Paranormality

Guest Blogger: Author Margay Leah Justice

2012-01-24T08:46:00.004-07:00

Why Wolves?

Whenever I discuss my latest book, Sloane Wolf, people often ask me, Why Wolves? And I have to say, why not? Wolves are fantastic creatures that mate for life and are truly faithful to their mates (from what I've read), and we humans could learn a lot from them.

As it pertains to my book, however, it was rather serendipitous that I ended up writing about wolves. I didn't intentionally set out to do so, but a series of events conspired to make it happen. The first event came in the form of a book that was ultimately made into a movie that got me to thinking -- and anybody who knows me can tell you that when I get to thinking, things begin to happen . . . in a writing sense that is! I can turn the smallest nugget of an idea into a story, if motivated enough to do so, and that is how this story started out, as just a nugget. So there I was, inspired by this other book/movie enough that certain scenes kept kicking up in my head (ahem, fight scene), but content just to imagine it in my head.

Until event number two happened. That would be a contest that an electronic publishing company was running with the theme of -- you guessed it -- wolves. And so I thought, why not? I had some interesting scenes kicking around in my head, the contest was for a novella length story, so I had enough to accomplish that. And with the help of event number three -- discovering an article about gray wolves returning to Massachusetts after a100-plus year absence -- a true story began to formulate with legends of wolves and why they "reappeared" in the state after such a long absence. Wow, I thought, this was really going to be something, if I could get it all together in time.

Trouble was, once I started writing, I just kept on writing and I over-shot the word count. One thing I forgot when I set out to enter this contest: I have never been able to write short. I keep trying, but I usually have so much to say, it doesn't conform well to short stories or novellas. Not wanting to cut anything to fit the guidelines, I simply finished the book for me. And by the time I was finished with it, I knew that I had to try to get it published anyway, I felt that strong about it. And after several fits and starts, I finally found the right publisher for it in Muse it Up Publishing.

So there you have it. The serendipitous events that led to the birth of Sloane Wolf.

Links:

http://margayleahjustice.blogspot.com/

http://moonlightlacemayhem.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/margay1122

http://twitter.com/Margay

http://www.facebook.com/MargayLeahJustice

Where to buy:

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Sloane-Wolves-Destiny-Falls-ebook/dp/B006M4AGN4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1325789895&sr=1-1

Muse It Up Publishing - http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=242&category_id=107&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1

Wanted: Paranormal blogs/websites to help me promote the USA The Vampire Shrink in April

2012-01-03T20:37:00.003-07:00

I have been scheduling promo leading up to April, when the USA version of the expanded/rewritten The Vampire Shrink is released by Sterling Publishing as a trade paperback and Nook edition.

Here are the places that have graciously agreed to either review my book and/or interview me or let me guest blog in April:

http://urbanfantasyreader.blogspot.com/

http://www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com/

http://bittenbybooks.com/

http://patricias-vampire-notes.blogspot.com/

http://vampchixreadbooks.blogspot.com/

http://www.literaladdiction.com/

Vampire Romance Books

Anna's Book Blog

My Vamp Fiction

The Spinecracker

Bibliophilicbookblog

Urban Fantasy Paranormal Fiction

Can you help me find other paranormal and urban fantasy blogs/websites that I can contact about doing promo for, or reviewing, my book?

I'll give a copy of the USA trade paperback of The Vampire Shrink to one person who leaves some info here in the comments!

Thank you!

Vampire Monday: E.F. Watkins

2011-12-19T06:07:00.003-07:00

Why Vampires Are (and Always Will Be) Popular

So far, I’ve lived through the vampire craze of the 1960s, inspired first by Hammer Films and later the series Dark Shadows; the resurgence of interest in the early 1970s, sparked by popular books on the historical Dracula and the Frank Langella play on Broadway; again in the mid-70s, with the success of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot and Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire; and several mini-revivals during the ‘80s and 90s. Of course, in the 2000s we’ve gone batty again with True Blood, Twilight and The Vampire Diaries.

Why does the image of the vampire have such undying appeal? I think because, as developed over the ages by various authors and filmmakers, he has come to embody a range of qualities that both frighten and fascinate us.

1. Eternal life: We all think we’d like to live forever, even though it could have its drawbacks. Since the vampire usually keeps the appearance he had when he died, he can remain forever young or at least in the prime of life. In terms of story lines, this trait also links him with the past -- he can re-encounter his lost loves or old enemies in reincarnated form. But on the dark side, he’s a walking dead man who seems to know the secrets of the grave, and beyond. And of course, he must drink blood to survive.

2. Drinking blood: A great metaphor for thriving at the expense of others -- and don’t we all know someone like that! Depending on the approach of the author, a vampire can attack violently like a werewolf and kill each time he bites. Or, like Stoker’s original Dracula, he can drain a victim slowly over time, which is much creepier. His lust for blood has been used to parallel an addiction to sex, alcohol or drugs. It also symbolizes absorbing the victim’s soul or spirit. In some fiction, a vampire can survive on animal, artificial or stored blood; in others, only human blood from a live victim will do.

3. Power over others: The vampire controls his victims mentally. He may use hypnosis or simply gain telepathic control from taking their blood. He can compel these slaves to do his will, even at the risk of their own lives. In Stoker and other traditions, if the vampire master is destroyed, any of his victims who are not yet dead or “turned” recover completely. Again, I think we’ve all met people who have an uncanny ability to either charm or intimidate others into serving their needs, even making the other person act against his own best interests.

4. Creating other vampires: Many novels and movies have treated vampirism as a physical plague, and the old superstitious might have come about to explain the terrifying spread of certain diseases. Sometimes the victim “turns” with just one bite; sometimes s/he must be drained to death; sometimes only a “baptism” -- drinking the master’s blood, too -- causes the change. Even though leaving other vamps in his wake tends to draw suspicion, a fictional bloodsucker may feel compelled to create a mate of his own kind, or a whole kindred community, to relieve his…

5. Loneliness: Whether isolated or part of a vampire clan, he lives as a social outcast. In modern books and movies, vampires sometimes parallel gang-bangers, street people, gays and minorities -- anyone seen as out of the mainstream. The vampire can never fully relate to humans, because at worst he feeds off them and at best he outlives them. Well, which of us hasn’t felt, at least from time to time, completely misunderstood and cut off from the rest of humanity? So we have to feel for the poor guy, or gal.

6. Special powers & weaknesses. He’s invulnerable to the usual weapons such as guns and knives and has superhuman strength, speed and agility. He may also read minds, move things with his mind, disappear and reappear or change into a mist or an animal. All of those traits sound pretty cool! However, in many plots he also is vulnerable to certain religious and folk symbols and to sunlight. In Stoker’s novel, Dracula could go out in the daytime but could not use his special powers then. Whether or not a vampire needs to lie in a coffin, he usual rests in darkness to recharge. We sympathize with a creature who lives mainly at night, but at the same time, it gives him even more mystery and glamour.

7. Sensuality. Most vampires have heightened, animalistic senses and superhuman stamina. The more subtle ones seduce, rather than overpower, their victims. And whether or not they can have “normal” sex with humans or other vampires, the bite symbolizes a sexual act. Psychologists have theorized that losing yourself in great sex is like “a little death,” and with even a romantic, considerate vampire, his lover is literally risking death to have him. Talk about the lure of the forbidden!

Every author emphasizes certain traits over others and creates a slightly different set of guidelines. Stoker’s vamps were bound by different rules than those of Stephen King, Anne Rice or Charlaine Harris. But that is why, as a character, the vampire lives on and on -- because he represents so many things to different people. Though a monster, he can teach us a lot about what it means to be human.

E. F. Watkins specializes in paranormal suspense, and since 2003 has published six novels with Amber Quill Press LLC. Her first, DANCE WITH THE DRAGON, received a 2004 EPPIE Award from the national organization EPIC (Electronically Published Internet Connection.) as Best Horror Novel. Next came the romantic mystery RIDE A DANCING HORSE (as “Eileen Watkins”). Her third book, BLACK FLOWERS, was a Finalist in the Thriller category for both the 2006 EPPIEs and the 2007 Indie Excellence Book Awards. She also has published the paranormal thrillers PARAGON and DANU’S CHILDREN. Her latest, ONE BLOOD, is a prequel to DANCE WITH THE DRAGON and currently a 2012 EPIC eBook finalist. Her website is www.efwatkins.com.

http://amberquill.com/OneBlood.html

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E.F. will give away one copy of her book to a commenter here. Stop back by to see if you won.

Vampire Monday: Lori Devoti

2011-12-12T06:07:00.006-07:00

I’m old enough to remember my babysitter rushing my three-year-old (or so) self off for a nap so she could watch Dark Shadows.

A soap opera with a vampire. Who’d have thought it?

Shift ahead a few decades. Romance novels with vampires — who’d have thought that?

Vampires in some form have been around forever. In Greek mythology there was Mormo, an ancient form of the boogey man who bit bad children. Empusa, also from Greek myth, seduced men, drank their blood, and ate their flesh. Lami also was said to eat children — sometimes her own.

A quick search on the Internet will turn up vampires (or vampire-like creatures) from across time and continents. The idea of some dark and scary monster that feeds on the flesh or blood of humans seems to cross all boundaries.

Because of that, I can’t imagine them ever going away. They seem to be hard-wired into us.

I think the bigger question is why and how in the last century we have managed to romanticize them.

Vampires are dead which equals cold and pale.

They have sharp, unsightly teeth and they crave blood — human blood.

There is nothing on the surface that would make them anything except a horror-movie villain, but somehow we, in our safe modern world, have made them into something more tragic than horrific and more fascinating than repulsive.

We see them as wounded and feel for everything they lost when they were turned, frequently against their will. Although a vampire is seldom weak, we see them as much a victim as the last body they drained.

Their magnetism gives them mystery and their inability to die added dimension.

A vampire as hero appeals to the dream that there is good in everyone and everything no matter how horrific their crimes may appear to be. They give us hope that anyone can be saved if we just love them enough.

So if vampires are the monster most hard-wired into us to fear, vampires as heroes are our way of hoping those monsters don’t exist at all — not really.

Because deep down, there is good in everyone.

And isn’t that what we all really want to believe?

Lori Devoti is the multi-published author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, including numerous stories that feature vampires as heroes and villains. To learn more about her books, visit her web site at http://www.loridevoti.com/. While there, don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter—for news on her books and the occasional free book just for subscribing.

Link to book
Trust Me
http://tiny.cc/00osm

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Lori will give away one copy of her book to a commenter. Stop back by to see if you won.

Vampire Monday: Barbara Elsborg

2011-12-05T06:15:00.004-07:00

Why vampires are and always will be popular

Vampires have always repulsed and fascinated, these days they more fascinate than repulse. The fact that vampires are human-like creatures enables us identify with them to a certain extent, letting us believe we can understand the way they think and behave, or at least explain it in human terms. They’re pure predators. They deal in death. They consume the substance that keeps us alive. They have superpowers - super speed, super hearing, super sexual recovery (!) and can read minds. They’re stronger than us, more powerful than us and therefore can exert control over us. They’re dead and yet still with us, which might strengthen belief that death is not the end.

The vampire is probably the most popular fictional monster ever created. How ironic that these super-strong, human-like creatures who are able to seduce with a few words and might suck their victims dry can be repelled by the smallest cross and a whiff of garlic, and unless invited in cannot enter a private dwelling. In the early days, that is. The first vampires in fiction were true monsters and really did terrify readers. Dracula is a story of sexual seduction and rape. It must have been comforting to know that with a simple stake through a vampire heart -- they die, though of course, it’s never quite that easy. Even now, vampires in horror movies continue to terrify -- Let the Right One In and Thirty Days of Night had me cowering behind the couch.

So are we obsessed with blood, sex, death, fangs? More likely we are fascinated by the idea of a life that can go on forever but without our bodies aging, a life unencumbered by problems of ill-health or any sort of weakness. Yet how could we cope with the loneliness when those around us die and we live on? Vampires give us an insight into what life would be like if we could indeed live forever. Anne Rice is the master at exploring the tortured vampire psyche. LeStat remains my favorite vampire of all time. While Christine Feehan’s vampires, though they might go through hell to reach their mate, are assured of a happy future. There’s room for all sorts of vampires and there always will be.

Modern vampires are more sophisticated and have evolved to suit our needs, and that, I believe, is the key to our continued fascination. In literature, we’ve mostly turned them into gorgeous tortured guys on the fringes of society, who never age and are brilliant in bed, especially if they’re feeding at the same time. We dress them immaculately in black, make them enigmatic, and in need of rescue from their torment by the love of a worthy woman. Once they find their mate, and they’re prepared to spend centuries looking – how romantic is that? – they are the ultimate romantics, devoting themselves to their partner’s happiness. We’ve created an anti-hero that can go on forever- literally.

There are no longer any ‘rules’ about what a vamp can and can’t do. They might even sparkle! Garlic is no longer a problem, they laugh at crosses, some can go out in daylight, they don’t have to sleep in coffins, they don’t have to drink human blood, they’re not all beautiful and yet they’re still compelling.
They’re the ultimate bad boys and we all know how much we love those.

BIO
Barbara Elsborg lives in West Yorkshire in the north of England. She always wanted to be a spy, but having confessed to everyone without them even resorting to torture, she decided it was not for her. Vulcanology scorched her feet. A morbid fear of sharks put paid to marine biology. So instead, she spent several years successfully selling cyanide.

After dragging up two rotten, ungrateful children and frustrating her sexy, devoted, wonderful husband (who can now stop twisting her arm) she finally has time to conduct an affair with an electrifying plugged-in male, her laptop.
Her books feature quirky heroines and bad boys, and she hopes they are as much fun to read as they are to write.

The book I’d like to offer to one commentator is in my Trueblood series – Falling For You.
http://www.loose-id.com/Falling-for-You.aspx

Falling for You
She lives for the moon.
Every month, for five days around the full moon, Jo has the overwhelming urge to jump almost every male she sees. Convinced she’s gone crazy, she seeks medical help but finds none. All she can do to stop the hunger is run. One wrong step and Jo’s life plummets in a direction she didn’t expect when she falls into the lair of a badly injured vampire.

He lives for the night.
Alek can’t believe the angel who’s fallen from the sky. With a knife wedged in his chest and too weak to move, he’s given up and waiting for sunrise. But when a beautiful jogger crashes into his lair, Alek finds more than a way to survive. He finds a reason for doing so.

http://www.barbaraelsborg.com/
http://www.barbaraelsborg.blogspot.com/

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Barbara will give away one copy of her book to a commenter. Stop back by to see if you won.

Book Description and Keynote for Blood Therapy

2011-12-04T12:01:00.002-07:00

I got an email from my British publisher a while back, giving me a draft of their thoughts about the book description and keynote for my new book #2 in the Kismet Knight series, BLOOD THERAPY. I think both could use a little more juice. What do you think? How would YOU write them?

BLOOD THERAPY book description (for the British version):

Psychologist Kismet Knight needs to take a break from the strange world she’s fallen into – and from Devereux, the sexy-as-hell master vampire who rules it. Her annual presentation at the American Psychological Association’s yearly conference in New York City seems like the perfect escape – especially when Alan Stevens, the cute FBI profiler, arranges to meet her there. They may be just friends, but who says friends can’t fancy each other? And at least he can’t read her mind. But it’s not long before Kismet’s new life intrudes. The monster who stalked her three months earlier still has plans for her, her bloodsucking clients won’t leave her alone, and there are ghosts haunting the hotel. On top of that, Kismet finds herself in a sticky romantic situation – and she’s run out of time. No one is coming out of the madness unscathed, and nothing will ever be the same for Kismet, Alan or Devereux.

Keynote:

Vampire shrink Kismet Knight needs a break from her sexy-as-hell vampire lover, and a conference in NYC is the perfect excuse – but Kismet’s about to discover her bloodsucking new clients just can’t leave her alone!

Vampire Monday: Louisa Bacio

2011-11-28T04:52:00.004-07:00

Everlasting Love

The fascination with vampires varies greatly. Of course, there’s always that benefit of immortality. A vampire never grows old(er), loses one’s youthfulness and doesn’t have to worry about catching this season’s awful flu.

Mythology surrounding vampires differs, though. A few believe that if a vampire drinks blood from a human who’s diseased, that vampire also will fall ill – maybe just not as seriously. I’d like to believe that the strength of the vampire will fight through the germs with super-antibodies.

When it comes down to it, most people fear death. I’m not talking those who are highly religious and “wait” to join God in the afterworld. (I’ve met people like that, and they are free to possess their own beliefs.) I’m talking about the average, every day person: We don’t want the (imagined) pain. We don’t want to give up the life that we know. We don’t want to lose those that we love.

Wait. What was that last point about losing those that we love? Oh, yes. That’s the thing about immortality. Would you want to spend FOREVER alone?

Death, especially to those who are young, sucks. I recently met a man in his mid-40s, and extremely good looking. He was caring for his two youngest children, a boy, 3, and a girl, 4. In a moment of quiet, another member of our group whispered to me that a year ago, his wife died, and he’s the father of six. What? How is that possible?

You don’t meet the person of your dreams, fall in love, get married, start a family . . . and then lose the other person. Life doesn’t work that way . . . but, unfortunately, sometimes it does.

So the other mainstay that goes along with immortality is the concept of that forever partner. A vampire doesn’t want to continuously lose those they love lifetime after lifetime. That’s why one of the most common themes within vampire fiction is finding that companion, whether it’s Dracula and misguided and misplaced love, or the Twilight series and its “forever love.”

We want that forever happily ever after. We want everlasting love.

Bio:

Louisa Bacio writes erotic romance, many of which delve into the paranormal realm. Her fourth full-length novel The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf 2: Chains of Silver recently was released via Ravenous Romance. She also collects anthologies of vampire fiction. In addition to writing, Bacio enjoys spending time with her family, and teaches college English, writing and popular culture.

The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf: Chains of Silver

Buy link to publisher

http://www.ravenousromance.com/fantastica/the-vampire-the-witch-and-the-werewolf-chains-of-silver.php

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Louisa will give away a copy of her book to one commenter. Stop back by to see if you won.

Interview with Devereux

2011-11-25T19:01:00.003-07:00

Devereux, Kismet Knight's vampire lover, is a complex and multi-faceted man, er, vampire. Here's an interview he gave for Laurie on her Bitten by Paranormal Romance blog recently:

Kismet Knight: Hello, everyone! And Happy October, my favorite time of the year. I just stopped by for a moment to let you know that there’s been a change of plans regarding Devereux’s interview. I was going to do it, since I know him best, but we’ve been having discussions lately about the fact that his ego is a little, well, inflated. His self-esteem a bit excessive, and I’m not sure he needs even more attention . . .

Devereux: Ahem.

Kismet: Yes. I know you don’t agree. So, you’re good looking. And maybe your body can flame up a woman’s pilot light? Does that mean everyone with two “x” chromosomes has to genuflect in your presence? No way! You think because you can dazzle everyone with your vampire wiles that we’re all at your beck and call. Well, let me tell you . . .

Devereux: (Looking adorable.) Kismet, my love. I promise I will think about everything you have said. Later. But for now, I would hate to disappoint the ladies . . .

Kismet: Okay, you’re right. We can fight, er, talk, later. (Fans self.) What I meant to say is that since this interview is for readers who do want to know about Devereux’s physical attributes and sexy ways, I’ve been persuaded to step aside and let him be worshipped. I’m relinquishing the task to one of Devereux’s newest staff members, Tara, who loves nothing more than to sing the master’s praises. It’s all yours, Tara . Bye, everyone.

Tara: (Twisting her hands nervously.) Bye, Dr. Knight. Oh, Geez. I’ve never been alone with Devereux before. What if I lose control and jump on him, or something? I mean, wow. He’s just so . . . astounding. Those lips, that butt . . .

Devereux: (Smiling.) There is no reason for concern. I am sure you will be fine. Just ask the questions we prepared. (Pause.) Tara?

Tara: Uh, sorry. You’ve never spoken directly to me before. Your voice is so sexy. So hypnotic. It makes me want to . . . er, never mind. Is it hot in here? Okay. Can I ask a question of my own before I read the ones on the paper?

Devereux: (Pauses to read her mind.) Certainly.

Tara: How can Dr. Knight keep herself under control around you? I mean, you can make her do whatever you want, can’t you? How can she just walk away? After all, you’re the bad ass vampire.

Devereux: Bad ass vampire? (Smiles.) Yes, I do believe that is one phrase used to describe me. But to answer your question, Dr. Knight has a very strong mind. And lots of opinions. She has made it clear she does not wish to be controlled by me, or anyone so – because she is important to me – I honor her request. As you might imagine, it is challenging for me to find an equal of any kind. Not to be the arrogant soul I am often accused of being, but I have been a vampire for over 800 years and I have built my power purposefully. With great power comes great responsibility. I enjoy Dr. Knight’s discussions about the state of my ego. She keeps me from taking myself too seriously.

Tara: Well, er, that’s good. And speaking of responsibility. What’s it like to be one of the most powerful vampires on Earth? Do you get tired of being the boss?

Devereux: I have always had leadership abilities. There have been times throughout my long life that I wished to be relieved of the responsibility of keeping vampires off the human radar, but being the boss seems to come naturally to me. Maintaining the balance between the two species is a crucial task and neither side would benefit from the loss of that equilibrium. Many vampires prefer to be able to kill and feed on humans as they did in the past. To my mind, that would only encourage and unleash the vampire hunters again, which made vampire lives miserable for several centuries. Humans offer themselves to us freely. We can feed without killing.

Tara: Wow. Are you saying there are still vampire hunters?

Devereux: Of course. I have a vast network of observers – both mortal and immortal – who keep me apprised of the whereabouts and activities of the hunters.

Tara: (Hugging herself.) Oh, no! Vampire hunters! Will you protect me?

Devereux: (Half-shrug.) You have nothing to fear. Denver is home to many extraordinary vampire warriors. Under my leadership, they keep all vampire-kind safe.

Tara: Well, let’s move onto some of the meatier questions. How tall are you, and how much do you weigh?

Devereux: How long have you been a vampire, Tara?

Tara: Ten years. Why?

Devereux: (Smiles.) It is rare to hear a vampire use the word “meatier.”

Tara: Oh, yeah. I guess I still use a lot of my old human words.

Devereux: Charming. Anyway, you know we old vampires can transform our physical appearances at will. I can be as tall and weigh as much as I choose. But, for the most part, I normally stand about six feet, two inches and weigh around one hundred ninety pounds. I prefer to remain toned and muscular.

Tara: (Staring at Devereux’s body.) I’ll say. (Shifts her gaze to his face.) Your eyes are unusual. They’re not blue and not green, but a unique mixture of both. And you have dark eyebrows and lashes when your hair is so light. How did that happen?

Devereux: Actually, my hair lightened even more than it already was when I went through the transformation process from human to vampire. My hair originally was a darker shade of blond, so the brows and lashes were a better match. But I’m used to the contrast now and quite enjoy it. (Smiles.) Don’t you think my features suit me?

Tara: (Mouth slowly opening.)

Devereux: Tara?

Tara: (Closing mouth.) Sorry. Got caught up in a fantasy for a moment. Yes. Your features definitely suit you. Let’s go to the next question. You’ve lived a very long time. Can we assume you have had lots of experience with women? Did you have a favorite lover before you met Dr. Knight?

Devereux: It is not my habit to kiss and tell – or bite and tell, either – but it is well known by those who know me that I spent many years with the goddess Maeve, who has a reputation for being uninhibited and vibrantly, primitively sexual. We taught each other many things.

Tara: Yikes. You had sex with a goddess? Can you tell us how that experience was different from being with human or vampire women?

Devereux: (Dreamy expression on his face.) It was a passionate and amazing experience. Maeve is insatiable. She can have sex continuously for hours – as can I – so we often went without nourishment while we were caught up in sexual ecstasy. She appreciated my special gifts, (Glancing down at his crotch.) and my resilience. She showed me how to use one finger in a certain way to drive her mad with desire. That skill has served me well ever since.

Tara: One finger . . . uh, do you still see Maeve? Doesn’t Dr. Knight get jealous?

Devereux: Maeve and I have remained friends. (Gives boyish grin.) Dr. Knight insists she does not get jealous, but I happen to know better. Regardless, I am very loyal and give her no reason to question my commitment.

Tara: I heard that you danced for Dr. Knight at a protection ritual you created for her. I’ll bet that was very sensual.

Devereux: I enjoy dancing. Most pagan males do. Our ceremonies call for movements and I am quite good at all aspects of the physical. I spent many evenings throughout the centuries reveling naked around a fire. Beltane is especially exciting because first we dance and then we pair off and have wild sex. Would you like me to demonstrate?

Tara: What? (Eyes bulging.) Which part? Hey, you’re taking your clothes off. Are you really going to dance naked for me? Oh, my God! You are! Will there be sex next?

(A naked Devereux throws his head back, and sings loudly in a strange language while he moves in a Greek-like dance. His platinum hair flies out behind him as he stomps and claps along with his song.)

Tara: (Eyes still bulging, gaze glued to the firm evidence that dancing arouses Devereux.) Holy shit. How big is that thing?

(Devereux glides out of the room, singing.)

Tara: Devereux? Wait! Can I come? Oh, man. Look at those muscles. That ass. Hold on . . . (Voice fades as she leaves the room.)

