Monday, August 24, 2009

[Annette McCleave] DRAWN INTO DARKNESS / Book 1: Soul Gatherer novel

Wow! If you've been waiting for an award-winning paranormal romance, be ready to run to your local bookstore on September 1st.

That's when you'll be able to pick up your copy of Annette McCleave's Drawn Into Darkness, the 2008 RWA Golden Heart Award winner, Best Paranormal Romance.

This is a dark and seductive tale in a compelling world where the fulfillment of an ancient prophesy promise death and destruction for a mother and teenage daughter caught in the crossfire of otherworldly events. Only the Soul Gatherer, who battles demons for the souls of the dead, can help them but he's been assigned to gather and deliver the teenager’s soul to her afterlife.

Not surprisingly, the reviews have been amazing:

"Swords flash, spells are cast, and twist and turns come head-spinningly quickly...Readers will hope for sequels..."
~ Publisher's Weekly

"...a captivating read that's filled with chemistry, sexy characters, and the trials of falling in love."
~ Kimberly Swan, Darque Reviews

"...a fabulously entertaining tale of demons, angels and beings in between."
~ Romantic Times (4 1/2 stars)

Read the excerpt here: http://www.annettemccleave.com/index.php/books/

Friday, August 21, 2009

WRITER'S MOMENT - Pimp My Novel



Aspiring writers take note: Eric at Pimp My Novel has created an amazing resource for anyone interested in learning more about the market and sales considerations for 8 fiction sub-genres.
Eric works in the sales department of a major trade book publisher and his Blog is dedicated to helping readers understand what happens to their creative child after it's acquired by a house.
Very useful information includes sales trends and the amount of a 'typical' advance. Check out the genre posts at:
Genre Sales 1 of 8: Fantasy
Genre Sales 2 of 8: Children's
Genre Sales 3 of 8: Mystery
Genre Sales 4 of 8: Sci-Fi
Genre Sales 5 of 8: Literary
Genre Sales 6 of 8: Historical
Thanks, Eric, for laying out the facts. What we do with that, well, let's just say some of us chose Ficton & Fantasy for a reason...

Thursday, August 20, 2009

[Sandra Hill] VIKING HEAT


Viking Heat, due in bookstores Septmber 1st, is the next entry in Sandra Hill's Time-Travel novels throwing medievel Vikings and modern-day Navy SEALs together in a light-hearted, romantic romp.

Sandra's witty, sexy Viking stories are reader favorites and earlier books in have received numerous awards: 2008 First Place Winnerof the Pearl Award in Time Travel (Viking Unchained), Winner of the 2006 PRISM for Best Time-Travel (Hot and Heavy), 2006 Winner of the Hughie for Best Time-Travel (Hot and Heavy), Finalist PEARL Award (Rough and Ready), Booklist Top Ten Romance Novel for 2006 (Rough and Ready), and 2005 RITA Finalist - Paranormal Category (Wet & Wild), to name a few.

Check out the excerpt here:
http://www.sandrahill.net/VikingHeatExcerpt.html

Few things are better than a hot Viking man meeting his match in a modern, well-armed, woman!
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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

WRITER'S MOMENT - Kyle Cassidy


Today's post is a fascinating peek into the hearts and minds of authors.

Kyle Cassidy, noted photographer, has compiled a short series of pix entitled Where I Write. This series of photos shows Fantasy & Science Fiction writers in their creative spaces.

Where I Write will be featured as eight pages in the 2009 Worldcon program guide. A much larger collection is being compiled into a book featuring Neil Gaiman, Lois McMaster Bujold, and many others along with interviews about their spaces.

Check out the photo spread here:

Interesting - I no longer feel that deep sense of shame over my book hording tendencies...

Monday, August 17, 2009

[Shayla Black] SEDUCE ME IN SHADOW & POSSESS ME AT MIDNIGHT / Books 2 & 3: Doomsday Brethren

Summer's gotten wicked hot with a sizzling triple play from Shayla Black!

