Guest Author-Rona Sharon

Blood, Fire, and Pillars of Smoke: The Rise of Vampires in Pop Culture

By Rona Sharon,Author of Royal Blood

As popular themes go, vampires may very well win the prize of "most commonly resurrected." You may love them, hate them, or are trying very hard to ignore them, but surely you have wondered at least once what made the damned princes of darkness so bloody interesting.If you prefer "real world" storylines and are observing the phenomenon as a baffled bystander, you might be interested to know that thousands of years before achieving mass popularity in movies such as Underworld and Twilight, and TV series like True Blood, vampires had manifested in pagan mythology, monotheistic demonology, and spiritual rituals.

Throughout history, vampire myths appeared in nearly every culture. From the ancient Middle East (Mesopotamia, Judea, Egypt), these archetypical baddies invaded Europe, where they found fertile soil in Slavic paganism, and also materialized in Africa, Asia, and the Aztec Empire.

Curiously, the earliest vampires were females -- violent dark goddesses like the Sumerian Lilitu, the Egyptian Sekhmet, and the Indian Kali, all possessing immense supernatural forces. These vampiric goddesses had both the powers to create and to destroy, to give birth and to devour.

In the Dark Ages, tales of vampires sparked public hysteria. Corpses were exhumed and stabbed. It had taken the vampire various reincarnations, through the Hebrew Talmud, Arabian Nights, Boccaccio's Il Decameron, and eclectic poetry to reemerge as the suave ageless nobleman.

This 19th century "makeover" was a direct outcome of the violent volcanic eruption in Indonesia in 1815. The Judgment Day atmosphere caused by dark skies and a frosty summer inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, as well as plays and operas starring the alluring vampire lord.

From this point on, the revenants' star was on the rise and shining ever so brightly with each literary, musical, or theatrical piece conceived (oftentimes as a result of consuming laudanum) in their honor. Lord Byron, Edgar Allen Poe, and Alexandre Dumas, to name a few, contributed to their eternal fame, but it was the Irish novelist Bram Stoker's Draculathat had the mightiest impact on the imagination and cast the glory of the bloodthirsty count and his court in perpetuity.

Evidently the public's fascination with vampires is not an original fad. The vampire is the most popular fiction character of all times. What is it about vampires exactly that appeals to so many people? And why, being familiar with this totally fictitious half-man, half-monster icon, people are still happy to spend their time on movies, books, and TV series that feature vampires?

Entertainment and escapism come to mind. As much as we are riveted by "real world" plots, sometimes the brain needs to zone out in fantasyland. This explanation is plausible, but it fails to prove why the vampire in particular outperforms any other fantastical creature.We should keep in mind that the vampire has only recently assumed the role of the compelling, gothic, martyred, seductive, gorgeous, off-limits, struggling, sympathetic, romantic outcast in love with a human. The slick hunk in black leather pants, driving a sports car in a metropolis by night, was not the bloodcurdling image that had haunted the graveyards of our ancestors.

Granted, the spooky effect has value. Sexologists believe that scary moments stimulate the libido and therefore couples may bond effectively having watched a horror movie together. However, while this theory is bound to stick in your memory, it does not offer sufficient evidence, either.Vampires, whether pale and beautiful or ghoulishly foul, have always been identified with death, blood-drinking, and sex, feeding on emotions such as love, guilt, dread, desire, pity, and sadism.

Far be it from me to undertake psychoanalyzing why we are obsessed with death, blood, and sex. In my capacity as a historical novelist, I choose to explore the mysteries of the human psyche through stories in the hopes of understanding why we were put on this earth and how we may improve our lot in life. Ironically, as I study the tapestry of man's fleeting existence, I see how the fruits of one generation's labor -- art, science, architecture, etc. -- are reaped by its successors.Now, a vampire -- omnipotent, never-aging, and immortal -- may travel the centuries unscathed, unconstrained by a deadline in his pursuit of enlightenment and happiness. Would he or she be a cheerful voyager or one cursed with loneliness? Then there is the future to consider. What if the world and/or mankind are doomed to a cataclysmic end? Would anyone care to witness that?

Vampire symbolism is tied in heavily with the awareness of the powers of darkness, chaos, and the occult -- ancient mysteries that add a chilling dimension to the rich layers of history and cast a question mark on the future. Doomsday prophecies made for an absorbing read as I was doing research back in 2007 for Royal Blood, my Tudor Vampires novel. Here's an example:

"Awake, ye drunkards, and weep . . . For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion . . . Sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand . . . And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come."– Book of Joel

The vampire -- a human lookalike possessed of superior abilities, as well as frailties, dependent on man for sustenance, multifaceted and obscure -- remains an enigmatic figure. Friend or foe? Through him, we get to experience latent fancies and scenes in which the secrets of creation are unraveled. Thank heavens for fiction, I say. The world, I predict, has not seen the last of the vampire crazes. The undead are here to stay, our prolific imagination will undoubtedly continue to produce them, and even the most discriminating realist may yet cross over to the dark side.

©2009 Rona Sharon, author of Royal Blood

Author Bio

Rona Sharon is the author of critically acclaimed historical novels of intrigue, passion, and danger. Her latest, Royal Blood, is a tale of lust and violence in the treacherous Tudor Court. From her home on the Mediterranean Coast in Tel Aviv, surrounded by thousands of years of history, Rona brings her passion for culture and travel to her writing and never fails to deliver a story that carries a punch . . . and a dagger.
For more information please visit http://www.ronasharon.com/

My First Guest Vlog With Toni Andrews

Toni's Fantastic Fives

A Tarot Reading From Toni to her Readers

Here's the link with address to send a SASE in order to get a signed bookplate: http://toniandrews.com/CryMercyTour.htm

Follow Toni on her virtual book tour throughout the month for more giveaways and fun blogging.

