Rita Herron | THE DEMONBORN: DARK HUNGER

Myths and legends and the paranormal world

When I first conceived of the idea for the Demonborn series and Dark Hunger, I knew I wanted to write about strong men, demons, crime fighters and the battle between good and evil.

Next, I needed to build my paranormal world and make it different from all the other paranormals out there. What could make mine unique -- fresh?

The answer to that for me was to write about a world that intrigued me, a setting that I felt at home with, but one that naturally lended itself to a dark, eerie atmosphere that enhanced my story lines. I also thought having the paranormal creatures appear in the normal world was even more terrifying than to have a completely fantasy world. What if demons actually existed on Earth?

Born a Southerner, spooky stories about ghosts, local legends, cemeteries, and odd things that go bump in the night filled my childhood. Since my series is a dark, gritty romantic suspense filled with evil demons and murder, my setting had to reflect that same creepy feeling.

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Jessica Inclan | If The Skin Fits, Wear It

What has amazed me about the past couple of years is how I have managed to finally gain some perspective on myself and my life. What's appalling about this observation is that I used to think I had this perspective. I thought that I knew what I was doing and why and how. I thought I had things under control; I imagined I was in charge. I thought I knew what in the heck I was doing.

Now, however, I realize that I have and had some behaviors and needs and feelings and thoughts, but I don't imagine anymore that I have control of it of all. I just sort of "see" myself and know a little more about what I do. I also know that in another 47 years (should I make it that long) I will be able to say the same thing about my current self that I just said about my younger self.

Poor thing, I will think. She thought she had it figured out.

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Carolyn Jewel | Vampire Reproduction

The other day over at my writing blog, I mused about something that’s often puzzled me; that is, the subject of Vampire Reproduction. With vampires, I wondered, why are they so often infertile, when by the rules, they ought to be more than capable of reproduction? I won’t rehash everything I said over there, but do take a look if you’re curious or would like to weigh in on the subject.

I find my mind often wonders into these strange little alleys and then gets stuck there sometimes, leaving me no choice but to slowly work my way out.

Today’s little alley concerns werewolves. Werewolves aren’t infertile, but with them, I wonder, since they can change forms without damage to their internal organs, how come t werewolf lore so often includes the caveat that they have to mate as humans? Or, alternatively, that they can’t mate as wolves and have the pregnancy last? Let’s set aside one of the really obvious answers (the squick factor).

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Alisa Sheckley/Alisa Kwitney | Borders

Borders can be pretty dangerous places. People slip over them in the dead of night, bringing desperate travelers, contraband goods and stolen identities. I knew I was inviting in all kinds of delicious plot complications when I set my novel, The Better to Hold You, on an invisible boundary line between realities.

I tried not to think about the complications I was inviting by setting my sequel, Moonburn, on the borderline between paranormal romance and urban fantasy. At first, when I thought about writing a sequel, I thought I would concentrate on another couple, and leave my main characters to get on with the business of living happily ever after.

But the truth is, I've always had a bit of a problem believing that couples will transition straight from a passionately conflicted courtship to a stress-free marriage. In my novels, I've always ended things optimistically, but assumed that there was another book, never to be written, about what happened next.

And all of a sudden, I wanted to write the forbidden book.

In The Better to Hold You, my heroine, Abra, becomes infected with the lycanthropy virus and discovers how to listen to her instincts. But what if her condition continues to change, and her instincts, and her impulses, become harder to control?

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Caridad Pineiro | Creating Characters

First I’d like to thank Fresh Fiction for giving me an opportunity to chat with you! I’m Caridad Pineiro, a USA Today and NY Times Bestseller who has written of over twenty novels. My current releases are HONOR CALLS and FURY CALLS from the popular THE CALLING Vampire series from Silhouette Nocturne. In November 2009 I will have my first paranormal romantic suspense single title release – SINS OF THE FLESH – from Grand Central Publishing.

I love writing and creating characters that stay with readers long after the book is on the shelf.

The plot for FURY CALLS, my March 2009 release from Silhouette Nocturne, definitely has two of my most interesting characters and the plot of the story is driven by the conflicts of the two heroes – Blake and Meghan. Blake, in particular, helped define the nature of the villain and also, forged the redemption of one of THE CALLING’s more interesting Big Bads – Foley, the owner of the Blood Bank.

Blake has actually become one of my favorite characters of all time. Since he popped onto the scene in TEMPTATION CALLS in October 2005, he has been hanging out in the world of THE CALLING, always on the fringe of what’s happening and never really respected. Always screaming for me as a writer to give him a story that was worthy of his unique personality.

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Natale Stenzel | Between a Rock and a Heart Place

First of all, thank you, thank you to Fresh Fiction for hosting me here today. I love visiting this site for scoop on all the latest romance novels by my favorite authors, so I'm thrilled to be blogging here on the release day for BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HEART PLACE, the third book in my series of funny paranormal romances.

As you'd guess almost immediately upon reading the back cover blurb for this story, my heroine Daphne Forbes receives a truly unwelcome gift: renegade puca powers. Oh. Well, that explains everything. Or maybe not? A puca is actually a fantastical character derived from Celtic and British mythologies. In some traditions, the puca is a shape-shifting trickster who preys on travelers; half faery and half human, the creature has a distinctly mischievous, even malicious bent. Does my version of the puca accurately reflect all the mythological accounts? Some of them. Others I cheerfully warped and expanded to suit my own needs. The pucas in my stories have three specific powers: mindspeak (mind-to-mind communication), glamour (creating illusion/molding the thoughts of humans), and shape-shifting.


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Sharon Ashwood | When Your Brand New Book Leaves Home …

Launching a book is a peculiar business.

First, the concept of “launch” is a bit different from the writer’s end. She’s already sent the manuscript away over and over again – to the editor, to the copy editor, for page proofs, and on and on. And yet the darned thing keeps coming back like a pesky cat and, sadly, editors are about as easy to ignore as a yowling Siamese hanging from the screen door. What began as infatuation with one’s literary child quickly morphs to irritation. That’s a sure sign Baby Book has hit the difficult toddler stage.

