Tag Archives: paranormal romance

Release: Out of this World Alphas!

20 Sunday Jan 2019

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So, despite being in a sort of hiatus in terms of writing, mostly because I have been working with my writing group to develop some ideas more thoroughly, I have managed to submit to an anthology… and it came out recently. The details are below. I submitted a story about Rachel Drake getting very irritated at not being told the whole plan in a game of international diplomacy…

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Authors: Brynn Burke, CJ Hartnett, D. A. Lascelles, Rose Satin, N.L. Hoffmann, Orchid Raine, Iris Sweetwater, Maggie Lowe & Mila Raphael 

Blurb:
In this collection we have brought you tales from nine incredibly talented authors. All with one objective, to bring you alphas that are out of this world. Whether you’re looking for an angel in despair, creature in the dark, or a controversial hybrid. We’ve got something for everyone. Take a dive into the unknown, you won’t be disappointed.
Add to TBR here: https://goo.gl/UagTph
One Click Here: https://goo.gl/7hifGg

[Vampire Month] Catherine Green Interview

07 Tuesday Mar 2017

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This year’s Vampire month is opened by Catherine Green, who I met last year at the Sandbach signing event and shared a panel with. Coincidentally (or not), our other participant this year was also on the same panel.Spooky Mrs Catherine Green

She is the author of the Redcliffe Novels and more recently the contemporary English Gothic novel, the Vampire of Blackpool. Both of which certainly qualify her for inclusion here.

Here is Catherine’s interview. Her blog post will follow before the end of the week…

  • What is the earliest memory you have of writing? What did you write about?

 

My earliest memory of writing would be when I used to copy the text from my favourite story books into notebooks. I remember lying on my bed, happily scribbling away as I practised my handwriting and dreamed about being a real author like my heroes! I probably copied The Famous Five and Mallory Towers by Enid Blyton, although I can’t remember exactly.

  • When did you decide to become a professional writer? Why did you take this step?

 

I decided to take the leap into the professional writing world at around the time I got my first novel published back in 2011. I got all caught up in the excitement and thrill of finally being a published author, and I naively thought that my fortune was made. I needed time to write, so I quit the day job. But I forgot the fact that I had a young baby to care for at the same time!

  • What would you consider to be your greatest strength as a writer? What about your greatest weakness? How do you overcome this weakness?

 

My greatest strength as a writer is my resilience. I never give up. Even though I have had many knockbacks and my fair share of publisher and agent rejections, I keep on going. I suppose you could say that determination is my greatest weakness as well, because I refuse to give up on my dream, and I will focus all of my attention on it when my children allow.

  • Tell us about the place where you live. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?

 

Oh yes! All of my novels and short stories are inspired by places that I have both lived in and visited. I currently live in mid Cheshire, and while I have not yet published a novel set in my local area, I am working on a collection of vampire hunter novels that are set in and around Middlewich, Winsford, Knutsford and up into Manchester.

The Redcliffe novels are set in Cornwall, and my fictional town of Redcliffe was inspired by visits to the real tourist town of Looe and the fishing village Polperro. I spent many happy days wandering around the area on various visits when our friends owned a hotel in Looe, and the inspiration stayed with me all these years later.

  • Which book, if any, would you consider to be your greatest influence and inspiration?

 

Which book? Oh, that’s a tough question! I have been largely influenced by the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K Hamilton. They showed me that what lurked in my imagination could actually be received by a reading audience, if I dared to write it down.

  • What drove you to write about Vampires?

 

I honestly don’t know! All my life I have been fascinated by the supernatural world. I would devour any and all story books with a paranormal theme as I grew up, and always jumped to attention when somebody spoke about ghosts and monsters. Vampires have a certain charm about them. They are both incredibly attractive, and incredibly dangerous. And yet, they look just like the rest of us, mostly…

  • What do you think is the attraction for Vampire fiction? Why is it such a popular topic?

The Vampire of Blackpool english gothic noveI think because it always seems relevant to the collective fears and desires of the culture. For example, back when Bram Stoker’s Dracula was first published, we had a world that was evolving and developing at a fast rate, and the older generation were frightened of the change. Today we are more relaxed about vampires, we can use them in jokes, and yet still they represent a fear of something unknown, something dangerous, something attractive.

  • In a fight between all the greatest Vampires of fiction, who do you think would come out on top?