Toni's website: http://toniandrews.com/
Here's the book trailer for Cry Mercy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN3hiz-WJvQ
Here's Toni's Blog: http://toniandrews.bravejournal.com/

Angie Fox’s Musings and Demon Slayer Giveaway

Thanks so much to Danette for having me by today to talk about The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers and life as an author.

This past year has been an adventure to say the least. I managed to do book research with a bunch of Harley riders and their dogs – without falling off a bike once (at least not while the bikes were moving). Then I met a building inspector for the city of Henderson, Nevada, who took me down into the bowels of the Hoover Dam to research the second Accidental Demon Slayer book, The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers (you can win a copy here). And then, of course, The Accidental Demon Slayer hit the New York Times bestseller list, prompting me to utter the words “Get out!” over and over to my agent before making her email me to make sure I wasn’t phone hallucinating.

They say you’re only as good as your next book, though and I have to tell you I’m really excited about this next one. Lizzie and the gang are going to Las Vegas to confront a she-demon who has her eye on world domination – and worse, Lizzie’s man. It’s chock full of biker witches, smart aleck fairies and steamy romance.

Plus, I love quirky research and The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers gave me an excuse to do it. The climax of this book takes place inside the Hoover Dam, and of course in order to write about it, it was necessary (and fun) to talk my way into some behind-the-scenes places. An engineer took me far down into the inspection tunnels they used in the 1930’s and 40’s, when the cement was still curing. It was amazing to see the notes these inspectors made on the walls, to hear the stories of those that didn’t quite make it out and to walk the same old metal steps that they did. All of that made it into The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers, along with lots of things I had a blast making up (this is fiction after all).

And to celebrate the upcoming release of The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers, I’d like to give away a copy on today’s blog. Just take the highly un-scientific Are You Part Demon Slayer? Quiz. Post your score below and enter to win. Also, if you post your score on my blog at http://www.angiefox.com/, you could win a walk-on role in the next Accidental Demon Slayer book.

Fantastic Fives on Chris Howard

Five words and/or phrases that describe you:

Always writing
Daydreaming
Quiet
Creative
and finally,
someone who can't live too far from the ocean.
That's definitely everything about me in five words or phrases.

Five people and or things that inspire you:

1. My mother, who wrote and painted and filled our family with creativity, spontaneity, and instilled in us a boldness and eagerness to take the next step.

2. Art: any great story, painting, sculpture. I often get the I-should-be-writing urge halfway through reading a good book, and I either have to stop and write, or hold it off to finish reading. Sometimes it tough.

3. My own kids. Like any parent with teenage kids in today's world, you realize how different things are, how much more capable they are--in many ways--than we were growing up. I'm looking over at my teenage daughter...conference call going on the landline, texting on the cell, TV's on--one hand on the remote--and she's downloading music videos through TiVo, Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn is open with at least one eye scanning the lines (easy, because she's already read it twice), earbuds in one end, jacked into an iPod on the other, and her other hand's on the keyboard keying in lyrics on her wiki page to a song she's writing with friends in the four open chat windows. Kids today...man, they're freakishly sharp and imaginative and seem to know more about the world than I did at their age.

4. The sea, the sound of the surf, the cry of gulls, the silence under the waves. Not sure I could live without that, not for long anyway. If I'm ever shipped off to another world, it needs to be an ocean world.

5. Last, I'd say myself. Art, and maybe any creative endeavor, has a reciprocal or circular inspirational effect on the creator. I re-read chapters when I write not just to get back into a particular storyline's groove, but also to feel good about writing and completing them, and I use that as fuel for more chapters. My painting works the same way.

Five of your favorite authors:
I have a lot more than five, but I can list five of them in no real order:
Neil Gaiman
Caitlín R. Kiernan
Lois McMaster
Bujold Richard
Morgan Dostoevsky

Describe five of your heroes/heroines through your eyes:
There are a couple ways to take this one, including real or imagined heroes who have had some influence on my life, or the heroes/heroines who appear as characters I've developed in my books and stories. I'm going with the latter:

Kassandra is--by far--my all time favorite character. She's fierce, thoughtful, not always sympathetic, has way too many problems for one person to deal with, but manages to get through every day with them--while fending off small armies of assassins and planning the downfall of her murdering grandfather.

Corina Lairsey - She's tough, witty, and having experienced more than a few bad relationships first hand, might just be equipped to handle something a little deeper and more controlling.

Michael Henderson - the observant outsider with a science background, a former science teacher, marine biologist, who welcomed the Seaborn curse, and now lives under the sea.

Kallixene - Kassandra's paternal grandmother has orchestrated the rise of an exiled Seaborn Great House, and had hand in Kassandra's development and rise to power.

Nicole Garcia - One of Kassandra's two sisters, the one with high grades, artistic ability, and political ambitions.

Five reasons to read your books:

If you like the sea,
strong characters,
interesting uses of magic,
battles at four hundred fathoms,
and last,
I think fantasy readers looking for something unique will find Seaborn

Cheers!

Chris

Website: http://www.saltwaterwitch.com/
Blog:http://the0phrastus.typepad.com/the0phrastus/
Art Portfolio: http://the0phrastus.typepad.com/photos/portfolio/index.html

Extra!Extra! Chris has offered to do a special giveaway:
It's all twos: The first two people to buy Seaborn from Amazon.com to give to their local library will each get a $20 Amazon gift card. Copy and paste your Amazon receipt for Seaborn (make sure you edit out any personal info) and email it to me at chrishoward.author@gmail.com, and I'll send you a gift card for $20. (It would also be great if you also read Seaborn and posted a review on Amazon before giving it away, but it's optional).
Another Extra Giveaway! Since Seaborn is a fantastic read, I have a copy to giveaway
to a lucky commenter.