But books grow up too fast. When it finally launches, the author doesn’t actually have much of a role to play anymore. Sure, a party is nice, but all the stuff that matters is all beyond her control, subject to grand and incomprehensible market forces. Baby Book is all grown up, out in the cold, cruel world and about to encounter fast cars and loose readers. Will the universe be kind?

Click here to read the rest and enter Sharon's one day blog contest.

Karen Harper | RESEARCHING THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

No, I don’t write vampire novels, but I do write both contemporary and historical fiction. For the last ten years of my twenty-five-year writing career, I have written one romantic suspense novel and then one historical novel—back and forth. I have a writer’s split personality since it takes different skills and research techniques to do both. I love reading and writing in two genres and in two times, but it does have its challenges as well as its rewards.

For my contemporary romantic suspense novels, I can visit the settings for my story and interview people who live there or have the same careers as my hero and heroine. For THE HIDING PLACE (Nov. 2008), I spent a week in the Rocky Mountains outside Denver. I was able to interview men with dogs trained as trackers. I took two classes to learn about how my female P.I. would work, one class from a tracer who looks for lost people, and one from a female private investigator.

When I write my Elizabethan novels (most recently, THE LAST BOLEYN and MISTRESS SHAKESPEARE), I can, at least, still visit my settings. Nothing like a research trip to England! The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Greenwich—and museums, of course—help me to understand Elizabeth Tudor and her times. Although I can’t interview anyone from that era, the Elizabethans were great recorders of their lives: diaries, lists of their possessions, wills, books, and, of course, their literature such as poems and plays. I even have a reference book of the poems, prayers and speeches the queen herself wrote. All of that helps my characters to come alive for me, and, hopefully, for the reader too.

One of the great things about being a writer is that I learn so much about things I would not ordinarily know. I hope my readers not only enjoy my books for great entertainment and emotion, but also for a fun, easy way to become more educated. Whether writing the past or the present, that’s my goal.

Karen Harper

www.karenharperauthor.com/

Patrice Michelle | Ideas pulled from the air...

The other day I received a question from a reader who'd already read my latest release Scions:Revelation (December 1st) and the last book in my Scions trilogy. She asked if the prophecy--that has been an underlying thread through all three of the books in the Scions trilogy--was something I planned from the very beginning, or if the outcome of the prophecy had come to me as I wrote the books.

The answer is actually somewhere in between. :)

The idea for the first book in my Scions series came straight from a dream. I'd dreamed about a woman who was kidnapped by a vampire and they were being chased by gunmen. Lots of running, leaping across building rooftops and gunshots ensued. The scene in my dream was right out of an adventure novel and too surreal not to write once I woke up. But once I started jotting down notes, I then had to figure out how to turn that "one scene" into a novel. Hmmm...I ask the question: Why the vampire might want to kidnap the human woman and why the gunmen were chasing them....and all the reasons in between....and that's how the first five chapters in the first book in my Scions trilogy (Scions:Resurrection) was created. Once I'd completed those chapters, my agent read them and said, "This is more than one book, right?" I pondered some more and came to the conclusion...Of course there would be more than one book! and there's even a prophecy, which I promptly detailed out as part of the proposal to pitch to potential publishers.

In the summer of 2006, I'd written five chapters of Scions book one, a synopsis detailing the rest of that book and a one-page overview of the other two books in the Scions trilogy (including the prophecy). As I was writing the overview, the actual prophecy itself came to me easily, yet I wasn't "set" in how that prophecy would play out in the stories.

Ultimately, even when wearing my author "hat" I'm still a reader at heart--I want to be surprised and I discover the twists and turns in the stories as I they unfold before me. ;) I didn't know who would uncover each of the pieces of the prophecy, how the layers would all tie together, who would be responsible for the biggest reveal or how each of the characters would be impacted by all the revelations. All those unknowns were very exciting to unearth as each story was written and each of the main characters played out their respective parts.

So I guess the answer to the question is that the prophecy came to me in...equal parts intuition, guess-work and good old fashioned...jigsaw puzzling. It never ceases to amaze me how the muse works in inexplicable ways!

If you're interested in reading an action-adventure paranormal story where a suspenseful mystery is woven along-side a sexy romance, then I hope you'll give my Scions books a try.

Note: Each of the Scions books are written to be read as stand alone stories, but if you'd like to read the adventures of each of the main characters in order, then they are as follows: Scions:Resurrection, Scions:Insurrection and Scions: Revelation.

Patrice Michelle
www.patricemichelle.net

Cynthia Eden | Let Your Inner Demon Out

"Let your inner demon out"—That’s what Cara Maloan, the heroine from my new Kensington Brava release, MIDNIGHT SINS, would really like to encourage all women to do.

Cara thinks ladies should start living for themselves, doing what they want—and having one heck of a good time.

Something you should probably know…Cara’s a succubus. Yep, she’s an immortal demon who gains power from sneaking into a man’s dreams and stealing his sensual energy. Hey—it’s a job, someone has to do it. :-)

Cara is absolutely one of the most interesting characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing. She was fun—definitely fun—but, the lady also had her hang-ups. You see, she’s a sex demon at heart, but Cara wants more than fleeting pleasure from a man. She wants love, and love isn’t something that a succubus usually gets to experience.

Ah, such is the twisted fate of my characters. When I write about my characters, I love to think in terms of opposites for them. Vampires with blood phobias…sex demons who want love…a vampire hunter who finds her perfect lover in—ahem—a vampire. Opposites.

But don’t worry too much about Cara…I gave her a good hero. She just has to get him to love her. And, of course, she has to prove that she’s not guilty of murder. Because someone is killing in the city of Atlanta—and that someone is setting Cara up for the crimes.

Falling in love, proving her innocence, catching a killer…all in a day’s work for my demon.

Now don’t you want to let your demon out? With Black Friday shopping almost upon us, whether you like it or not—she may come out. Especially once you start fighting for those parking places and those sale items…

Happy hunting! And Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S.!