 

I think Lestat would always win, from Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. He is a survivor.

  • What about in some other contest such as sexiness or dress sense? Who would win that one?

 

Hmm, maybe Eric from the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris? I rather enjoyed reading those!

  • How well do you think one of your characters would fare against the winner(s) of the above?

 

Oh, my vampires would win every time, no contest! Jack Mason has the support of his identical twin brother, the werewolf alpha, Danny Mason. Their combined supernatural power is a force to be reckoned with. And there is my secret love affair with Marcus Scott. He is a bit like Lestat in that he is a survivor, and he can talk himself out of (or into) almost any tricky situation.

  • Tell us the basic premise behind your latest novel.

 

My latest novel is slightly different to what I published before. It pretty much does what it says in the name: The Vampire of Blackpool. It is a contemporary Gothic story about a female vampire who is pursued by a lone male vampire hunter. She is old, powerful, and bored, so she relishes the opportunity for a fight. But then she doesn’t reckon on the charms of a young, female witch that moves into the area and accidentally seduces her… not quite a love story, but very passionate.

British Paranormal romance by catherine green

[Vampire Month] Let’s Talk About Vamps by Elizabeth Morgan

12 Thursday Mar 2015

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So the end of the week is in sight and Elizabeth is back again to wow us with her guest post… here she talks about why she loves vampires so much.Elizabeth Morgan

Let’s talk Vampires and why I think we love them so much.

What is it about these creatures of the night that excites us as readers? Is it their immortality and the idea that they are endless; that they can see how the world changes? That they can experience everything the world will ever have to offer them over time? Is it the fact that age does not touch them? That they will remain young and possibly perfect forever? Is it that they are dangerous? That they are killers and there is a part deep in all of us Vamp lovers that longs for their redemption? Is it their kiss? Bloody, and deadly, yet said to give a form of pleasure that no human could possibly imagine? Is it their allure? The fact that deep down we know they are dangerous, but we yearn for such risks? Is it that we find them romantic? They’re mature and full of knowledge; the fact they are from a different lifetime?

Vampires are ageless, and I don’t mean in the sense that they are the undead and frozen at a particular age. There are myths descending back further than the 14th Century which tell of creatures that prey on the weak and thirst for blood. Every culture in the world has its own brand of Vampires. Thousand – if not more – books have been written on this particular species and a ton of films have been made. No one, despite the ever wavering interest in this particular being, will ever tire of hearing about Vampires, but why? What is it that we love so much about them? I have been a fan of Vampires since I was a child. That infatuation first began when I watched the movie Bram Stokers, Dracula. Now, I can hold my hands up and say that the big appeal was naturally the love story. I’m a sucker – forgive the pun – for love. I’m a huge romantic, and the idea of a man condemning god and turning himself into something so beastly, so evil, simply because he felt betrayed and was grieving for his soul mate . . . Well, be still my heart. We have centuries of heartache and turmoil and undying hope mixed in with that, and hot damn, it’s magical.

When I was a child, Vampires were terrifying, but seemed really cool at the same time; they were like the bad boys and girls, rebels, dangerous, and otherworldly. What kid didn’t imagine possessing powers and getting away with all sorts of kick ass things? Naturally, once I was older I began to see other sides of their appeal. They are flawless, sexual creatures. Who doesn’t love that? Who hasn’t at some point in their life liked the idea of being that appealing, or of having someone that hot and mysterious pay them attention? I’m not afraid to say I have, and on many occasions. Then there is power; they are strong, and fast, and they remain healthy. They are past death; something very appealing for anyone who fears death, or for someone who feels they haven’t had enough time in this life. Vampires move with the ages, they can watch the world climb and falPageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00064]l around them. They can be a part of history. Just think of all those experiences!

Lastly, and probably the most appealing side to these beings, would be the fight for their soul – whether or not you believe they have one. As readers we all want to believe that these dark and sometimes tortured creatures can be saved, and naturally, we want the heroine/hero – heck, sometimes we want to be in their place – to do the saving. We want the vampire to be redeemed, and to have hope, and love, and happiness. We want a happily ever after for these bloodsuckers.

In my opinion Vampires – or rather the paranormal genre in general – is limitless. Each person will have their own idea of what a vampire is, how they should look, how they should act. In my Blood Series my Vampires are the bad guys and they look similar to the guy from Salem’s lot. They have human features, but when they are ready to feed or fight, their hair falls out, their jaws dislocate and their fangs extend to a horrible length. You really wouldn’t want to bump into them. Trust me.