Fantastic Fives on Cynthia Eden

Five words and/or phrases that describe you:

Energetic
Patient
Creative
Fun
Loud

Five people and or things that inspire you:

My son
Rain
Buffy
The ocean

Scary movies

Five of your favorite authors:

Linda Howard
Jayne Ann Krentz
Krelsey Cole
Shannon McKenna
Alyssa Day

Describe five of your heroes/heroines through your eyes:

1. Dr. Emily Drake (HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT): She’s smart, she’s tough, and she’s got one hell of a past. I love Emily because she possesses a nifty special talent—she’s empathic, but her empathic power only works with paranormal beings (vampires, shifters, demons, etc). Despite having a foot in the “Other” world, Emily is a lot like most women. She, ahem, shares my addiction to chocolate...

2. Colin Gyth (HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT): He’s hot. Okay, I think he is. Tall. Strong. Sexy. And, under the right conditions, this Atlanta Police Detective can get down-right primal.

3. Cain Lawson (“Wicked Ways” in WHEN HE WAS BAD): Ah, Cain...I do love you. Handsome. Wild. He tries to be the good guy that he thinks his lady wants, but Cain just wasn’t ever meant to be good. No, he does bad so much better.

4. Luis D’Amil (“Spellbound” in EVERLASTING BAD BOYS): Luis is the Boogeyman. Seriously. Okay, he’s the Boogeyman if the B-MAN is big, tough, and really attractive. He’s an assassin, and a protector, and he just can’t help falling for his heroine. What can I say? He’s got a thing for witchy women.

5. Serena Tyme (“Spellbound” in EVERLASTING BAD BOYS): A witchy woman. Powerful. The lady has a spine of steel and a protective streak that runs straight to her soul. She also has a weakness for a certain immortal assassin.

Five reasons to read your books:

Hot reading material. :)

Suspense and romance.
Shifter heroes. Come on—shifters can be so sexy.
Because don’t you ever wonder “What if?” I wonder that all the time…and I try to answer that question in my books.
Kick-ass heroes and heroines.



-Cynthia Eden

Visit The Website:www.cynthiaeden.com

Visit The Blog:http://www.cynthiaeden.com/blog/ (Her recent post is about her publishing journey)



Extra!Extra! A lucky commenter today has a chance to win a signed copy of Cynthia's latest Hotter After Midnight, I've had the pleasure of reading HAM (lol) and would highly recommend this steamy read to everyone!Colin Gyth is HOT!

Welcome Guest Blogger Cyan Bell

Five words and/or phrases that describe you:
Gosh, how does one ever see themselves?

Tenacious,
driven,
clueless (LOL)
inquisitive,
average

Five people and or things that inspire you:

My family,
pictures,
stories,
life,
my grandmother.

Five of your favorite authors:

Angela Knight,
Thomas O'Callaghan,
Matthew Rielly,
Taylor Voltaire,
Fiona Jayde.

Describe five of your heroes/heroines through your eyes:

Padraic-Intelligent, driven,sexy (Of course, Irish accents get me every time.)
loner.
Beau-Bold, intelligent, self assured, challenging.
Raven-Tenacious, bold, independent, kick-ass, and sexy.
Dante-Loyal, stubborn, challenging, determined, did I say sexy? Perhaps steamy? lol
My other favorite would be the heroine in White Lightning.
Taylor-Complex, driven, brave, courageous.


Five reasons to read your books:

I love writing about kick-ass heroines who don't just fall at a man's knees.
I like the heroine and hero to challenge one another to go that step further and to win each others trust.
If you're after a story where both main characters are bold and seem to rub each other in just the right way, my books may be just what you've been looking for. ;)
And they are just a touch or so steamy!

-Cyan Bell
www.cyanbell.com

Extra!Extra!A lucky commenter will have a chance at winning a copy of Cyan's newest release White Lightning. Don't forget to check out the blurbs below and comment away!

Fantastic Fives on Lauren Dane

Five words and/or phrases that describe you:



Goofy,

Lively,

Ambitious,

Hardworking,

Serious



Five people and or things that inspire you:



My husband,

My Kids,

Gerard Butler,

Music,

Love



Five of your favorite authors:

Margaret Atwood,

Frank Herbert,

William Gibson,

Richard Morgan,

Kim Harrison



Describe five of your heroes/heroines through your eyes:



Dahlia Baker from Stripped – She’s smart and ambitious and loves vintage clothes. She’s shy but dances in a burlesque show! She can be self conscious but she’s self assured when it comes to her business degree and her ambitions. She’s got a lot of contradictions and Nash can’t get enough.

Melanie “Minx” Rodriguez from Celebration For The Dead – She’s a woman who lost a great deal at an early age. All she’s known for many years is her self made family of hunters and hunting down and exterminating vampires. The irony of falling in love with a vampire is something that amuses and frustrates her.

Connor Bell from Celebration For The Dead – He’s a natural vampire, tall, gorgeous with an Irish accent and sexy eyes. He’s been quite happy to love a lot of women over the centuries but he’s truly and thoroughly snagged by the beautiful Melanie. He loves her strength, her perseverance and the vulnerability that lies deep inside her.

Nina Reyes from Enforcer – Nina’s one of my favorite heroines! She’s a total wise-ass, snarky, silly but she loves with a fierceness and protectiveness that makes others very loyal to her. She adores Lex and her family even if she teases them relentlessly. It took her a long time to accept her happiness but once she did, she’ll do what it takes to keep it. Lex started to fall for her the moment she held a shotgun to his balls. They’re a lot alike!

Tate Murphy from Making Chase – I loved writing her because she’s got a huge challenge to face inside when Matt Chase starts to pursue her. Like many women, she’s got body image issues but she’s not self loathing! She’s strong and she loves her siblings and nieces and nephews and the allure of a family like the Chases is too much to resist. She’s a great match for Matt because she doesn’t let him cruise on his looks. He likes that she loves him for all of who he is and he’s head over heels for her.

Five reasons to read your books:

1 – Strong Heroines! And I don’t mean they’re all of the kick butt variety but they all have a backbone and over the course of the story, they learn things about their own strength.