***********

The Vampire Shrink, the first book in the Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist series. The British version is available to USA readers on Kindle: http://amzn.to/uFIfjx
The USA trade paperback and Nook versions will appear April, 2012.

Vampire Monday: Betsy Dornbusch

2011-11-21T06:06:00.009-07:00

Vampires have Staying Power

If I have to think of one thing that keeps the vampire mythos enduring, it’s immortality. (See what I did there?) With that one characteristic comes a whole host of fabulous traits, not the least of which is an eccentric nature. I think a writer does vampires an injustice if they don’t imbue them with intriguing peculiarities and deep-set flaws. Eccentricity lends the sense of depth and age, like scars on an old desk top. Of course, everyone knows vampires don’t physically scar…but scars on the psyche work better in fiction anyway.

Eccentricity also goes hand-in-hand with confidence. Aged vampires are creatures who know what they want and aren’t afraid of their own drive to achieve it. I think the best vampires are mature and self-accepting to an annoying degree (maybe a little like some parental types we know). Which leads me to wonder if sometimes a vampire might be frustrated at appearing young forever? I look younger than my age and I’ve run up against a lack of respect because of it; sometimes people don’t give me credit when I actually have experience and age to back up my opinion.

Immortality lends a whole sense of mystery to a character, as well. In a whole lifetime it’s tough to know someone completely; what would it be to try to know someone who is a few centuries old? I don’t think a mortal can ever quite perceive the immortal in any way approaching entirety. But good stories often leave some questions unanswered, and a vampire is a wonderful vehicle for that device.

But mostly, immortality lends universal tension, bringing up that eternal question: what will the world be like after I’m gone? Vampires are generally succinct observers, even if only viewing humankind as prey. They have an objective, maybe even cold view of the world, which provides the opportunity for the characters, the writer, and the reader, to think in terms of future. I think vampires will always be with us because they transcend the human lifespan.

You can find me online at Sex Scenes at Starbucks http://betsydornbusch.com

My vampire books are Quencher and Quenched, written under the penname Ainsley, and they center around a vampire dating service. My recent sexy space opera is called Lost Prince. All are available through:

http://whiskeycreek.com/torrid

in a variety of formats, including for Kindle. I also have an urban fantasy featuring hot twin demon brothers rebelling against the demon king Asmodai coming out from Whiskey Creek Press in January 2012 entitled Sentinel: Archive of Fire. Early reviewers are calling it “dark and juicy” and a “superb thriller.”

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Betsy will be giving away a copy of one of her books to a commenter. Stop back by to see if you won.

Vampire Monday: Margaret Carter

2011-11-14T06:41:00.003-07:00

The Monster with a Thousand Faces

This is the title of a 1989 book about vampires in legend and literature by Brian J. Frost. The phrase summarizes what I consider the main reason why vampires are still popular almost two centuries after publication of the first known prose vampire story in English, "The Vampyre" by John Polidori — their versatility. Werewolves fall into only a few categories — contagious, as conceived by vintage horror films; voluntary users of shapechanging magic or victims of a curse or family hereditary, as in folklore — and they mainly symbolize one thing, the beast within us, whether viewed negatively or positively. Most zombies are either corpses raised by a sorcerer, as in Caribbean lore (not seen much in fiction nowadays), or Romero-type cannibalistic undead. Vampires, on the other hand, come in many types and have been used in literature and film for an almost infinite variety of symbolic purposes. In various works they’ve represented the combined yearning for and horror of the return of the dead, forbidden sexuality, plague and contagion, the threat of foreign invasion, satanic defiance of divine law, fascination with the Other, and the quest for immortality. Vampires can stick close to their horror fiction roots, follow the tradition but with variations such as making the vampire capable of ethical choices rather than demonic or otherwise automatically evil, or diverge into less traditional realms such as vampirism as an infectious disease or hereditary condition, or vampires as a separate species at the top of the food chain.

Another neat thing about vampires is that no matter what traits you want to give your fictional bloodsuckers, you can probably find support in some folklore somewhere. Many of the undead in European folklore rise from the grave as disgusting animated corpses who terrorize and prey their former relatives and neighbors. Others foreshadow the carnal appetites of recent fictional vampires, though. A sexually insatiable Gypsy vampire who returns to his widow’s bed and fathers a dhampir must have some trace of erotic appeal. Although some varieties of Filipino vampires are bloodthirsty female predators hiding a repellent aspect beneath their superficial beauty, the type called “danag” started out rather benign, until hostility broke out between them and their human neighbors. Not all legendary vampires are confined to their graves after sunrise. Like the classic nineteenth-century fictional vampires such as Carmilla and Dracula, who may be nocturnal by preference but aren’t harmed by sunlight, some folkloric vamps roam by day. Some vampires come in grotesque shapes such as the Malaysian monster who flies through the night in the form of a disembodied head with dangling intestines, which she shrinks with vinegar after feeding in order to squeeze back into her body before daybreak. In some European legends, on the other hand, the undead look human enough to mingle unrecognized with ordinary people. In Serbia and Albania it was believed that if a vampire isn’t destroyed within thirty years, he or she can move to another location and start a fresh life under a new identity. Sounds a lot like Count Dracula relocating from Transylvania to England.

Vampires as they're presented in recent fiction appeal to different readers for various reasons. The erotic implications of drinking blood form a perennial facet of the vampire’s allure. The undead hero as an immortal being who has experienced centuries of life offers a perspective on history and culture that human characters can’t. Furthermore, the traditional vampire can usually bestow undying life on his or her human companion. Another element that attracts many female readers is the “bad boy” image, the concept of a dangerous hero who may even have committed horrible acts in his past but has the capacity for redemption. And only the heroine’s love can redeem him. The repentant vampire’s struggles with his conscience and the temptation of bloodlust give the author opportunities for complex character development and philosophical speculation. My personal fascination with vampires started when I read DRACULA at the age of twelve and was mainly focused on the intimacy and eroticism of sharing blood, the essence of life. Later I came to see the vampire as a character type with an attraction similar to Spock on STAR TREK. A vampire looks like one of us but isn’t quite human and provides a slightly twisted viewpoint on human experience. He represents the allure of the alien, yet an alien we can connect with on a deep emotional level because he’s partly our kind.

BIO: Marked for life by reading DRACULA at an early age, Margaret L. Carter started as a horror writer and later expanded into fantasy and paranormal romance. In her teens she tried to create the kind of fiction she couldn’t find enough of, sympathetic to the “monster.” She included a chapter on DRACULA in her PhD dissertation and has written books and articles on vampires in literature, including DIFFERENT BLOOD: THE VAMPIRE AS ALIEN, about the science fiction development of vampires as a naturally evolved species. Her first published vampire novel, DARK CHANGELING, won an Eppie award (from EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition) in horror. In her latest erotic romance novella, BLOOD HOSTAGE, a female vampire and a male vampire hunter join forces to destroy a rogue vampire while struggling with their attraction to each other.

Carter’s Crypt: http://www.margaretlcarter.com

Blood Hostage: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/BloodHostage.html

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Margaret will give away one copy to a commenter. Stop back by to see if you won.

Contest: What Genre Am I?

2011-11-12T17:19:00.015-07:00

Winner: Carol in Montana! Please contact me at boulderboomer@aol.com and give me your contact info. Thanks so much to everyone for participating.

Ever since I started submitting The Vampire Shrink in 2005 (started writing it in 2004), it's been hard to place in a genre slot. I've tried and tried to fit in into an existing category without luck. Why does it matter? It matters because readers who think it is THIS get upset when it is THAT. Or they expect it is THE OTHER and definitely not THAT. If they think it's genre #1 and it isn't, or they expect it to be genre #2 and it never was, they get grumpy.

I haven't been able to think of any creative title that really encapsulates the Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist series.

So, I'm having a contest. I will give away a $100 gift certificate to Amazon or B&N to one commenter who suggests a brand-new, creative, out-of-the-box genre label for my series. Plus, after you come up with the new category, write a blurb for my book that would alert readers to what slot my series would fit into.

Fun, eh?

I'll pick a winner on Dec. 31, 2011. Just think about all the after-Christmas sales you can use $100 for.

Here's some helpful information: Is it paranormal romance? Not really. There's no happy-ever-after ending, but lots of romance and sex. Urban fantasy? I think so, but people who expect the heroine to be butt-kicking would disagree. My heroine is cerebral. Chick lit? Hmm. Well, the series is about her experiences, but there really isn't anything about shoes or shopping or working for an advertising agency. Dark fantasy? It's pretty dark in a humorous kinda way. Paranormal suspense? I like this one. What do you think?

Leave your comments here. Thanks for participating!

Vampire Monday: Shea MacLeod

2011-11-07T05:22:00.007-07:00

Why Vampires Will Always Be Popular In Fiction

When people talk about vampires in fiction and why they’re so darned popular, they’re usually talking about one kind of vampire: Mr. Sexy Vampire.

Nothing wrong with that. I heart Eric Northman as much as the next red blooded girl (or boy). Mick St. James? Yes, please! A little Salvatore brothers? Be still my beating heart.

Sure, vampires look great in leather, look young and hot forever, and can stay up all night with Disco Fever. But that’s not the real reason vampires will always be popular in fiction.

I know, I know. I can see the look of abject horror on your face. The truth is, these sexy, sparkling minions of darkness are a fairly recent invention. And I’m thrilled with said invention, but they’re just a facet of the truth. The truth being: Vampires are us.

And that’s the real reason vampires will always be popular. Not because they’re rich or hot or eternal (Did I mention rich?), but because they embody all of our deepest, darkest fears and desires. Even the ugly ones. Especially the ugly ones.

Power

Vampirism is about power. It’s about being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want. No more rules. No more pesky conscience.
They say absolute power corrupts absolutely. That was never more true than when a human being is given the power over death, life, and everything in between. His (or her) only weakness the sun (and possibly garlic).

Come on, we’ve all dreamed, at least on a small scale, of having more power than we do right now. The power of money, the power of sex, or just pure, physical power. Maybe it was to get back at those mean girls in high school. Maybe it was to show the ex just what he’s missing. Or maybe, maybe just for fun. It doesn’t matter. It’s a real, very human desire.

A desire imbued in the vampires our mythology has created. There’s no safer place to explore that power than in the pages of fiction. And explore we will. As long as we have a safe face to hide behind. Not to mention a nice set of fangs.

Desire

We all desire things. Things we’re not supposed to want, things we think we can never have.

Vampires can have all those things. They’re immortal (or nearly so). Over a thousand lifetimes they can accumulate experiences and knowledge we can only dream of. They’re witnesses to history first hand. They can speak a hundred languages and play musical instruments. They’ve travelled around the world.

Notice that vampires are almost exclusively immune to human disease. Convenient that, since their sheer number of sexual conquests could put Casanova to shame (Maybe he was a vampire. Hmmm…).

Through the vampire we can explore our innermost desires while pretending to be above it all. They’re just naughty vampires, after all.

Fear

Face it. We’ve all got nightmares. Things that frighten us so badly we want to crawl under the bed.

Through vampires we can explore our fears: Death, un-death, loss, disease, old age. Vampires expose our darkest fears. They are our darkest fears. Nightmares made flesh, hungry for our blood.

The ultimate serial killer.

The popularity of vampires both now and throughout history is far less about how good looking and young they are and far more about how frightened we are. And therein lies a wealth of possibilities.

Link to buy Kissed by Darkness on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Darkness-Sunwalker-Saga-ebook/dp/B0058PIWJ8/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&m=A7B2F8DUJ88VZ

For more information about Shea, visit:

http://sheamacleod.wordpress.com/

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Shea will give away a copy of her book to one commenter. She will post the winner in the comments section later this week. Stop back by to see if you won.

Vampire Monday: Jae Lynn Davies

2011-10-31T07:19:00.003-06:00

Why Vampires Will Always Be Popular

First, I want to thank Lynda for inviting me. It’s such a pleasure to be here!

Let’s talk about my favorite paranormal creature . . . Vampires.

Why will vampires always be popular? Variety.

The fanged creature of the night has come a long way since the days of Nosferatu. What’s not to love about them? Sure, they’re attractive, immortal, and deliver the promise of supreme sexual fulfillment, but it seems as though we’ve been witnessing a sort of vampire evolution. No longer do vampires come in one shape and size.

There are still the standard vampires who are unable to withstand sun exposure, fear garlic, crucifixes, holy water, etc. The brutal monsters of old are still present in literary fiction and film, but there are some with little or no limitations. In fact, the more modern vampires come equipped with some amazing abilities.

Some examples of evolved vampires:

In the film, The Lost Boys, the vampires slept hanging upside down in humanoid form by attaching a sort of talon to metal piping — no coffins for those bad boys. And they could fly. You’re under the impression they could take flight without completely shifting into a winged animal.

In Blade 2, the vampire race initiated an experiment that backfired. While attempting to find a pseudo drug that would allow vampires to walk in the light, things went terribly wrong. The injection transformed the familiar vampire into a more grotesque genetically altered vampire. We also see a rare occurrence. These mutant vampires sustained themselves by feeding on the blood of other vampires rather than humans. I have to admit, this concept grabbed my attention pretty quickly.

Last, in the widely popular HBO series, True Blood, vampires are out of the proverbial closet! The fanged exist amongst society and demand equal rights, because of readily available synthetic blood beverage designed for their consumption rather than the need to feed exclusively on human blood. Society’s knowledge of this product allows for the vampires to attempt to co-exist with humans. We even see vampire blood being sold as an illegal narcotic.

In my latest novel, Mythic, the vampire race is based on standard concepts (drinking human blood for sustenance, avoiding sunlight, strength, speed, etc), but there are some who don’t have a sun allergy and most of my vampires cast reflections. I’ve also added a new variety of vampire . . . The human/vampire hybrid — the result of humans and vampires breeding.

So long as there are stories about vampires, they will have a constant audience. You’ll always find a plethora of vampire novels in my reading queue, and that isn’t likely going to change. After all, where this immortal paranormal creature is concerned, there’s something for everyone.

What is your idea of the perfect vampire? Does he/she possess any special abilities? Do you prefer the tortured soul with the need to be saved from the curse of immortality, or the leather-donned badass who uses his gifts for a greater cause? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject! One lucky commenter will win an eBook copy of my vampire novel, Mythic!

Want to learn more about the Mythic series? Hop on over to my website, http://www.jaelynnedavies.com%20and/and see what I have in store for my vampires!

Mythic blurb: Centuries after the death of her family, human/vampire hybrid, Gianna Marino is determined to shed the blood of the vampire responsible.

Disguising herself as a human wanting to be turned, she infiltrates the enemy’s coven with the hope of bending him to her will and destroying him from the inside.

But when a handsome stranger enters the scene and is lured into their seductive game that results in a heated love triangle, she discovers a secret that blurs the lines between good and evil, forever changing the course of her existence, and destiny will soon determine on which side she’ll stand.

Now available at All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-mythic-513518-139.html

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Jae Lynn will choose one commenter to win a copy of her book. Leave your email address with your comment and she'll be in touch.

The Paranormal and Me

2011-10-29T23:54:00.004-06:00

I’ve always loved things that go bump in the night, mysterious communications from beyond and dark, enticing strangers with pointy teeth.

I come by my weirdness honestly, as I’m the latest in a long line of “unusual” women in my family. When I tell people I spent a lot of time locked away in closets during my childhood, talking to invisible friends, they assume I’m a little twisted. That’s probably true (grin), but the early experiences also made me more comfortable with my inner world and my imagination than with the outer world. By the time I was a young teenager, my fascination with the Tarot became another intriguing thread in the tapestry of my life.

Talking to ghosts, sensing things before they happen, reading peoples emotions, feeling energy – hmmm, what kind of books should I write? Let’s just say paranormal was a no-brainer.

Along with my love of all things spooky, I also had an interest in human psychology. What makes people tick? And why do we make the odd choices and decisions we do? After changing my undergraduate major back and forth a few times from music to psychology, I finally decided I loved singing but didn’t have the urge to teach others about it. So, psychology it was.

It took me a long time as a single mom to make my way through undergrad and graduate school, but I finally completed my Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology and opened a psychotherapy office. As the years passed, I added skills like hypnotherapy, sound healing, and personal coaching, and expanded my business to include both psychic/intuitive/empathic and therapeutic services.

I’d spent years writing nonfiction articles, columns and teaching materials, but when the fiction bug bit me several years ago, I went down like a skyscraper in an earthquake. Writing about all the magical, mystical and bizarre things in my head was more fun than, well, almost anything. I knew there was a reason I’d spent so many years in those closets!

The idea for The Vampire Shrink came from a phone call and a client session. The mother of a young woman, obsessed with becoming a vampire, contacted me to ask for a referral in her part of the country. I’d also recently met with a client who made outrageous and extraordinary claims about belonging to a supernatural group. I went home that night and began writing, and Dr. Kismet Knight, Ph.D. was born. It’s a pleasure to bring all my various categories of knowledge to my writing.

The psychologist heroine in The Vampire Shrink is loosely based on me. Well, okay. She’s an idealized version of me: thinner, younger, prettier and sought after by lots of gorgeous guys. She lets me live vicariously through her, and we’re both having a ball.

Devereux’s character originally was going to have dark hair. That was my first vision of him. But he insisted on being blond. He also refused to give up his European accent, no matter how many times I tried to make him more contemporary.

With these two willful characters, who knows what will happen next in the series? I just type as fast as I can, trying to keep up!

The USA paperback of the new The Vampire Shrink can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com and/or BN.com now!

Vampire Monday: Amanda Ashley

2011-10-24T08:37:00.005-06:00

Why Vampires Are (and always will be) Popular

Vampires . . . just the name conjures the image of a tall, dark figure in a long black cape, someone mysterious and deadly, sensuous and compelling. Think of Frank Langella as Dracula – in my opinion, the epitome of a vampire. He’s sexy, polite, suave, and charming, at least on the outside.

Then there is my current favorite vampire, Damon Salvatore, as portrayed by Ian Somerhalder.

Damon doesn’t wear a black cape, though he usually wears black. Damon is first and foremost the kind of vampire that romance writers love to write about – a tortured hero – a man turned against his will, hard on the outside, a bit of a cream puff on the inside. He has the most beautiful, expressive eyes I’ve ever seen.

I’ve been fascinated with vampires ever since I read Interview with a Vampire. Whether portrayed as good guys or bad guys or something in between, there’s no getting away from the fact that vampires are one of the most intriguing paranormal creatures in literature today. Myths and legends abound: They can turn into mist. They can change shape. They are almost indestructible. They can hypnotize you, and read your mind. They are able to move faster than the human eye can follow. They can control animals and the weather. They have the strength of 20 men. They are almost always Alpha males who know what they want and how to get it. The list goes on and on.

These days, it’s hard to find the ugly scary vampires of years ago, no doubt due to the number of romance writers who have taken Nosferatu and changed him into a sympathetic hero. Think of Mick St. John from Moonlight, Edward Cullen from Twilight, Angel from Buffy. Strong on the outside, hungry for love on the inside, just waiting for the right woman to come along.

How can you not love them?

Amanda Ashley
www.amandaashley.net

Amanda Ashley is one of those rare birds - a California native. She’s lived in Southern California her whole life and loves it (except for the earthquakes). She and her husband share a home with a fluffy Pomeranian named Lady, a tortoise named Buddy, and a wild sparrow named Tweety. Amanda and her alter ego, Madeline Baker, have written over 70 books, many of which have appeared on various bestseller lists, including the New York Times Bestseller List, the Waldenbooks Bestseller list, and the USA Today list. Not bad for someone who started writing just for the fun of it.

Purchase Bound by Blood

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Amanda will give away a copy of her book to a commenter. Stop back by to see if you won.

Vampire Monday: Suzanne Rock

2011-10-10T06:19:00.002-06:00

Top Ten Reasons Why I love Vampires

I love vampires, I really do. Many people feel overloaded by the number of vampire novels available and long for something different, but not me. Give me a good old vamp over other immortals any day of the week. Why do I like vampires so much? Well, I'll tell ya. ;)

1) Vamps like to stay up all night, and won't wake you up first thing in the morning.

2) Fangs and leather are so much sexier than slobber and fur.

3) Got to love all of that intensity underneath the calm exterior – especially when that intensity is directed at you.

4) Vampires don't think of playing World of Warcraft as foreplay.

5) All of those Buffy and Edward fans can't possibly be wrong.

6) After a hundred years or more, a vampire has learned a thing or two about pleasing a woman.

7) Vampires won’t ignore you to watch the game on television.

8) A vampire would much rather drink you than some trendy microbrew.

9) Admit it, there’s something very sexy about that cape.

10) Eric Northman.

Do you love vampires as much as I do? Tell me why in the comments section! Meanwhile, hop on over to my website and check out my Immortal Series (http://suzannerock.com/?page_id=139). The first book, Dark Deception focuses on the vampire Enrique. A Spanish vampire, what's not to like? :)

Dark Deception, Book one of the Immortal Realm Series (http://suzannerock.com/?page_id=280)

Blurb:

After being plunged into a chaotic and deceitful society, Maria Guerrero finds comfort in the arms Enrique Torres, a man she believes is innocent of her world. She keeps him ignorant of her inner monster, and the blood oath she took to save her brother’s life. Instead she prefers to use their sexual play as an escape from her supernatural world. When her secrets catch up with her, Maria is forced to confess her sins. Will Enrique find it in his heart to forgive her deception? He must, before her vampire master demands that Maria pays him his due. With the help of a disillusioned fey warrior, she convinces Enrique that vampires are real, and danger lurks around every corner.

Enrique can’t allow himself to fall for Maria charms, or he’ll risk revealing secrets of his own — secrets which would not only scare her, but put his mission in jeopardy. He hopes that by forming a physical connection with the young vampire, he’ll lower her defenses and earn her trust, for only she can help him bring peace to the Immortal Realm. As they play out their sexual fantasies, her true identity is uncovered. On impulse Enrique gives her his trust, and her betrayal hurts him to the core. Now he wants revenge… but at what cost? As the Immortal Realm descends into chaos, Enrique and Maria must choose whether to trust each other again, or fall victims to the dark deceptions that rule their world.

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Suzanne will give away a copy of her book to a commenter. Stop back by to see if you won.

The Many Incarnations of The Vampire Shrink

2011-10-04T21:45:00.010-06:00

Lots of covers, huh? If you'd told me back in 2004 when I was writing this book that it would still be alive and kicking 7 years later, having had 4 covers/publishers, I would have laughed. But it has been a fascinating journey and I'm very grateful.

The brown one of the vampire with the tattoo on the bottom was the first cover from a small press. The one with the vampire carrying the woman was the cover I used when I self-pubbed the book and it became an Amazon best seller. The one with the cool purple background is the expanded/rewritten British version from Quercus/Jo Fletcher Books. And the one with the newspaper ad is the new (also expanded/rewritten) USA version coming from Sterling Publishing/Silver Oak on April 3, 2012.

My publishing journey has been a long, strange trip! The Vampire Shrink first came out from a small publisher in 2007, and the second book in the series (at that time), Dark Harvest, followed in 2008. The publisher and I parted ways and because my then-agent retained the e-rights for the 2 novels, I put them up myself on Amazon and Smashwords. They became best sellers and drew the attention of my current agent, who put together a new, 3-book deal for me.

Quercus Publishing in the UK, in a joint effort with Sterling Publishing in the USA, would be putting out an expanded/rewritten version of The Vampire Shrink plus two additional books in the series. The first book came out in the UK/Europe first (Sept. 1, 2011) and will release in the USA on April 3, 2012. The only kindle version that will exist will be the British version. Sterling Publishing will put out Nook, Apple, etc. versions 4/2012.

My new editor, Jo Fletcher, and I decided the old book #2 skipped too far ahead in the series arc, so we agreed that I would write a brand new book #2 in the series, Blood Therapy, which I'm finishing up now. That book should come out first in the UK/Europe sometime in 2012 (I think) with a Kindle edition available at the same time. The USA publisher will likely put out the American version of book #2 in early 2013.

The old book #2 (Dark Harvest) will be rewritten/expanded and might turn up as book #3 or #4. I don't know yet!

Clear as mud, eh?

Vampire Monday: Karin Shah

2011-10-03T05:26:00.004-06:00

The Eternal Appeal of Vampires or How to be Popular for Eternity

Vampires. The word used to conjure a pale man with widow’s peak hair, red-glowing eyes, and fangs dripping blood, but those days are mostly gone. The vampire in fiction is now a character of admiration and desire.

Popular culture has moved from Bela Lugosi’s Dracula to Twilight’s Edward, and the shift has been the most dramatic in Romance. Why the change from monster to hero?

At first glance the appeal is skin deep. Immortality? Check. Eternal youth? Check. Magnetic attractiveness? Check. And then there are the optional, but also compelling abilities: shape-shifting, mind control, flying, sparkling (just kidding). And since they have lived a long time, they are, almost without exception, rich.

Still if you look closer, I think vampires appeal to Romance readers on a far more archetypal level.

1. Vampires are the bad boys. The unattainable. They provide an edge of danger and the promise of a truly everlasting love. There is often a mate bond. What woman wouldn’t love the idea of a soul mate who will never stray?