No one’s view of Vampires is wrong. It is interpretation and belief. It is what a person’s imagination creates. As I said earlier there is a variety of different type of Vampires, depending which country they come from. Every writer will create them differently, tell them differently; some have souls, and some don’t. Some look human, but with fangs and others will shift forms. Some Vampires sparkle and some are blue, bald, and completely terrifying, but no matter what form they come in or how handsome or scary they are, we love them. I think the reason for that is because they are an altered, magical, and limitless version of ourselves. They are the impossible. Humans “aren’t” supposed to survive after death; they “aren’t” supposed to live forever, and they “aren’t” supposed to remain ageless. Vampires break the natural code; heck, they break all the rules and they do it with such style.

Whatever the reason may be for why we are fascinated by this particular species, I honestly believe that they will continue to be one of the most – if not the most – written about species in literature.

 

About the Author:

Elizabeth Morgan is a multi-published author of urban fantasy, paranormal, erotic horror, f/f, and contemporary; all with a degree of romance, a dose of action and a hit of sarcasm, sizzle or blood, but you can be sure that no matter what the genre, Elizabeth always manages to give a unique and often humorous spin to her stories.

Like her tagline says; A pick ‘n’ mix genre author. “I’m not greedy. I just like variety.”

And that she does, author of erotic ménage horror, Creak, paranormal erotic horror and UK, US & Australian Amazon best seller (Gay/Lesbian, Fiction, Lesbian), On the Rocks, erotic romance, US, UK & Spanish Amazon bestseller (Erotica Short Story) Truth or Dare? And sweet contemporary romance, UK & US Amazon bestseller (British/Drama & Plays) Stepping Stones.

She also has her hand in self-publishing. Look out for more information on her upcoming releases at her website: www.e-morgan.com

Away from the computer, Elizabeth can be found in the garden trying hard not to kill her plants, dancing around her little cottage with the radio on while she cleans, watching movies or good television programmes – Dr Who? Atlantis? The Musketeers? Heck, yes! – Or curled up with her two cats reading a book.

Where to find Elizabeth Online:

Website: www.e-morgan.com Blog: www.xxxxmyworldxxxx.blogspot.co.uk Twitter: @EMorgan2010 Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/ElizabethMorgan Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.morgan.944 Blood Series Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheBloodSeries?ref=hl Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/elizabethm2012/boards/ TSU: https://www.tsu.co/ElizabethMorgan Blog: (Shared with Dianna Hardy): http://notjustastiffupperlip.blogspot.co.uk/

[Vampire Month] Five Ways to Attract a Vampire by Jen Ponce

05 Thursday Mar 2015

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For her second post for Vampire Month, Jen Ponce offers us her dating tips…

5 Ways to Attract a Vampire

Who wouldn’t want to have a powerful, immortal vampire as a lover? Perhaps you read the Vampire Lestat as a teenager like I did, and found yourself yearning for a long-lived French blood sucker who also sings rock-n-roll. Maybe you watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and lusted after Spike, hoping Buffy would go fall in a grave so you could grab him and give him a big, fat smack on the lips. (And then beg him to bite you.)

Instead of sitting around sighing, follow these five steps to attract a vampire and you, too, could be sucking the blood out of perfect strangers in no time!

1. Cultivate clumsiness
Vampires are predators. The clumsier you are, the more attractive you are as food. The whole point is to lure the vampire in close enough for you to have the opportunity to fascinate them. According to legends, you can toss rice on the ground at your feet and the vampire will be forced to count every grain before he can leave. This will give you the chance to fall down in a gracefully clumsy way, thus attracting the vampire’s acute adoration.
JensHead2. Don’t eat garlic, onions, or silver shavings
Really? You would eat any of these things and still call yourself a vampire lover? Everyone who knows anything about vampires will know that garlic is an anathema to the fangers. Only two people (and they both live in Transylvania) know why vampires hate garlic, but the why isn’t important. Just know that vampires don’t like stinky food. I mean lovers.

Vampires also don’t like silver. At first it was just werewolves, but then vampires had to get all, “Omg, we need to be allergic to silver too,” and that was that.