2 – Strong Heroes! Be they Alpha males or men of the Beta variety like Matt or Kyle Chase – all my heroes would move mountains for their women

3 – They’re romantic. No matter the story or the circumstance – I love romance so all my characters get their HEA

4 - Steam!

5 – Warm families or friend groups. I love to write big families – be they werewolves, witches or small town humans – I love to write families.



Extra! Extra! A lucky commenter today will have a chance to win their choice of one of Lauren's eBooks.

Welcome Guest Blogger Stacia Kane

It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.


In the past several years, I have learned more about certain aspects of life and the world we live in than I have ever wanted to know. I’ve spent hours, for example, reading about internal parasites. About how to clean your heroin works. About whether gout looks like a fleshy lump or a reddish boil.

I’ve studied medieval love poetry and medieval forms of birth control, including how to make condoms from intestines. I’ve discovered exactly how the bubonic plague affects the human body. I’ve learned that visiting mental institutions to gape at the inmates was considered a really good time for a lot of people in the past.

Why have I done all of this?

Research.

It’s amazing where these little flights of fancy can take me. One minute I’m looking up a quick factoid, the next I’m off on a tangent, trying to find out exactly what color tablecloths might have been used at a medieval banquet (white) and ending up reading transcripts of correspondence between a Countess and a priest in the twelfth century.

It’s maddening, it really is. You wonder why it takes us so long to write a book? It’s not because the words just don’t come (well, okay, it is a lot of the time.) It’s because writers are an insatiably curious bunch. We cannot resist these little journeys down the alleys of the internet, or spending time leafing through some filthy pamphlet on techniques for making cabinets that we found at a garage sale for a nickel.

I shudder to think what someone might infer from my internet search history. Probably that I’m a disease-riddled junkie with an insatiable desire to see people chained to walls, and that I am currently planning a world tour of volcanoes.

But I’m not, I promise. I’m just a writer, cursed with being interested in everything, no matter how boring, disgusting, archaic, or lame.

Have pity on me, please. I can’t help myself.





Fantastic Fives Interview





Five words and/or phrases that describe you:

Busy.


Short.


Grumpy.


Impatient.


Opinionated.

Five people and or things that inspire you:

Hmm. All kinds of people and things inspire me.


Lance Armstrong.


JK Rowling (despite the latest legal silliness.)


My family, of course.


Abandoned buildings--I love them and they make me sad.


My friends.

Five of your favorite authors:
Here's five I don't know personally:

Neil Gaiman.


Barbara Michaels.


Herman Wouk.


Jeph Loeb.


Marian Keyes.

Describe five of your heroes/heroines through your eyes:


Megan from Personal Demons is a psychic and a psychological counselor, smart but insecure. She's always been an outsider and figures at thirty-one she always will be. She's clever and can be funny but rarely gets the chance, and she can be prickly, especially if she's pushed too far. She doesn't tend to let people get close to her, figuring they'll disappoint her eventually, and her job can take a lot out of her emotionally at times but she does it because it's a way to interact with people without giving up too much of herself.

Greyson from Personal Demons is a demon, and a child of privilege. He grew up wealthy in Georgetown and has always managed to use his charm and his edgy looks to get just about anything. He's very self-focused and ambitious, and will do whatever it takes to get what he wants--he's always looking for an angle. He also keeps people at a distance, preferring to let people see only what he wants them to see, and he keeps his own feelings well under wraps. On the other side of that, though, he's extremely generous when he wants to be because he believes the people he cares about deserve the very best, and will risk anything for them.

Julian from Blood Will Tell (a December Quinn book) is a vampire, very suave and wealthy, with a dominant streak and a good sense of humor. He sees life as something to be enjoyed, and is very loyal. He takes care of people, and doesn't mind the responsibility, but it's also made him a little too used to having his orders obeyed without question.

Cecelia from Blood Will Tell is a scientist who loves her work. It's very important to her and she really devotes herself to it. She's always been a science geek and has trouble seeing herself as anything other than the girl who hangs out with the geeks in the corner talking about Batman. But she's also at least marginally aware that she's attractive, and won't take any crap from Julian.

Yelina from Day of the Dead (also December Quinn) grew up in a traditional Cuban household in Miami. She's an accountant who's had a huge crush on her boss for years, but is convinced he wouldn't be interested in a girl who still lives with her parents and likes sweets a little too much--she's very self-effacing. But she's very brave, too, with a quirky sense of humor and an openness that draws people to her. Yelina is one of my favorite heroines, actually, simply because she's so pragmatic and proud--she refuses to settle for anything except a real man who loves her beyond reason.

Five reasons to read your books:



Well, I need the money, ha ha.


I think they're fun books, a good way to spend a few hours.


They're sexy.


They're interesting. (I feel like a used-car salesman.)


The feedback I've gotten on them has been good, so I guess other people enjoy them. Can you tell I'm really uncomfortable with self-promo?



-Stacia Kane

http://www.staciakane.com/



Extra!Extra! Check Stacia's blog http://stacia-kane.livejournal.com/ tomorrow, contest info will be announced.

Fantastic Fives on Debut Author Selena Illyria

Bio:
Dear Reader,
In a man's letters his soul lies naked.- Samuel Johnson

I/R Author, Selena Illyria was born with need to write and an over active imagination. She loves to write stories featuring futuristic cities that can only be imagined, visit island kingdoms of vampire/dragons, giggle with mischievous pixies, peek in on faeries looking for their mates, check in on the naughty staff of an exclusive academy, and sigh over how in love a powerful business exec is with his wife. She can't wait to write stories with her talented, creative and wonderful CPs Celia Kyle and Shara Cooper. And when she's not writing, she loves to read many different genres of books. She also loves to watch some of her favorite movies (too many to be named) and televisions shows. She also, loves to listen to some of her favorite musical artists. All of these things help inspire her to write. She does believe in the quote above. She does believe that part of writing does bare a part of the soul.