2. Rooting interest. The vampire hero has experienced untold loss and pain, often through no fault of his own. We want to be the one to ease his pain.

3. Limitations. Though the rules may change depending on the author, vampires are generally restricted from going out in the sun, entering without an invitation, or stepping on holy ground. They may also be burned by holy water, crosses, or deflected by some other magical means. (An early superstition stated that to slow a vampire you could throw down a handful of seeds and the vampire would be compelled to stop and pick up every one. Probably handy if you were in the middle of planting, but not so much any other time). These limitations are attractive because of the appeal of vulnerability. One of my favorite books is a Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark Hunter novel, in which Zarek, the hero, covers his vulnerability by pushing people away in the crudest ways possible. The heroine sees through this (ironic because she’s blind for part of the book). We want to be the one to see the something special inside the hero that no one else does, the only one who really understands him.

So what do you think? What are some of your favorite vampire novels or characters? And why do you think vampires will remain undead for many years to come?

Bio: From childhood, Karin Shah wrote herself into her favorite TV shows before falling asleep every night. But, despite graduating with a degree in English as a Writing Art from SUNY Oswego, Karin had no plans to write as a career. She got her Master’s in Library and Information Science at the State University at Buffalo and worked as a School Librarian in a suburb of Rochester, NY, for five years, before discovering writing was where her heart lay.

Her first book, STARJACKED, a Science Fiction Romance is available from Samhain Publishing. Her second book BLOOD AND KISSES will be available October 15th from Soul Mate Publishing.

Link to buy: http://www.soulmatepublishing.com/products/Blood-And-Kisses.html

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Karin will give away a copy of her book to one commenter. Stop back by to see if you won.

Hard Cover Giveaway: The Vampire Shrink

2011-09-28T18:59:00.005-06:00

Winners: I put all the names in a hat and pulled out Vanessa N and Barbara! Thanks so much for everyone who participated! I sent the two winners and email. Stay tuned. I'll have more giveaways for more copies of the book!

I'm giving away 2 hard cover copies of the British version of The Vampire Shrink to 2 commenters who answer the following questions (answers can be found in the excerpts section of my website):

1) What bigger plans does Midnight have?

2) What had taken up residence in Kismet's brain?

3) What movie was Kismet reminded of when Bryce lifted her into his arms?

4) Where did Kismet wake up after she was kidnapped?

5) What was Kismet wearing on her feet?

Go to http://www.lyndahilburnauthor.com and click on the "excerpts" link to answer these questions. Leave your answers here along with your email address. Giveaway ends 11:59 p.m. October 9, 2011.

Yes! More Vampires: Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp

2011-09-23T18:34:00.002-06:00

Coming in 2012! I hope it's good. I've been looking forward to this for a long time.

Interview and Contest at Amberkatze's Book Blog

2011-09-19T05:19:00.003-06:00

To continue the celebration of the UK release of The Vampire Shrink, I'm being interviewed and holding a contest at Amberkatze's Book Blog:
http://bit.ly/qctNyh

The contest runs through September 25, so stop by and enter!

I'll also be at these blogs this week:

Tuesday, Sept. 20: Patricia's Vampire Notes
http://patricias-vampire-notes.blogspot.com/

Thursday, Sept. 22: Patricia Stoltey's Blog

http://patriciastoltey.blogspot.com/

Vampire Monday: Lisa Kessler

2011-09-12T05:41:00.006-06:00

Why Vampires Are (And Always Will Be) Popular

Hi everyone. Thank you to Lynda for inviting me today!

When my first novel released last month, I spent a day on the Fresh Fiction Blog discussing “Who wants to live forever?”

The feedback from readers was really interesting.

I think that vampire popularity flourishes because the thought of living forever intrigues us and terrifies us all at the same time. The chance to live without fear of death, opens up time. You could learn languages, you could travel, you could earn college degrees.

But could you stand to watch those around you age and die?

Vampires also add the torment of losing the sunshine and feeding off of the living.

Sure death couldn’t touch you, but would it be worth losing the sunshine and being forced to drink blood? You might also gain immortal strength and speed, but it would never be enough to save those you love form death.

By reading vampire fiction, we can further explore our fascination with immortal life. We can meet men and women who have watched civilizations rise and fall. Men and women who could end our life if they chose.

But what if instead of killing us, they decided to befriend us, or romance us?

I think the fantasy of a being loved by someone who has met iconic figures through history, who has learned everything universities can offer, who could kill anyone who ever threatened you is enticing. What would it be like?

And as the romance blossoms, would you be content to grow old while he or she retains their outward youth and beauty?

There are so many angles to romancing a vampire, that I don’t believe we’ll ever tire of them, and now the YA market through Twilight and other successful vampire series are intriguing a whole new generation of fang lovers.

What are your thoughts? Are you lured into vampire fiction? What makes you keep coming back for more?

Bio - Lisa Kessler writes dark paranormal fiction novels and short stories. Her vampire short story, Immortal Beloved, was a finalist for a Bram Stoker award. Lisa is an active member of her local RWA chapter as well as the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal online chapter. When she’s not writing, Lisa sings in musical theater productions and operas. She lives in San Diego with her wonderful husband who reads every word she writes, and two amazing teens.

Night Walker link - http://www.entangledpublishing.com/night-walker/

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Lisa will give away a copy of her book to a commenter. Stop back by to see if you won!

Vampire Monday: PJ Jones

2011-09-05T07:47:00.004-06:00

Why Vampires Are (and always will be) Popular

Chances are, if you are like me, and you must be because you are reading this blog, then you love vampires and everything paranormal. And what’s not to love about the demonic, immortal, blood-sucking pillagers of the human race? No, wait, that doesn’t sound right. How about—What’s not to love about sexy, otherworldly, kickass immortals, who look really hot in leather and like a little bite with their foreplay?

After all, blood is the new chocolate.

But seriously, even though I like to parody vampire romances, I’m also a hopeless vampire romance junkie. And as a hopeless junkie, I’ve come up with a five reasons why vampires will always, forever, eternally, be popular.

1. LEATHER PANTS. Let’s face it, no one can pull off sexy like the vampire race. It’s in their blood, or maybe our blood, since, technically, they feed from our arteries for survival. Well, whatever they do to our blood once they drain it out of our lifeless bodies, somehow works, ‘cause nobody fills leather pants like the vampires. I’d say it’s definitely worth a few human casualties just to get a good look at those ripped abs, corded muscles and tight rears. So suck on, vampires. Sexy is soooo worth it.

2. THEY’RE PARTY ANIMALS. Yeah, they get to stay up way past my bedtime. I need my beauty rest. Lights out at eleven pm here, otherwise, I wake up acting much like a succubus or demon and no amount of coffee can cure me. But vampires, they can party all night long, much like I did in my sorority days, except they don’t need fake IDs to have a good time. And while you’re downing Bloody Marys at the nightclub and dry humping a much younger version of me on the dance floor, I’ll be dreaming of your tight rear in leather pants.

3. FEEDING IS SIMPLIFIED. You never hear vampires complaining about the cholesterol in their O negative. There’s no Jenny Craig for vampires or super colon blow laxative diet drinks promising immortals they’ll drop ten pounds in two days. That’s because they’re not shoveling bon bons into their fanged faces when they get a case of the late night munchies. Nope, their diet is pretty consistent. Blood, blood and more blood. And how liberating it must be not having to plan meals for the family. Just bring an unsuspecting mortal home to your little fanged children. “Mommy brought home some takeout, kids!” No arguing over pizza toppings. No complaining that the food’s cold, and when the kids start whining, all you need to say is, “Shut up and drink your blood.”

4. COOL POWERS! The vampires in my books have the unnatural ability to boogie and they are great defenders of the environment, but some of the vampires in real romances (not parodies) actually have cool powers. Take for example, Caris Roane’s vampires, who have the power to freaking fly. Have you seen their wings? Check out the cover, then I guarantee you will want to buy the book. And where do they fly, you might ask? Only to ultra-posh, higher immortal dimensions. When they crave double lattes with extra whip, they just fly on back down to earth. Latte drinking vampires! Now that’s my kind of immortal. Shea MacLeod’s Sunwalkers don’t sparkle or combust when they step into the light. Not only does Sunwalker Jack, a descendant of the Atlantean race and former Templar Knight, look hot in stonewashed denim, he fills out the jeans, too, mostly beneath the zipper, if you know what I mean. Which brings me to my favorite reason vampires will forever be popular.

5. VAMPIRES ARE AWESOME IN BED! Having never slept with one, I can’t tell you for sure, but from what I’ve read, there’s a whole lot o’ pleasurin’ goin’ on in vampire books. Of course, since they’ve got this unnatural ability to run faster than a jackrabbit on speed and lift cars over their heads, one would expect them to also be decent in the sack. You never hear a vampire groaning that he has to switch positions because his bad knee is giving him a fit. And their partners aren’t griping, “Make this quick. I’ve got a chicken in the oven.” Nope. When a vampire is ready for some lovin’, it’s all about the lovin’. No spicy fish tacos get in the way of their romantic pleasure, which seems to go on, and on, and on… Vampires get all the fun!

BIO
PJ Jones is the author of the historical, contemporary, western, shape-shifter, mystery, suspense, vampire parody, ROMANCE NOVEL and THE VAMPIRE HANDBOOK, useful rules and regulations for adapting to the immortal lifestyle. PJ’s sparkly, mysterious den of pleasure and mayhem can be found @ http://pjjonesramblings.blogspot.com/ .

Link to THE VAMPIRE HANDBOOK: http://www.amazon.com/The-Vampire-Handbook-ebook/dp/B005D14XPO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1314366630&sr=8-3

PJ Jones, author of ROMANCE NOVEL
Laugh until you spew coffee!
http://pjjonesramblings.blogspot.com/

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PJ will give away a copy of the book to one commenter here. Stop back by to see if you won!

September 1, 2011: Release Day!

2011-09-01T05:46:00.002-06:00

Today is the release day for the UK version of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK. Yay!

Vampire Monday: Jeanne C. Stein

2011-08-29T21:12:00.004-06:00

Why Vampires Are (and always will be) Popular

My name is Jeanne Stein and I write about vampires. I can tell you exactly why vampires have always resonated with me—it’s the idea of immortality.

If you write about vampires, immortality is a subject you give a lot of thought. It goes with the territory. Besides needing to drink blood to survive, the one constant in all vampire mythos is eternal life. In fact, it’s what distinguishes vampires from other supernatural creatures—while a werewolf, for instance, emphasizes what is mortal in us—primal urges—a vampire emphasizes what is immortal—never ending life.

As I get older, the thought of immortality sounds better and better. For the first time in my life, I may have more years behind me than ahead of me. It’s scary. I think back on all that’s happened in my lifetime. Wonders of space and technology, both for good and bad, are opening up new frontiers. Who wouldn’t want to be around for a hundred or a thousand more years to see what will be accomplished?

But at what cost?

Here’s the downside of immortality.

My protagonist, Anna Strong, a newly turned vampire, has a human family. She was turned by accident and trick of fate. Now she deals with the ramifications. She knows she will have to face the loss of everyone she has ever known and loved. Can she ever regain the warmth of a family? Or will her existence be reduced to mere survival?

As a vampire, as a woman, Anna seeks satisfying relationships, sometimes with other vampires. But vampires more often seek relationships with humans and not just as a convenient food source. Perhaps vampires recognize that having a finite life span enables mortals to have deeper, more meaningful relationships than immortals with unbounded lives.

Can vampires fall in love? Can they really care for each other? Power and control are part of the makeup of a vampire. Does being forced to associate with such beings make eternal life more of a curse than a blessing?

By her nature, Anna cannot have children and can’t contribute to future generations. Because she has a soul and a moral compass, will she seek then to dedicate herself to fighting evil? To use her strength to make the world a better place? Will this be her way to leave a mark on a world that will never recognize or acknowledge her? Can she be content to live forever in the shadows?

Would you?

Which is the question I put to you today. Yes or no. Would you accept the “gift” of immortality? Or is the price too high?

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Jeanne Stein is the National bestselling author of the Urban Fantasy series, The Anna Strong Chronicles. She lives in Denver where she is active in the writing community, belonging to Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. In 2008 she was named RMFW's Writer of the Year and in 2009, her character, Anna Strong, received a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist. The seventh in the Anna Strong series, Crossroads, will be released on August 30. She has numerous short story credits, as well, most recently the Anna Strong Novella, Blood Debt, in the Berkley New York Times best selling anthology, Hexed.

Amazon Link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0441020771/?tag=publishmarket-20

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Jeanne will give away a copy of her book to one commenter. Stop back by to see if you won.

Kindle edition of the UK Version of The Vampire Shrink is Now Available

2011-08-25T11:12:00.003-06:00

I'm in Florida, helping my mom find a secured nursing home for my dad, and I noticed the Kindle edition of the UK version of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK is available.

http://amzn.to/o8z3Sq

Vampire Monday: Arial Burnz

2011-08-22T05:38:00.004-06:00

Thanks for having me as a guest on your blog, Lynda! It’s a great privilege to be here to talk about my favorite subject . . . VAMPIRES.

To answer the question posed for this Monday blog, I had to think back on the countless vampire novels I’ve read—romance as well as horror, including Lynda’s Vampire Shrink -- and to the reasons that motivated me to write my own vampire tales.

Immortality is a big factor. Who doesn’t wish they could live forever and cheat death? However, there are plenty of stories about immortals out there. What makes vampires so popular? I believe there are a few reasons.

Take a walk on the dark side and explore the danger of immortality. I believe one of the reasons vampires are so popular is the forbidden aspect of vampire lore. Most vampires have chosen this way of life, be it for revenge, a longer lease on life, or for love. As such, it takes a dangerous personality to choose such an existence.

But other creatures of the night share this similar “bad-boy/girl” feature. What’s the additional lure of vampires? Hands down, I believe it’s the overt sexuality of the crimson kiss. Dracula was a monster, and he wasn’t the first in vampire fiction of his time. Yet Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the true immortal over his peers . . . because of the intense sexuality associated with him. The vampire’s kiss is usually through a bite on the neck. One must surrender to a vampire . . . either by psychic charming or a willing gift to the immortal. And vampires in fiction today are more about seducing your blood from you versus taking it by force. The hunt for such an intimate encounter drips with sensuality and intimacy, appealing to our sexual natures.

That’s my two pence on the subject. Thanks again, Lynda!

Arial Burnz has had a love of paranormal and fantasy fiction since childhood, scratching out her stories on her lined notebooks and getting in trouble in class for daydreaming. Today, she is an author of paranormal and fantasy tales, writing for young adults, children and adults. She lives in Southern California with her husband/romance novel hero (DeWayne), their two cats (Nicodemus and Cody) and their dog (Zeddicus Drool Zorander).

http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Conquest-paranormal-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0053PVHTU/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

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Arial will give away one copy of her book to a commenter. Check back to see if you won!

My New Book Video: The Vampire Shrink

2011-08-17T18:55:00.001-06:00

Vampire Mondays: Gerry Bartlett

2011-08-15T05:03:00.003-06:00

Why Vampires Are (And Will Always Be) Popular

I never thought I’d write about vampires. Just didn’t like the idea of a deadly creature sucking down blood to survive. But then I took another look at a genre that keeps going strong despite naysayers’ predictions that it has run its course. First, there are many different takes on the vampire mythology. Authors create their own worlds and it’s foolish to stereotype either the characters or the books. One thing is certain. Vampires in literature are here to stay. What is it that captures readers’ imaginations? Why are we hooked? I know what works for me.

Let’s talk about the vampire male. Alpha, usually. Why? Well, these creatures of the night are in survival mode as soon as they get their fangs. Some of them are filled with angst at their fate and others revel in it. I tend to write books that take the lighter approach but those unhappy guys make great villains. Are all vampire males beautiful? It seems a common luck of the draw, maybe because not many sires want to turn an unappealing guy into a fledgling. So we like to read about these gorgeous, powerful men who seem to have a way with women. Part of their power is that they are sensual, in touch with the emotions of the women they meet, and able to control the situation.

Wait. Am I saying we all secretly want to be controlled? I hope not. But there is that universal fantasy of taming the tough guy. So if you can bring a strong vampire to his knees? Yes, that’s a story I want to read. And if the female is a powerful vampire? That’s another popular concept that draws in readers. Who wouldn’t want to be a woman who can have any man she wants? Plus she’s strong physically, sensual and mesmerizing. Count me in. My own female vampire has figure flaws yet still gets the men she wants. It’s a fantasy that readers enjoy playing along with.

Bloodlust and fangs aside, the vampire is a metaphor for every man and woman who dreams of taking control of his or her mundane life. Once turned, he or she could come back to take charge, get revenge, dazzle co-workers, you get the idea. It’s fantasy and that’s what readers have always enjoyed--escaping into a story, one that lets them imagine themselves in a perfect alternate universe. That’s just one reason readers will keep vampires popular. It doesn’t hurt that the vamps have a great time in the sack too.

Gerry Bartlett is the nationally bestselling author of the REAL VAMPIRES series about a vampire who was bloating the day she was turned in 1604 and who now runs a vintage clothing shop in Austin, Texas. Gerry has also been published in historical romance and contemporary romantic suspense. This former teacher lives south of Houston, not far from Galveston, Texas, where she has an antique business. You can check out Gerry’s website and blog at http://www.gerrybartlett.com/, friend her on Facebook or follow her on twitter.

Gerry’s current release is her eleventh published novel, REAL VAMPIRES DON’T WEAR SIZE SIX, from Berkley Publishing. Book 8 in the series, REAL VAMPIRES HATE SKINNY JEANS, will be an April, 2012 release.

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Gerry will give away a copy of her book to one commenter. Check back to see who won.

Vampire Mondays: E.Cameron Stacy

2011-08-08T04:33:00.005-06:00

Viva la Vampires!

Like mosquitoes, leeches, and needles, the vampire has ‘stuck around’ for centuries and will continue to live on. Something about a good bloodsucker story always ‘hooks’ me, doesn’t it you? I mean, is it just me, or do you also get all giddy to think about your next visit to the doctor and getting punctured by a hypodermic?

Thank you, Lynda, for inviting me to pipe in about the longevity of vampires. Considering the success of your Vampire Shrink series, it’s an honor to be here. So I’ll try to behave now and seriously deconstruct our attraction to the great grave escape artist.

Actually, has the vampire endured because of the immortality thing? Yeah, that’s probably it—my wager anyway. The idea of transcending the big doomsday by merely enjoying libations made of some poor bystander’s corpuscles has got to be the reason we keep coming back for more vampire stories. It’s impossible to resist this premise. When one takes into account that eternal life has been the theme of many epics, not just horror, it makes perfect sense that the nosferatu emerged as one of the most memorable characters.

Of course, as the vampire continues to survive the ages, it will be reinvented. Like Anne Rice is known for coining the sympathetic vampire story written in the undead’s point of view, some bold new voice will take the mythological creature in an unforeseen direction that will strike a chord thus entrancing a whole new flood of believers.

Good stories never die. That’s the real reason old V is timeless. As long as each generation catches wind of this night stalker, they’ll hunger for all the chilling, thrilling tales about it. And filmmakers, novelists, or even old uncles around the campfire will gladly deliver their spin on the very same historic folklore that spawned Dracula.

E.c.Stacy (E. Cameron Stacy) has been accused of coming from another galaxy. A horror aficionado, streaker, bon vivant, she lives with her fam in Colorado.

Link to Quencher by E. Cameron Stacy and Ainsley published by Whiskey Creek Press Torrid http://www.amazon.com/Quencher-ebook/dp/B004I5BWQY/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311714754&sr=1-6

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E. Cameron will give away a copy of the book to one commenter.

Cover for the UK Version of The Vampire Shrink

2011-08-07T09:47:00.003-06:00

Just got this in the mail. The USA version will have a different cover. I was thinking that there will eventually be 4 English versions of The Vampire Shrink cover floating around!

What do you think of the UK cover?

My Friend Bertena Varney's book: Lure of the Vampire

2011-08-04T20:39:00.004-06:00

Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Reference Book of Lists, Websites and Very Personal Essays
By Bertena Varney, M.A.
Paperback: 176 pages
Also available as an ebook
Publisher: Search for the Lure
Published: June 22, 2011
ISBN-10: 0615501567
ISBN-13: 978-0615501567

Lure of the Vampire is a pop culture reference book that begins with history and mythology and ends with modern living vampires. The author has provided "fun" lists like the Powers of Dracula, Real Live Vampire Murders, Television Shows and African Americans who have Played Vampires. There are also websites in each section that show the most popular vampire books and even children's shows and books. But, there is a personal twist when it comes to Lure of the Vampire. The author has provided personal essays from national and international vampire authors as well as her own. They range from a personal look at vampires in mythology to the romantic lust filled vampire. There are also interviews with various groups and individuals involved in the vampire community. Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Refence Book of Lists, Websites, and "Very Telling" Personal Essays is a perfect quick to grab reference book for the vampire fan or author. It is concise enough to assist you in finding links to what you are looking for without our being too cumbersome and confusing.

Lure of the Vampire contains essays from authors: Denise Verrico - David MacDowell Blue - Charles E. Butler - C.J. Ellisson – BittenTwice – Elizabeth Loraine. Interviews with: Vampiric Council of New England, Vlad the Gothic Vampire Magician , Audrey Koogler, Vampire Priestess , and Hugo Pecos, creator of The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency

Lure of the Vampire is great for any writer who would like to find fun facts to give their vampires in their story. For example, what powers have vampires in mythology possessed or the first literary vampires? There’s a section for that.

What if you are a vampire fan who is looking for new YA or adult authors- there is a section with titles, authors and their websites.

What about vampire games? There’s a section for that too.

Sections include: Mythology, History, Literature, Movies, Television, Recreation, Children’s Vampires, On the Web, Education, and Real Life Vampires. There are lists, websites, essays, and interviews included in throughout the book.

Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Reference Book of Lists, Websites, and "Very Telling" Personal Essays is a perfect quick to grab reference book for the vampire fan or author. It's concise enough to assist you in finding links to what you are looking for without our being too cumbersome and confusing.

You can buy Lure of the Vampire at Amazon.com in print here- http://amzn.to/nwifDw

Ebooks are available on Kindle and Nook.

About the Author

Bertena Varney is from Winchester, KY and currently resides in Bowling Green, KY. She attended Morehead State University where she received the following degrees:
- B.A. in Social Science and Education - M.A. in Social Science and Education
- M.A. in Sociology and Criminology - Rank 2 Secondary Education Certification

While in college She used all of her extra essays, projects and independent study classes to study vampires in pop culture . . . thus the creation of Lure of the Vampire.

She has been employed as a middle and high school as well as college instructor. Here past employers include Morehead State University She has been employed Morehead State University, Eastern Kentucky University and National College and will be lecturing at Bowling Green Community College in the fall.

Currently she is planning her lecture tour schedule. In the past she has presented papers at conference such as Sirens in Vail, Colorado and The Harry Potter Witching Hour in Salem, Mass. Currently she is scheduled for ScareFest, Dance on the Dark Side and A Day of Mystical Blood Lust.
She is also planning to begin a vampirology course based upon her studies of vampires in pop culture.

Find Bertena on the web:
Facebook- http://on.fb.me/g8C0Zr

Her writing website is http://www.bertenavarney.com/
Her vampire research website http://searchforthelure.webs.com/

Twitter @tenavarney
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4837666.Bertena_Varney
To sign up for her newsletter go here. http://eepurl.com/exZYQ

Book Trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPMyiYjS6Y0

Wanted: FBI Profiler Alan Stevens

2011-08-02T15:40:00.003-06:00

Update: I found this photo and thought he was Alan material. What do you think?

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I'm in the midst of working on a book trailer for the new, revised/expanded version of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK. I have a photo of a guy who represents Devereux. But I've never come up with a photo of a handsome guy to be the FBI Profiler, Alan Stevens. He's in his early 30s, in good shape, around 6 feet tall, brown hair (probably brushing his shoulders or just a little shorter, since he's a renegade, but he IS in the FBI), and his eyes are sorta bluish-purple. Any nominations for models or actors (or anyone) who might make a good Alan? Send in your suggestions!

Vampire Mondays: J. Paulette Forshey

2011-08-01T05:02:00.006-06:00

Why Vampires Are (And Always Will Be) Popular

Besides being tall, dark, handsome, mysterious, and ultra sexy in or out of formal wear? I think it’s because they have the expanse of knowledge from the years they’ve lived. They have witnessed events we mere mortals can only dream about. These walkers of the night have seen humans at their best and worst and still crave their company beyond just being the entree of a four course meal. Vampires have power, wealth, immortality, the good looks of youth and its energy. All the things many crave. Vampires hunger for unconditional love. Or that elusive lost love, or unattainable love. They travel the world indulging in all that it, and life offers up. The undead are the bad boys, and girls, we all yearn to tame. Lately, vampires have taken a turn from undead, ghoulish evil keepers of the night. Today they are totally cool, walk in the day light, some come from the mythical land of Atlantis, sparkle, or are born like the rest of us. But they all still need to consume blood. These drinkers of human’s life liquid are misconstrued , ill-fated heroes fated for greatness and love. Why are Vampires popular? I believe it’s because they call to a deep physic need in us which we recognize, crave, don’t understand, but yearn to be part of.