3. Eschew pointy wooden objects
That white picket fence you have out front? That’s like a chastity belt. You might as well smother yourself in garlic and sunbathe, that’s how likely you are to meet a vampire with a fence like that.

You also might want to stop using pencils. There are plenty of other writing utensils in the sea. What about the pen? The quill? A laptop? Your phone, for the love of all that’s unholy. There’s no excuse for pencils in a vampire lover’s home.

4. Come to love the night
Vampires don’t like sunlight or skin cancer. Invest in some heavy curtains and sleeping pills, because you’re going to need them in order to readjust your sleep schedule to accommodate your vein-drainer. It’s a no brainer. Say no to sunlight. Say goodbye to Vitamin D.

5. Enjoy pain
No, this isn’t a sly 30 Colors of Silliness reference. Vampires bite. It’s what they do. If you still scream when the doctor needs a blood sample, you really need to rethink your desire for a vampire lover.

Now, some vampires can mesmerize you so that you don’t feel pain. DoBlood Curse 2.0 Front Onlyn’t count on getting this kind of vamp though. You could very easily get one that has a mouthful of sharp teeth instead of the two civilized fangs. Vampire dating is a crap shoot. It’s all worth it, though, right? Nothing says romance like lurking in shadows waiting to feed on an unsuspecting human with your vampire lover. “Would you like the first bite?” “No, no, you go first, please.” “You’re so kind.”

There you have it, five ways to attract a vampire. If you have any luck, drop me a line over at my website and let me know: www.JenniferPonce.com

If you’d like to read my dark fantasy/horror novels with vampires, check out my Devany Miller series here:  http://bit.ly/BazaarBoxedSet1-3 and my book Blood Curse here:  http://bit.ly/BloodCurse.

Bio for author Jen Ponce

I’m a voracious reader and growing up, I constantly looked for heroic female characters. To my disappointment, so many of the women in the genre fiction I was reading were doormats, weak-willed, boring, incapable, or even downright dumb. That’s why my fiction features strong women. Women who are heroic, women who don’t fall in love and forget who they are, women who fight for what they believe in. If you are looking for character-rich stories that drive you relentlessly toward the big finish, then you just might like my books. Keep in mind I’m a big fan of blood and horror too. Do you like to be scared while you watch a kick ass woman save the day? My books might be just the thing to keep you up all night long.

I’m a writer, a mother of three boys, a cat herder and zombie apocalypse aficionado. I also love vampires, so if you meet one, send ’em my way, okay? I would appreciate it.

If you’re interested in my Kick Ass Woman’s Manifesto, please visit my website here: http://jenniferponce.com/kick-ass-womans-manifesto/ and follow my blog if you like what you see.

Happy reading!

http://www.JenniferPonce.com

http://www.Facebook.com/JenPonceAuthor

http://www.Twitter.com/JenPonceAuthor 

 

[Cover reveal] Dianna Hardy’s Summer’s End

13 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by in Guest posts, Publicity

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Today we have a cover reveal by an old friend – Dianna Hardy of Vampire month fame (I believe she has done other things too… 🙂 ). I’ll say no more and let the cover speak for itself.

Once Times Thrice is a series about loving big, living big and trusting big.

Contemporary romantic fiction, with just a touch of magic.

eBook Cover

Title: Summer’s End

Author: Dianna Hardy

Genre: Contemporary Romance with a Touch of Magic

Release Date: Autumn, 2015

Book 1: The Spell of Summer

ON SALE FOR 99c

ON AMAZON


Continue reading →

Morganville – SDCC trailer

02 Saturday Aug 2014

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As you should all know by now, I am a big fan of the Morganville series of novels by Rachel Caine. So much so that I became a backer for the Kickstarter campaign that aimed to produce a Webcast show of the series. I guess that makes me a producer (I am opting for the title of Chief Executive Producer in charge of giving over a small amount of cash to help make this happen). Anyway, the trailer for this series was released at San Diego Comic Con and while I was not there to see it myself, I did get sent an exclusive link to see it because of my backer involvement… so here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwUtF-P6cqs

Of course they did not follow my casting picks. I guess David Tennant was not available to play Myrnin and Anthony Stewart Head was not able to play Oliver. However, looking at the trailer you can see some stellar choices made. In particular you may recognise Amber Benson of Buffy fame as Amelia and Robert Picardo (yes, THAT Robert Picardo of Voyager fame in a grey wig) as Oliver.