If you'd like to know more about her, you, can visit the following places:
Website: www.selenaillyria.com
Blog: www.selenaillyriasthoughts.blogspot.com
My Space Page: www.myspace.com/selenaillyria
Selena Illyria Contributes to: www.pinkchairdiaries.com
You Can Email her at: selenaillyria826@gmail.com

So, reader, now that you've been told you a bit about her. Can she tempt you dear reader? Can she seduce you into her world and show you a bit of her soul? And if you'd like, you can show her a bit of yours. Do we have deal? Please ignore the wicked gleam in her eye, it was trick of the light. *smile*

Selena
P.S. You can also join the Google Group I share with fellow author, CP and most importantly one of my bestest friends Shara Cooper. The address is:
http://groups.google.com/group/selena-illyria-and-shara-coopers-seductive-secrets

The Fantastic Five Interview

Five words and/or phrases that describe you:

Selena: Let's see I describe myself as:
Weird,
Quiet,
Crazy,
Creative,
Gothy


Five people and or things that inspire you:

Selena: Everything inspires me but these things inspire me themost:
Friends,
Movies,
Books,
Day,
Night


Five of your favorite authors:

Selena: Theser are just a few of my favorite authors, I have so many:
Karen Marie Moning,
MaryJanice Davidson,
Sherriylyn Kenyon,
Alex Archer,
Gena Showalter


Describe five of your heroes/heroines through your eyes:

Selena: Both my heroes/heroins are:
Strong,
Loving,
Loyal,
Understanding
and Stubborn. (LOL)


Five reasons to read your books:

Selena: Hmmm . . . five reasons I would give you are:
Vampires,
Vampiropolis,
Nevada,
Lucian
and Lida, LOL.


I'm currently have a contest, here are the details:

Hey everyone to celebrate the release of my first book A Fling in Vampiropolis with Changeling Press, I'm holding a contest. I'm giving away: 1 Copy of the Harlequin Anthology Tex Appeal1 XXL Black T-Shirt with the A Fling in Vampiropolis Book Cover on it1 A Fling in Vampiropolis Pen1 Author Promo Pack To enter, please send an email to selenaillyria DOT contests AT gmail DOT com., with the words A Fling in Vampiropolis Contest in the subject line. Entries must be in by March 31st, Midnight EST. Hugs and Good Luck!

Fantastic Fives on Devyn Quinn

Five words and/or phrases that describe you:

DQ:


1. Moody


2. Dark


3. Generous to a fault


4. Loves pets


5. Chaos Rules

Five people and or things that inspire you:

DQ:


1: Cloudy skies


2. Fast cars


3. Good music


4. Expensive wine


5. Beautiful people

Five of your favorite authors:

DQ:


1. Stephen King


2. Kate Douglas


3. John Grisham


4. Frank MccCourt


5. Jeff Rice


Describe five of your heroes/heroines through your eyes:

DQ:
1. Morgan Saint-Evanston (The Keeper of Eternity)- Absolute power coupled with absolute insanity.


2. Devon Carnavorn (Sins of the Flesh)- Cool sophisticaion


3. Jackson Sullivan (Personal Possessions)- The ultimate demonic lover


4: Callie Whitten (Embracing Midnight)- Headstrong and stubborn, not always the victim


5: Adrien Roth (Sins of the Night)- Carries a good grudge, even when he's in the wrong

Five reasons to read your books:

DQ:


1. Original


2. Fascinating


3. Kinky


4. Dark


5. Erotica

-Devyn
Goth-Erotica...
Check it out today.http://www.devynquinn.com/ & www.myspace.com/devynquinn



Extra! Extra! Devyn will pick a couple of lucky commenters to win a copy of Sin of The Night. Check out that cover (O_O) say hello,ask some questions.

Please Welcome Kit Fox

I guess all cartoonists, at least the ones I've read about, say that they can't remember a time when they didn't draw. I wish I could say something a little more original, but that really is the case. There were always cartoons in my life, since before I knew how to write. My family were devout readers of Bill Watterson's brilliant Calvin & Hobbes, I was always encouraged to be creative, and, most importantly, my older sister draws. She was, and still is, ten times better than myself, which always spurred me on and taught me how to improve myself.



My comic strip is called Snap Crackle Pop and it is, though it seems egocentric, about myself. They say all writers make a character that resembles them, so why beat around the bush? My father always said my work was funniest when I just wrote what I knew about. Snap Crackle Pop is a cartoon about myself, and within this cartoon, I draw a cartoon about myself.



It's set in a ridiculous sort of world where inanimate objects talk, a goldfish is a zen counselor, a flying pig arrives to scold me out of having a love life, and a little slithery dragon appoints himself my personal bad influence. I invent the perfect male but reject him twice out of commitment phobia, get spied on by Dick Cheney, harassed by giant spiders, and plagued by dozens of inner demons. And all those things are true, too.



I update my comic every Wednesday, and you can find it at my website, http://www.kit-fox.com/. The site is brand new, so there are still comics to be added to it, but the rest you can find at my Deviant Art site here: http://elephantblue.deviantart.com/


I hope you enjoy reading!

-Kit
www.kit-fox.com





This is the photo of the first step I take in making a cartoon, the basic frame.



2nd Step-This is the sketch of the strip, all done in pencil.















3rd Step-After the pencil, I ink it with black Micron pens to get all my lines exactly how I want them.

4th Step-This is what it looks like when it's all done, the pencil marks erased, the larger black areas shaded in, and whatever mistakes I made while inking cleared up.

Extra!Extra!Kit will be here to answer questions and comments.A lucky commenter today will win a a signed copy of this drawing from Kit. (Date change for drawing,I'll pick a winner Monday Mar.24th)

Please Welcome Renee George

In my life there have been two consistents, other than my husband and child: writing and art. I'm all about the creative right brain, truly, it wins out over the logical left side 90% of the time! (Much to my families' chagrin). Which is why, even though I have degree in nursing, I've been working full time as an author and cover artist for the past four years.