Today Shayla posted her novella, Fated, as a FREE download on her website.

This follows last summer's Book 1 in the Doomsday Brotherhood series, Tempt Me with Darkness, which got rave reviews:

TEMPT ME WITH DARKNESS is fast-paced, emotional and thoroughly addicting… a very strong first installment, and I find myself panting for more of this bold and sassy new series.
~ Romance Junkies (5 stars)

Tempt Me with Darkness is a fascinating tale… I loved the mix of mystical, magical and legend that was woven together to produce a first rate story that delights and entertains.
~ Fallen Angels Reviews (5 stars)


This orgasmic paranormal…will have Black’s fans panting for the next installment.
~ Publisher’s Weekly


You'll want to get your hands on Fated and Tempt Me with Darkness ASAP because Book 2, Seduce Me In Shadow, hits shelves September 29th.

And the advance press is positively glowing:

Emotionally charged conflict and sizzling sexual tension add to the page-turning quality of this paranormal suspense. Once again, Black delivers!
~ Fallen Angel Reviews

“…full of the same excitement, sensuality, and suspense as its predecessor…Seduce Me in Shadow is engrossing. The Doomsday Brethren is an intriguing series and I look forward to the next installment.
~ Joyfully Reviewed


Then there's barely time for a lazy stretch in the Autumn sun before Possess Me At Midnight lands in stores on October 27th.


And if that's not hot enough for you, go the Doomsday Brethern Home and Meet the Brethren, a handy guide to the Doomsday hunks.

And while you're there, enter Shayla's end-of-summer celebration & contest.

*Sigh!* Does summer get any better than this?

Friday, August 14, 2009

WRITER'S MOMENT - Dean Wesley Smith

The Poker analogy just works for me.





Stages of a Writer
Published by Dean Wesley Smith
at 11:37 am, August 12, 2009

Before I get to the new series of posts about killing sacred cows of publishing, I wanted to just toss this idea out there.

For a while, I played at playing semi-professional poker, traveling to tournaments, and learning as much as I could from every source I could. (I have a full shelf unit of poker books.) And, as a writer, I liked watching people as well at the poker table, and I came to some conclusions backed up in different ways by different poker experts. Basically, boiled down into my words, there are four basic types of hold’em poker players.

Beginner (Poker Player): This player looks at his cards and that’s all that matters. Often they wouldn’t know a good starting hand, and any two cards suited seems to get this level of player excited. They seldom fold and couldn’t care what any other player is doing, or even what cards are on the board. They are always surprised when they lose.

Beginner (Writer):
These writers are focused only on one thing: Writing a good sentence. To this level of writers, sentence-by-sentence writing is all that matters. No clue how to actually build a story or characters or pacing or anything else. Beginners think pretty sentences equal good writing.

Intermediate (Poker Player): This player knows decent starting hands, pays attention to the cards on the board, and sometimes even pays attention to other players, but more often than not just gets angry when someone is pushing a pot they want to draw at cheaply. They blame the dealer, blame other players, and want deck changes. They have no real idea what another player has in their hand and often think they should have won a pot when all the clues were telling them otherwise. These players are fond of telling you what cards they laid down that would have won.

Intermediate (Writer):
This writer is still focused on sentences, but glimmering of story process is starting to come through. Often this writer does something naturally well and gets praised for it, but this level writer often gets lost and trapped for years in workshops, where people tell them about their sentences, about their grammar, about their syntax, and so on. Understanding story is just a glimmering on the edges and story has no focus to this writer. Writing is still sentences and heaven forbid you change viewpoint in a chapter or paragraph. This level of writer follows “rules” completely.


Read the rest of the post here:
http://deanwesleysmith.com/index.php/2009/08/12/stages-of-a-writer/

WRITER'S MOMENT - Chriatina Dodd

So true and well-said!