So it is all looking promising and reasonably close to the source material. About the only thing I have spotted so far that is possibly different is that if this series is following book 1 they are introducing Myrnin too soon but since he is awesome I cannot see an issue with that…

So, yes, in my opinion (as Chief Executive Producer in charge of giving over a small amount of cash to help make this happen) you should totally check this out when it airs… especially if you like Buffy, Vampires or Voyager.

D.A Lascelles is the author of Lurking Miscellany, Transitions (Mundania Press) and Gods of the Sea (Pulp Empires). He lives in Manchester UK. You can sometimes see him writing about Zombie porn on https://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/ but he mostly blogs about books, vampires, science fiction and Terry Pratchett. He is inordinately proud of the fact that one of his Pratchett articles was referenced on the French version of the author’s Wikipedia page.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaLascelles

Twitter: @areteus

Buy Lurking Miscellany (paperback)

Buy Lurking Miscellany (Kindle)

 

 

Writing process questions

26 Saturday Apr 2014

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Neelima Vinod tagged me in the Writing Process Blog Tour. You may remember Neelima from Vampire Month a few years back and she has since been doing rather well for herself. This meme is an interview meme about the writing process so those of you who are interested may find out more about how I do things… maybe…

 What am I working on?

Well, the official answer has to be ‘shaping the minds of the next generation in the hope of getting them into university’ because at the moment I am mostly working on my day job of teaching. However, you want the writer answer and for that I am doing two things. One is working on the final stages of Gods of the Deep, the sequel to Gods of the Sea. That is with an editor and I have a cover waiting to be revealed which is awesome. The other is editing a selection of my short stories for publication in a collection I am calling Lurking Miscellany in honour of this blog. In addition to those two writing based things, I also have something I only found out about yesterday which I am not allowed to talk about. Which is ironic as it will involve me talking…

 How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I am not sure I am qualified to be able to say my work is different to any others. I’d like to think that it is but I consider that to be a question that readers should answer rather than me. If pushed to answer I would like to say that Transitions differs from many other romance works because of the BBW element. However, there is a whole genre of romance fiction based on that concept. I could also say that Gods of the Sea was either a pirate story set in a fantasy universe or a fantasy story set in something other than the Tolkienesque fantasy setting – either way a slight deviation from cliché. However, many of my influences (such as Barbara Hambly) are writers who have done similar. There is a lot of fantasy out there now which is veering away from the Tolkien influences of my youth and I consider this to be a very good thing.

Why do I write what I do?

I started writing while in school and found that I enjoyed it a lot. However, I never really considered what I wrote as worth publishing and so I mainly did it for fun. Of my current published works, I wrote Transitions because of an interest in both Roman history, specifically the history of the town of my birth, and in the paranormal. Gods of the Sea I wrote because there was a call for submissions for a pirate themed anthology and I had an idea for it which I thought might work.

 How does my writing process work?

Chaotically. In the terminology of the Absolute Write forum, I am definitely a Panster (someone who writes by the seat of their pants) rather than a plotter (someone who carefully plans out the sequence of events in their story). Whenever I tried to write like a Plotter I found I could not do it and I actually think that everyone has their own preferred way of working which fits how their own mind works rather than there being any ‘one true way’. I often get ideas when my body is doing one thing (walking, tidying, etc.) and my mind is free to wander, the only problem is that I rarely get time to sit down and get those ideas down on paper. However, any idea that survives in my mind until I get time to write about it is likely to be one worth keeping while those that don’t I am probably better off losing. I also tend to be encouraged by necessity. Both of my published works have come about because there was a pressing need to get something submitted to a project I wanted to be involved in so I stopped wallowing in uncertainty and just got on with it.

I’ve also worked in different ways for different projects. For Gods of the Sea I basically sat down over Christmas and splurged out most of the story over a couple of days. I was not even aware of what I was writing until I reviewed it later. For Transitions, however, it was a more careful process and for that I had actually started out with the beginnings of two very different stories (an historic romance about a Roman soldier and his dying wife and a contemporary romance set in Birmingham) which I then realised could be merged into one.

 

Thank you Neelima for tagging me! You can read about her process here.

As part of the game, I’m tagging two writers for you to blog hop to.:

R.A Smith is the author of the wonderful Oblivion Storm and its sequel Primal Storm. You can find him on Facebook here.