J. Paulette Forshey 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. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Central Ohio Fiction Writers, Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter of RWA, and Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America. http://www.jpauletteforshey.com/

Link to buy: http://www.whispershome.com/

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J. Paulette will give away a copy of her book, The Tarczal Alliance to one commenter here.

Also: every commenter goes into a drawing for a Kindle or Nook giveaway. One winner will be selected on January 1, 2012. Comment on as many Vampire Monday blog posts as you like.

Additional giveaways to my newsletter subscribers!

Vampire Mondays Starts Tomorrow. Kindle/Nook Giveaway

2011-07-31T10:25:00.008-06:00

My new Monday blog series, featuring posts from vampire-book authors writing on the topic: Why Vampires Are (And Always Will Be) Popular, starts tomorrow, August 1. Here is the author line-up:

August 1, J. Paulette Forshey
August 8, E. Cameron Stacy
August 15, Gerry Bartlett
August 22, Arial Burnz
August 29, Jeanne C. Stein
Sept. 5, P.J. Jones
Sept. 12, Lisa Kessler
Sept. 19, J.S. Wayne
Sept. 26, Theresa Meyers
October 3, Karin Shah
October 10, Suzanne Rock
October 17, Karen Fowler
October 24, Lynda Hilburn
October 31, Jae Lynn Davies
November 7, Shea MacLeod
November 14, Margaret Carter
November 21, Betsy Dornbusch
November 28, Louisa Bacio
December 5, Barbara Elsborg
December 12, Lori Devoti
December 19, E.F. Watkins
January 2, C.D. Deyton
January 9, Phoebe Matthews
January 16, Mary Corrales
January 23, Angelique Armae
January 30, J.S. Marich

Leave a comment and be entered into a drawing for a Kindle or Nook. Winner will be selected January 1, 2012. You can leave comments on all the Vampire Monday posts and enter as often as you like.

New Postcards

2011-07-29T15:34:00.003-06:00

I just got my new postcards in the mail. What do you think? I didn't have a final cover jpg to reprint on the front, so I used a photo of me. Not ideal, but at least I'll have something to take to RomCon (and sign) August 5-7.

I was just thinking that after the UK and new USA versions come out, Amazon will have the old trade paperback, the UK hardcover/paperback/ebook, and the new USA trade paperback. Yikes. My USA editor did say there would be a new cover for that book. Hey, maybe people will want to buy all of them to compare the versions!

Goodreads Giveaway and Blog Post at Stuart Aken's blog

2011-07-27T18:35:00.002-06:00

I am giving away 5 copies of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK (the new, revised/expanded UK version) at Goodreads. Here's the link:

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/13011-the-vampire-shrink

Also, UK blogger, Stuart Aken interviewed me for his blog:

http://stuartaken.blogspot.com/2011/07/author-interview-with-lynda-hilburn.htm

35 more days til book release in the UK!

Literal Exposure Interview

2011-07-26T09:31:00.003-06:00

Tracee at Literal Exposure interviewed me about the release of the revised/expanded version of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK.

http://literalexposure.com/2011/07/25/interview-with-author-lynda-hilburn/

Excerpt Monday: Nancy Gideon

2011-07-24T16:38:00.003-06:00

A sneak peek at BOUND BY MOONLIGHT…

Max moved through the room not bothering to disguise his preternatural power, that quicksilver speed and sleekness of his species. Letting Babineau see him as those of his kind did: as a cruel force of nature, destructive, deadly, unstoppable. He growled low in his chest as he stalked up behind Cee Cee to slip his arm about her middle. As he rubbed his cheek against hers, his eyes glittered with hot gold and ruby flashes. As his tongue drew a long damp line up her neck, her hand lifted to cradle the side of his face. He smiled at Alain Babineau with teeth as sharp as the point he was making.

“I’d be very, very careful if I were you, Detective Babineau. You have no idea what you’re dealing with. I control more than Jimmy Legere’s interests in this city. If any hint of what you saw leaks out, I’d hate to think what that would unleash upon you and your friends.”

He stepped away from an unusually quiet Cee Cee to select a crisp white shirt from his closet. Louis Vuitton, for the up-yours attitude spoiling through him. He stripped off his sweatshirt, letting Babineau see the hard strength of his body and the scars on it. Deep tears in his upper arm. The pucker of bullet wounds, two to the chest with one exiting the back, and one to the stomach. Fatal shots no man could have survived.

But then, he was no man.

“Leave my house, Detective. You can wait for Charlotte in your car.”

As Babineau began to turn, Max continued. “We’ll be there tomorrow at noon. I wouldn’t want to disappoint your wife or your son—my brother.”

Babineau’s expression hardened at that reminder. He spun and was gone.
Then there was just Cee Cee and her fierce glare.

“Are you quite finished with all the Big Dog posturing or do you plan to piss on me, too, just to stake your claim a little more dramatically?”

He proceeded up his shirt buttons. “What do you want from me, Charlotte? He comes into my house, insults me, threatens those I care for, and I’m supposed to do nothing?” He grabbed a jacket with enough violence to send the coat hanger flying. “You know what I am, and now so do they. How am I supposed to be comfortable with that? They could crush everything I value with one careless word.”

“I’ll talk to them.”

He was far from comforted. “Fine. Handle it your way. Smooth it over like it was nothing more than a social blunder. Talk.” He flung the jacket onto the bed and peeled down his jeans.

For a moment she said nothing, just staring at him in his designer shirt and bare legs until the raging impulse to ride him down to the floor and bang his brains out subsided. It took another minute to move her thoughts off that back burner where her hormones constantly simmered, to try and see him as Alain Babineau saw him. As the others on her team saw him. But she couldn’t see past the man she loved.

Even knowing what he was, she continued to think of him as a man. He looked human. He sounded arrogantly, maddeningly, like an everyday, testosterone-fueled male of her species. If she got closer to him she’d smell man next to the pulse at his throat, she’d taste man all hot and salty when she took him in her mouth, she’d feel man as her palms moved over him in restless appreciation. When she parted her lips beneath his, she wouldn’t be thinking Lon Chaney Jr. of Creature Feature fame.

But that didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t an X-chromosome male. Something else flickered behind his unblinking stare. Something different, something other. Something more.

And it was that difference that drew her, not the sameness he tried to project.

She loved him and trusted him with all that she was precisely because he wasn’t a man. Men had failed her, harmed her, betrayed her. They didn’t possess the singular, all-consuming sense of loyalty intrinsic in Max Savoie. When they said forever they meant until next month, next week, next commercial, next orgasm.

When Max said it, he meant for eternity.

But it would be naïve to expect him to behave like a human being. He’d been raised to mimic one, but what prowled through him was wild and unpredictable. Max didn’t look at things the same way she did. He didn’t react to the same circumstances with acceptable actions. And it would be foolish and dangerous to smugly assume she knew what he was thinking at any given moment.

So she asked him.

“How would you handle it, Max? Would you kill them to keep them silent?”

“Yes.”

His answer was a clarifying double barrel blast to her heart.

She took a step back before he gripped her elbows to hold her in place while he continued.

“That’s what everything I am tells me to do. To eliminate the threat quickly, completely, without thought or conscience. To come at them from the shadows and end their lives before they take mine and threaten the safety of all I’ve sworn to protect. It’s what I am, Charlotte.”

“But it’s not all you are, Max.” Her need to believe that glimmered in her eyes.

“Only because of you, sha. Otherwise they’d be dead right now, and I’d be safe.” His thumbs brushed across her cheeks. “I stop myself from doing what I should, because I love you and it would hurt you. It would make you look at me differently, and I won’t take that risk. Not ever.”

She made a soft sound.

“But you have to understand, Charlotte. This isn’t just about me. It involves all my kind, Oscar, and even you because you know and have said nothing. It’s a secret truth that will damage all of us should it become known. Are you willing to take that risk on these men?”

Her chin lifted. Her eyes cleared. “Yes.”

He said nothing for a long beat, then told her, “Finish up. I’ll walk you down.”

He went out onto the porch with her, wearing his exquisitely tailored suit and the sleek guise of a powerful businessman. His glance touched on Babineau in his car before he turned to Cee Cee. His hands brushed over the sleeves of the long raincoat she wore, the gesture intimate and sheltering. His lips touched to her brow as he said with a quiet intensity, “If the risk becomes unacceptable, you will tell me, won’t you, cher?”

“Yes.” Soft, firm. Enough for the moment.

“Be careful on the streets.”

“Be careful in your meetings.”

They shared faint smiles.

He wanted to grab her up for a passionate display, almost more than he wanted to tip that car with the pretty boy detective in it over onto its roof.

“Max?”

As his brows raised in question, she whipped her arms around his neck and planted her mouth on his. Hard. Then she whispered against his lips, “I plan to take that rough ride tonight. Be ready.”

He smiled. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll pace myself today at work.”

He watched her jog down the steps, then followed the swagger of her walk to the car, while the cold, fierce beast inside weighed the risks he’d spoken of.

And found them unacceptable.

BOUND BY MOONLIGHT
On the Shelves Tuesday: July 26, 2011

To celebrate the release of BOUND BY MOONLIGHT, I’m hosting a four-day scavenger hunt giveaway on my brand new blog at http://nancygideon.blogspot.com. The fun starts on 7-26 and goes through 7-29 with daily drawings and, for one lucky participant, the grand prize: a Kindle (or Amazon gift certificate). Stop by for details and get ready to play!
*************

Nancy will also give away a copy of her book and a set of romance trading cards to a commenter, so don't forget to leave a comment here!

Do You Know?

2011-07-23T12:37:00.002-06:00

I'm wondering what the difference is between an urban fantasy with romance elements and a paranormal romance? Is the paranormal romance's happy ending the only difference?

Is there a better name (maybe a new name??) for a book that focuses on the experiences of the main female character, takes place in a contemporary urban setting, has suspense/humor/light horror/sex, and LOTS of romance elements, with a happy-for-now ending?

What do you think?

My New Newsletter

2011-07-20T19:26:00.003-06:00

Hey, everyone. I'm starting a newsletter. You can sign up by clicking on the lips with fangs to the left. I'll be giving away goodies and special content for newsletter subscribers. The first newsletter should come out within the next month. Be the first on your block to sign up!

Vampire Authors Wanted!

2011-07-19T14:24:00.005-06:00

I'm starting a new Monday feature here on the blog: Why Vampires Are (And Always Will Be) Popular. I'm recruiting vampire authors to write articles and share their books. Contact me at boulderboomer@aol.com if you're such an author and you're interested.

Here's the lineup of guest bloggers so far:
August 1, J. Paulette Forshey
August 8, E. Cameron Stacy
August 15, Gerry Bartlett
August 22, Arial Burnz
August 29, Jeanne C. Stein
Sept. 5, P.J. Jones
Sept. 12, Lisa Kessler
Sept. 19, J.S. Wayne
Sept. 26, Theresa Meyers
October 3, Karin Shah
October 10, Suzanne Rock
October 17, Karen Fowler
October 24, Mario Acevedo
October 31, Jae Lynn Davies
November 7, Shea MacLeod
November 14, Margaret Carter
November 21, Betsy Dornbusch
November 28, Louisa Bacio
December 5, Barbara Elsborg
December 12, Lori Devoti
December 19, E.F. Watkins
January 2, C.D. Deyton
January 9, Phoebe Matthews
January 16, Mary Corrales

Writing the Difficult Scenes

2011-07-17T21:09:00.002-06:00

I had a frustrating writing day today. Do you ever have a scene you dread writing? Since I am going back to my original plan of having the Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist series be about her experiences -- of all kinds -- an urban fantasy/dark fantasy with romance elements rather than a paranormal romance, she needs to take a step back from all her relationship assumptions. I hope readers will hang in there with me as Kismet's romantic life slowly evolves over time. I'm partial to one particular fellow, and she'll probably end up with him, but we won't know for a while. Mystery is good, right?

I'm having my website re-done and will keep you posted on the latest progress.

I'll also post the UK cover of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK when I get a final version.

Only 6.5 weeks til release!

Here's my Facebook and Twitter addresses in case you'd like to connect there:

http://www.facebook.com/lyndahilburn

http://www.twitter.com/lyndahilburn

July 9 Presentation at Colorado Romance Writers

2011-07-03T11:32:00.004-06:00

I'm offering an Author Q&A at the monthly meeting of the Colorado Romance Writers. I'll be talking about:

my publishing journey
indie pub vs trad pub
writing and publishing in general
finding your voice
pros/cons of critique groups
promo/marketing

and anything else that comes up.

If you'd like to attend, here are the details:
http://crw-rwa.ning.com/

The noon meeting is at the Northern Hills Christian Church, Brighton.
5061 E. 160TH Ave.
Brighton, Co 80602

12-4 p.m., non-members may attend and there is a $5 fee. If you're going to come, please RSVP directly to Jessica Aspen, so there will be enough food for all: jessicaaspen@rocketmail.com

Guest Blogger: Barabara Edwards

2011-06-19T08:40:00.003-06:00

About Rhodes End

Writing a story set in a place that doesn’t exist can be tricky.

I started with keeping a notebook about short descriptions.

For example: Did the heroine turn right or left out of her driveway to reach the police station?

A minor detail but she made the drive daily and it did become important since the cemetery is on the same road.

The Town Green is bracketed by a Congregational church and a Catholic church, both old and historical, very typical of New England. The cemetery is old enough to be no longer in use, but still cared for under the perpetual care agreement with the families.

Rhodes End has a lot of double meanings. Who was Rhodes and how did he end? Or is it Road’s end and the final resting place?

The residential areas are studded with older homes, Victorians back to Federal and Colonial. It is a lovely place to visit. Downtown has a number of small boutiques and a coffee shop called the Dew Drop Inn and Café. It has the old vinyl booths and checkerboard floor. Made me want to stop for coffee.

I have drawn a map of Rhodes End to keep my facts straight.

It shows the River, Town recycling area and the police department along with the streets I’ve mentioned. I have it posted at http://barbaraedwardscomments.wordpress.com/

Here’s a short excerpt of Ancient Blood the recent release, Book Two in the Rhodes End series.

Ancient Blood by Barbara Edwards is available from The Wild Rose Press
Lily Alban escapes a murderous stalker, but his vicious attack leaves her with the ability to see auras. She finds safety in the tiny hamlet of Rhodes End where a stranger stands out like a red light. Try as she might to deny her growing desire for Cole, she seeks his help but soon discovers the man she loves is not a man at all.

Werewolf Cole Benedict resists his attraction to Lily. A botanist researching the healing herbs to find a cure for Lycanthropy, he’s determined to protect Lily from her stalker as well as himself even in human form, but instinct takes over when he changes to his inner beast.

Together they must use their extraordinary gifts to catch Lily’s stalker before he attacks again, but revealing their secrets to one another could destroy their growing love or save them both.

Excerpt:

“Lily?” His strong hands gently cupped her shoulders.

“Don’t, please don’t.”

She pulled away, fully intending to flee. Her resistance shattered, and she turned into his embrace. It was too late to escape. Pressing against his strength, she wound her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. His erection prodded her stomach, and she moaned. A heavy groan filled his throat as he lifted her from her feet. He kicked the bag aside as he sat her on the counter.

“I can’t wait,” he growled. His flaring aura spiraled with colors she couldn’t name. She caught her breath. One hand burrowed through her hair, keeping her still as he stepped between her thighs. “You’re all I could think about all day.”

Clasping her bottom, he slid her to the edge of the counter. With his lips claiming her mouth, he unbuttoned her slacks, than lifted her slightly to push them down and off.

The cold surface only made her more aware of his scorching heat. His rough denim pants scraped her inner thighs in contrast with the silky hair under her palms. Her pulse leaped, and she gasped. His male scent mixed with hints of the wild forest filled her nostrils. When his fingertip explored the heated moisture gathering at her juncture, she tightened her thighs around his hips.

Barbara Edwards
The Wild Rose Press: Ancient Blood, a Black Rose
Buy link http://thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_136&products_id=4511

‘Like” Ancient Blood on my Facebook Bookpage https://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=aff5af5597a9298aa284fe98afb4dea6&#!/pages/Ancient-Blood-by-Barbara-Edwards/122722171136047?sk=wall

Enter my contest to win an ebook copy.
Contest: I’m giving away an e-book copy of Ancient Blood on June 30 to celebrate. It is available at the Wild Rose Press. Just go to one of my June blog appearances and leave a comment where I’m appearing from June 1- June 30, 2011 or at my blog. Enter often by leaving a comment. The winner will be randomly drawn on June 30, 2011 at midnight.

June 2 at Raine Delight http://authorrainedelight.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/guest-author-day-with-barbara-edwardscontest/

June 9 Sarah Grimm http://www.authorsarahgrimm.blogspot.com/

June 10 Emma Lai http://www.emmalaiwrites.com/

June 10 Stephani Burkhart http://sgcardin.blogspot.com

June 14 Rachel Brimble www.rachelbrimble.blogspot.com

June 15, at AJ’s Tattered Pages http://networkedblogs.com/

June 21 April Dawn lets talk romance

June 21, AJ Nuest is my guest at http://barbaraedwardscomments.wordpress.com/

June 25 at The Black Rose blog http://twrpblackrose.blogspot.com/

I regularly post on:
http://barbedblog.barbaraedwards.net/

http://barbaraedwardscomments.wordpress.com/

Guest Blogger: Mary Abshire

2011-06-06T05:04:00.004-06:00

Thank you Lynda for having me on your paranormal blog.

The paranormal world is such a curious and mystical place. I love the unexplained, the mysterious, and the frightening creatures. Actually, I don't find the creatures scary. I find them interesting.

Since my youth, I had an interest in dark and mysterious creatures, specifically vampires. Most of the time, they were portrayed as sexy, rich, and able to get away with just about anything. Sleep all day and play all night. Yeah, as a young female, I couldn't resist the lure of the vampire. In the 1980's David Bowe played in The Hunger and Anne Rice had a popular series. The vampire world continued to suck me in deeper. Today, I love reading about good and bad vampires, their problems, their different abilities, their drama, and their humor. I can never read too many vampire novels.

But there is more out there in paranormal land than just vampires. There are werewolves, shape shifters, witches, warlocks, fae, dragons, demons, aliens, and so much more. They're all different, unique, and have special traits. How interesting! At least, I think so. I'm branching out, reading books about such mysterious and distinctive creatures. Once again, I'm intrigued and can't get enough. My heart will always lean towards vampires, but oh, I'm very interested in other life forms.

When I started writing seriously a few years ago, I chose paranormal romance as my genre. Some consider my books urban fantasy since I wrote them in first person POV and they are set in a city setting. Either way, they involve paranormal elements. My main character is a half-demon who has the ability to catch souls and send them to hell. Her main squeeze is a vampire. Hot demon + cold vampire = steam. I have demons, werewolves, warlocks, and witches in my series too. With so many creatures out there, why settle on one or two. At least, that's my way of thinking ;o)

Curious to know more?

The Soul Catcher series
Claiming the Evil Dead
Catching an Evil Tail
Fighting Evil
And the 4th one will hopefully come out in the next couple of months.

BLURBS
Claiming the Evil Dead:
Half-demon Jessie Garrett is searching for an evil vampire that's been preying upon children. She wants to claim the rogue vamp's soul and send it to hell. To find the dead man walking she must partner with another bloodsucker, Drake, even though she doesn't trust him. While Jessie works with Drake, she learns not all vampires are killers and discovers the cold-blooded vamp is a temptation too difficult to resist.

After the fiend abducts another child and Jessie has a near fatal experience with vampires, she turns to Jeremy, a demon she bumped into at a club, and makes a deal with him for his help. Drake disapproves, and Jessie soon finds herself wedged between two volatile creatures. When the chance comes to save the child's life and claim the evil vamp's soul, she must decide whom she can trust—a vampire who cools her feverish desires, or a demon hell-bent on seducing her.

Catching an Evil Tail:
Half-demon Jessie Garrett wants to live a normal life among her friends and keep her soul catching ability a secret, but supernatural creatures keep popping up in her world. Adding to her struggles, her vampire lover remains out of the country, and when he offers no valuable explanation as to why he hasn't returned, she wonders if she should move on without him.

As if Jessie doesn't have enough worries on her mind, the demon yearning to seduce her shows up at her home. She longs to liberate herself from the debt she owes him, and when he asks for her help, she jumps at the chance to make a new deal with him—one that will guarantee her freedom. The only catch? She has to send the soul of a werewolf to hell.

Love, trust, and loyalty are on the line. Torn between her feelings for her vampire boyfriend, a hot Alpha wolf, and a demon vowing to protect her, Jessie must figure out her heart's true desires.

Fighting Evil:
Half-demon Jessie Garrett's battles seem endless. While Jeremy, the demon out to win her heart, teaches her how to fight, Jessie's relationship with her vampire lover, Drake, reaches a breaking point. Adding to her struggles, she must defend her life against a group of vampires who consider her a threat to their existence. Held captive on a remote island with both Drake and Jeremy protecting her, she is tested in ways she's never imagined. Jessie fights back; only her actions do more harm than good. The group offers her a choice, but no matter what she decides, her life will change forever.

Where to find me:
http://www.maryabshire.com
http://www.facebook.com/mary.abshire
http://www.goodreads.com/maryabshire
http://twitter.com/maryabshire
http://www.shelfari.com/maryabshire

Books are available on Amazon, All Romance Ebooks, and Noble Romance Publishing.
Excerpts are available on my website.
First chapter of each book is free at Noble Romance Publishing and All Romance Ebooks.

New Kismet Book #2: Blood Therapy

2011-05-30T13:10:00.006-06:00

(This is not my cover. It's just a photo. Too bad they couldn't do a better job with the blood!) I think I've got a handle on the broad outline for the new book #2, tentatively called Blood Therapy (I know that was going to be the title of book #3, but it seemed appropriate for this book. The previous book #2, formerly called Dark Harvest, will come out later in the series, rewritten/expanded, with a new name.).

It's actually a blast to be able to slow things down, and go back to my original ideas for the series. As important as the romance elements are to the books -- and Devereux will always be one of the major players -- it's really Kismet's story. Her transformation. Her life in the surreal world of vampires. She'll have lots of experiences of all kinds. This new book #2 will take place about 2 months after the end of The Vampire Shrink. I'm kicking my own butt daily to keep on a schedule, to be disciplined enough to write a certain number of words everyday, even if it's after I crawl home from my day job. I appreciate all the crit partners who help hold my nose to the grindstone.

The folks at Jo Fletcher Books/Quercus are working madly on the cover for the UK version of The Vampire Shrink. I'll post it as soon as I have it!

I'm going to have a huge contest to celebrate the release of the UK version of the updated The Vampire Shrink this September. Then I'll have another contest when I find out the release date for the North American version. Stay tuned for details.

Another step

2011-05-27T16:29:00.003-06:00

I turned in the UK proofs for the rewritten/expanded version of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK and will go through the USA proofs asap. I'm down with the flu. Or something. No energy. Feeling wiped. I hate when that happens! Anyway, I'm going to try to gather my wits to work on the broad outline for the new book #2. Wish me luck!

Guest Blogger: Amber Polo

2011-05-22T17:49:00.004-06:00

Paranormal Research

Once upon a time, when I was a young librarian, I believed everything could be found in books. Now it's tempting to believe everything is available online. The best research is a combination of books, internet and experience.

When I started writing Romancing Rebecca, I knew this paranormal romance was going to be funny and set in Sedona. What could be funnier than a woman who falls for two men in the same body? So, I created my hero as a trance channeler with a problem - welcome and unwelcome entities take over his body. Actually, the plot is kind of ordinary by Sedona standards where shop clerks miss work because they’re out on Bell Rock waiting for an alien space ship.

I’d been around a lot of psychics and spiritual types, but I’d never seen someone channel. I did some Internet research, then headed to the Sedona Public Library to select a variety of books from their shelves on channeling, from the popular Seth books to some how-to-do-it guides. I sampled, read, and listened to audiotapes to obtain a feel for voice and language used by channelers.

Books and tapes were helpful, but I still felt I was writing from second-hand knowledge. The Well Red Coyote, my favorite Sedona bookstore, hosted a local author who was billed as a channeler. When Summer Bacon, a slight blond, went into a deep trance and turned into a believable fat old man who died in 1922, I was impressed.

I signed up for her channeling workshop and watched Summer go into two more trances and heard her discuss how she became a channeler. Finally I purchased her book, This School Called Planet Earth, and a DVD, “The Incredible 10 Year Anniversary Open Session.” The DVD was the best. I could replay ten historical entities entering her body in a short period and watch the physical changes. I felt like I was there and, after seeing her go into trances, I was certain the video wasn’t a fake. I was ready to write the channeling scenes for Romancing Rebecca.

I also did historical research for an old diary, remembered my trips to the Caribbean, and consulted with a friend who was an intellectual property attorney to make sure my heroine’s career sounded authentic. And I HAS to have lunch at the luxury resort in Sedona where most of the story takes place. Sometimes research is exhausting.

Read excerpts to Romancing Rebecca and check out my other books and free reads at:

http://www.amberpolo.com/index.html

And read interviews with all subgenres of fantasy authors on my blog Wordshaping:

http://amberpolo.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Lynda, for inviting me to Paranormality.
It was fun.
Leave a comment (with your email address) for a chance to win a copy of Flying Free
Can a meat eating Texas advertising woman find love with a vegetarian Buddhist and get her pilot's license despite interference from her wacky Arizona airpark neighbors?