Cynthia Eden
http://www.cynthiaeden.com/
MIDNIGHT SINS—Available 11/25/08 from Kensington Brava
Let your inner demon out…

Lori Handeland | Where do you get your ideas?

By far the question I’m asked most often is “Where do you get your ideas?” Not only by interviewers but by readers and by friends and family. I get the impression that those who know me best can’t believe I come up with all the creepy, violent “weird” stuff without some help. Which I guess is a compliment.

I get my ideas in several ways. For instance, from something I’ve read. The concept for Any Given Doomsday came to me several years ago when I was researching another book and came across the legend of the Grigori, and it fascinated me. How the Grigori, or fallen angels, came to earth to watch the humans, then mated with the daughters of men and produced a supernatural race known as the Nephilim.

I bought a bunch of books on prophesy, Revelation, angels, demons and read them whenever I had the chance and an idea started to nag at me—one of those ideas that captures an author and won’t let go. In the world of The Phoenix Chronicles, the Nephilim have been here since the beginning of time, wearing human faces, but beneath they are the monsters of legend—vampires, shape shifters and more.

I had long wanted to write a series with a continuing character—a cross between Stephanie Plum and Anita Blake—two of my favorite heroines in fiction. I had the vague idea that my heroine would be psychic; I wanted the series to be set in my hometown of Milwaukee.

I came up with the character of Elizabeth Phoenix, however I had to admit to myself that the zaniness of Stephanie would never work for Liz. Liz is dark, dangerous; she does not screw around. If she does, people die.

I continued to build on Liz’s world little by little, uncovering her background as a foster child, meeting her foster mother Ruthie, her childhood love Jimmy and her mentor, the Navajo witch, Sawyer.

Liz discovers there is a secret society that fights these supernatural creatures, and she’s just been put in charge of the ground troops. One little problem—the end of the world has been set in motion—doomsday is right around the corner—and she has no idea what she’s doing.

Sometimes an idea comes from someone I meet in my travels. For instance, when I decided to set the second trilogy of my Nightcreature Novels in New Orleans, my husband and I took a three day tour. I’d been to New Orleans twice before, but I needed more specific knowledge.

The first day we were there, we ended up in an Irish bar off of Bourbon Street. The place had a terrific juke box that played Patsy Cline. The bartender was a gorgeous red head from Boston whose name was Diana.

The bar appears in Crescent Moon as Kelly’s, where Patsy Cline sings “Crazy” while the heroine, a red head named Diana, asks pertinent questions of the bartender and the patrons.

At times I get an idea from my own life. The little boy in my Harlequin Superromance Leave it to Max is very similar to a little boy who used to live at my house (he grew into a very large, bearded young man when I wasn’t looking). A lot of my son’s best lines ended up coming out of Max’s mouth. My little guy always opened all the doors and cabinets in every room he was in. You never knew what might be in there. He was accident-prone big time.

The day I went to the fed ex box to mail the manuscript (about a little boy with a broken arm who got into all sorts of trouble) I returned home to a phone call from the school informing me that my version of Max had one too. That was kind of creepy. My husband begged me to “never put him in a book.”

Sometimes I get ideas from a line in a magazine, newspaper, an image in a movie or a TV show, a dream. I even got one once from a license plate. It was pretty cool.

I’m always interested in other people’s thought processes so tell me—Where do you get your ideas? Where do you think writers get their ideas? What have you heard from others? Share!

Lori Handeland
www.lorihandeland.com

Elizabeth Amber | Lustworthy Pin-up Guys

As I write each novel in The Lords of Satyr series, I always have an idea of what the hero looks like in my head. And pinned on my wall. Since my pin-up guys are cut from magazines, they’re usually actors, musicians, models--someone I consider lustworthy. He has to have the right hair, eyes, and muscles.

But most importantly, my pin-up guy(s) must capture the mood of my hero. It’s the mood that inspires me and reminds me who my guy is, inside and out, lest I forget over the months it takes me to write a novel.

For The Lords of Satyr series, which is historical paranormal erotic romance, I found at least some of my inspiration in a single statue I saw on a trip to Europe a few years ago. I was writing about half-satyr half-human males. Imagine how thrilled I was when I stumbled on this life-size statue of a satyr male in the Louvre! I took so many photos of it, I’m pretty sure I worried the hovering guard. I explained to her that I was writing romances about satyr brothers in Tuscany and showed her bookmarks. She was intrigued—or maybe that was bafflement I read on her face due to the language barrier. Either way, she was happy to have me autograph the bookmark, which she pocketed. But she still kept an eye on me.

The face of this statue doesn’t match what I envisioned for any of my satyr guys—Nicholas, Raine, Lyon, or Dominic. I’d find those faces elsewhere. But talk about mood! This alpha guy has what I remember Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City calling great “throw down” when it comes to his women. And the statue as a whole has a voluptuous, sensuous mood that’s perfect for what I wanted.

Like many authors, I don’t see my covers until long after my novels are finished, so I can’t base my heroes on the cover models. Rather, the marketing department and my editor choose the covers based on their vision of the heroes I’ve written. And I have a feeling readers put their own spin on every hero they read as well. I know I do.

In my November e-newsletter, I asked members to rank my four book covers in order of preference. Each cover depicts a single image—the satyr hero. Results are still coming in, but so far, one cover has been ranked last most often. It’s Raine, the most naked of them. Interesting. Still, three readers who ranked this cover last said it was the one that initially drew them to the series. They found the other books afterward. If you’d like to weigh in, visit www.elizabethamber.com/ to join the newsletter and vote (for a chance to win a book). I plan to pass the tally on to my editor.

How important are visual images of heroes to you? If the guy on the cover doesn’t fit your image of the hero, does it dampen your interest in the book itself? Is there one truly lustworthy romance cover that has stayed in your head for months or years? Which is more important to you--the specific look of the hero on the cover or the mood of the cover? Do you even want to see the hero on the cover?

I hope you’ll leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my newest release, Lyon, The Lords of Satyr. I’ll randomly select a winner from among the commenters a week from today.