Ninfa Hayes is the author of Bites and Nannies Inc . You can find her on Goodreads here.

Writing Romance

08 Saturday Feb 2014

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There was a time when I would have said that I would never write Romance. I certainly never read it. That stuff was for girls, after all. When I were a lad my reading was all fantasy and SF, cool stuff with lasers and swords and demons and stuff. Romance was not in the picture. After all, I would hardly consider the sort of relationships that Conan had as ‘romance’, more reinforcing an unhelpful misogynistic male stereotype, and Elric of Melnibone was too obsessed with his own self destructive angst to worry about such things. Typical teenage boy stuff.

Even at school I hardly displayed the most romantic tendencies. Given the choice between studying a play about angsty teenage romance that ends in suicide and a particular Scottish play filled with witches, blood and dark omens (not to mention Banquo’s ‘gory locks’) you would probably not be too surprised at which one won out.

Needless to say I was not known for my romantic tendencies.

So, obviously, when I grew up, I wrote a Romance novella…

Wait… what? How the hell did that happen? I ask myself the same question a lot.

I put the answer down to my desire to challenge myself.

At least Conan got the smouldering hero look about right….

You see, when I was in school my ambitions were to write a fantasy novel. Or a SF novel. Something genre based anyway. I even wrote a very bad SF short about aliens invading the school (I am still waiting for the producers of The Faculty to get back to me on my royalties for that… 🙂 ) and a clichéd fantasy novel about a bunch of characters who join up in a quest to find a magic object. It even had a werewolf in it. Thankfully, those truly awful pieces of literature never survived long enough to sully the world with their awfulness and for a while I put aside writing to focus on other things. Then I came back to it and the first thing I thought was ‘I need a challenge’. I also came to a revelation that romance was an important part of life. More than important, it is fundamental to life. Without it being there to help ensure that certain essential biological processes occur, life pretty much stops. Ok, I guess at some point in human history we did without it, though it is hard to really say when romance first began. Courtly love is cited as a medieval invention but there was romance long before then as evidenced by the love poems of Cattullus (written between 84 and 54 BC). Even older than that is a Sumerian poem or song written 4000 years ago and bear in mind that this is the oldest recorded evidence. Just because there are no surviving written love poems before that does not mean the concept did not exist. Romance has been around a long time.

Though I am not sure why this would be surprising. After all, these ancient civilisations had deities (usually goddesses, there may be a hetero-normative argument to be had there) who were dedicated to romance and love. Safe to say that romance and love have been human concepts for a long time, almost certainly longer than the written records that hold these fragments of the literature of these ancient periods.

So what did this mean for me and my big decision? Well, I argued in my inner Transitions-AuthorCopymonologue, you see romance is everywhere and involved in everything. It is a major motivator for human behaviour. It appears in all forms of story, not just those that come with covers depicting smouldering leading men with a tendency to scowl too much and beautiful heroines trying desperately to keep their bosoms inside a corset. Main characters in war stories, superhero stories, comedies, tragedies and, well, any story really, are at risk of falling in love and doing something stupid because of that. Romance is a vital tool in the storyteller’s repertoire. And I wanted to get better at using it.

So I joined up with a fun group of writers known as the BBW Romance Writer’s group. That’s BBW as in ‘Big Beautiful Women’ because another thing I believe in is realistic bodyshapes for both genders. Our goal was to produce an anthology of Romance fiction novellas with realistic heroines, a project they had already achieved with two previous publications. I set out to try to write a Paranormal love story because I realised early on that I could not do a full romance tale, I had to have some fantasy, some supernatural stuff, to shake things up. Boy/Girl/Trans meets Boy/Girl/Trans [delete as appropriate] is all very well but it is also cool if there’s a ghost or something as well. In the end I actually merged two stories that were sat unfinished on my hard drive – one a contemporary boy meets girl, the other about an ancient Roman and his doomed marriage.

About half way through merging these two I realised that the romance was not where anyone would expect it to be – in the hands of the two contemporary characters. Their tale is a more modern love story, but it is not as deep and enduring as the tragic tale of Gaius Lucius – a romance that makes a desperate man do terrible things in order to keep hold of it. In a way I suppose I was making a point about perceptions of romance – that in some cases modern ideas of love are more superficial. That epiphany is what, for me, made sense of the whole concept of romance in fiction and the final result of that realisation led to the publication of Transitions.