Another Step Closer

2011-05-12T07:18:00.001-06:00

I finished my edits for the revised version (this first one is the UK version) of The Vampire Shrink and turned them in. The biggest challenge for me was wrapping my head around the differences (many) between American writing and UK/European writing. My editor sent back a few changes, and -- as far as I know -- it's a book. It will now be typeset and sent back to me as galleys. The release date is on Amazon as September 1, 2011. I'm anxious to see what focus they decide to give the cover. It sounded like they were leaning more in the direction of suspense. But, hey! It's all fun. My editor (Jo) and I will be talking on Sunday about book #2. Yikes. I wonder how extensive the changes will be!!

This castle reminds me of the site for The Vampires' Ball in my book.

Guest Blogger: Marc Vun Kannon

2011-05-08T14:21:00.007-06:00

Vampires v. Werewolves

If you ask your average paranormal author (author of paranormal stories, that is, not authors who are paranormal), you’ll probably be told that vampires make better characters. They’re mostly human-ish, after all, capable of thought, speech, deliberate action, while werewolves are sometimes human and then, at the same time they get to be interesting they turn into unthinking ravenous brutes. Bummer for the plot, dude, unless we spice up their human selves with pack structure politics and/or sexual strangeness to keep things interesting.

If you ask Joseph Marquand, hero of my soon-to-be-released novel St. Martin’s Moon, what the difference between vampires and werewolves is, he’d tell you it was that werewolves exist and vampires don’t. Once upon a time they made werewolf movies too, but that was before they turned into documentaries. Before he became Earth’s greatest werewolf hunter.

St. Martin’s Moon is set in the future, a time when space travel is a reality and men have established numerous outposts in various bases, colonies, and planets of the solar system. A government of sorts has been established, Special System Services, whose operators do only what they must and no more, to maintain the safety and security of these outposts.

Then came the werewolves, or ‘lupes’ as they come to be known. Lycanthropy as the curse of the Space Age. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? I wrote it and I think it’s weird.

Science fiction and mystery get along well together. The book that gave me the idea was both, but somehow when I read the blurb the notion of a werewolf popped into my head, and they do not go so well together with either SF or mysteries. The reason for this explanations. Both SF and mystery require them, paranormals don’t, in fact they almost seem to do better without them. Fortunately paranormals don’t actually require the absence of explanations, otherwise I’d have had a real hard time just writing the book, not to mention trying to describe it afterward. I just needed to find a link, something to connect a paranormal curse to a lunar colony, and eventually I found one.

I almost didn’t. Write the book, that is. And I never have managed to describe it. It would be a paranormal romance except that Marquand falls in love with the woman, and not the lupe she turns into. The werewolves are classic monsters, not characters, not heroic in any way, although most of them aren’t entirely monstrous either. It would be a science fiction romance except for the werewolves. They do get explained, after a fashion, but since the explanation depends on the ghosts, that doesn’t help much.

Oh yes, the Moon is haunted, did I forget to mention that part?

Like many writers, I started when a story came along and decided that I should write it. Don't ask me why. Others followed, until now I'm afraid to go out of the house with a recorder or notebook in my hand. But I show them, I refuse to write the same story twice!

Coming 5/2011: St. Martin's Moon
The Moon is haunted, but the werewolves don't know that!
http://www.marcvunkannon.com/
http://authorguy.wordpress.com/
*******
Mark will give away an e-copy of St. Martin's Moon to one commenter. Leave your email address in your comment and Mark will select a winner this week.

Pikes Peak Writers Conference

2011-05-01T12:40:00.005-06:00

Just got back from the Pikes Peak Writers Con, which was great. My friend Esri Allbritten and I drove down from Boulder and had a marvelous time. Esri is such a friendly, social (incredibly dear) woman who drags me out of my mental/emotional cave and encourages me to make contact with more people than I'm usually inclined to connect with. Her new book, Chihuahua of the Baskervilles, releases from St. Martin's Minotaur this July. It's a humorous mystery. Cool cover, eh?

I think my favorite part of the con was the workshop and the keynote speech by author John Hart. Down-to-earth and very witty. I am looking forward to reading his books.

The talk was all about the changes in publishing and the future of e-books. Everyone agreed this is a marvelous time to be an author.

Wish I could write more, faster!

Some of the Brainstormers at Lunch

2011-04-22T17:00:00.003-06:00

Esri took the photo of Robert, me and Betsy. Then the waiter took the one with the four of us. Margaritas, beer and Mexican food. What could be better?

The Book Journey

2011-04-22T12:25:00.005-06:00

My editor tells me The Vampire Shrink is now with the copy editor and I should be getting the edits by the first of May. We've been emailing about some plot points and talking about Devereux's age and history. It's so much fun to brainstorm about this series I love. I'm working on book 2, making changes based on the new information in book 1. We're going to re-title book 2, so I'm looking for more titles that combine something bloody/vampiric with something psychological. All suggestions appreciated because they trigger ideas!

Book 1 is set to release in the UK on September 1, 2011. Wouldn't it be awesome if I could fly over to London for promo? (hint, hint)

She also said she got "lots of requests" from foreign pubs at the London Book Fair to read book 1. Yay!

Can't wait to see the cover art!

Here are photos of the real place in Denver that inspired Devereux's club, The Crypt.

Update from the London Book Fair

2011-04-11T06:34:00.002-06:00

I got an email yesterday from my editor who has been at the London Book Fair for days already. She lives in London and said the fair business starts earlier every year. She'll be talking to foreign pubs about my books and hopefully there will be worldwide editions of all three novels. She'll get back in touch probably next week. We also talked about future possibilities for some Kismet short stories/novellas. She said the UK version of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK is slated to be released this September, along with e-versions. The second book [which will be re-titled] should follow about 9 months or so later. I'm madly updating the second book and brainstorming more plot ideas for the third book. I look forward to seeing the cover art for book 1! Anything you'd like to see happen to/with Kismet in book 3? What are you imagining?

Talked to My New Editor

2011-03-26T12:53:00.002-06:00

Jo Fletcher, my new editor, is in NYC right this minute (visiting from London) where the weather has been horrible. I wasn't able to fly to meet her due to work issues, but we spoke on the phone this morning.

We talked about the publication schedule -- both in the UK and in North America -- for new version of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK. And about the best genre category for the book and the cover.

She said it looks like the book will be released in the UK in September, 2011. She thought an e-version might come out at the same time. And the North American version would follow in April of 2012. But things could change! That's the nature of publishing.

We're brainstorming the best genre category for the book. It's got so many different elements, it's hard to pin down: dark urban fantasy/vampire urban fantasy with romance elements, mystery/suspense (murder), humor, sex, light horror, and metaphysics with a contemporary vibe.

The whole series is about Kismet's transformation.

Here's a brief synopsis:

Denver Psychologist Kismet Knight, Ph.D., doesn’t believe in the paranormal. She especially doesn’t believe in vampires. So what happens when she finds herself neck-deep in the vampire underworld?

Kismet is smart, witty and attractive. She’s respected in her field, successful and prosperous. She’s followed all the rules—done everything right. So, what’s the problem? Her life is empty. There’s no passion. No vitality. No excitement.

That is, until a new client introduces Kismet to the vampire underworld, and a drop-dead gorgeous, 800-year-old vampire named Devereux. Kismet isn’t buying the vampire story, but can’t explain why she has such odd reactions and feelings whenever Devereux is near.

Kismet is soon forced to open her mind to other possibilities when she is visited in her office by two angry bloodsuckers, who would like nothing better than to challenge Devereux by hurting Kismet.

As Kismet gets pulled deeper and deeper into the vampire subculture, she struggles to hold onto her professional ideas about what is and isn’t “real.” The more she finds herself attracted to the charismatic, handsome Devereux, the more out of control her life becomes.

When one of her clients shows up in her office almost completely drained of blood, Kismet finds herself immersed in an ongoing murder investigation. Kismet is questioned by irreverent, handsome FBI profiler Alan Stevens, who warns her that vampires are very real. And one is a murderer. A murder who is after her.

In the midst of all this, Kismet realizes she has feelings for both the vampire and the profiler, but even though she cares for each of the men, facing the reality that vampires exist – along with all the other supernatural insanity she discovers – is enough of a challenge. For now.

Where in the bookstore would you stock my book?

Giveaway: Diary of a Narcissistic Bloodsucker

2011-03-06T16:05:00.003-07:00

I'm going to give away 10 e-copies of Diary of a Narcissistic Bloodsucker, my tiny vampire satire/humor story. What's the catch? I'd appreciate an Amazon review in return for getting the story for free. Of course, you can buy it for only .99, but -- hey -- free is free. If you're willing, send me an email:

boulderboomer@aol.com

Of course, I'm hoping you'll LIKE the story. I wrote the quirky little thing to make people smile. If you smiled while reading it, I succeeded!

Update Re: 23 More Days

2011-03-03T07:41:00.002-07:00

YAY! Turned in the revised version on Feb. 28. Now I'm excited/terrified to see what changes Jo will ask for! She sent me some cover copy to look at. Things are moving forward!

Now that I'm finally moved, and somewhat unpacked, I am working on the rewrite of the first Kismet book to give to my editor (Jo Fletcher, who edited lots of wonderful writers, including Charlaine Harris). My deadline to turn that version in to her is Feb. 28. Then she'll give it the official read and do her own edits. It really is excellent to have the opportunity to make all the changes I wished I could have made after the first version came out in 2007. I look forward to working with her, because rewriting with an editor is the best thing. I love bouncing ideas off someone else. Wish me luck. (That's a photo of Jo.)

Party and Book Giveaway at Edie Ramer's Blog

2011-02-25T09:48:00.003-07:00

Edie Ramer is having a party on her blog to celebrate the release of her new book, Dragon Blues. Stop by and leave comments on the guest author posts, and you can win lots of books! Including an e-copy of my novella, Undead in the City.

http://edieramer.com/blog/

Stumbling Through Moving Hell

2011-02-04T13:12:00.003-07:00

Warning: Pity Party

I've spent the last couple of weeks packing, cleaning, moving, unpacking and throwing out my back. I took the whole week off work because of the back thing. Good thing I did, though, or I wouldn't even be as far along with unpacking as I am. The townhouse I've moved into is very small, but it has 3 floors. Lots of stairs. Good for burning flab, but rough on the back.

The actual time of the move was the day the Denver area posted record-breaking cold temps. My moving guys were snarly at having to work in such cold. One fellow in particular gave new meaning to the combo sigh/eye roll. Couldn't blame them, but I'm starting to think there's no such thing as a really good moving company.

I have a deadline to complete my own rewrite on The Vampire Shrink (I wonder if that's what the title will be in the new edition? I'm pretty sure we're changing the name of the second book.) before I turn it over to my editor, for her official read and actual edits. Prior to yesterday afternoon, I hadn't even found the box with my manuscript materials so I could jump back into the process.

As long as I sit on a bunch of pillows, I can type for short periods of time.

If I mention a year from now that I'm moving again, please remind me of this post. Like with childbirth, I tend to forget the pain.

Lucky there was a bottle of champagne in the refrigerator.

New Covers for Diary of a Narcissistic Bloodsucker and Undead in the City

2011-02-04T13:09:00.003-07:00

The wonderful Kimberly Killion of hotdamndesigns.com created new covers for my short story and my novella. Aren't they great?

It's official!!

2011-01-05T18:57:00.011-07:00

I haven't been able to say anything until today, but since my agent gave this information to Publisher's Lunch, I guess I can talk about it.

January 5, 2011

Fiction:
Paranormal
Lynda Hilburn's VAMPIRE SHRINK, DARK HARVEST, and an untitled third book in her Kismet Knight series, featuring a psychologist who treats vampires after being drawn into their secretive and seductive lair, originally published by Medallion Press, and which found success as No. 1 sellers in Kindle's vampire romance and ghosts & fantasy categories, to Mark Smith for republication by Silver Oak in the US (Quercus's new line with Sterling) and Jo Fletcher Books/Quercus in the UK, by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (world).

Silver Oak/Sterling is connected with Barnes & Noble, so my books will get preferred placement in the stores, as well as good marketing deals for the e-versions on the Nook.

Quercus is the UK publisher that put out the Stieg Larsson books (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc.)

Here's info on my new editor: http://www.wfc2011.org/guests/Fletcher_Jo.html

The offer was definitely worth taking.

Yay!!! Updated versions of The Vampire Shrink and Dark Harvest plus the third book in the series will appear on worldwide bookshelves in the future.

I'm so excited!

New Year's Giveaway

2010-12-13T07:30:00.009-07:00

The winner of the giveaway is: Frank! Congratulations, Frank. Send me your contact info and I'll have the card emailed to you. Thanks to everyone who participated.

New Year's resolutions: We all talk about them, but rarely follow through. Mostly we trot out the same, tired proclamations with no motivation to actually DO anything.

Yeah. Been there and done that.

But this year I'm dreaming/scheming big, and I'll bet I'm not the only one. (All of a sudden John Lennon's Imagine is playing in my head.)

For 2010, I set the goal of finding a new agent. I absolutely hit the jackpot with that goal, and was approached in May by powerhouse agent Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group after the kindle versions of my two novels were bestsellers. He's been absolutely wonderful and I'm so excited about what 2011 will bring. Who says miracles can't happen?

What are your most AUDACIOUS goals for 2011?

I'm going to give away a $25 Amazon gift card to one commenter here who shares her/his list of outrageous (but achievable) goals for the next 12 months.

I'll choose the winner on the evening of January 1, 2011.

(PG-rated, please!)

Author Radio Show: Live Today

2010-12-01T07:59:00.001-07:00

I was recently interviewed by Don McCauley, the host of Author Show Radio. It was a lot of fun. My interview is live today, Dec. 1. You can go here to listen: http://www.theauthorsshow.com

Writing Characters with Psychological Disorders: Help for a Rescuing Psychiatrist

2010-11-30T18:56:00.007-07:00

Lynda: I have been meaning to speak with you regarding your workshop at the last RMFW conference. I had spoken to you about some challenges regarding a character (a Psychiatrist) who stays late at work one night and witnesses patient experimentation at a private facility, and then helps that patient to escape.

You had mentioned that the Psychiatrist (Tara is her name) must have some sort of heroism and realize that in her own self. I thought you were right on target as I had done an Enneagram on her about a year ago, and decided that was one of her main character traits. I had mentioned that my critique group is having difficulty believing her plight, as her behavior is very unprofessional. You told me that perhaps I need to make her internal motive BIGGER. I agree with you, but I am still struggling to figure out a more personal motive to drive her to help him escape. It's not an attraction to the patient or anything.

A little history: She had an affair with the Administrator of the facility and I am wondering if I should either make it an adulterous affair on her part so that Raymond (the patient) witnesses something. OR- I am also considering her releasing him as an act of revenge (the administrator ended the relationship) but the latter sounds a little weak on her part and both are still very unprofessional.

Thoughts? Have you seen anything in your professional career that might fit/help this scenario? It seems that anything I am going with, internal fear for the patient, revenge, adultery, is weakening Tara too much and she really needs to help him escape. The patient can't do it without her and I also need her to be the sleuth of sorts and reveal information so she has to take her time before she reports anything to authorities.

Also, in an effort to isolate the aging gene, the patient (Raymond) has had his DNA tampered with and is able to heal more quickly and also slow his aging. The side effect of his genetic tampering has caused him to have an obsession with burning things (pyromania) which I know is a childhood illness. I think this fits well with his slower aging as he has regressed in some areas of his personality. Could this illness (pyromania) be susuppressed with treatment/therapy only to reveal itself later in life after a near-death experience?

BTW, I thought your workshop was fascinating and I was very pleased with what I learned. I was able to use it for a secondary character who has schizophrenia. Any information you can give me on the above would be very helpful.

Sincerely, P.N.

P.N.: Wow. A couple of interesting questions to launch my new series. Thanks so much for offering them! The most fun part of talking about these issues will be the comments and the discussion. I hope lots of people will chime in!

I think I probably said something about the psychiatrist being a "rescuer." Many of us helping types have a strong dose of that archetype. And, the "rescuer" is commonly found in a triangle with the "victim" and the "perpetrator/aggressor." I think it's completely probable that Tara might be driven by her need to protect the underdog. She might have something in her background -- a trauma in her childhood -- that caused her to be uber-sensitive about the victimization of others.

J.D. Robb's Eve Dallas from the "Death" series comes to mind. Due to experiences in her early life, Eve has a highly-developed (some might say obsessional) need for rules, justice and taking a stand for the victimized. What could have happened to Tara to cause her to act out her rescuer tendencies? What is the underlying pattern that fuels her decision? She might be triggered by something in the present environment, but the button was probably created long ago. I'm a "Harry Potter" fan, and Hermoine often points out Harry's tendency to rescue -- to leap in without thinking due to his childhood. I don't think Tara's affair needs to have anything to do with her urge to protect this patient.

Re: the pyromania. I've never had any hands-on experience with a fire-starter in therapy, so I hope others will share their experiences. But the good news is that we write fiction, which means we get to rearrange reality to suit our purposes! Pyromania (and many other conditions) can be managed through therapy and treatment, only to reappear later for many reasons. I like the idea of a near-death experience. Or even an experience from another life! Sky's the limit.

Awesome topics. I will check back throughout the day between clients. Let's get a good discussion going in the comments section. If you have a question for a future post, please send it to: boulderboomer@aol.com

Excerpt Monday: LK Rigel, "Space Junque"

2010-11-28T16:59:00.004-07:00

LK wants to give an ebook to everyone who commented here through today, Tuesday, Nov. 30. So, if you commented and you didn't leave your email address, please come back and add it. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Space Junque blurb:

The DOGs want to destroy the world. The gods want to make a new one. The trick is to survive both.

Warned by her friend Mike Augustine, Char Meadowlark tries to get off planet before a pending eco-terrorist attack, but the Defenders of Gaia strike while she's at the airport. Jake Ardri, pilot of the shuttle Space Junque, rescues her and delivers her to the Imperial Space Station where Mike awaits.

When the DOGs' final onslaught goes global and the material world threatens to implode, the ancient gods reemerge to take control over humanity. Through the ensuing chaos, Char must juggle two men, orbiting eco-terrorists, and a goddess with her own agenda for a new world order.

Will there be any room for love in flagrante apocalypto?

Space Junque excerpt:

Not surprising, everything was in good order. The blackberries were fat and sweet and the strawberries were as red as … Cripes, she couldn't get Jake out of her head. One particularly fat berry reminded her of that foo-foo drink with the origami dragon and the red stains the fruit left on his lips.

She picked the strawberry and bit into it.

"Now that's a very pretty picture, Meadowlark."

Jake! She whirled around. He was standing at the end of the pallet with his typical amused smile and his arms spread wide in invitation.

"How did you --?" She didn't care how he got there. She ran to his embrace. Shibad, he felt marvelous.

"Char, you're alive." His voice was warm and wondrous and comforting, and his eyes as dark and kind as she remembered. It seemed like weeks since she'd seen him, not half a day. He kissed her forehead and eyelids and pressed her to his chest, whispering in her ear. "It's so good to see you."

He kissed her again, full on the mouth, insistent yet tender.

He smelled wonderful, as if he'd just showered with lavender and ylang-ylang. And he was clean-shaven.

Clean-shaven.

Something wasn't right. Char twisted out of his arms and stepped back to get another look at him. Khaki flight pants, light green hemp shirt. Lovely muscles. Brown eyes, shaggy hair. It was Jake. But it wasn't Jake.

"Begone, Empani!" A female called out. "Back to the fall!"

Char scanned the pallets behind her. Nothing. Had she imagined that voice? She turned back to Jake.

Gone.

The stress was getting to her. She was cracking up. But no way did she imagine that embrace. That kiss. She could still feel Jake's lips on hers. She could still smell him.

"No, little creature. You're not crazy."

A small woman stepped out of the shadows. Except there were no shadows.

"The Empani was drawn to your desire for the man in your heart." Her voice had a childlike quality mixed with an all-knowing vibe. She had light blue eyes with crinkly laugh lines, a turned-up nose and pouty cherubic lips. Her blood-red curls were streaked with silver and piled on her head, falling out of pink and gold binding cords.

"Empani?"

"One of Samael's glories." As if that explained everything. "That one got caught up in you. It won't bother you again."

The woman was naked but for two pieces of shimmering material held over her front and backside by two tiny fairies sitting on her shoulders. Naked male fairies. Virile little naked male fairies.

"You see me." She seemed pleased by this fact.

"How did you get onto the annex? Who are you?" Char moved backwards, but the door was on the opposite side of the room past the woman. "Did you come with Jake?"

Only that wasn't Jake.

"As you do see me, aren't you forgetting something?" She raised an eyebrow as if Char had committed some transgression. The fairies glared. Their wings fluttered -- angrily, in Char's opinion.

Where had this hallucination come from? There was nothing in Char's past. No childhood story, no class in ancient folklore she could think of that featured such characters.

"Characters! Stupid human. Submit!"

Char's body flung itself to the floor, prostrate and trembling like some novice waiting for god.

http://www.lkrigel.com/

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LK will be giving away a copy of her e-book to one commenter. The winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won.

Excerpt Monday: Danielle Ackley-McPhail

2010-11-22T07:29:00.003-07:00

Hi, I’m Danielle Ackley-McPhail, the author of The Halfling’s Court, an urban fantasy where outcasts and escapees from the faerie court have founded a biker gang in the modern world. The gang is seen as a threat to his power by Dair Na Scath, the Faerie King. In the following excerpt Dair has discovered that his advisor neglected to tell him that one of the bikers was of royal blood.

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

“Gort! Gort!” The High King of Faerie bellowed as he stormed through the bough-crafted corridors of Sidhe na Daire, his Underhill stronghold. His link to the trees carried the cry until the place echoed with it, sending lesser fae scattering. Gort would have heard, regardless; with ivy woven through the crown of every oak but those of Dair’s own bower, he could have whispered and still been heard by his druidic advisor. He was halfway to the corner of the realm where Gort had taken residence long ago when the fae in question appeared.

Slight for even one of the fae, Gort stood youthful, like a sapling, surrounded by the sculpted forest giants that ringed a wide clearing along the corridor’s path. He was as slender and long as one of his ivy vines, his hair and eyes the deep, dark green of those same leaves aged by many seasons. Dair snarled to see him standing there calmly—smugly?—as if he hadn’t betrayed trust; it bear noting that he stood well into the sunlight, beyond the reach of the oaks’ shadows. Yet, not far enough beyond, Dair thought. A sly smile played about the monarch’s lips. With an upward flick of his wrist he awakened the wide-spread roots of the ancient trees. A rumbling shook the earth as those shallow roots stirred, then thrashed, sending Gort to his knees as one long, pale root whipped up and lashed about him, trapping the druid in place.

Confusion and distress darkened Gort’s eyes. He did not struggle. He did not rage. He was too canny, surely, to behave so, caught in grips as he was. “Sire, is aught well?”

Dair merely stared, his gaze as hard as petrified wood. He circled the druid, watched him closely and read the signs of his body and the frantic wisps of almost-thought that escaped the druid’s control. He came forward and pinned Gort with a glance that did not waver: “There was a child,” he said, his voice the deep and disturbing murmur of oak boughs before a storm.

Gort paled and went very still. Something indefinable shifted deep within the trapped fae’s eyes.

“You did not tell us there was a child.”

“Pardon, sire, what child?” Gort asked on a sighing breath, pausing as the retaining root tightened on Dair’s command.

“Tonight, we felt a binding, druid,” the high king said, the words deceptively controlled and even. “Her band merging with another…bound by blood; now tell us of the child.”

“You said they were dead to you, the lines of blood forever severed; the dead bear no children. I was abiding by your will.”

“A child of the royal blood raised up by mortals and outcasts and you claim to abide by our will?” Dair’s voice dropped to a harsh whisper, “Who is the father?”

Silence. Stillness. Like the hard grip of fear.

“Who!?”

Again a shifting in Gort’s eyes, emotion too deep and controlled for Dair to name it by sight, the lips smiled though, all compliant and eager. “I do not know, sire, but I will learn all I can, if you bid me….”

“If we bid you? You will bring us all knowledge on the matter before the sun sets again or we will bid you die!”

Dair had a doubt: Gort’s loyalty was now in question. He would be a fool to place faith in the druid. Instead he stirred the magic of his realm, imbued it with his will, and unleashed it. The root released with a whiplash, the tip opening a gash in the druid’s cheek, trailing beads of blood like glittering, amber-tinted sap, embedded in the wound was the smallest sliver of oak mingling unnoticed with ivy. Gort’s head nodded quickly, but not sufficient to hide the emerald flare of anger in his gaze.

“Sundown,” Dair reminded sharply as he turned and stalked away, already immersed in his own thoughts. His daughter-wife was dead, the ring passed on. Somewhere in the mortal world there was a child of his blood, Anaiphal’s child, some outcast’s get, no doubt. Perhaps a female of the royal line that would bind him further to the throne—as her mother should have—that none dare ever again question his rule. He glanced down at his finger at the band on the third finger of his right hand, a skillful crafting of white gold knotwork…a stag wreathed in oak leaves…but no matter how masterfully wrought by his own hand, it was lacking in one key matter. Goddess help him should a rival ever think to test its protections.