Re-Tweeted Twitter post from TeresaMedeiros
9:28 AM Aug 12th from TweetDeck

@christinadodd I like 2 torture my heroes early and often. Seems to develop POV, sort of like roasting nuts brings out the flavor.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

[Christina Dodd] STORM OF VISIONS & STORM OF SHADOWS / The Chosen Ones

Prophecies of evil, a group of Chosen Ones defending humanity against the forces of evil - the Others, and an epic battle of light and darkness - yes this series has it all!

Storm of Visions, Book 1 in Christina's new paranormal series 'The Chosen Ones', was just released on August 4th. In SoV, a reluctant psychic must take her mother's place as the Chosen's Seer and finds herself in the arms of the fierce bodyguard who is her only hope of survuival.

"Christina Dodd’s Storm of Visions, the first book in her new The Chosen Ones series, definitely hooked me!"
~ Heather, Errant Dreams Reviews (4.5 stars)


Sexy thief and quiet, hot librarian - what's not to love? Especially when Christina packs pounding action with her trademark romance. Storm of Shadows promises to keep the heat on high in this new series. Look for it in stores on September 1st.

"I loved these two. Aaron manages to be more than your typical brooding dark romance novel hero, and Rosamund manages to be more than your stereotypical bookish “hidden beauty.” Rosamund is quirky and entertaining, and it’s a ton of fun to watch Aaron sputter as he’s stymied by her lack of apparent interest in him. They have an unlikely chemistry that works out beautifully!"
~ Heather, Errant Dreams Reviews (4 stars)

Check out the excerpts here:
http://www.christinadodd.com/excerpt.php?excerptid=000048
http://www.christinadodd.com/excerpt.php?excerptid=000047

Monday, August 10, 2009

[Jess Granger] BEYOND THE RAIN


Looking for Sci-Fi action, adventure and romance? Pick up Beyond The Rain, the first novel by new author Jess Granger which was just released on August 4th.

Well-written, romantic and sexy - I definitely recommend Jess' initial effort and hope to see more from her soon.

http://www.jessgranger.com/books/

BEYOND THE RAIN is a fascinating, fast-paced futuristic romance that drops you in richly drawn exotic worlds — grim and beautiful, immerses you in extraordinary alien cultures, and wraps it all in a love story laced with heart-rending twists and turns. A fully intriguing read.
~ Linnea Sinclair, RITA® award winning author

[Dear Reader] Comparison of eBook Reading Devices


Like Jane at Dear Author, many readers I've talked to lately have been thinking about purchasing an eBook Reader.
Jane's comparison chart of the devices currently on the market and coming soon sums up the alternatives quite nicely.
Check out the facts here:
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Friday, August 7, 2009

WRITER'S MOMENT - Teresa Meideros

Wednesday Teresa tweeted:

"Best Writing Advice Ever? Ignore any writing advice that doesn't work for YOU. #askromancewriter #arw"

Authors responding also agreed. Thanks, Teresa!

http://twitter.com/TeresaMedeiros

Thursday, August 6, 2009

[Christina Dodd] Christina Dodd Talks About Her Funniest Mistakes

I read this post last week and couldn't stop giggling, then went back again today for another chuckle. So, I thought I'd share.

Excerpted from: Christina Dodd Talks About Her Funniest Mistakes blogpost on Monday, July.

"I have been published for eighteen years. On August 4, my thirty-nineth full-length book, STORM OF VISIONS, is on the shelves. I’m not bragging (well, only a little), just giving you a framework for my blog.

Because last year, I wrote a scene in INTO THE FLAME where the hero sees the heroine for the first time in two and a half years, and startles her. The line I wrote was, “She didn’t jump, he’d give her that. But Firebird Wilder had always had balls of steel, and she showed them now as she coolly turned to face him.”

I am a professional. Don’t try this at home.

In INTO THE SHADOW, my heroine stumbles onto the hero sitting in the Japanese garden. He jumps to his feet and says, “Is this your private place? Should I leave?” and she says, “No, it’s okay, my private place is big enough for the both of us.”"