Elizabeth Amber
Nicholas, The Lords of Satyr
Raine, The Lords of Satyr
Lyon, The Lords of Satyr
Dominic, The Lords of Satyr (March 2009)

Karen White | Blending Women’s Fiction with the Paranormal—Is there such a thing?

I’m known for writing ‘grit lit’—Southern women’s fiction. My books are recognized not only by their Southern setting and characters, but also by their emotional intensity. So when I proposed the idea for THE HOUSE ON TRADD STREET to my agent, she was a little leery at first—especially after I told her that I planned to make this into a long-running series.

In this book I’ve blended my favorite elements of ‘grit-lit’ but threw in my passion for old houses, the City of Charleston, an historical mystery, and ghosts. The main characters are multi-layered with a lot of emotional baggage (ala Karen White books), but their dialogue is lighter, and snarkier, than my readers are probably used to. And, yes, my protagonist, Melanie Middleton, sees dead people.

So, how did I sell this idea as a marketable proposal to not only myself but to my agent and editor? After all, isn’t the publishing industry married to the ‘tried and true’ despite their insistence that they want something ‘fresh and new’? I made a deal with the devil (figuratively, of course). I promised my editor that I could still do a ‘grit lit’ novel every year—if I could just be allowed to sneak in these cool women’s fiction/paranormal mystery books in between. Seeing as how my books are usually around 120,000+ words, it was no mean feat promising two in a single calendar year. But I believed in this project and I signed the deal.

I am blessed with a really wonderful editor who likes what I write and trusts me a great deal. I think all of us (me, my agent and my editor) were holding our collective breaths as I worked on the book, hoping it would live up to its promise of being a book that my current readers would enjoy as well as one that would attract new readers. After all, I’ve always had a dash of the paranormal as well as a mystery in all of my books—this one just had a little more.

I’ll admit that I had a lot of fun writing THE HOUSE ON TRADD STREET. It’s a little lighter in tone than my previous books, and the dialogue between the two protagonists, Melanie and Jack, was the most fun I’ve had between the pages of a book in a long time. With ‘bated breath, I turned in the book and waited.

Luckily for me, my agent and editor loved the book as much as I did and they reinforced the decision to keep my name for this series because it was definitely a ‘Karen White’ book—recognizable by not only the southern setting but by likeable but flawed characters who have to work through internal and external conflicts—including a ghostly presence who’s not all that nice.

So, did I pull it off? Did I manage to merge women’s fiction with a paranormal romance? I think so, and early reviews are good. Nobody really knows what to call it—and that’s okay because I don’t know either. Maybe this series will be the beginning of a whole new genre! But I’d like to believe that I achieved that goal that I set for myself every time I sit down to write: to create characters readers will care about, and put them in a story that will make my readers feel every emotion, want to turn the pages, and give them a sigh of satisfaction when they get to the end. And that’s really what it’s all about in the end, isn’t it?

Karen White

The Memory of Water--- NAL/Accent--March 2008
The House on Tradd Street--- NAL Trade--November 2008L
Earning to Breathe --- NAL/Accent--March 2007"Critic's Choice" Atlanta Magazine, July 2007
www.karen-white.com/

Eva Gordon | Wolves as Archetypes in my Novels

My blog is about why my fantasy and paranormal novels center on wolves as main characters, or spirit guides. In my debut fantasy novel, The Stone of the Tenth Realm, my hero is a Scottish werewolf, an alpha of his own pack. My current work in progress is an epic lycan series, which I hope to sell soon. I’m not alone. Numerous authors are following the call of the wild.
Why is the wolf a common archetype in many myths and stories, even today? Nothing sends a chill down your spine more that hearing a wolf’s howl in the night. While at a wolf sanctuary, I spent the night in a trailer on the grounds and was privileged to hear night after night of thirty wolves in their nightly serenade. No sound is more awesome.

Yet in the past the wolf had a more sinister reputation. During the development of agriculture and domestication of livestock people settled down and pushed out old hunting deities. Wolves were vilified as part of pagan beliefs and turned the wolf into Satan’s ally. Fear of the wolf once ruled Europe. Wolves were hunted and exterminated. Legends of werewolves were rampant. Little Red Riding Hood and the story of Bisclaveret brought fear to the hearts of many. Many accused of being werewolves were tortured and or burned at the stake.

Today there is more of a movement to save the wolf and what was once considered a savage killer is now becoming a spirit guide for folks who need a strong archetype and for environmentalist who see the wolf as a “spokes creature” for nature. So why is the admiration and fear of the wolf so universal? My own explanation is that the wolf’s biogeography, high intelligence; and social interaction helped them enter the mythos and literature.

The wolf is ubiquitous, found throughout most of the world from the icy Tundra in the Northern Hemisphere to the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Even in countries where the wolf is not found such as Australia, there are canines that serve as a wolf proxy such as the dingo. Here in our modern homes and cities our pet dogs are constant reminders of our “wolfen” companion. We after all, created the dog from the ancestral wolf, as our most loyal companion.

Wolves display common social and intelligent behavior similar to our own. They both play and have a strict social status, just as some of our cultures have. They communicate with their kind, much the same way we do, both vocally and in non-verbal ways. We have kings and presidents they have the alpha pair. Humans low in status such as slaves and peasants certainly were low on the pecking order or in a wolf pack the omega. Wolves also mate for life, which endears them to people who long to have a long and loving relationship with a mate. How romantic! What impressed me the most about the wolf sanctuary was the relationship between two wolves, Bernard and Barksalot. Bernard a white wolf had been rescued from a cruel man who gouged his eyes out, leaving the wolf blind and helpless. He was brought to the sanctuary and became friends with another rescued wolf, Barksalot, who literally became his “guide dog”. Bernard grabbed on to Barksalot’s tail and would be lead around. Barksalot would also bark to communicate with Bernard. Barking is unusual for wolves. These similarities to human behaviors let us see the good and bad in us in them.

We long to emulate their hunting prowess. Wolves use team strategy and their powerful carnassials to bring down a much larger prey. Imagine a hero that can do damage without a weapon.