He pushed the thought from his mind and reached his senses toward the oaken splinter he had left in Gort’s wound, testing the link while Gort was still in his presence. His advisor’s breath transformed into a peculiar echo as it filtered in through both Dair’s ears and directly into his mind.

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

If you would like to learn more about The Halfling’s Court or my other works, please visit www.sidhenadaire.com or www.badassfaeries.com . I can also be found on Facebook under Danielle Ackley-McPhail or Live Journal under both DAMcPhail and badassfaeries.

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Danielle will give away an e-copy of her book to one commenter. Her winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won.

Excerpt Monday: Carol Berg

2010-11-07T14:27:00.005-07:00

Carol's winner is: Jean P! Congrats, Jean. Send me your contact information and I'll pass it along to Carol. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Flesh and Spirit

A wounded renegade sorcerer has found sanctuary in Gillarine Abbey. Though all he seeks is a roof over his head and a refuge from winter's famine, Valen has been drawn into a mystery of secret societies, doomsayers, monks, princes, and madmen, all seeking the key to a coming dark age.

Vesper bells clanged and hammered. The monks were gone to prayers again, the lingering draft from their departure my only company in the quiet infirmary. Robierre had left me a brimming posset, dosed with extra honey in apology for sending me out walking too strenuously.

In truth my leg felt better recovered from the day's adventure than my spirit. I could not shake my thoughts free of the murdered monk. Had this Horach truly made himself known to me? Surely of all residents of this abbey, I knew the least that might ease a tormented soul. But a man left himself open to mortal peril did he ignore the demands of the dead.

My fingers traced the smooth curves of the wooden mug. The monks would go to supper after prayers, which meant near two hours alone here with naught to think of but a youth left in agony to bleed, unable to cry for help.

Before I knew it, I'd thrown on my damp gown, pulled boots over bare feet, and retrieved my walking stick. Guided by the church towers, and wafting smoke that smelled pleasantly of onion and garlic, I limped across the yard and through the puddled passage between the kitchen and refectory, retracing our path of the morning. Pigeons' cooing accompanied me into the deserted cloisters.

I shivered. Saint Gillare's wingless angels gleamed pure white against the dusk. The chill air, heavy with moisture, smelled of rich earth and green grass. To retreat felt stupid and cowardly, yet now I was here, I couldn't steel myself to step wholly into the courtyard. My hand squeezed the smoothed knob of the walking stick. There were other ways to approach uncertain ground than just blundering in.

Though I'd long denied it, I had inherited the familial bent for route-finding and tracking. My Cartamandua bloodlines were well documented, of course, enshrined in the Registry before my birth and witnessed on the day I took my first breath. I'd always felt like a prized cow, bred to supply Navronne with the cream of sorcery.

I wandered down the south cloister, past the kitchen wall. Dared I release magic here? It would leave traces, detectable by a Registry inspector. Or perhaps an abbey whose Rule forbade use of magic might be warded to prevent spellcasting and give off noises or explosions if I breached its protections. Every instinct said not to risk it, but then again, my instincts were unused to the requirements of unquiet spirits.

I tossed some of Robierre's stock of bergamot onto the grass so young Horach might use it for the Ferryman's tally, apologizing that I'd naught better to offer. Then, clutching my walking stick, I eased myself to kneeling. Crouched at the verge of the west cloister, I laid my palms on the cool wet grass, shaped my intent, and released just a spit of magic.

My limited experience of such trials led me to expect an image of the square to resolve itself in my mind: the grass and stones, the shrine, the bounding columns and walkways, the size, shape, and source of the font. Not a visual image, but more of an understanding of structure, composition, direction, and history, and a sense of what obstacles, spells, or spirits might lie here. But the sensations confounded all expectations.

The earth pulsed beneath my hands, warm and living, its lifeblood a deep-buried vein of silver, as plainly visible to my eye as the shrine itself. The memory of all who had walked here wove a pattern in the earth, each path sharp-edged against the clarity of a long and reverent quiet. The understanding of the yard's composition and direction existed, not as some separate image to be analyzed, but embedded in my flesh as plainly as speech or hearing. And even beyond these marvels, something more teased at my spirit...

I breathed deep and tried to quiet my trepidations, to open my senses and push deeper. Just on the edge of hearing, the sighing notes of a vielle quivered in the stillness, and a woman's clear voice intoned a haunting, wordless melody that swelled my soul with wonder and grief. A memory...and yet a presence, too...if I could but sort out the music and its meaning -

An unseen bludgeon struck. Saints and angels! I toppled backward, landing hard on my backside. As on my first encounter with this place, the blow slammed me square between my eyes. Dizzy and befuddled, I pressed my fingers to my forehead, sure I'd find a bruise swollen the size of a cat. But, though my wounded thigh complained loudly that it was twisted to the point of tearing the infirmarian's stitches, both brow and temples seemed intact.

If Brother Horach wanted my attention, he had gotten it. But did he want me to see what lay here - something far older than a youthful monk - or was he the one who so forcibly forbade my intrusion? I rubbed my brow and tried vainly to recapture the moments before the blow: the warmth of the earth, the silver thread of an underground spring, the music - so beautiful, so dreadfully sad.

I had long speculated that Iero was just another name for Kemen Sky Lord, Creator of Earth and Heaven. But neither Kemen, nor Iero, nor any god or spirit had ever made himself known to me so forcefully. I didn't like it.

Flesh and Spirit is the first half of The Lighthouse Duet, followed by Breath and Bone. This duology won the 2009 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. Read more about this and all my books at http://www.carolberg.com/

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Carol will give away a mass market paperback of Flesh and Spirit to one commenter. Her winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday night. Stop back by to see if you won.

Excerpt Monday: Andrew Kaufman

2010-10-31T17:02:00.008-06:00

The winner of Andrew's book is Tiffany K. Congrats, Tiffany! Send me your contact info and I'll give it to Andrew. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Blurb While the Savage Sleeps:

Strange things are happening in Faith, New Mexico. People are disappearing and for others it's far worse. The body count is rising, the pressure is mounting, and the clock is ticking as they rush to uncover a dangerous secret hiding just below the surface of this all-American town — one that's threatening to destroy Faith and everyone in it. One they must hunt down quickly.

Excerpt:

Slowly, Kyle eased her way out of bed, gun at her side, padding softly toward the door. Using her other hand, she turned the knob just enough to disengage it from the jamb, then pulled it open a crack so she could peer through.

The hallway was empty.

She moved on to the foyer, treading lightly, concentrating on every step, her senses heightened, her mind on high alert.

Suddenly, Kyle heard commotion coming from the living room downstairs and froze. She walked to the edge of the staircase, looked down, and drew a steadying breath.

When she reached the bottom of the steps, she immediately felt the air turn frigid. She’d wandered into a patch of ice-cold air so chilly that it turned her breath to steam as it left her mouth. A wave of goose bumps wriggled up her arms; still, she moved on.

But not quickly or easily. Along with the chill, a commanding resistance penetrated the air — something thick, soupy — and the harder she pushed against it, the stronger it seemed to become, like trying to defy a powerful water current. Laboring with each step, she struggled her way through it.

Kyle had experienced this phenomenon before but never to such an extreme. Cold spots, she remembered, an indication of energy from a lingering, paranormal presence.

Slowly, she lowered the gun down by her side, knowing it would do her no good — you can’t shoot the dead. She put the weapon away in a drawer and headed toward the living room.

Turning the corner, Kyle had the uneasy feeling that someone was standing directly behind her. She spun around, but saw nothing. Still, she couldn’t shake the intense impression of another’s presence.

A loud crash interrupted the thought, but it wasn’t coming from anywhere near her; it was coming from up near her bedroom.

Kyle looked toward the top of the staircase, then back down and across the living room. Noises were coming from all over the house. First upstairs, then downstairs, now upstairs again. She was chasing ghosts, chasing her fears, and getting nowhere.

Anger replaced fear as Kyle turned to climb the steps again, but upon reaching the top, her emotions quickly changed. She stared with disbelief at her bedroom door.

Closed. She knew she’d left it open.

But that wasn’t all — the doorknob was cold to the touch, icier than a tombstone in the dead of winter. Before Kyle could turn it, the door swung out violently, slamming against the wall and producing a thundering crash. Startled but determined, she stepped forward, peered into her bedroom.

And saw nothing.

But she felt something: a hard slap across her face. She screamed, then heard more noise off in the distance, the sound of bells, hundreds of them. The sounds quickly graduated until finally reaching ear-shattering intensity.

Kyle finally gave in to her panic. Things were moving too fast. She didn’t know where to look or what to do next.

All of a sudden, the bells cut out at the same time, and there was complete silence.

Before she could gather her thoughts, she heard a child screaming, followed by a cold, tingling sensation that felt like icy water on her spine. Something, or someone, had just passed through her body. She had an idea who it was.

Kyle swung her head toward the window; it was wide open, although she knew she’d closed it earlier, and even though the wind was blowing in, the curtains were blowing out.

Just then, a powerful gale picked up speed and barreled toward her, lifting furniture inches from the floor, then slamming it down forcefully and violently. Things were falling off shelves; others did worse, flying across the room, one book missing her by inches as she dropped to the floor.

A brutal storm was raging inside her bedroom, inside her house. Determined to get to the window, Kyle picked herself up and pushed forward, struggling against the wind, the noise. When she finally got there, she caught the curtains with her hands and pulled them inside; as soon as she did, all the commotion instantly came to an abrupt halt. The air was as calm as could be.

Kyle stood silent, gazing out at the bottomless night, wondering what she’d just experienced, and why. She closed the window and the drapes.

Then she crawled back into bed, burrowing beneath the covers and closing her eyes. But only for a few seconds. She jumped when she felt her toe pressing against slimy, cold flesh.

Someone was in her bed with her.

She screamed, swung her head to the right, and found a pair of flat, listless eyes staring back, only inches from hers.

The small child lay right beside her, on her back, head turned toward Kyle, stringy, filthy hair clinging to her skin like wet, muddy grass. Kyle was peering into the eyes of a corpse.

She jumped from the bed and screamed, “What do you want?”

The girl gave her the answer, coldly, impassively, and with only two words: “Help me.”

For more info about Andrew E. Kaufman and While the Savage Sleeps, please visit: http://www.andrewekaufman.com

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Andrew will be giving away a copy of his book to one commenter. His winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won.

My new short story, Diary of a Narcissistic Bloodsucker is live on Amazon Kindle! And Halloween Kindle Giveaway!

2010-10-17T08:38:00.028-06:00

Happy Halloween, everyone! I was blown away by the number of participants in the Halloween Kindle Giveaway. I hope everyone enjoyed meeting all the authors who helped with the contest. I wrote everyone's name on a little slip of paper, put them all in my mini-coffin, and chose a winner. The winner is: Tara Woods from Alabama. I have sent an email to Tara. Once again, I sincerely appreciate the amazing support and enthusiasm. Thanks so much to you all!

Here's the buy link for Diary of a Narcissistic Bloodsucker:

http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Narcissistic-Bloodsucker-ebook/dp/B0049B2CLQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1288229328&sr=1-1

Halloween/Samhain is my favorite holiday, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have some fun with it. How better to celebrate this spooky time of year than by giving away another of my favorite things: a Kindle! I purchased my own Kindle a few months back, and became instantly addicted. I'd been one of those readers who said I'd "never read electronically." I couldn't imagine not holding a paper book in my hands. But I've since discovered I don't have to choose: I can love all forms of the written word. Having Kindle versions of my books has brought me hundreds of new readers. Ebooks truly are an exciting option for the future.

I'd like to thank all the paranormal authors who joined with me to participate in this excellent Halloween event!

Here are the rules to enter the giveaway:

Go to the website of each author listed below, answer the two questions (you'll find the answers somewhere on each website) for every author, and send me an email with all the answers to: LyndaHilburnAuthor@yahoo.com

Please include all your contact information with your entry.

I will collect those emails, put your names in my mini-coffin, and will select a winner of the Kindle on the night of October 31. The winner's name will be posted on the blog and I'll send you an email.

To make sure no answers are posted in the comments section, I have turned off comments for this post. It wouldn't be fair if someone could just pick up the answers from the comments without visiting all the authors' websites. Part of the fun of this giveaway is introducing new readers to the work of all these wonderful authors.

One entry per person, please. Thank you for participating!

Halloween Kindle Giveaway Authors:

Lynda Hilburn
http://www.lyndahilburnauthor.com/
Question #1) What are the names of the two men who came to Kismet's office unexpectedly?
Question #2) What kept Luna from drinking Kismet dry?

Angelique Armae
http://www.angeliquearmae.com/
Question #1) Which archangel trained Isabel in Shadows of the Soul?
Question #2) What is the name of the book listing fallen angels who fell from grace during the fall of Eden?

Heidi Betts
http://heidibetts.com/
Question #1) Three of the character names in the blurb on the back of The Bite Before Christmas are incorrect (one last name, two first names). What are the correct character names in the story?
Question #2) What is the name of Heidi’s Halloween vampire giveaway, running until October 30, 2010?

Danielle Bourdon
http://www.daniellebourdon.com/
Question #1) What is the name of the bartender?
Question #2) What does Sebastian do to Laurel's phone?

Marilee Brothers
http://www.marileebrothers.com/
Question #1) What is the name of Marilee's newsletter?
Question #2) What is the name of Marilee's friend who writes the wine column?

Ciar Cullen
http://www.ciarcullen.com/
Question #1) Name the ancient culture that seems to interest me.
Question #2) Name my most recent release.

Lori Devoti
http://www.loridevoti.com/
Question #1) Name two stories Lori has written that contain vampires.
Question #2) Name a creature other than zombies featured in Lori’s 2010 release, Zombie Moon.

Betsy Dornbusch
http://sexscenesatstarbucks.blogspot.com/
Question #1) What magazine do I edit?
Question #2) Who is my latest fangrrl crush?

Sandra Edwards
http://www.sandrawrites.com/
Question #1) What does Jack (the ghost) want Izzy to do?
Question #2) What does Izzy do for a living after she travels back in time?

Krisi Keley
http://www.onthesoulofavampire.com/
Question #1) What year did Valéry speak with his cousin Jules about what happened to him following the Children's Crusade?
Question #2) What's the name of the "immortal child" Valéry considers his greatest sin because he made him a vampire for completely selfish reasons?

Monique Martin
http://moniquemartin.weebly.com/index.html
Question #1) Where does Simon teach Occult Studies?
Question #2) What does Elizabeth compare her nightmare to?

Phoebe Matthews
http://phoebematthews.com/
Question #1) The sword Tarvik carries once belonged to what warlord?
Question #2) April remembers another life. Where, and what was her stage name?

Karen Michelle Nutt
http://www.kmnbooks.com/
Question #1) What is Ryden’s reaction to Eli’s kiss?
Question #2) Who speaks to Clarity while she’s sitting in the devil’s chair?

Gloria Oliver
http://www.gloriaoliver.com/
Question #1) What is the sound most dreaded everywhere?
Question #2) How is Clarence punishing Kel?

Nina Pierce
http://www.ninapierce.com/
Question #1) What creature of the night is Reese Colton?
Question #2) What kind of shifter is Jayda Kynslan?

Renee Rearden
http://www.reneerearden.com/
Question #1) What is the name of Saari Mitchell's adopted sibling?
Question #2) What tops Saari Mitchell's Most Painful Ways To Die list?

Chris Redding
http://www.chrisreddingauthor.com/
Question #1) What is the name of the woman renting the Grace the apartment?
Question #2) What question does Zach ask Grace at the end?

LK Rigel
http://www.lkrigel.com/
Question #1) What is Char afraid she'll run into on Baseline Road?
Question #2) What color is Char's card?

Lynda K. Scott
http://www.lyndakscott.com/
Question #1) In the excerpt for Heartstone, what does Eric call Keriam when he sees her as an infant?
Question #2) What are Lynda Scott's 3 favorite charities?

Elizabeth Sinclair
http://www.elizabethsinclair.com/
Question #1) In Garden of the Moon, what does her mother refer to Sara's ability to see ghosts as?
Question #2) - In Angel Unaware, where was Dora's soul put by accident?

Lia Slater
http://www.liaslater.com/
Question #1) Lia Slater thinks the world would be a better place if everyone did what?
Question #2) What is the hero’s name in Were Blood?

Danielle D. Smith
http://www.danielledsmith.com/
Question #1) What is Danielle's job other than being an author?
Question #2) Who is the publisher of Psyche's Gate in print?

Rick Taubold
http://www.vampiresinc.net/
Question #1) Who are the two co-hosts of the Vampires' Blog (All Things Vampire)?
Question #2) Who are the three bad guys mentioned in the two novels?

T. Lynne Tolles
http://tlynnetolles.netfirms.com/
Question #1) Who is Blake Bloomington's girlfriend?
Question #2) What is Devon and Blake's uncle's name?

Vianka Van Bokkem
http://viankavanbokkem.webs.com/
Question #1)What are the names of the two author ladies who were my inspiration when I wrote my first novel?
Question #2) What do I like to do during winter?

Halloween Giveaway: a Kindle!

2010-10-14T18:55:00.006-06:00

I'm giving away a Kindle -- with the help of many paranormal romance authors. Check back here on Sunday for details about how you can win the Kindle and discover lots of new Kindle books, as well!

Excerpt Monday with Angelique Armae

2010-10-11T10:20:00.004-06:00

The winner of Angelique's prize is: Linda Henderson. Congrats, Linda! I'll send Angelique your email address. Thanks to everyone who participated.

SHADOWS OF THE SOUL
(Book 1 of the Paradisian Chronicles)
By Angelique Armae

When a Grigori prince and a demon huntress team up to find the antidote to a supernatural disease, the balance between good and evil is forever altered.

A fallen angel...
A human scholar...
A race against time...

Isabel Godfroie Heart is a Paradisian Scholar-an immortal human trained in the ways of Heaven and Hell-who's suffering from memory loss. During her last battle, a dark force erased specific portions of her past life memories. Now she remembers little of times past, save for the fact she's a demon slayer mentored by the archangel Gabriel. When ordered to a new post to help translate a volume of ancient text from a forbidden verse, Isabel is forced to work with the dark prince Nicolai Valentine, a soul who may or may not be responsible for her memory loss. If only she didn't find the tempting creature so hard to resist...

Born to a fallen angel and a mortal mother, Nicolai Valentine is a prince of the Grigorcov, the children of the fallen sons of God. Searching for the lost chalice that will save his kin from eternal damnation, Nicky unknowingly unleashes the Hadean Virus, a dark entity targeting members of the Grigorcov. Now the entity has been unleashed on man's world and Nicky's in a race against time to find the antidote that will stop this deadly parasite. But in order to keep the Hadean virus from attacking again, Nicolai must enlist the help of Isabel Godfroie Heart, the Paradisian Scholar he was unable to save from the wrath of Hell centuries ago...

Chapter One

Midtown Manhattan, present day...

Trouble greeted me the moment I entered Saint Gabriel's Abbey. The church bell tolled midnight, but the left alcove was lit like daylight. Six hundred sixty six candles illuminating on their own is never a good sign. I knew that specific number, because the archangel Gabriel insisted that the task of keeping the count exact fall only to me. Otherwise I might've been able to play ignorant to that little greeting from the Devil.

My name is Isabel Godfroie Heart and I'm a Paradisian Scholar.

I make my living fighting evil. Damned, non-human entities are my constant companions.

Toying with them entertains me.

So when Gabriel asked for a bit of help in the housecleaning department, I was happy to oblige. Dark souls don't belong on hallowed ground. And I do a damned-good job at sending them off with a bang.

Built as a sanctuary to accommodate mortal regiments trained by angels, the abbey had recently become the favored hot spot for demons and cursed entities. A few damned souls wouldn't have been much of a concern. After all, Gabriel does allow the Devil a bit of elbowroom every now and then. But lately Satan pushed his brother's hospitality to the limits. The flood of sudden unexpected guests from the ethereal plain alarmed me and despite days of searching for answers, I still hadn't a clue as to why they picked here and now to show themselves.

My experience told me that Hellish spawns rarely enter man's world without warrant, and failing to find the reason why disturbed me. The situation also didn't sit well with my mentor Gabriel, the abbey's namesake and guardian. Concerned, he assembled the Gothic Garrison and handed out orders to each member.

He designated the graveyard shift as mine and mine alone. One hunter to a thousand demons. The archangel's twisted rationale just forced me to love him. No one else would've assigned a single scholar to a field laden with dark evil souls and not even warned them with so much as a 'watch where you step'.

Gabriel knew me well and he always obliged me. He also provided for my uncommon needs without question and tonight was no exception.

Stepping further into the abbey, I unclasped the leather wrist cuff from my right arm, forcing the brand underneath to swell. The skin-puckering action, accompanied by a searing sensation, made my flesh tingle. Raising the mark revealed my presence to unseen entities incapable of viewing the world as mortals did. Cursed creatures don't use their eyes to see; they sense other souls.

If the demons that invaded St. Gabriel's didn't pick up on my true identity before, they certainly knew now who'd come looking for them.

About the author:
Angelique Armae is a native New Yorker who's as zany as the city she grew up in. As a child her favorite toy was Emerald The Witch, a small doll with green eyes, green hair and purple skin.

Miss Armae's books and novellas have garnered numerous awards and nominations, including the Sapphire Award, P.E.A.R.L. Award and Word Weaving Award. Her books have also been featured on Midwest Book Review's Book Watch TV. Angelique's first novel, COME THE NIGHT, made Fictionwise's Best of the Best list, rounding out the top five best selling dark fantasy books of the year.

Aside from writing, Angelique also dabbles in digital art. She is the recipient and two time nominee of the Dream Realm Award for best cover art.

When not working, Ms. Armae enjoys traveling, learning about the ancient Celts, exploring history and learning new languages. Angelique studied history and French literature at Skidmore College.

For more on Angelique’s book, please visit her website at: http://www.angeliquearmae.com/

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Angelique will give away a set of collector cards based on her books (open to US and Canadian residents only) to one commenter. Her winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won.

Excerpt Monday: Elizabeth Amber

2010-10-03T21:42:00.005-06:00

The winner of Elizabeth's book is: Tiffany K! Congrats, Tiffany. Send me your contact info and I'll pass it along to Elizabeth. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Dane, The Lords of Satyr
by Elizabeth Amber
An RT - Romantic Times BookReviews TOP PICK!

As he searches for his missing brother in 1880s Rome, Lord Dane Satyr wrestles with a fiery inner demon named Dante. When he meets Eva--a beautiful social climber with a gift for matchmaking--both are consumed by intense needs they cannot satisfy alone.

Excerpt:

Slowly, he uncoiled from his crouch on the forest floor. He shrugged broad shoulders, adjusting himself to the fit of this familiar set of bones and flesh he’d donned. The mind and therefore the body were his for the present. He would be master of them only until dawn.

The tailored linen shirt he wore hung unbuttoned and open in front, gleaming white against the shadowed flesh of his sculpted chest. He flexed his hands and found them sore. He noted the ax on the ground a yard away and the felled limbs, the piles of encroaching vines, which had been freshly cut away from twisted trunks nearby.

Ah yes, he remembered now. When he’d first come into consciousness, they’d been working. He and Dane. Two facets of the same mind. Possessors of a single body.

And it was a body women admired, sought, swooned over. Six and a half feet of solid brawn, wide of shoulder, narrow of hip. A strong column of throat, topped by a square-jawed masculine face with a prominent blade of a nose, and crowned with tousled sable hair. A face bearing a distinct resemblance to those of his brothers. It would have been too handsome save for one feature. From below straight brows, eyes of icy silver reflected the world, making him appear otherworldly and strange. Which he was.

A thrashing sound reached his ears. The woman. He’d known she was there all along of course, had been tracking her with a small corner of his mind. Now his eyes found her again.

She moved heedlessly through the grove, thinking herself alone. Now and then, she paused to tug at a branch, plucking an unripe olive or two from it. Holding these small bits of plunder to her nose she then pocketed them as if gathering samples. The olives would not be ready for picking for another month, so he briefly wondered at her actions. But curiosity was not a failing of his. Dane, however, suffered from a wealth of it. And look where that had gotten them.

Beyond her the sun had just met the horizon, a huge ball of juicy orange jailed by black cypress spears that marched along the hilltop opposite this one. It turned her pale skin to gold, the shadows of her face to lovely bruises, her dark hair to coal. She was dressed fashionably and well in a prim gray dress that blended with the trees here. Perhaps twenty years of age or a little older. And shapely.

He smiled. They’d only been here a few weeks, but already he liked this new world. A Sickness had killed many of the female species in ElseWorld that usually served as mates for his kind, and rendered others unable to bear satyr offspring. Only the members of the Council had the luxury of keeping their own women. Yet, here, women delivered themselves right to one’s doorstep.

His prey disappeared into a clearing and he moved after her, keeping her in view. Her head was bent to study something she held. A small book. A page flipped under her lace-gloved hand, a frown creasing creamy smooth skin between her dark brows as she strained to make out its text in the failing light. Whatever she read on its pages caused her to sigh in frustration.

“Honestly, Maman! What am I to do with these scribbles? Couldn’t you have done any better than this on so important a matter?” Glancing around, she fanned the gilt-edged book back and forth in one hand with obvious impatience.