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

[Roxanne St. Claire] HUNT HER DOWN & MAKE HER PAY / Books 7 & 8: The Bullet Catchers

There's nothing sexier than a Bullet Catcher man! Fans of Roxanne's hugely popular series know what I mean. *wink*

Now, get ready for back-to-back Bullets:

Hunt Her Down, Book 7, comes out on August 25th (excerpt), and
Make Her Pay, Book 8, will be on shelves on September 29th (excerpt).


Praise for this RITA Award winning, bestselling author's novels about an elite group of security and protection specialists is everywhere.

Check out the sizzling Bios for each of these sexy Heroes/Heroines at: http://www.roxannestclaire.com/meet_the_bc.html

WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

As if that in't enough, you can get each of the three Bullet Catcher novels released in 2008 for only $4.99 each! That's Books 4, 5 & 6: First You Run, Then You Hide, and Now You Die, respectively.







If you aren't already, now's the time to catch the bullet train!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

[Anthology] THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF VAMPIRE ROMANCE 2 compiled by Tricia Telep

I just pre-ordered my copy of The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2! This huge, beautiful book comes to stores on September 22nd.

This is a collection of 30 short stories about hot blood and the undead compiled by Tricia Telep and featuring some of our absolutely fave authors:

Alexis Morgan, Amanda Ashley, Barbara Emrys, Caitlin Kittredge, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Cathy Clamp, Colleen Gleason, C.T. Adams, Dawn Cook, Delilah Devlin, Diane Whiteside, Dina James, Eileen Wilks, Jenna Black, Jenna Maclaine, Jennifer Ashley, Karen Chance, Keri Arthur, Kimberly Raye, Larissa ione, Lilith Saintcrow, Nancy Holder, Rachel Vincent, Raven Hart, Rebecca York, Savannah Russe, Sherri Erwin, Shiloh Walker, Susan Sizemore and Vicki Pettersson.

The first volume was wildly successful and this new compilation looks even hotter! Cannot wait!

CONTEST - [Tammy Kane] BREATH OF FIRE


Ooooohhhhhh, I do so love great prizes.

Tammy's running an "Its my First Kiss" contest to celebrate the recent release of her first novel, Breath of Fire. She's looking for first kiss stories - real or imagined, quirky or sensual, as long as one set of lips touches the other.

Then answer the question: "When did Elera and Karl share their first kiss?"

1st prize: RWA membership/renewal, or $100.00 in Dorchester books (see website).
2nd prize: $50.00 in Dorchester books (see website).

Contest ends September 1st.

http://www.tammykaneauthor.com/apco.html

Monday, August 3, 2009

[Maureen Child] BEGUILED / Book 2: Queen of the Otherworld


If you're looking for something light & engaging, check out Beguiled by Maureen Child. This is book 2 of the 'Queen of the Otherworld' novels. Beguiled hits bookstores tomorrow, August 4th.


The story began in Bedeviled, which was released on January 29, 2009 and the reviews were good:

"In her new urban fantasy series, Child once again excels at taking a seemingly ordinary heroine and tossing her headfirst into a weird new world. Combining the mundane with the magical and dangerous leads to winning combinations of offbeat humor and scary scenarios."
~ Jill M. Smith, Romantic Times (4 stars)

[Anthology] WITH GREAT POWER, compiled by Lou Anders





We happily acknowledge the cult-like fervor of fans of graphic novels and the wild popularity of Comic-Con, the annual convention in San Diego.

Good news comic book fans! With Great Power will be released next year in time for Comic-Con 2010.

The anthology will contain 15 Superhero Prose Tales by amazing authors (9 are regular writers of actual comic books/graphic novels for DC & Marvel) including:

"Head Cases" by Peter David & Kathleen David
"Call Her Savage" by Marjorie M. Liu
"Thug" by Gail Simone
"The Non-Event" by Mike Carey
"Avatar" by Mike Baron

...and many more

http://louanders.blogspot.com/2009/08/look-up-in-sky-is-it-bird-is-it-plane.html

Pocket Books editor: the amazing Jennifer Heddle, is herself the co-creator of the indie comic Cynical Girl.
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