So, I would say to any writer who works in any genre to not ignore the importance of romance. Explore it and use it and try to understand how it might motivate your characters. It is not just hearts and flowers and hallmark cards.

Love and other Demons – The Witching Pen Blog Tour

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by in Giveaway, Guest posts

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Today we are yet again invaded by the ever wonderful Dianna Hardy as she enters the final, frantic run up to the release of the final book in The Witching Pen series – The Last Dragon. This epic finale emerges from its cave to sniff the air on the 4th of The Last Dragon front cover smallOctober.

Below we have some extracts and also a giveaway. Anyone who comments on this blog will be in with a chance of winning a Dianna Hardy Swag Bag which contains:

– 1 signed M’Angeal Fridge Magnet
– 1 Witching Pen Omnibus Keyring
– 1 Witching Pen Omnibus Bookmark
– 1 Witching Pen Omnibus Postcard
– 1 The Last Dragon Coming 4th October postcard

If you have not yet read The Witching Pen series, these posts may contain spoilers, as we are now on the last book!

See here for all blog tour dates and posts: http://www.thewitchingpen.co.uk/1/post/2013/08/not-long-to-go-now.html

With The Last Dragon released on 4th October, we’re having a little recap at everything that’s happened in this paranormal fantasy romance series so far. After the last post talking about the “love triangle” between Amy, Pueblo and Paul, we thought we’d treat you to a couple of small exclusive excerpts!

Amy Choices

All excerpts of The Last Dragon are copyright © 2013, Dianna Hardy. All rights reserved.

Excerpt 1 (Amy & Pueblo)

“I don’t want you to go.”

“I know, babe. I don’t want to go either.” His warm hand rested on her still flat belly, the both of them lying on the even warmer sand beneath them.

“You’ve got two babes now,” smiled Amy.

Pueblo laughed, rich and deep, sending delightful waves of pleasure all through her body. “As if you’re not enough to handle on your own.”

“Hey!”

“You know it’s true.”

“Would you have it any other way?”

“Not a chance.” His lips captured hers, and she relaxed into the feel of him, not quite managing to forget that it wasn’t quite as real as she’d like. She blinked back tears, refusing to cry in front of him – he’d seen too much of her crying recently. He was doing his best – no need for her to pile on the guilt.

He pulled away.

This isn’t enough! screamed her mind, but she kept her mouth shut. “Tell me about your training. Is it going well?”

“I don’t wanna talk work. I want to talk about you – us…”

“But I want to know you’re all right. You never tell me about what’s happening. Are you safe?”

“Always safe. I have a family to come back to.”

She almost lost the tear-free battle right then … almost. “Will I see you again tomorrow night?”

“Every night. Every night you dream, I’ll be here.”TWP n Last Dragon Blog Tour List

***

Excerpt 2 (Amy & Paul)

Amy threw her keys back into her bag, before throwing the bag on the kitchen counter. “I don’t think what I’m asking for is unreasonable.”

“You don’t—Amy, we’re living in an apocalyptic world!”

“And because we’re living in an apocalyptic world, I want to give birth in a nice, safe hospital.” Paul was near the end of his tether, she could tell – he had his kill-me-now face on.

“Home births are really much safer than people think, and since when are hospitals all that safe?”

“Since they started stocking painkillers. Can you see the size of this baby? You’re tall and Pueblo’s massive. I’m not giving birth to a thirteen pound baby at home.”

“The doctor said it was nearly ten pounds.”

“And does that sound like a breeze to you?”

“The hospital isn’t staffed – you heard him.”

“So we’ll find another hospital.”

“And which would be the apocalyptic hospital of choice, madam?” Oh, great. Kill-me-now face and sardonic-husband tone.

To find out how Amy found herself sandwiched between two men, start at the beginning: Witches, angels, demons, Heaven and Hell all come together in a dizzying story of friendship, love and forgiveness.

Before The Last Dragon explodes into publication, read book one of the series, The Witching Pen, currently FREE to download across most retailers! See here for download links: http://www.diannahardy.com/the-witching-pen.html

The Witching Pen eBook Cover SmallBLURB
It’s hard being the most powerful witch on the planet. It’s even harder when you’re a twenty-five year old virgin who’ll lose all of that power the moment you sleep with someone … that’s why Elena’s never slept with her best friend and flatmate, Karl, despite the true feelings they harbour for each other.