Gifted with a natural stealth enhanced by a decade of training and field experience as an ElseWorld Tracker, he soundlessly moved in her direction, intent on cutting off her exit to the road. Though she had no way of knowing, she’d come at a most opportune time. Night was falling. A very special night to those of Dane’s kind. Once the moon rose, all would begin.

He made a cursory, visual survey of the grove. It was protected. Dane had bespelled its perimeter himself that very morning. If any humans wandered too close, they would find themselves repelled by forces they didn’t understand. Since she’d managed to trespass, he could only assume she must be of ElseWorld blood.

His eyes swept her again. She was slender, but pleasingly curved. Fey perhaps. On this special night, her blood would be stirring as well, though not as high as that of the satyr. Not as high as his own. When one lived only ten hours a month, one was understandably eager.

A light breeze gusted at his back, whooshing past him to ripple over mistletoe, betony, chicory, fennel, rosemary, and saffron that grew low on the forest floor. He watched it make its way toward her, carrying with it his scent.

When it ruffled her skirt and pulled at tendrils of her hair, she stilled--a woodland creature made suddenly and acutely aware of danger. Her eyes shifted in his direction, twin flashes of emerald. His own eyes narrowed and he smiled, pleased at what he’d read in her glance. Recognition. Only an ElseWorld creature could detect the scent of another. His blood pumped a little faster at this confirmation of his initial assumption. A female from his own world would make for a far more interesting engagement than a human one might have.

“This is private land.” He stepped free of the forest’s shadows into the small clearing in which she stood. She whirled to face him then, her skirts sending the leaves eddying around her. His nostrils flared, waiting for her scent to ride the air in his direction. He’d know what sort of creature she was soon enough.

When her fragrance reached him, its delicate, delicious impact enfolded him like a physical caress. His senses analyzed and sorted through its nuances, and a prickle of awareness swept his skin. His body reached a stunning conclusion regarding her origins a split second before his mind did. He could actually feel his eyes dilate, his heart gasp, his blood halt in his veins.

“Gods, who . . . what are you?” he demanded.

Nicholas Raine Lyon Dominic Dane: The Lords of Satyr series
Dane is an RT Book Reviews TOP PICK!
hot historical paranormal romance
Kensington Aphrodisia
http://www.elizabethamber.com/

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Elizabeth will give away a copy of her book to one commenter here. Her winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won.

Cherish D'Angelo Blog Tour!

2010-09-29T19:35:00.004-06:00

Lancelot's Lady: Coincidence vs. Paranormal

Thank you so much, Lynda, for hosting me during my Cherish the Romance Virtual Book Tour, which launches my contemporary romantic suspense Lancelot's Lady.

I have been drawn to all things paranormal ever since I was a child. From visits to psychics to Ouija boards that won't go away to prediction dreams to seeing ghosts, I've experienced some bizarre things. Not surprisingly, these weird events have inspired some of my best works. Though Lancelot's Lady is the first novel I've written that doesn't have some kind of paranormal element, it does have a strong theme of coincidence and fate. First let me tell you about my paranormal works, written under the name Cheryl Kaye Tardif.

My inspirational novel Whale Song deals with racism, abuse, bullying, death, native folklore and reincarnation. It is a "sweet and sad" tale about love and family, and the paranormal elements are beautiful, hopeful and inspiring. Because of its powerful messages, Whale Song has changed people's lives and is being used in schools (US, Canada and Europe) for novel studies and in a women's shelter in Georgia as mandatory reading for guests.

Divine Intervention is a darker paranormal thriller. It deals with psychic government agents, each with a specific gift. Agent Jasi McLellan is a Pyro-Pyschic who reads fires. One whiff of smoke and she's sent reeling into the minds of killers. Her partner Ben is a Pyschometric Empath; he reads object when he touches them. Jasi's other partner Natassia is a Victim Empath; she sees into the minds of victims, whether they're alive or dead.

My techno-thriller The River has a paranormal element that borders on sci-fi. While Del Hawthorne and her friends travel along the Nahanni River, an area known as the "Bermuda Triangle of Canada", they discover a cave with an underground river. As they venture deeper into the cave, a peculiar blue light emanates from the far end. That blue light is otherworldly, or at the very least, othertimely, and Del discovers that not everything is as it seems―not even the people she's traveling with.

In my novelette Remote Control, Harry Fielding discovers that you don't get things by wishing for them. Or do you? A freak storm sends an electrical charge through Harry's TV and remote control, and what transpires is a glimpse into the soul of a man filled with greed and selfishness. Harry learns, far too late, that greed has its own form of retribution. "Be careful what you wish for! You might just get it." Some men should never have a remote control in hand.

Skeletons in the Closet & Other Creepy Stories is a collection filled with paranormal or supernatural activities. Remember that Ouija board I mentioned? You'll find that story here―and it's based on true events. You'll find Remote Control plus twelve creepy stories, including one of my favourites, Picture Perfect. This collection is inspired by watching The Twilight Zone and The Hitchhiker television series and from all the Stephen King shorts I've read.

Lancelot's Lady, my contemporary romantic suspense, has no element of paranormal―though maybe for me that IS the paranormal element; that there isn't one. You won't find a Ouija board or skeletons in the closet or an old man with a golden tooth, but you will find a love story that begins long before our hero and heroine meet.

It starts with a chance meeting and a terrible tragedy. Coincidence and fate play a strong role as two people are brought together, each suffering from pasts filled with bad experiences. Who controls our destiny? Do we? Or is everything up to fate? Lancelot's Lady is ultimately a story about finding true love...and coming home.

~Cherish D'Angelo

Lancelot's Lady is available in ebook edition at KoboBooks, Amazon's Kindle Store, Smashwords and other ebook retailers. Help me celebrate by picking up a copy today and "Cherish the romance..."

You can learn more about Lancelot's Lady and Cherish D'Angelo (aka Cheryl Kaye Tardif) at http://www.cherishdangelo.com/ and http://www.cherylktardif.blogspot.com/ . Follow Cherish from September 27 to October 10 on her Cherish the Romance Virtual Book Tour and win prizes.

Have you read any of Stephen King's collections of short stories? Which is your favorite? Have you seen The Twilight Zone or The Hitchhiker? Why do you like these shows?

Leave a comment here, with email address, to be entered into the prize draws. You're guaranteed to receive at least 1 free ebook just for doing so. Plus you'll be entered to win a Kobo ereader. Winners will be announced after October 10th.

Excerpt Monday: Dispel the Mist by Marilyn Meredith

2010-09-26T14:39:00.003-06:00

The winner of Marilyn's book is: tetewa. Congratulations! I'll send Marilyn your email address. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Dispel the Mist by Marilyn Meredith

Blurb: In Dispel the Mist, a county supervisor with Native American and Mexican roots dies under suspicious circumstances. Because of Deputy Tempe Crabtree's own ties to the Bear Creek Indian Reservations, she’s asked to help with the investigation, which takes her to the Painted Rock site and the pictograph of the Hairy Man. Is he real or just a legend?

In Dispel the Mist, Tempe Crabtree has several dreams that seem to be warnings of things to come.

Excerpt:

Her first dream was about her grandmother. Once again, Tempe was a child, cuddling against the soft warm body. Grandma’s nut brown wrinkled face, always expressive when she told Tempe the Indian stories. Love for her granddaughter apparent in her dark eyes. Tempe smelled the lavender that grandma always sprinkled into her dresser drawers. In the dream, she told a story Tempe had never heard before.

“In the old days, women learned never to leave their acorn meal unattended. All day long they made ground acorns on the big rocks near the river. Then they took the meal down to the water to wash out the poison. They left it in the sun to dry, but when they came back it was gone. “
Grandma paused dramatically and Tempe gasped. Who could have taken the acorn meal?

“None of the women took it. None of the children took it. When they looked around they found big footprints in the sand where they left the meal, so they knew the Hairy Man had eaten it. He liked Indian food too and was smart enough to know he needed to wait until the acorn meal was leached of its bitterness before he took it. After that, they always set aside a portion of the leached meal for the Hairy Man. The women always wondered if the sound of them pounding the acorns let him know when it was time to come for his share of the food.”

Tempe wanted to ask her grandmother questions about the Hairy Man, like did he still come for the acorn meal, but she faded away.

The only reason Tempe remembered this dream was because she had an urgent need to go to the bathroom. On her way back to bed, she noticed Hutch hadn’t joined her, so it must still be evening. Still sleepy, she thought briefly about the dream deciding it had absolutely no relationship to Supervisor Quintera’s death and promptly returned to her slumber.

Her next dream was a nightmare. Tempe knew she was on the reservation, but it was different looking as familiar places often are in dreams. The buildings all seemed dilapidated and badly in need of repair though she couldn’t see them clearly because of a grayish-yellow swirling mist surrounding everything. Jagged black mountain peaks poked through the clouds. Though she was alone, a feeling of menace was so prevalent, she could almost smell it.

In fact, she did smell a sour aroma mixed with smoke, like someone was burning trash with something toxic in it. Not knowing exactly what to do or where to go, she walked down the road which instead of being paved was dirt, and filled with rocks. No vehicles were around, either moving or parked.

Without warning, a large man who resembled Cruz Murphy stepped out of the fog. He held up a hand, palm out. “Stop. Danger ahead.”

“Maybe I can help,” Tempe said, moving closer to him, but as she did, he faded into the mist.

“Chief Murphy. Cruz, wait. Tell me what’s going on. I need to know.”

He didn’t answer, but another figure appeared from the gloom, Daniel Burcena dressed all in black. His features sharp and menacing. “You should heed warnings that are given to you. You may have native blood flowing through your veins, but your heart isn’t on the reservation. Everyone who lives here can see that. Go back where you came from.”

“I loved my grandmother,” Tempe said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t proud of my Indian heritage. Let me make it up to her.”

“It’s too late. Way too late.”

A warning siren blew. People ran from the buildings, spilling out onto the road and crowding around Tempe. What was going on? The siren stopped for a moment. It sounded again. More shrill this time. It stopped and then shrieked again.

It was the phone. Tempe shook the nightmare from her mind and picked up the receiver. “Deputy Crabtree.”

A strange voice, one that sounded like it was electronically altered growled, “Stay away from Painted Rock.”

******

Marilyn Meredith is the author of nearly thirty published books. Dispel the Mist is #8 in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. #9, Invisible Trail will be available this month.

From Marilyn:

The moment I stepped inside the rock shelter and spotted the pictograph of the Hairy Man and his family, I knew that my heroine, Tempe Crabtree, would not only visit this sacred place at night—which I’d been warned against doing—I also knew she would have an encounter with the Hairy Man. Dispel the Mist can be ordered through the usual places as well as from the publisher’s site at http://www.mundaniapress.com/

******

Marilyn will be giving away a copy of her book to one commenter. Her winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won.

Excerpt Monday: Lynda K. Scott

2010-09-19T19:27:00.004-06:00

The winner of Lynda's book is: Debby. Congratulations, Debby! I'll send Lynda your email address. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Heartstone Back Cover Copy

Eric d'Ebrur is out of time. He must find the legendary Heartstone and fulfill the ancient Gar'Ja bond he shares with the Stonebearer. But when he finds her, he discovers that love can be more dangerous than the Gawan threat. Eric can defeat the mind-controlling Gawan but will it cost him the woman he loves?

After terrifying episodes of hypersensitivity, Keriam Norton thinks she's losing her mind. When handsome shapeshifter Eric d'Ebrur saves her from the monstrous Gawan, she's sure of it. But insane or not, she'll find the Heartstone and, if she's lucky, a love to last a lifetime.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1

Opening day.

On the sign hanging over the door, the Old English letters spelling out The Treasure Chest gleamed in the morning light. The dark green awning that would prevent the hot afternoon sun from entering the windows added to the quaintness of the store.

Keriam Norton sighed happily. She treasured the old, well-worn and well-loved items in her inventory. They had a history, a past, a connection to earlier times, and now, with her help, they'd have a future.

She wished she could say the same. For all she knew, she and her mother, Meredith, had dropped out of the sky twenty-six years ago. As for the future, she would be satisfied with the store.

In the window, her cousin, Janna, fluffed the skirt of an old ivory wedding dress. Keriam smiled, remembering how the young woman had held it up to her body and admired it in the oval mirror. A true romantic, Janna fantasized about her wedding day constantly.

At least one of them had a fantasy.

In three hours, people would come into the store and browse through the collection of lovingly worn antiques.

People. Strangers.

She swallowed and rubbed suddenly damp palms against her pants legs. She took a deep breath. Released it slowly.

She and Janna would chat with them. Point out the eighteenth century armoire, the Art Deco or the kitschy collection of farm implements gracing the walls. Everything was going to be just fine.

Her stomach took a queasy roll.

Facing people she knew, and ones she didn't, was going to be hard. It hadn't always been so, just since her parents died. She inhaled raggedly at the surge of grief. So much had changed for her since then. But today was going to be a good day. It was, she repeated.

Janna backed out of the window. A moment later, she trotted through the front door to stand at Keriam's side. Her cousin's excitement poured off her in waves.
"Well? What do you think? Is it fantastic?" Janna asked.

"Oh, yes. Seriously fantastic."

"Are you sure?"

"It's beautiful." Keriam focused on the display, on the wedding dress with its yards of lace, fighting the rush of anxiety and joyous anticipation Janna was feeling. It would be worse if Janna actually touched her, she knew, and kept a careful distance between them. "Now. Let's get ready for hordes of customers to make us filthy rich."

"In your dreams," Janna said, laughing. As she passed through the door, she added, "Mine, too."

Keriam stopped as the weight of unseen eyes danced over her skin like thorny little ant-feet. She whirled, taking in the entire street with a sweeping glance.

Roseberg’s small business district, composed of ancient brick storefronts, would soon be bustling but now was serenely quiet. And yet...

Someone was watching her.

Across the street, a large black dog sniffed a reproduction coach lamp near the curb. Keriam dismissed the animal, letting her gaze move toward the intersection. A shadow, long and sharp in the sun's slanting rays, moved and vanished before Keriam could identify it. No faces pressed against the glass of the shops lining Main Street. There was no traffic.

Her attention returned to the dog. It sat, tongue lolling, tail idly sweeping the sidewalk. It had a feral tilt to its pale eyes that made her think wolf. Which was ridiculous, there weren't any wolves in this part of Michigan.

Then...expectancy flashed through her body, heightening her perception. From the east came the scent of the pig farms and the rendering plant, faint but distinguishable to her acute senses. Automobile fumes from the highway drifted, mingling with the occasional perfume of green, growing things from the surrounding farmlands. A silent call hung in the cool, morning air and she let the door close without going inside. She shut her eyes, fighting the urge to follow the call, to abandon Janna and the store.

A single, deep bark cut through the wild sensations and, as if a door slammed shut, the scents were gone, the call silenced. Her heart skipped a beat, then skittered like a wild thing. These episodes were coming far too often. And too powerfully. How long before she could no longer fight them?

How long before she lost her mind?

"Hey," Janna spoke from the doorway. "Something wrong?"

"No." Keriam shook her head, forcing a smile. "No. Nothing. I was just...daydreaming. Come on. There's still a lot to do."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HEARTSTONE is available in both print and ebook format from Mundania Press. You can find it here: http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Heartstone

If you buy Heartstone through the Mundania site, you can use the code LSCOTT10 at checkout and receive a 10% discount on your total purchase)

Heartstone is also available in print from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Heartstone-Lynda-K-Scott/dp/1606592335/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281979082&sr=1-1

To get or stay in touch with me:
* To join my newsletter, send a blank email to:
LyndaKScott-Newsgroup-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

* Be My Friend http://www.myspace.com/lyndakscott

* Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lyndakscott

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* Email: lynda@lyndakscott.com

I’d love you to go to my website and check out the prologue for Heartstone. My editor and I decided that the novel was just fine without it but I thought readers might enjoy reading it for free.

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

Lynda will give away one pdf copy of Heartstone. Her winner will be selected and posted here on Tuesday night. Stop back by to see if you won.

Publishing News and a Conference

2010-09-17T11:30:00.005-06:00

Hi, everyone. I've been terrible about posting news here, but there are a couple of things I'd like to report.

I'm working on a short story in Kismet and Devereux's world to upload to Amazon/Kindle and Smashwords. The tentative title is Bloodsucking New Year's Eve. Look for it before the holidays. If you're a fan of the series, you'll enjoy this story, not only because it's a romantic date night for my two main characters, but because pieces of the larger story arc are revealed. Things that aren't in the first two novels. I'm going to begin the search for a cover image.

I've also been slowly slogging along on an expanded version of the short story, Blood Song, I had in the print anthology, Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance. It will be up at Amazon/Kindle in the near future.

And, I've been working on an expanded version of my first two novels. I'll likely upload the new version of The Vampire Shrink -- including previously unpublished material -- before the end of the year. That's one absolutely wonderful thing about owning the e-rights to my novels: I can add/change/expand whenever I choose! (Whenever I have any time!)

My German publisher, Droemer-Knaur, has asked to publish the third book in my Kismet series. We're talking.

Wish I could win the lottery so I could spend more time writing!

(I have another cool piece of news, but I'll hold onto that for a while. More details when I can . . .)

Stay tuned!

I'm looking forward to attending the NINC (Novelists, Inc.) conference in Florida, October 7-10. Anyone else planning to go?

Excerpt Monday: Roxanne Rhoads

2010-09-13T07:53:00.006-06:00

Roxanne's winner is: Robin K! Congratulations, Robin. I'll give Roxanne your contact info. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Blurb and Excerpt: Eternal Desire

Eternal Desire is a hot and steamy paranormal erotic romance so finding a suitable PG excerpt was hard -not that the book is all sex- but even when LizBeth is alone she’s thinking about the vampire of her dreams and the hot blooded stranger she can’t get enough of.

The scene below is an excellent introduction to her thoughts on Quillon her vampire and Christien her sexy stranger. It also tosses in a few clues about LizBeth’s lonely life and her lack of connection to humanity.

PG Except from Eternal Desire:

I found myself going back and forth thinking about Christien and Quillon. One moment, I would be concentrating on Quillon. The next moment, I would have a flashback from the night before with Christien, and my knees would get weak. For so long, I had dreamt about Quillon, first imagining him as my guardian angel, then later imagining him in a much more carnal light. But Quillon was always so ice cold in my dreams. He was so distant, a fantasy but not flesh—at least not yet, not to me.

Christien was so warm, so non-vampirish, so human.

Christien was a man—a real man—and being with him rivaled the dreams and images I had of Quillon.

I felt myself being torn between a shadow and a stranger. Could it get any more complicated?

I was feeling run-down and my head ached. I decided I really needed some caffeine. I found the Café du Monde on Decatur, right on the edge of Jackson Square. The square was full of a variety of people: street musicians, artists, a dreaded mime, several fortune tellers and other people from all walks of life. I sat down at a small table, sipped at my pick-me-up-in-a-cup—a delicious café au lait—and people-watched.

My life was usually focused on the dead, the undead, or other strange preternatural occurrences. I often forgot about the humanity that surrounded me. They laughed, they danced, and they seemed to be having a good time. Teenagers hung out with their friends while tourists had their fortunes told and dropped money into the jars and hats of the artists and musicians. It was a beautiful slice-of-life scene. So everyday, I thought. So normal. I was lost in it.

Suddenly, I realized the sun was hanging low in the sky. It was getting late. I had to rush back to my hotel, drop off the books and get cleaned up. I was all dusty from digging around in the library, and I couldn’t meet Christien looking all disheveled.

I took an ultra-quick shower and dolled myself up as best I could with what I had available, which, unfortunately, wasn’t much. I hadn’t packed for dating. Jeans and a tight t-shirt would have to work this time.

I scurried out of the hotel and practically ran the whole way to him. I was out of breath by the time I met Christien, promptly at sunset, at the corner of Canal and Bourbon Streets. He smiled as I ran up to him. I was huffing and puffing, completely out of breath. Good job, Liz! Score another dork point for you, I thought. I could have tried for a sexier arrival and maybe sauntered up like a sex goddess a few minutes fashionably late. Instead, I was like a love struck teenager who couldn’t wait to be with him. I was just staring at him and following along with whatever he wanted. Luckily, he didn’t seem to mind.

He took me on a carriage ride around the city. He seemed very knowledgeable about New Orleans history, and he told me many stories that the tour guides had not. He also told me about all the Halloween festivities that would be going on that weekend. “I would be honored if you would attend the Vampyre Ball and Dark Masquerade Ball with me this weekend.” He sounded so formal.

Praise for Eternal Desire:

After reading Eternal Desire, I would have to call Roxanne Rhoads a master of words. Each sentence flowed into another with a nice blend of old elegance and contemporary style… ~review by author Kiki Howell

Ms. Rhoads is an artist with words. She very tastefully wove the romance with the love scenes making the reader feel as if true romance and chivalry were still here… ~review by Bertena Varney

Eternal Desire won second place in The Pen and Muse’s 2010 Short Story Competition

Eternal Desire Blurb:

Liz Beth, a paranormal researcher, is haunted by the seductive vampire, Quillon, who may or may not be real. She arrives in New Orleans the week of Halloween to search for the elusive vampire of her dreams and instead encounters a handsome stranger, Christien, with whom she begins a passionate affair with.

Soon she is torn between her dream lover and a flesh and blood man, both of whom are a mystery to her. The closer it gets to Halloween the wilder things become. LizBeth gets closer to the truth about Quillon while Christien has her under his own spell.

Will all be revealed at the Vampyre Ball or will the masks stay in place?

In New Orleans at Halloween anything is possible.

Link to book video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJ6niYhgJg

Buy links:

ebook at Eternal Press:

http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781926704708

print at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1926704789?ie=UTF8&tag=enchantyourse-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1926704789

Kindle version at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1926704789?ie=UTF8&tag=enchantyourse-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1926704789

Eternal Desire is one of my favorite stories that I have written.

I love Christien, Quillon and LizBeth and have mentioned them in a few of my other works but hope to write a sequel to Eternal Desire soon, maybe a full length novel. I have the idea written down and the story slightly mapped out- it’s just on the back burner right now. One day soon I hope to get to it because there have been requests for more of these characters. I take that as a good sign.

I’d like to give away a print copy to one lucky commenter. US shipping only please. (Roxanne's winner will be selected and posted on Wednesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won.)

http://www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com/

www.twitter.com/roxannerhoads

Pandora's Box Ebook/Kindle Giveaway

2010-09-07T19:29:00.001-06:00

E-copies of The Vampire Shrink and Dark Harvest are part of the prizes in Scott Nicholson's giveaway.

Click here to find out more:

http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/pandorasbox.htm

Excerpt Monday: Rena Marks, "Kiss Me Before I Die"

2010-09-05T19:05:00.005-06:00

The winner of Rena's book is: Rosie! Congratulations, Rosie. Give me your email address and I'll pass it along to Rena. Thanks to everyone who participated.

BLURB:
A relationship between a vampire and his Extinguisher is doomed from the very beginning. At twenty-five years of age, Afton Reis is the only living Extinguisher to make retirement. But what's the use of retirement if the only one that got away still heats your blood?

EXCERPT: Kiss Me Before I Die

It was a cave I awoke in. A darkened cave, good for improved night vision for those more than plain human. Hushed whispers all around me. Not a lot of body heat.

A vampire nest.

“It’s awake,” said a childlike voice. A tiny, fanged creature no more than six or seven, pointed at me. His father grabbed him, moving him from my reach. As if I’d harm an innocent.

I did a double take. An innocent? Surely blood loss was to blame for my brain failure.

“What are you?” the blond boy asked. “You smell like us. But you look human.”

The cave was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Until the voice of Ethan rang strong. “She’s an Extinguisher.”

There was hissing from the shadowed corners. “You brought one here? You should have let her die.”

“You will not harm her,” Ethan said.

“How dare you bring an Extinguisher into our midst?”

“You forget who rules?” Ethan’s voice was deadly. Silence was his answer.
“I’m an ex-Extinguisher,” I said soothingly. To justify Ethan’s actions. For if I were one of the vampires, I’d take me out in a heartbeat.

“She’s a female. Is she the one?” I heard from the corner.

The same child inched toward me. His father reached to pull him away but Ethan interrupted. “Let him. Trust must begin. Jordan, go on.”

The boy tentatively moved forward. “You don’t have fangs,” he said.

“You do.”

He looked at me like I was an idiot. “How else would I eat? Hey,” he continued as it dawned on him. “What do you eat?”

“Food.”

“Like a human?” he asked, eyes wide.

I simply nodded.

“But you can morph, like we do. Right?”

To this child, this…Jordan, I was a scary urban legend. A nightmare parents whispered about in the dark.

“Yes,” I said.

“Where’s your mommy and daddy?” he asked suddenly.

I shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know anymore.”

“Why not?”

Ethan answered for me. “Because Extinguishers are taken from their parents before they are even eight years of age.”

The looks on the faces of the evil creatures around me were incredulous. As if we, the humans, were the monsters.

“We are trained daily in order to have the strength to extinguish,” I justified.

“I thought you gained strength by drinking the blood of a captured vampire. One of us,” someone said, bitterness brewing in his voice.

I had no answer. I certainly didn’t ask for the benefit back then.