The wolf is universally regarded as creatures of prophesy and omens, and have connections between the worlds of the living and the dead. The wolf is affiliated worldwide with magic, medicine, healing and transformation. In Native American culture the wolf is important archetypes. They had great respect for the wolf and often offered prayers before a hunt to the wolf spirit. Wolf spirit was also powerful medicine for shamans who traveled to the world of the dead. In the New World, there never was an attempt to eradicate the wolf from their land. In Europe just as in the New World, myths and stories about wolves are universal. Early Europeans Respected the Wolf as Protector and Teacher. From the Steppes of Asia Minor to the British Isles the Wolf and Raven were mighty totemic protector. Hecate, an Ancient Greek deity was worshipped as a goddess with three wolf heads. Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus who were fed by the she-wolf, Alcala.

Ancient Celts respected the wolf as a totem and often as a spirit guide. In the Viking world to be a member of the Wolf Clan, Ulfhednar was the greatest honour. Viking warriors believed that if they died a heroic death they would be turned into magnificent wolves. Vikings also believed wolves chasing and devouring the sun and moon caused eclipses. Two wolves accompanied Odin, ruler of the Norse Gods. He created the wolves Freki (Hungry One) and Geri (Greedy One) as loyal companions.

Today the wolf is once again a positive force in literature and as an important part of the predator/prey relationship that keeps nature in balance.

Check out Eva’s novel as a fun winter read.

Eva Gordon

http://www.ravenauthor.com/
http://www.themysticrealm.net/author_eva_gordon.html_

Bonnie Vanak | A Werewolf Tale

Alpha werewolf leader Damian Marcel has a small problem. Her name is Jamie. She’s a computer geek who is into World of Warcraft and is dying of a spell turning her into stone. She also happens to be his destined mate, who tried killing him with a poison kiss. He’s faced with searching through New Orleans to find an ancient book of magick to save her life, figuring out what Jamie means when she talks about cosplay, and fighting Morphs that want them both dead.

Here’s an excerpt from Enemy Lover, a November release from Silhouette Nocturne.

Jamie sat on the couch as she typed on a laptop. Damian nearly dropped the fruit. Elongated purple elfin ears stuck comically out of either side of her head.

She glanced up as he set the peaches down on the coffee table. A question in his eyes, Damian sat beside her and playfully tweaked an ear.

“I’m a warrior Night Elf,” she said, yawning. “I’m too tired to wear the rest of the outfit. Cosplay makes me feel better. It’s comforting.”

“I thought women liked dressing in old sweats to get comfortable.”

Her mouth turned down. “When I cosplay, I am Celyndra, my elf. She’s a tough fighter, courageous and doesn’t fear much.”

“Ah, she’s your alter ego,” he said softly in understanding. A frown puckered his forehead. “Such an imagination. Where did you get the idea?”

She grinned at his expression. “Haven’t you ever heard of WoW?”

“Wow?”

“World of Warcraft. My avatar is a female Night Elf Warrior. Some who were in my alliance used to meet at the square Saturday nights to hang out and cosplay.”

Jamie’s grin deepened. “Don’t tell me you never heard of cosplay either. Everyone knows what it is. What are you, 100?”

“Eighty,” he muttered, feeling as old as an ancient mage. Merlin, maybe.

“Eighty! You look like you’re in your twenties. No wonder you don’t know what anything is.”

“I know what hanging out is,” he said defensively.

“Cosplay is costume play. You dress as a character from a book or game and role-play. World of Warcraft is an online video game. You pick a character and fight battles. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but…”

“Battles?” he echoed. Damian narrowed his eyes. “You learned to fight and organize an army? This skill you taught the Morphs came from a game?”

“I did learn some skill from it. But that’s nothing compared to some guys I know. Former Marines, Army guys. Friends.”

Raphael’s pack had checked out all her friends in New Orleans. Jamie had few. A terrible suspicion seized him.

“Guys you know from where?”

“Online. I met them on MyPlace.”

Alarms screeched in his head. Jamie was involved in a dangerous world he knew nothing about. “You have a MyPlace page?”

Damian’s glance fell to her opened laptop. He picked it up, rapidly surfed through it. He found her page. Jamie Walsh, in lavender, with beautiful illustrations of fairies in the background. If he weren’t so furious, he’d admire the intricate artwork and the delicate simplicity of the winged creatures. Damian scrolled down, shocked at the personal details. She liked fantasy books, alternative music, designed web pages and was a self-professed geek.

People she’d like to meet. “Anyone with real magick because I need magick in my life,” she’d written. The sentence sounded a little wistful. He scrolled down to her friends. Her top friends were former military types. But… Damian zipped through the last friends she’d acquired. Names like Wolfeater, Draiconhater.

Online predators. Morphs. “You’re an open target with this, Jamie.”

“It’s my page. My friends are there.”

“Friends? Will they come to your aid if you need them? Not these bastards. They used you, Jamie. You don’t need friends. You’re my mate and you have a pack, my pack and my family here as well. They’re much more important. Family will always be there when you need help.” Reining in his emotions, Damian kept his face expressionless.

“Delete it,” he ordered.

“No. And I don’t need your pack. I do just fine on my own. Go to hell” Defiance flashed in her gray eyes.

Damian stared at her as his hands slowly crushed the laptop, splintering it in half. Her jaw dropped as the crumbled pieces fell to the floor. A strangled squeak arose from her throat.

“You won’t do that again. Try defying me and I’ll break every single computer you have. Your enemies, and mine, are on that page. Who do you think infected you with this spell? You’re turning to stone, Jamie. From the inside out.”

“Kane had no reason for it, ” she protested, but her voice shook considerably.

“You’re my draicara, my mate. Reason enough. He used you to try to kill me. He used a safeguard as well. A slow-working spell that would eliminate you.”

“All I wanted was to learn magick,” she said, looking crestfallen. “It’s something I wanted my whole life. Is that so wrong?”

Damian cupped her chin in one strong hand. “Then look, little one. Look and learn. I will teach you magick. Good magick.”