Elena’s about to discover that there are even more difficult things in life to deal with. One of them comes in the form of a pen she discovers one day, a pen that allows anything she writes to come to pass…

Suddenly, it’s not just her powers or her heart that’s at stake, but her very soul, as a dream demon with a seductive pull uses the pen to try and turn her away from her reality, and from Karl.

But the pen is just the beginning. Everything Elena has believed in is a lie, and her world is about to fall apart…

The entire series can be viewed here: http://www.diannahardy.com/the-witching-pen-novellas.html and mark 4th October on your calendar to know how it all ends with The Last Dragon.

Author of The Witching Pen and the international bestselling Eye Of The Storm series.

Dianna combines a titillating mix of paranormal romance and urban fantasy into her writing to bring you stories that are action-packed, fast-paced and not short of heat, with the focus on both character development and the plot. She writes both full-length novels and short fiction. All further info can be found at diannahardy.com

Want to know more about Dianna Hardy? Well, check out the following links…

Website: www.diannahardy.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/authordiannahardy

Twitter: www.twitter.com/thewitchingpen

Amazon: www.amazon.com/Dianna-Hardy/e/B003AGRHFC

Google +: www.plus.google.com/u/0/110398750519005724804/posts

Dianna Hardy: Cry of the Wolf Blog tour

25 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by in Guest posts

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Today we are taking part in a blog tour for Dianna Hardy. You might remember Dianna from her appearance in Vampire Month and her talking about the Witching Pen series. Here she is giving us a review of her latest series, Eye of the Storm, with an extract from Cry of the Wolf. Tomorrow, look out for a giveaway for exclusive goodies!

Extract from Cry of the WolfCryOfTheWolfCoverFrontSMALL

Looking to pass the time, she made her way to her desk where Lawrence’s books were scattered from where she’d abandoned them almost twenty-four hours ago. Now, where had she left off?
Right. Mythology.

It didn’t take her long to find the passage she’d read earlier, and it was an absorbing read: a god and a goddess ruled by anger had split themselves apart, creating, for all intents and purposes, duality. But they quickly discovered they could not live without each other. Loneliness and loss consumed them, and it came to be that the only way they could rejoin since their separation was when the lightning (the god) penetrated the earth (the goddess).

Interesting…

In these moments, Yemet’s determination renewed, as did her anger, and she vowed to find a way to rejoin with Himet.

One night, under the full moon, which reflected Himet’s love for her when the sun could not, Yemet led her most prized and loyal animal – the wolf – to the top of the highest mountain. She let her grief, her sorrow, her loneliness and her anger pour out of her until she manifested a storm. Himet responded, joining in her dance, and at the exact moment he sent down his lightning, she placed the wolf in its path and infused herself with it.

Himet cried out in terror, but he could not pull back the lightning. It hit Yemet while she was in the physical form of the wolf – whilst she was mortal.

“Why?!” he asked her, his sorrow consuming him.

“I could not see, but now I do,” she replied with her dying breath, “to have all of you, I must yield all of me. Take my life, Himet. I trust you with it. I give it freely.”

© Dianna Hardy, 2013. All rights reserved.

Bio:

Dianna Hardy Colour Portfolio SmallAuthor of The Witching Pen and the Eye Of The Storm series.

Dianna combines a titillating mix of paranormal romance and urban fantasy into her writing, to bring you stories that are action-packed, fast-paced and not short of heat, with the focus on both character development and the plot. She writes both full-length novels and short fiction. She has also written poetry and esoteric books and articles.

Although quite active online, Dianna is a self-confessed hermit, preferring the company of nature and animals to the hustle and bustle of people. She loves anything paranormal (she doesn’t really consider it “para”), organic food, walking barefoot, the smell of the woods after rain, and summer days.

However, she is also sustained by coffee, chocolate and the occasional vodka.

She lives in the UK with her partner and their daughter, where she devotes her time to parenting, publishing and writing.

Links

Website: www.diannahardy.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/authordiannahardy

Twitter: www.twitter.com/thewitchingpen

Amazon: www.amazon.com/Dianna-Hardy/e/B003AGRHFC

Google +: www.plus.google.com/u/0/110398750519005724804/posts

The Witching Pen website: www.thewitchingpen.co.uk

This post is part of a blog tour. Check out the other stops on the tour… Click the picture below to see the full list.

Werewolf Love Blog Hop