My art is a way for me to achieve instant gratification because I get to "see" the characters unfold before my eyes. Not to say that a lot of what I do doesn't hit the scrap pile, it does! But the art that comes together for me, well, I just get such a sense of satisfaction and pleasure. I can't even begin to describe how good it feels.

I've been doing cover art since 2001, and have worked for Changeling Press as a cover artist since December 2005. I love working with authors to create an image that represents their fiction in such a way they can be happy with the result. Also, bonus! I get to do my own covers for my books, which is awesome.

In the past I've worked with pen and ink, water colors, and photography to do covers, but in the last several years I've incorporated CGI programs along with the magic of Adobe Photo Shop and Paint Shop Pro to do the majority of my art. The direction of what I do is always with the goal of learning more, and getting better and better at my craft.

I draw inspiration from everything around me and anything my brain can think of that I consider beautiful. Funny enough, not everyone is going to find beauty where I find it. LOL. But, I try. It's a personal aesthetic.

Thank you again, Danette! And here's some images that I've done recently. I hope you all enjoy!

Hugs,
Renee George
http://www.romance-the-night.com/

Dragon Kind

In The Dark

Is It Hot In Here

Touched

Under The Aquarium

Rest In Peace

Renee's Website

Renee's Blog

Extra!Extra! One lucky commenter will be chosen to win a wallpaper (computer) from Renee. Happy commenting!

Celebrating St.Paddy's Day With My First Male Author Spotlight

THE OUTPOST (available @Red Rose Publishing)
by J.H. Bográn
Mainstream: Sci Fi
ISBN: 978-1-60435-048-7
Release: February 28th, 2008

BLURB

Karl Jackson and Joseph Doyle are stationed aboard Track 7, an outpost monitoring the traffic in and out of the solar system. When Karl wakes up with his nose pressed against a metal plank, he soon realizes that the lack of gravity is only the beginning of his problems.

EXCERPT:

"Joe, my space suit is not working properly. I'm getting dizzy. Which is the fastest way to the door?" said Karl into his radio.Joe Dyles' voice came after a second, "Right on, partner. Let me see….Okay, turn to your left and go as fast as you can. I'm heading down to the chamber to help you get in."Karl followed his partner's direction but found himself facing the rear of a thruster. He saw a gleam of pure white light growing into a flame right in the center of the hollow exhaust. An invisible forced pressed his chest hurling him away from the station.Confused and dizzy, he tried desperately to grab one of the handles but he was a millisecond too late: the station was whirling away!

END OF EXCERPT

J.H.'s Sci-Fi Inspiration

I'm a big sci-fi fan. The first movie I remember walking into a theater was, well you guessed it, Star Wars. Later called "A new hope" by those in the know. I was six at the time.

By the way, although I don't qualify as a card-carrying Trekie, I do love the show and films. Hell I even know what the "T." stands for in Cpt. James T. Kirk!

To me, Sci-Fi does not necessarily mean laser guns. I see the genre more about the sophisticated technology that we half expect/ half hope to reach in the future.

I feel more comfortable wearing the "thriller author" hat, but this time around I went after a sci-fi setting. The Outpost is a sci-fi short. It started with the horrendous title of "Deep Space, Deep Trouble" that I prepared for a writing curse. My classmates all loved the conflict and the unexpected twist in the end.

It only has two characters, Karl Jackson and Joe Doyle. They are stationed in orbit around the edge of the Solar System, then we have conflict as they have to fight a mal-functioning station (No, there is no HAL 9000 mainframe computer behind it).

-J.H. Bográn

J.H. is a multilingual, Multi-published and Multi-genre author.
For more of his works go HERE

GET "THE OUTPOST"HERE!

J.H's WEBSITE


BLOG

MY SPACE

Happy St.Paddy's Day!

For Leap Day Please Welcome Michele Lang

About Michele:

Michele Lang writes paranormal tales set in contemporary and futuristic places: the stories of witches, lawyers, goddesses, cops, bankers, demons and other magical creatures hidden in plain sight. She is a lawyer, and in addition to writing fiction, Michele has practiced the unholy craft of litigation in both Connecticut and New York.

Netherwood is her first book for Dorchester’s SHOMI, a new speculative romance imprint that Publisher’s Weekly recently claimed “shows much promise.”

Visit Michele on the web: http://www.michelelang.com/


Michele's Fantastic Five's

Five words and/or phrases that describe you:

*PASSIONATE: I care intensely about everything I do – sometimes too much ;)
*OBSESSED: Especially about writing…when I get into a book, I completely disappear into it, and I mean gone. I have been known to disappear into books I read, too…I will stay up all night to finish reading a great book!
*DETERMINED: You could also say “stubborn” LOL – When I want to do something, I might slow down, but I don’t give up.
*QUIRKY: Again, you could also call me “weird” and that would probably fit too J
*SENTIMENTAL: Yes, commercials for phone services sometimes make me cry…

Five people and or things that inspire you:

*my children: they teach me how to open up and really see the world
*my husband: the most romantic human being I know
*NYC: my hometown, and the most magical place I’ve ever been
*the ocean: the waves and the wind speak to me, give me peace
*the future: anything is possible!

Five of your favorite authors:
Argh, this is tough!!! – there are so many, but I’ll try…..

*Madeleine L’Engle
*Jim Butcher
*Linnea Sinclair
*Ursula LeGuin
*Stephen King

Describe five of your heroes/heroines through your eyes:

Kovner [NETHERWOOD]: Talia’s cyber lover and outlaw rebel, Kovner is a poet soldier – he fights for survival, but he’s as much a mystic as a warrior. He knows how to fight, how to protect, but his greatest gift is in his vision of the future. I love Kovner because he sees the future, knows he will likely die and that his cause is almost certainly doomed, but he NEVER gives up. And I love his wicked, secret side…he’s got an insatiable appetite!