Releasing her, he waved his hand, summoning a ball of white light. Iridescent sparks glimmered from it. It hovered in the air, danced as Damian created patterns with his palm. Jamie gasped in delight. A wide smile touched her smile. Damn, he’d do anything to keep her looking like that. Happy. Young. Carefree.

She leaned forward to study the orb, her slender arm stretching out. Her expression turned to awed wonder as she touched the ball with one finger. The light flashed, turned gray, then black. Before his astounded eyes, it shriveled, then vanished.

“Oh! Oh… I killed it,” she whispered.

Her mouth wobbled precariously. Jamie seemed to shrink inside herself. Moving closer to her, he clasped her hand in his. Cold, so damn cold. Like blue ice.

“It’s not you. It’s what’s inside of you,” he said gently. “When the dark magick is gone, the light won’t vanish from your touch.”

A tremulous smile touched her mouth. “I wish I could believe you.”

I wish you would as well. He picked up the bag of peaches. “Eat. You need your strength.” Damian frowned as he glanced around. “When did Renee leave? I asked her to stay with you.”

“Said she had to get back to the shop.” Jamie dug into the bag and withdrew a peach. “Thanks. I’m so hungry, I could eat an orchard.”

She brightened, a smile touching her pixy face. The sight lifted his own spirits. He steeled against the temptation to kiss her again. “Why did Renee go back?”

Jamie went into the kitchen. Her voice trailed out to the living room. “You should know. She said you’d called, asked her to bring another gris-gris to the house.”

Damian went utterly still, the hair on the nape of his neck rising. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move from here,” he ordered.

A horrible suspicion crested over him. Damian raced out of the house. Sprinting down the street, he reached the voodoo shop.

The door was ajar. Cautiously he stepped inside. The scent slammed into him with the force of a hurricane. Blood. Death. Lacing through it was the faint scent of honeysuckle.

A black cat greeted him, mewling pitifully. Damian crossed the room, started for the back and ground to a halt. Anguish spilled through him like acid.

“Oh damn. Damn, I’m sorry,” he said softly.

Mama Renee lay in the corner, her eyes wide open in terror. Blood splashed over the pretty flowered dress, splattered the walls.

Someone had torn her heart out. Morphs. They reserved the act to lick up each last drop of fear.

Grief and rage twined together. Damian closed his eyes. Renee had been a last connection to his parents. How many more of his people must die, sliced down by evil? His family. Members of his pack back in New Mexico. How could they ever hope to stop this and protect those who looked to him to keep them safe?

He pushed aside sorrow. Grief was for later.

The stench of death made him gag. Damian murmured the ancient Draicon blessing for a departed soul. He spotted the altar to Marie Laveau.

Darkness had extinguished the candles.

The police would question, snoop around. Couldn’t risk them finding out about his world. He needed a motive. A hate crime, and robbery. Damian withdrew all the money from the cash register and stuffed it into his pocket to later burn. He left the drawer open. He glanced around, found a permanent marker and scrawled on the wall.

DEVIL WORSHIPPER.

The mewling at his legs grew louder. The cat held the scent of an ordinary feline. Picking it up, he studied the animal. “You already used one of your nine lives. Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

Tucking the cat in his arms, he looked around. Waving his hand, he dispelled all evidence of his fingerprints. The cops would question Jamie, though and…

Jamie. He’d left her alone.

Damian tore down the street, frantic with fear for his draicara. He unlocked the gate, banged it shut behind him. Releasing the cat, he took the stairs two at a time.

She was sitting on the couch. His knees went weak with relief.

Then he took a closer look. Terror shaded her expression as she stared at her hand. Seeing him, Jamie thrust out her palm at him. It trembled violently.

“Damian, look at me. Look at me, oh God, what’s wrong with me? I can’t bleed. I can’t bleed!”

Shock filled him as he looked at her hand. A knife and fruit slices lay on the coffee table. She’d been cutting a peach. Then the knife slipped and hurt her.

Peaches scented the air, but he smelled no coppery scent of blood. A shallow laceration on her palm showed no crimson. Instead, a sluggish gray matter leaked out.

Gray, like granite.

She was turning to stone before his horrified eyes.

Enemy Lover is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble online.


Bonnie Vanak
The Scorpion & the Seducer, May '08
Enemy Lover, Nocturne, Nov. '08
The Lady & the Libertine, Leisure, May '09
www.myspace.com/bonnievanak
www.bonnievanak.com/

Linda Wisdom | Jazz Is Back and In Need of a Good Night’s Sleep

I was barely halfway through writing 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover when I knew a second book had to follow and I could see her haunted by horrific nightmares, Fluff and Puff, her mischievous bunny slippers would be in big time trouble and while she and Nick are making things work between them, there were still some outside forces threatening their peace. Oh, did I mention that Irma was demanding an updated wardrobe? No? Well, that too. Just how much multi-tasking can one witch do when she’s seriously sleep deprived?

But we are talking about Jazz who can eliminate a curse with a few words, work up a flick of a finger to banish a headache – even if she still can’t cure the common cold – and deal with Dweezil’s problems with a business rival without breaking a nail.

It’s just too bad she can’t figure out who, or what, is causing the nightmares that plague her and Nick where he tears out her throat and since witch’s blood is deadly to a vampire, not a good option, and Nick dreaming of Jazz having the perfect soccer mom lifestyle while he hides in the shadows. Or why Fluff had to cough up a button belonging to a WereWeasel carnie as proof that he and Puff dined on the Ferris Wheel operator, an act that’s an automatic death sentence. So now they’re in bunny slipper jail while Jazz sets out to prove they had better taste than that.

Authors have to love their characters. And some we even hate because they’re someone meant to be hated. I have to say that Jazz is one that I completely relate to. She does and says things I can’t, but she’s always been someone I’d love to hang out with. She has her issues, a serious Starbucks addiction and never ever infer that witches and brooms go together.

She has a fantastic support system with vampire Nick, mortal Krebs, ghostly Irma and her fellow witches, Stasi and Blair, who drop everything to come to her rescue when she needs them most. And in her mind, that was the longest forty-eight hours of her life! Sorry for not saying more, but I don’t want to give it away.