“At what age were you stricken, Afton?” Ethan asked quietly. He was smart. Had he demanded an answer, I would have clammed.

“Three.”

Silence reigned in the aftermath yet again.

“Why so young? If they are normally taken at eight?” another of the voices asked.

“I was one of the Originals.”

“Originals?”

“The first crew.”

“An experiment,” Ethan countered. “You were an experiment.”

“One that worked well,” I reminded him curtly.

“Yet one that has not been able to be recreated. They don’t know what happened differently with you.”

“Apparently they figured it out. I’m lying here wounded, aren’t I?”

“They knew exactly how to wound you. Don’t you find it curious?”

“Oh, do share with me, Ethan. I’m too tired for games.”

“They have your blood. They must have infected the assassin with it, instead of blood from a vampire. You are not used to sensing your own blood morphing in and out. Vampires are—shared blood runs rampant throughout our lines. This has been planned for years, Afton. The Extinguisher in the park? He wasn’t sent for me. He was there for you.”

A shiver ran down my spine, icy cold and making my fingers and toes tingle. Here I thought I had been saving Ethan. Here I thought they’d let me retire.

Instead, I was being hunted like an animal.

I guess it was beneficial that I’d spent the last year underground hiding from my lover. It kept the government from finding me also.

I should have known. There was never any intention of allowing my departure. Not after all the years of training. The inhumane conditions. But I’d earned retirement, dammit.

I was one of the lucky few who stayed alive.

“And how are we to feed her?” asked a female. “We have no human food.”
“We should turn her loose.”

Ethan tore his gaze from mine long enough to glare in the general vicinity of the voice.

Dead silence once again reigned in the cave. The tension thickened, the beginnings of a catastrophic tantrum from Ethan. Minds around us would go insane with rage, or at least they should. I wondered if his fits worked on vampires the same way they did on humans?

“Ethan,” I whispered gently.

At first, he didn’t hear.

“Ethan,” I said again, careful to keep any urgency from my voice. When he cut his attention to me, something softened in his eyes.

There was the key to averting a disaster. Ethan was all-out male, needing to be needed. Frustrated because his twisted mind thought I was his but I was a female born and bred not to need anything or anyone.

“You know I can take care of myself,” I said softly, “but I am a little weakened right now. I don’t know any of these people. Maybe just you and I can head out to find me something to eat?”

The air was thinning, becoming easier to breathe. Drier, as though the humidity was evaporating quickly.

“You shouldn’t be up and about, bella,” he chided gently.

I could almost see the relief that swept through the inhabitants of the cave.

http://www.renamarks.com/

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

Rena will give away a copy of Kiss Me Before I Die to one commenter. Her winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won.

Excerpt Mondays: Kitty Goes to War by Carrie Vaughn

2010-08-29T17:40:00.005-06:00

The winner of Carrie's book is: Pat. Congratulations, Pat. Send me your contact information and I'll send the book to you. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Excerpt: Kitty Goes to War

I sat at my desk, my monitor and microphone in front of me, maps and notebook paper spread over the whole surface. I was writing down addresses and marking points on the map as people called in.

"So you're saying it burned down and nobody could find out why?" I asked Pam from Lexington.

"That's right," she said. "My friend Stacy who's kind of a witch said it's because it was on a crossroads, and something demonic must have happened there, one of those deal-with-the-devil-type things, and the energy overflowed and incinerated it. Could she be right?"

"I don't know, Pam," I said. "That's why I'm discussing the topic, to find out if these events are all coincidence or if something spooky really is going on here. Thanks for the data point. Okay, faithful listeners, that gives me about a dozen independently verifiable stories about supernatural happenings at Speedy Mart convenience stores all over the country. This is already more than I thought we'd get, so keep them coming."

After the third person suggested that something weird was going on at Speedy Mart, I started paying attention. And wondering. And remembering a couple more stories I'd heard about intersections between the chain of stores and weirdness. Then I decided to devote an episode of my call-in radio show to the subject. It turned out that maybe something strange was going on here. That didn't explain why the Speedy Mart chain would have anything supernatural associated with it.

"My next caller is Al from San Jose. Hello, Al."

"Hi, Kitty. I'm such a big fan, thanks for taking my call."

"Well, thank you, Al. What's your story?"

"It's more of a question: is it true that Speedy Mart hires vampires to work the night shift?"

"Funny you should ask," I said. "I once got a call from a vampire who said he was working the night shift at a Speedy Mart. Now, I don't think this means that it's a matter of policy that Speedy Mart hires vampires. I think this guy just needed a job, and there's only so many places open in the middle of the night. But you can definitely see the advantages of hiring the ageless undead to work behind the counter. I imagine they don't get too freaked out about holdups."

"But there's probably not a whole lot of career advancement for vampires there," he said.

"Does anyone working the night shift at Speedy Mart have a lot of opportunities for career advancement? Although with vampires it would literally be a dead-end job." I chuckled. I really shouldn't laugh at my own jokes so much. "Right, we have Chuck from Nevada. Hi, Chuck."

"Hey, Kitty! How you doing?" He was brash, a real talker. This ought to be good.

"I'm doing just great," I said, the standard line. "Where in Nevada are you?"

"Area 51."

Deadpan, I said, "Really?"

"Okay, yeah, I'm from a little town about thirty miles up the freeway from Las Vegas. Near Area 51. And you want to talk about weird stuff going on with Speedy Mart, I've got a story for you."

"Lay it on me."

"UFOs."

I leaned back in my chair. "Okay, now you're just making crap up."

"No, seriously, we get sightings all the time. We're one of the stops on the Southwest UFO tour. The Speedy Mart parking lot is one of the best places to see them. UFO hunters park out there with their lawn chairs and binoculars looking for them. It's, like, UFO central!"

"If you say so, but like I always say, there's weird and then there's weird. But I suppose a data point's a data point. Thanks for calling." I didn't have to tell him I wasn't actually going to mark that location on my map. We'd call it an outlier. A real far-out outlier.

http://www.carrievaughn.com/

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

Carrie is on a book tour right now, so she won't be able to stop by and answer comments, but I'll be giving away a copy of her new Kitty book, Kitty Goes to War, to one commenter here. The winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday night. Stop back by to see if you won.

Excerpt Monday: Starts 8/30 with Carrie Vaughn and The Passage

2010-08-20T13:38:00.004-06:00

Excerpt Monday starts off with a bang! An excerpt from Carrie Vaughn's new Kitty book, Kitty Goes to War will be our first post on Monday, August 30. I hope you'll stop by and take a peek.

Also, I just finished The Passage by Justin Cronin. I almost gave up on it in the middle, but I'm glad I finished it. And, now I want to know what happens next, so I'm looking foward to the next book. Have you read it? What did you think?

The Vampire Shrink at Kindle Nation Daily

2010-08-18T07:41:00.003-06:00

The Vampire Shrink is a sponsor today at Kindle Nation Daily. I hope to introduce my series to even more new readers:

http://kindlehomepage.blogspot.com/

Guest Blogger: Vonna Harper

2010-08-15T17:36:00.006-06:00

Vonna's winner is: Jeanette8042! Congratulations! Send me your contact information and I'll pass it along to Vonna. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Mt. Shasta of Northern California rises stark and challenging in the distance. No wonder ancient peoples considered the massive peak the home of their gods.

Where I stand at the Lava Beds National Monument, Mt. Shasta seems to watch over me. I've come to this remote and foreboding place to research the Modoc Indians who found shelter in the caves created during a volcanic eruption ten thousand years ago. The Modocs once had no use for the vast lava beds, prickly sagebrush, and frozen winters. But conditions at the reservation they were forced to share with their enemies the Klamaths became intolerable. With Kientpoos (who the settlers called Captain Jack) leading them, they left, intending to return to their ancestral home, but settlers had taken over their land. Pursued by soldiers, the Modocs hid in an area that became known as Captain Jack's Stronghold.

They stayed there throughout a long, cruel winter, but the estimated sixty warriors were no match for several thousand soldiers. In the end, Modoc men, women, and children were shipped to Oklahoma. On Oct. 3, 1873, Kientpoos and two others were executed.

With me on this day are three dear friends, all writers. Because we each have our own reasons for exploring the monument, we go our own ways. I head up the trail the Modocs took from their stronghold to nearby Tule Lake. Surrounded by wind and birds and watched by lizards, I try to walk in the Modocs' moccasins. What was it like for a man desperate to feed his family? How did mothers keep their children quiet and warm in those dark places beneath the ground? What were their prayers, their hopes and fears?

Suddenly I know I'm no longer alone. Looking up further along the trail to the outcropping where Modoc scouts watched for signs of attack, I see a man. He wears his black hair in a bowl cut under a small-brimed hat with an eagle feather in it. A ragged wool blanket is over his shoulders, and he carries a rifle.

This can't be! I've seen drawings and photographs of Modocs during the war. My imagination has the best of me. With my heart pounding, I continue up the steep, rocky slope. The Modoc waits for me, looking tired and wary. Then the sun escapes from the cloud that had been over it, and I see tears in the warrior's eyes.

Seconds later he's gone.

Both as Vonna Harper and under my real name, I've been writing about Native Americans for many years. My experience at the Lava Beds isn't unique. I've seen Seminole warriors in the Florida Everglades and an old Chumash woman kneeling in the Indian graveyard at a California mission.

How can I not write about Native Americans and their spiritual beliefs? What choice do I have but to explore the depths of a people's oneness with all things nature?

While Jola, my heroine in Falcon's Captive isn't Native American, she is a shape-shifter. The roots of who she is comes from Native American roots.

I believe the opening is an example: "The wind screamed, prompting the female Falcon Jola to pull her wings more tightly against her compact body and increase her speed. Alive as only a newly mature predator can be, she dove for the ground at over two hundred miles per hour. Tiny, bony tubercles in her nostrils slowed the rush of air into her lungs while her protective third eyelids lubricated her eyes and kept her vision keen."

And because I write erotica, as a Just Erotic Romance Review reported, "The sex is fabulous, inventive, and orgasmic."

http://www.vonnaharper.com/

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Vonna will give away a copy of her book to one commenter. Her winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won.

Guest Blogger: Louisa Kelley

2010-08-08T20:59:00.006-06:00

The winner of Louisa's book is: Sarah Raplee. Congratulations, Sarah! Give me your contact information and I'll pass it along to Louisa. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Thank you Lynda, for inviting me to be here today!

HERE BE DRAGONS

This is a big shout out to all of your dragon lovers out there. Are you as crazy about dragons as I am?

As I am a paranormal romance author, I absolutely HAD to write a story about these myth-drenched creatures -- with my own special twist of course! As you can see from the cover of my book, Lydia and the Draca, this erotic paranormal story is about dragons; specifically, a clan of lusty shape-shifters called the Draca.

What on earth is so incredibly compelling and fascinating about the dragon mythology? Certainly I’ve asked myself that many times over the years, as my obsession with all things dragon has been with me since I started reading fantasy books in my childhood. And did dragons ever, really exist?

Here’s a quote from Wikipedia: “Statistically improbable, Dragons are the most likely impossible creature to exist, with a higher (though equally near infinite) improbability assigned to Fairies, Gnomes, Pixies, Witches, and Elves, in that order.”

Hmmm. Truly, they never existed? Sadly, probably not. However, the legendary powers and character aspects of dragons contain a powerful imagery that illuminates something deep in the human unconscious.

A dragon is a symbol of the raw, primal power of life itself. Left alone, it is dormant. Awake, it can manifest as the power of chaos and destruction. Yet, with guidance and education, the dragon's manifestation of power can be constructive, liberating, illuminating. Power of good and evil all encompassed in one entity — exactly the same for us human creatures. Human capacity for good is equal only to its capacity for evil and destruction. Both powers lay within our bodies and spirits, waiting only for the proper trigger to bring them forth.

Which do we choose? Evil or good? (Is there even a gray area anymore?) The mythology of dragons plays out our choices.

Oriental philosophies tended to portray dragons as kind, wise and in service to their enlightened masters. Occidental mythology portrays dragons as evil creatures, laying destruction where it dwells. Fire! Chaos! Death! Yet, in all cases, dragons are shown to have great power. Power that humans have difficulty taming, capturing or controlling. Don’t humans show the same difficulty taming our own destructive natures?

Tales of dragons span cultures and centuries. Almost every religion has stories involving dragons. There is a widespread belief that earlier cartographers used the Latin phrase: “hic sunt dracones” i.e., “the dragons are here, or “here be dragons,” to denote dangerous or unexplored territories on maps.

“Here be dragons” could be used in exactly the same way to denote the unexplored territories of our personal unconscious. When we really dig deep, down into our secret, hidden places, will our findings be dangerous? Exciting? Disastrous? Painful? Full of fire or full of illuminated light?

Which do we choose?

I happily took the entire dragon mythology to a different level, with the addition of the shape-shifter aspect, along with romance and sex. Was it hard to write a story like that? How about incredibly titillating, coming as it did from years of a crazy, secret, fantasy life! Dragons that can become human. Humans that become dragons. Dragons that can love in every possible way in all of their forms. Ahhh…yes!

For artistic inspiration, I use the fantastic dragon images of Ciruelo Cabral. In my opinion, he is one of the great masters of dragon art. I’ve got one of his dragons framed as my muse next to my writing desk.

Check out this site to see what I mean: http://fantasygalleryart.com/ciruelo_cabral.html

And just for fun, if you’re interested in ‘Discovering Your Inner Dragon” take the quiz found at: Discover Your Inner Dragon: http://www.quiz.dmbh.org/

Louisa Kelley continues her obsession with dragons while she writes the second book in her series, “Tales of the Draca.” She'd love you to join her in some over-the-top erotic adventures with the Draca; dragon shape-shifters of a very different kind.

To learn more about Louisa, visit her website at: http://www.louisakelley.com/
http://www.loose-id.com/Lydia-and-the-Draca.aspx

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Louisa will give away a copy of her book to one commenter. Her winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won. (Louisa is at work all day and will check comments in the evenings.)

Kindle Author Interview, Undead in the City Giveaway and The Howling God: Mystery of the Wolves

2010-08-01T17:57:00.007-06:00

David Wisehart interviewed me at Kindle Author:

http://kindle-author.blogspot.com/2010/08/interview-lynda-hilburn.html

In an effort to spread the word about my erotic paranormal novella, UNDEAD IN THE CITY, (and to celebrate my birthday by giving you a gift) I'm going to give a couple of copies away. This is an ebook, so I can purchase it for you from Amazon Kindle or Smashwords.com

Here's how to enter:

Check out the excerpts for UNDEAD IN THE CITY on my website (http://www.lyndahilburnauthor.com) and answer these questions here as comments:

What was Malveaux's sire addicted to?

Where was Tempest standing when she first saw Malveaux?

Who is Chaz?

Also, please leave a comment for Matt about his wonderful wolf post.

(8/6, I decided to extend the giveaway til 8/22) I'll pick two winners during the evening of Sunday Aug. 22. Check back to see if you won.

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THE HOWLING GOD: Mystery of the wolf

By Matt Bille

The wolf has captured humanity’s imagination in a way no other creature ever has. For as long as we’ve been on this planet, we’ve been very well aware the wolf was here first. It hunted from the steppes of Asia to the forests of North America to the mountains of Japan. It is this ubiquitousness, combined with the nature of the wolf itself – intelligent, loyal and loving to family, stealthy, and potentially deadly – which has no doubt led to our fascination with the wolf and the legends of werewolves, known in French-influenced cultures as the rou-garou or loup-garou.

It was from France that the most famous werewolf tale, one based on horrific fact, emerged. The Beast of Gevaudan was blamed for killing at least sixty people (some claim over a hundred) from 1764 to 1767. Terrified peasants told of a wolflike creature, which many thought was an evil sorcerer in wolf form, much larger than an ordinary wolf. Modern investigations indicate the Beast was a conflation of two types of predators: unusually aggressive wolves and a hyena somehow loosed from a menagerie. The hyena, whose stuffed body was recently rediscovered in a museum, was reportedly felled by one Jean Chastel, who was in fact using silver bullets in the belief he was hunting a werewolf. An air of mystery still cloaks this episode, and some still believe a creature much stranger than a hyena was at work.

This fascination with werewolves has not vanished in the age of science, as can be seen by the books and films based on the reported beast of Bray Road in Wisconsin. While documented killings of humans by wolves are exceedingly rare, the fact they are possible – as evidenced by the death of jogger Candice Berner in Alaska in March 2010 - never escapes our imaginations. The lore of the wolf is a rich one, and even the writers of werewolf fiction have yet to take full advantage of all its permutations and mysteries.

Wolves once had the widest distribution of any nonhuman mammal. On every inhabited continent and a surprising number of islands, the wolf was established as either the apex predator or an important link in the chain of predators and prey. They outcompeted or held their niche against bears, big cats, and a variety of predatory mammals that have gone extinct while the wolf has survived. The species even outlasted its larger, more powerful cousin, the dire wolf. A fascinating footnote is that some cryptozoologists are not certain the dire wolf is gone: there are scattered accounts from across the Arctic regions of the waheela, a larger, more heavily built, and more powerful “super-wolf.” Occasionally such reports emerge further south, as with a spate of frightening encounters with an unknown predator in Arkansas in 2006. Native Americans in Montana and the Dakotas spoke of the Shunka warak'in, a strange-looking wolf with a hyena-like appearance. In this case, there is actually a mounted specimen, not especially large but very strange-looking, killed in 1886 and now being tested after being lost for decades.

There are many creatures, inside and outside the genus Canis, called wolves. We all know the grey wolf, but few know of the long-legged maned wolf of South America or its extinct relation the Falklands wolf. Fewer still know of the ghostlike Andean maned wolf, also known as Hagenbeck’s mountain dog, an uncertain species described from skins that indicate a dark-furred animal with shorter legs but a larger mane and a more powerful, fearsome appearance than the “fox on stilts” look of the known maned wolf.

In North America, a relentless campaign of extermination has resulted in the demise of at least six subspecies of Canis lupus. Not surprisingly, two of the most spectacular types were among the first to depart this planet. The Newfoundland wolf, often a solid white in color and weighing well over 100 pounds, became extinct about 1911. The even larger Kenai wolf probably vanished from its Alaskan range about 1915. Today, we know very little about either species except the simple fact that we will never see them again.

The smaller red wolf, Canis rufus, almost disappeared as well. Weighing 40 to 70 pounds and clad in a tawny and cinnamon coat with black or gray markings, this species was restricted to the southeastern U.S. The Texas subspecies is extinct after having survived into the early 1970s. The Mississippi red wolf, driven into the most miserable swamps of Texas and Louisiana, was extinct in the wild by 1980. Its genetic shadow lives in a population of hybrid coyotes into which the last handful of wild red wolves - inbred, sick, and unable to find mates of their own kind - deposited their legacy. (While some experts are unsure of the red wolf’s status as a separate species, American conservation authorities continue to treat it as one.)

Fortunately, a captive population was bred from fourteen red wolves trapped between 1973 and 1979. Beginning in 1987, a few wolves were released onto government-owned land in North Carolina, and other reintroduction projects are underway. There are now over 300 red wolves in captivity or in the reintroduction areas.

As mentioned earlier, Even the island nation of Japan had its wolf – or, actually, wolves. An epidemic wiped out the already-declining population of wolves on the northern island of Hokkaido sometime before 1912. This was the Edo (or Ezo) wolf, a medium-sized, largely grey subspecies designated Canis lupus hattai. There have been a few sighting reports made since the animal’s demise, but these are not generally regarded as strong evidence for survival.

The most mysterious of all wolf tales, though, is the fate of the Honshu wolf, known in Japan as the yamainu or shamainu. The yamainu is normally listed as a wolf subspecies, Canis lupus hodophilax, although the animal was originally described as a separate species, C. hodophilax. A few modern specialists, such as Dr. Yoshinori Imaizumi, have argued this unique identity should be resurrected.

The yamainu was the smallest race of wolf that we know of from anywhere in the world. It was only about fourteen inches high at the shoulder and had disproportionately short legs for a wolf of any sort. It might be said that the nation which gave the world the subcompact car also developed the subcompact wolf.

Centuries ago, the diminutive wolf was looked on favorably in Japanese culture. Folk tales often cast the animal as a friend or guardian of humans. Despite this, the yamainu still had the air of mystery humans have always ascribed to wolves. This may have been due to the species’ vocalizations. These wolves reportedly howled for hours at a time, giving voice to a haunting wail that seemed far too loud to come from such a small animal. To the Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, the yamainu was the “Howling God.”

As Western-style farming and the keeping of domestic animals increased, the yamainu took on more of the aura of a threat. By the late nineteenth century, the yamainu had, in many areas, reverted to the role of wolves everywhere – that of enemy of the human race. It was hunted for its fur, because of the alleged threat it posed to livestock, and because of the danger created by occasional rabid specimens. In areas where wolf sightings were once ignored or welcomed, villagers posted magical charms to ward off wolves or actively pursued the animals with traps, weapons, and poison. Governments placed bounties on the animals. As the species became rarer (and thus even less of a real threat), the persecution intensified – an illogical reaction which has occurred many times in many lands where wolves are concerned.

It is commonly believed that the last Japanese wolf was killed in 1905. At the site of this event, in Higashi-Yoshino Village in Nara Prefecture (one of the southernmost prefectures, or states, on the main island of Honshu), a requiem ceremony is carried out each year. The Japanese have exterminated their wolf, but not without regret.

Or have they? There is Japanese saying that “The wolf can hide behind a single reed.” There may be something to it.

Occasional sighting reports have kept the question of the Honshu wolf’s existence open for almost a century now. Brent Swancer, an American cryptozoological researcher living in Japan, unearthed a photograph of a wolf killed in 1910. In 1934, a group of farmers northwest of Hongu reported seeing five or six wolves in a pack. After World War II, sightings increased. According to forester and writer Ue Toshikatsu, this was a logical development, since conscription and war reduced the population of rural areas and produced an increase in the numbers of wild game such as boar and deer.

Sighting reports dropped off again in the late 1950s. Ue Toshikatsu noted that, in this period, forests and wildlife were again under pressure from development. He suggested the wolf survived its presumed demise and began a modest comeback during and after the war, only to meet a final end around 1960.

In 1993, Yanai Kenji published his own story of how, as a mountaineer accompanied by his son and his co-worker, he was startled by a “horrible howling” while hiking toward Ryogami Mountain in 1964. Soon after hearing the howls, the party encountered a lone wolf. The animal watched them briefly, then fled, leaving the half-eaten carcass of a hare behind.

In March 1994, wolf enthusiasts hosted a conference in Nara. Over eighty professional and amateur researchers attended. They presented and analyzed reports from seventy witnesses who had seen wolves or heard howls. An accompanying story in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun stated that a shrine in Tottori Prefecture, just northwest of Nara, was discovered in January 1994 to hold a surprisingly recent specimen of the yamainu. This animal may have been presented to the shrine as recently as 1950.

The largest number of modern sightings have come from the Kii Peninsula. This rugged, mountainous block of land projecting into the Pacific from the southeastern coast of Honshu was the last stronghold of the yamainu.

The photographic evidence, though, has come from other regions. In 1966, a wolf enthusiast named Hiroshi Yagi was driving on a forest road in the central Japanese prefecture of Saitama (well north of the Kii) when he spotted what he believed was a wolf. He stopped, and the animal let him get close while he took photographs. These pictures sparked a renewal of interest, though not all authorities accepted they showed a wolf rather than a domestic dog.

The next claim came from the southern island of Kyushu. On July 8, 2000, school principal and amateur biologist Akira Nishida was hiking on a mountain trail when a canid about three feet in length emerged from the forest and passed within a few yards of him. Nishida whipped out his camera and shot ten pictures. The aforementioned Dr. Imaizumi examined the evidence and said, “I cannot help but think that the animal is a Japanese wolf.” Other scientists were cautious about identifying the animal, but agreed the case deserved investigation. A claim that this, too, was an abandoned dog has divided expert opinion.

Recent expeditions focused on the Kii Peninsula have produced no new evidence, despite trapping efforts and the playing of recorded Canadian wolf howls (this latter tactic seems unlikely to provoke a response from such a differentiated lupine race, but anything is worth a try) . Modern sighting reports that don’t include photographs are hard to interpret: the wolf is beyond living memory in Japan, and some witnesses, at least, no doubt are misidentifying dogs.

Folklorist John Knight suggests the wolf has become a symbol, or metonym, for the place the mountain forests once held in Japanese culture. Such forests were viewed as lands of mystery and danger. In short, the continuing interest in wolves exists because people want to believe the wildness, the mystery, is still “out there,” despite the slender nature of the evidence. This may well be true, but it doesn’t answer the question: is the wolf extinct, or are there nights when, on Japan’s loneliest mountaintops, the Howling God still speaks?

Matt Bille is a science writer and cryptozoologist in Colorado Springs. See his website at http://www.mattwriter.com/

Special thanks to artist Bill Rebsamen (the photos in the post) and to cryptozoologist Angel Morant Fores for providing Japanese publications translated into English by Ishizawa Naoya.

The Lure of the Dead Boyfriend

2010-07-29T07:19:00.003-06:00

Vampire Professor Bertena Varney has a great post about the lure of the dead boyfriend. Check it out here:

http://markdeniz.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/the-lure-of-the-dead-boyfriend/