Talia Fortune [NETHERWOOD]: She’s the face of the law on the planet of Fresh Havens, and she clings to her authority because deep down she doesn’t trust herself. She is such a fantastic woman, but doesn’t know it – because of her shady past, she doesn’t trust her better instincts and that lack of certainty messes her up again and again. BUT her love for Kovner gives her the strength and understanding to grow, to realize that her flaws are the key to her salvation.

Arthur Pendragon [MS. PENDRAGON]: Arthur is the King – he’s used to taking command, leading people in a noble cause. The greatest thing about Arthur is that he is willing to admit he is wrong, and to change. Even despite ancient feuds lasting for hundreds of years, Arthur is willing to step back and reconsider his actions. He also is extremely hot, in a wounded warrior kinda way J

Viv Levy [MISTS OF MANHATTAN]: Viv is wicked and witty…sexy and funny and supremely self-assured. She’s a great Witch, the High Priestess of New York City, but she doesn’t take herself too seriously. The greatest thing about her is that she realizes kindness can be more powerful than any supernatural magic…she heals as much through love as through magic herbs or secret spells.

Mordred the Bold [MISTS OF MANHATTAN]: I love this twisted soul J His hatred for his father Arthur is so pure, so grounded in righteousness, that he almost convinces Viv of his side of things. When it comes down to the wire, he is capable of making huge sacrifices to save the woman he loves, to undo the epic wrongs he has committed. Mordred is a tortured hero, but he is worth redeeming!

Five reasons to read your books:

*Action/adventure: a great escape, heart-pounding excitement J
*Thought provoking: sexy thrillers that make you think!
*Metaphysical edge: exploration of inner space and the power of the human soul….
*Vivid settings: take a mental vacation to another planet, the future or the past
*Questing characters: flawed, intense, larger than life characters who seek love in extraordinary times

Michele Lang -- Electric Dreams
NETHERWOOD, March 2008
"Original, exciting...you can't stop turning the pages!"
-New York Times Bestselling Author Susan Squires

http://www.michelelang.com/

Extr!Extra! Michele will be giving away a copy of NETHERWOOD in a drawing of all the people who comment on the blog today. She will also put everybody who comments into the hat for herMarch contest NETHERWOOD Sightings, the grand prize is a $50 gift card from Amazon. To get counted twice, people can also join the announcement only contest loop:

Michele_Lang_Book_Talk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Thank you Terri!

If you haven't got the chance to look at the top of my newly redesigned blog. Please do and thank Terri for the georgeous banner she created for me. Thank you,thank you,thank you Terri!
I was working on the site all nite and I kept getting distracted by looking up. I needed a new template to match the yummy banner,but in changing the template, I lost my blogroll. I think I have most of the sites,but if you remember being on there and are not or if you would like to be added, comment or click on the Email Me on the side bar.
I hope everyone had a wonderful three day weekend. I'm pretty much caught up on my homework and I had a little extra liesure time to spend with the kids and on my reading.
Please remember my birthday celebration is still going on and I'll have NJ Walters here as my guest on Wednesday. Come join in the fun.

New Releases and Contests

Releasing Tomorrow


Real Vampires Have Curves By Gerry Bartlett ( Mass Mrket Release)

Like a Charm By Candace Havens








The Accidental Werewolf by Dakota Cassidy









Kiss of Fire (Dragonfire, Book 1) by Deborah Cooke










Mine to Possess (Psy-Changelings, Book 4) by Nalini Singh





My Valentine By Annie Dean (eBook)








A few contests......

Stop in The Bookburger for a chance to win five juicy YA books

Win your very own GUILTY Pleasure! from Jason Pinter

Join in The Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt at EOE

and don't forget to stop in here tomorrow to continue my birthday celebration with author

Jaci Burton

Come Celebrate With Me

My birthday is Febrary 22nd, so I'm going to celebrate with guest authors and contests. There will be one to two authors each week. Check the guest list on the side bar and please come join in on the fun.

To start this party off, tomorrow my special guest is

Dakota Cassidy.

Her book,

The Accidental Werewolf releases next Tuesday Feb.5th.

Welcome Guest Blogger Kelly McClymer

WHY I WRITE YA:

The time of transition into adulthood fascinates me. I remember my own, my sisters', my friends', and my children's. There's so much I observed and love exploring. The YA readers are less cynical, in my opinion. They are more open to new perspectives and the experiences of others. I hope readers get a laugh or two, a groan of recognition, and a reaffirmation that 'this too shall pass.'

FIVE PHRASES OR WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU:

quiet,
analytical,
wry,
gentle,
in pursuit of joy

FIVE PEOPLE OR THINGS THAT INSPIRE ME:

Gandhi,
Martin Luther King Jr.,
J.K. Rowling,
my children,
my parents (is that cheating? :-) )

FIVE OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS:

Kurt Vonnegut,
Ray Bradbury,
Harper Lee,
J.K. Rowling,
Lois Lowry (there are sooooo many more).

FIVE FACTS ABOUT MY HEROES:

they are all capable,whether they know it or not;
they are all compassionate;
they are all curious (very curious!);
they all have a dream;
they'd do anything for those they love.

FIVE REASONS TO READ MY BOOKS:

to laugh,

to think,
to remind yourself that dreams are gifts to be cherished,
to be surprised,
and

to remind yourself that everyone of us is flawed but lovable at heart.

Kelly McClymer

http://www.kellymcclymer.com/

Welcome Guest Blogger Frances Lynn

I didn’t realize FRANTIC would appeal to Young Adult readers when I wrote the first draft in the Seventies. In those days, the term ‘Young Adults’ didn’t exist. In fact, I’m surprised that my hippy historical novel about the nostalgic early Seventies is classified as a Young Adult novel. However, I can appreciate that late teens could relate to it, especially if their ancestors were involved in the ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ counter-culture of that time. A lot of ex-hippies are still mentally stuck in the Woodstock era, so that’s why their children and grandchildren were brought up on classical rock musical like The Beatles, the Stones, Jimmi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison for example. FRANTIC took me years to finish.