I enjoy writing and reading about characters I can relate to in one sense or another. And a spot of magick makes it even more fun.

What about you? Are there characters that psyche you up too?

Enter my ONE DAY BLOG contest for a chance to win a sign copy of Hex Appeal

Linda

Wicked By Any Other Name , March 2009
Hex Appeal , November 2008
50 Ways to Hex Your Lover , March 2008

Sharon Ashwood | Making Paranormal Sandwiches

There’s a lot to be said for the submarine sandwich. There can be as much bread, cheese, veggies and cold cuts as the maker desires. If you want two kinds of cheese, go ahead. Mayo and mustard? Why not? The only limit is appetite.

Which is all good until your boss points to a sandwich box made for the usual peanut butter and jelly sized affair. That moment of “hmm, how am I going to get this sucker in there?” sums up my experience of writing the paranormal romance. I have to tell a many-layered story as clearly and efficiently (and as briefly!) as I can.

For any author, there’s a lot on the kitchen counter when they’re building the universe of their book: there’s character, plot, and setting, plus:

• In a romance, there’s the whole fall-in-love experience.
  
• If it’s a historical novel, the author needs to bring the past alive, right down to the horseshoe nails, gun smoke and corsets.
  
• If it’s science fiction, fantasy, or paranormal, there’s the whole supernatural universe, with its vast array of creatures, rules of magic, and other cultures to explain and make compelling.
  
• For a good paranormal or urban fantasy romance, where you have most of the above, your metaphorical book sandwich is a definite clubhouse. Yum, and don’t hold the pickles.

But wait: just because an author has a lot of ground to cover, that doesn’t mean they get more pages to tell their tale. In fact, many editors are careful to put the word count they want right in a writer’s contract. How many words? Not enough! Why do they do this? Long books cost more to print (and the reader pays for that) and also not everyone wants to read a really long book.

Having a word limit does challenge an author’s skill, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s made me write smarter—but inevitably, things get left out. When the dust settled from writing my February 09 release, RAVENOUS, I had a spare demon and an entire unopened box of vampires. Plus, there was a lot to say about my universe and the people in it that I hadn’t even begun to cover. It was like I’d been whittled down to, well, half a sandwich. Thank heavens there’s a book two!

What’s an author to do with all their leftover ideas? One solution to the world-building overflow is to take all that extra content and post it on the web. Games, maps, character interviews and background histories are popping up on web sites more and more often—and that’s not the only outlet for extras. Marvel Comics has picked up some popular authors and are releasing comic books based on writers like Laurell K. Hamilton. If TV shows and movies have tie-ins, why not books? Can action figures be far behind? In trade magazines for the book industry, I’ve seen this many-pronged approach hailed as the future of reading—books aren’t just on paper anymore, but require a multimedia event.

As an author, that’s a lot to explore. So far, I have my own Monsterpedia page at www.sharonashwood.com/ that fills in snippets of information about the RAVENOUS world. I’m sure I’ll do other things as the series goes along. Overall, I’m glad there are so many ways to communicate with readers, and I enjoy blogging, and multimedia content is fun to experience and to create. But what about the story?

This “book plus web” approach is nifty from my side of the fence, but would more book and fewer extras work better for readers? Or is the opposite true? I like to think of novels as one-stop-shopping or, to go back to my original metaphor, the full meal deal. Is that view out of date?
What about you? Thumbs up or thumbs down on putting important book series information on the web? Should it be web-only, or just repeat what’s already on the page?

Sharon Ashwood

Deidre Knight | Red Fire

Hello, gang!

I’m so excited that my friends here at Fresh Fiction invited me to stop by and chat about RED FIRE, the first book in my new paranormal romance series, Gods of Midnight. This sexy series features immortal Spartans, seven warriors who protect humanity from every form of evil that stalks the night.

I’m also here to share details about a fun and exciting opportunity. I’ve just launched the Not-So-Flat Ajax contest, giving you the chance to help Ajax Petrakos, hero of RED FIRE, find the soulmate who was promised to him centuries ago. You might be wondering what a household cleaning product has to do with hot, sexy paranormal romance!

Well, trust me—Ajax Petrakos is many things, but he is no Mr. Clean. This fine man definitely knows how to get down and dirty, whether battling fierce demons or hunting for his mortal love, Shay Angel.

You see, more than a thousand years ago the Oracle at Delphi prophesied that Shay would complete his very soul. He’s sought the woman ever since that day, never knowing which century she might live in. And that’s where you come in! Ajax has reason to believe that Shay Angel lives now, in our very own time. With your help, Ajax is traveling across the world in an effort to find her; in exchange for your assistance, the Spartan offers the chance to win a Nintendo® Wii and many other incredible prizes.

For details about how you can help this noble warrior, please visit http://www.deidreknight.com/ and http://www.godsofmidnight.com/. Not only will you have the chance to win, but you can learn all about RED FIRE and the sexy Spartans featured in Gods of Midnight.

I hope you have tons of fun helping a noble warrior in his quest!

Warmly,
Deidre Knight

Elizabeth Boyle | Baking Cookies

My son had this past Friday off from school. Imagine me, standing before the calendar and thinking to myself, “Only two weeks into school and already the teachers are shipping them home?” Haven’t they a care for my poor nerves? to quote the always quotable Mrs. Bennett.

And since it was only the littlest hero and me at home, we decided to bake cookies. He loves the measuring and the mixing, and we all love cookies, so it’s a win all over the house. The first step was the debate over what sort of cookies to make: Chocolate chip? No, Nick doesn’t like those. Sugar cookies? No, not Dad’s favorite. Quite frankly, I’ve never met a cookie I’d turn down, but go figure that my house of men are picky about such simple things. We finally settled upon an old favorite recipe for gingersnaps, which everyone in the house loves but then we had to make sure we had all the ingredients.

