his tongue.

Perhaps this was a freak storm.  There had to be a perfectly good explanation, because if it were the boys from the lab, he’d be dead already.  No, whatever this was, it wasn’t normal.  His silence came as automatic as breathing.  He didn’t start the small trolling motor.  He took out a wooden oar and paddled smoothly for the tree line behind his house.  Two minutes, perhaps three, and he’d be under cover.  He hoped that wouldn’t be two minutes too long.

“Shit.”

The electrical buzz building in the air continued to grow stronger until he could hear the slight hum around him.  His skin prickled and the water on the side of the boat rose, forming hundreds of fluid stalagmites rising, bursting, and sinking back into the water faster than he could track them.

Earthquake?  E.M.P?  Geomagnetics?  Had those bastards finally done it?

The electric charge shocked him with static build-up every time he moved.  Time to get off the water before whatever was happening cooked him in place or worse.

He glided into the reeds only a few feet from shore and tried to figure out how he could get off the boat without touching the supercharged water.  Any second now he expected stunned or dead fish to start popping to the surface.  Maybe the Fish and Game boys were doing this for a count or culling of the lake.  He couldn’t imagine why they would, but they should’ve posted warnings. Bandit yelped and sank to her belly, whimpering and shivering.  A thunderous boom filled the air and a burst of silver light to his right blinded him.  Instinct drove him to the bottom of his boat for cover and his mind raced with possibilities.

A bomb?  Lightning?

Whatever it was ruined a perfectly good fishing trip.

As suddenly as it all began, it was over.  The super-charged air dissipated like it had never been and the hair on his arms returned to its usual resting place.  His clothes stopped crackling.  The water, roiling moments ago, returned to a serene and placid lapping against the side of his small boat.  The geese took up their honking as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.  Bandit suddenly leaped to her feet and jumped onto the bench seat he’d just dived off of.  Her curled tail wagged fiercely as she yapped at something just out of his sight.

Ears still ringing from the blast he pulled his ever-present knife from its sheath at his waist and lifted his head just enough to see over the edge of the boat.

Michele will be giving away a prize to one lucky commenter so be sure and leave a comment.