CRUSHED is definitely a Young Adult book. Although the twins in the book are fourteen, I didn’t sit down and consciously decide to write for 11-12 year olds. The book just came out like that. I’ve given a few library talks about CRUSHED and all the kids love it. Even though the book is about a pair of British twins who live with their eccentric parents in London, American readers love the book too. My readers, irrespective of which country they live in tell me they can identify with the characters. What surprise me most is that their parents love it too. They find it terribly funny. Maybe, that’s because I wrote the novel for myself.

I find Young Adult books extremely easy to write. They come out like dishwater! I love writing about teenagers. Even though today’s Young Adults are much more sophisticated and advanced than teens were in my day, I feel they still have the same interests and problems. In CRUSHED, the girls are interested in boys and have crushes on pin-ups. I hope that my readers will relate to the twins’ adventures, but I think one of the most important aspects of the books is a feeling of alienation. Door, the heroine of the book feels like an outsider and a misfit. She feels so different from the rest of her family; she imagines she’s from another planet. She is convinced she’s adopted. What doesn’t make her life easy is that Dee, her twin sister is pretty, talented and a dainty ballet dancer. Door feels like a big mess in comparison. She doesn’t realize she looks like a fashion model.

When I turned thirteen, I went through a personality change. Up until then, I was beautifully behaved but during my early teens, I rebelled a bit against my parents and for the first time in my life didn’t obey them 24/7. I went to an all girls’ boarding school, and started to realize that boys were a different species! Looking back, I didn’t realize at the time how difficult teenage life was. My outlook on life was changing. And, that’s what I do find interesting about Young Adult novels. Teenage life consists of change, and kids no longer take their parent’s advice as gospel.

I got the idea for writing CRUSHED due to a family I was friendly with. My girlfriend was artistic and was completely eccentric. She didn’t allow her daughters to watch TV, so they were very creative – always painting and drawing. They used to make earrings out of coat-hangers and sell them on a little stall outside their flat. I used that in the book. I watched her girls grow up, and when they were teens, I was like a fly on the wall. I knew their friends, saw what kind of clothes they all wore, what kind of music they liked and most important of all, what kind of boys they were interested in. This family inspired me to write CRUSHED, The mother was artistic, but they were pretty conventional - the father was a businessman, I suddenly thought I would like to write a novel about a dysfunctional family.

FRANTIC took me decades to finish, but I wrote CRUSHED incredibly quickly. It only took me a few months. When my POD publisher offered to publish it, he asked me to beg some of my famous artist friends to illustrate the book, but I offered to do the illustrations myself. I hadn’t seriously painted or drawn since leaving school, but to my surprise, my drawings came out easily. It was as if a force beyond my control was guiding my pen! My drawings might make Picasso turn in his grave, but at least they are original. Because I didn’t have to work at the drawings and found the book so easy to write, it was as if the whole book was meant to be!

Five phrases or words that describe you:

Writerholic.
Creative,
imaginative,
observant
And disciplined.

Five things that inspire me are:

Art: especially Matisse,
Books: especially the classics.
Music: opera, classical, rock, pop and jazz.
Good movies
and the theatre.

Five of my favorite authors are:

Evelyn Waugh,
Frances Hodgson Burnett,
Jane Austen,
Scott Fitzgerald.
J. R. R. Tolkien

Describe five of your heroes/heroines of your books in your eyes (or Five Facts you would like readers to know about your Hero and Heroine):

Door and Dee are the twins in CRUSHED. Door was born just before midnight on the last day of Taurus, the sign of the bull. Dee was born the following day on the first day of Gemini, the sign of the twins.
Door is the anti-hero! She is a drummer. She looks like a freak. She’s a six-foot tall slouching beanpole. Her wild mushroom brown hair sticks out like a tangled mess of barbed wire.
Dee is a ballet dancer. She’s a dainty creature whose glossy black hair cascades down her back like a rippling waterfall. She looks amazing whatever she wears.
Dee normally behaves like a little miss perfect, but she is a monster if she lost her cool.
Dee is very tidy. Door is untidy.
Door was paid £500 pound for a day’s modelling work.
Dee auditions for the London Children’s Ballet.
Door loves violet creams. Dee watches her figure.
Door dyes her hair red but it comes out red and mushroom striped – it resembles a deckchair.
Door has got a crush on Johnny Conker, a pop star.

Dee has got a crush on an American movie star.

Five reasons to read your books:

Easy to read,
funny,
well-written,
original,
interesting characters.

Frances Lynn

http://www.franceslynn.org/

Upcoming Guests

Since it it summer,I invited a couple YA authors . For those of you who like reading YA or have older teens at home who enjoy reading,come by and chat.
On Monday I have Frances Lynn and on Wednesday I have Kelly McClymer, their newest YA releases are.






Crushed by Frances Lynn

Door and her twin sister get along - just about. But Door has misgivings. She is tall and thin like a beanpole, her sister is petite and beautiful. How on earth can they be family? Door starts to believe she is from another planet – or else the rest of the family is from outer space. Read the stirring saga of the ungainly sibling who suddenly turns into a beautiful swan – and the incredible secret of her birth!



For buy info go here
To read a Chapter go here

Competition's A Witch by Kelly McClymer
Prudence Stewart is finally starting to get her witch on. It's been a month since her parents decided to give their magic-deficient daughter a crash course in enchantment by enrolling her in Agatha's Day School for Witches. And sure, Pru's still stuck in Magic for Dummies -- but at least she made the cheerleading squad.
Now Prudence has a bigger problem...she walks, talks, and cheers like a mortal. And she's deathly afraid the other witches will catch on. So she vows to give up her old earthly ways: no cell phone, no car, and above all, no dating mortal boys.
There's just one hitch to the sitch: Angelo, the megacute mortal-next-door. When he and Prudence meet, sparks fly -- no magic necessary. And breaking Angelo's spell turns out to be the hardest trick of all.

For buy info go here