And it was about then, as I was hunting around the cupboard for molasses, that I realized how much baking cookies for one’s family is like writing romance novels for your fans. I smiled as I pulled out all the familiar ingredients: the flour, the sugar, the baking soda, the salt, the things that go into nearly every cookie one can bake. Elements as essential as the hero and heroine, the happy ending and the conflict that keeps them apart for most of the pages. And while there are always these stock elements in every book, it is the molasses, the ginger and cinnamon that give a gingersnap its distinctive flavor, and the author’s own mixology as she writes that makes every story different.

I suppose when an writer adds something new to the mix and you bite into what you think is going to be sugar cookie, with its sweet, mother’s hug of vanilla, and you find your senses being filled with hints of licorice or cardamom, you wonder what the heck your author was doing as she was writing that book.

I know this is true, since I did just that with my Marlowe Wish series. I added paranormal elements to my usual Regency romance. Imagine Jane Austen meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was how I pitched my new book, Tempted by the Night. Now some readers rejoiced and loved the differences, (they are probably your basic cookie-holics, just like myself) others curled up their noses, rather like one of my little heroes when you try to get him to eat a chocolate chip cookie. A Regency is a Regency, thank you very much.

To probe this peak inside human nature a little further, I tried to get the little guy to put something outside the recipe into our batch of cookies, and he looked at me as if I wanted him to commit heresy. “That is not what is says here, Mom,” he said, stabbing his finger at my grandmother’s faded, yet firm handwriting.

Ah, the lessons you learn when the kids stay home from school. There is nothing wrong with writing outside the lines, I know, but romance readers have their recipes for a great story, just as cookie recipes are written in exact terms for a reason. So the finished product comes out exactly as we expect it—to comfort us, to feed us, and to touch our hearts in a way that is familiar. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Eliabeth
elizabethboyle.com

Sophie Jordan/Sharie Kohler | Juggling Genres

Authors can find themselves writing in different genres for multiple reasons: 1) varied interests that demand you try your hand at ... well, varied genres; 2) career security; and, 3) a cheating heart. Yes, Hank William's twang is running through my head right about now. Anyone else?

As you may know, I write historical romances (Sophie Jordan) and paranormal romances (Sharie Kohler), which puts me at writing a book every five months, sometimes less. Why do I hold myself to such a demanding schedule? Which of the above reasons motivates me?

I'm guilty of all three. Like most of us, I'm a voracious cross romance genre reader. Right now I have books in the following sub-genres on my nightstand: historical, suspense, single-title, category, paranormal, young adult, women's fiction, even the occasional inspirational and erotica (talk about extremes!). Seriously though, great books all. Books that move and inspire me. I cut my teeth on historical romances: Kathleen Woodiwiss, Johanna Lindsey, Dorothy Garlock, Julia Quinn. I love(d) these books! I wanted to write books like these. So - I did. Starting with my debut, ONCE UPON A WEDDING NIGHT. Incredibly (at least to me!), Sophie Jordan was born and here she is, four books later. But I like gritty contemporary reads, too, and decided to try my hand at a paranormal, and MARKED BY MOONLIGHT came to be. Check off reason number one.

Reason two? Career security sounds mercenary, but I figured two balls in the air increased my chances of maintaining a writing career. And above all, I want to write for as long as possible. I want to keep my stories on shelves. It's the career I've always dreamed of - to write romance novels?!? For thousands to read? And I get paid to do it? Yessssssssss.

And what about reason three? A cheating heart touches on reason one a little bit. As varied as my interests, it's just impossible for me to remain faithful to one genre when there are so many other smooth-talking and good-looking genres out there. Fortunately number three only applies to my books -- I'm happily married. ;)

So what do I tell readers who read one of my books from one genre and love it, but claim to dislike books of the other genre? Don't knock it til you try it! If you like Sophie Jordan, you're going to like Sharie Kohler, too! Because, be it historical or romance, you're going to get the same type of emotional journey behind each book. No matter the genre, I write with the same tone, the same level of intensity. Test me! Take the Sophie Jordan/Sharie Kohler challenge by starting with my newest historical release, SURRENDER TO ME and then reading book #1 of my paranormal Moon Chasers Series, MARKED BY MOONLIGHT.

So the question begs to be asked ... would I ever add another genre to the mix? Hmmm... can I plead the fifth? Who can say? With my cheating heart, it's always a possibility. ;)

What about you? Readers: do you cheat, too, and read cross-genre? Or are you loyal to one specific genre? What about the writers out there? Are you exclusive?

Cheers,
Sophie/Sharie

www.shariekohler.net/
www.sophiejordan.net/

Angie Fox | How I sold my first book.

Or: Everything I needed to know, I learned from George Costanza

I’ve always loved to read, so it was no surprise to anyone when I eventually decided to write a book of my own. When I did, I attacked it head on. I planned, I worked, I outlined more than any woman should. The end result? I wrote three mysteries that didn’t sell.

I don’t know how many of you watch Seinfeld, but there is a time in George’s life where he decides what he’s been doing hasn’t been working, so he decides to do the opposite. That’s what I did with my books. I’d been writing serious mysteries, with lots of science and research involved. They’d generated some interest, enough to almost, almost sell. But nothing quite happened.

To take my mind off the latest mystery making the rounds with agents, I decided to write something completely different, a funny paranormal romance where I could build my own world and make up my own rules. I fell in love with the idea of a preschool teacher who is forced to run off with a gang of geriatric biker witches and The Accidental Demon Slayer was born.

Instead of a 20-page plot outline, I had a 5-page list of ideas, one of which included “but little did they know, all the Shoney’s are run by werewolves.” Instead of following the rules, I broke a few. Instead of painstakingly writing over the course of a year, I giggled my way through the book and had a complete manuscript in five months.

The opening chapters did well in contests and caught the eye of an editor, who asked to see the whole thing. That same editor bought the book less than a week after I finished it.

I still can’t believe The Accidental Demon Slayer is a July 2008 release.

While I’m not sure Seinfeld is the best place to go for life lessons, I really do think there’s something to be said for following your instincts – in writing and in everything else.

Angie Fox
http://www.angiefox.com/