tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19699872966636549362024-03-18T07:43:14.722-07:00Aaron Speca - Me and My OthersThis is the tale of a writer who didn't know he could write.Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.comBlogger135125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-74854476774862133682015-09-21T17:04:00.003-07:002015-09-21T17:04:55.341-07:00COVER REVEAL! Jill Knapp's 'You'll Find Me in Manhattan'Check out the fabulous new cover for the third and final book of her series set in New York!<br />
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"A well-written New Adult novel with a heroine who learns that when it comes to love, you 'select, don't settle.'" - Nic Tatano, author of <i>Wing Girl</i></div>
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Follow Jill on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jill-Knapp/1488935691330000?ref=hl">Facebook</a> or <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7263734.Jill_Knapp">Goodreads</a> and check out the first two books in the series. <i>You'll Find Me in Manhattan</i> releases on October 22.</div>
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<br />Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-72182916024858584672015-08-27T10:55:00.000-07:002015-08-27T10:55:00.372-07:00Progeny of Sin: Dark Dreams Deleted Scene #3This is the third piece of the sequence that began with Jade's ill-fated hike in the Connecticut woods. This scene also contains one of my favorite pieces of dialog that didn't make it into the final version (when Jade makes a wild and somewhat humorous attempt to educate Nias on the meaning of 'free will'). As I posted earlier, there was just no way to get back to this tavern, why it is here, and why no one seemed fazed by the scene that Jade and Nias create. So it will, at least for now, remain a mystery.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
The way he
sauntered around and spoke with such arrogance, and the fact that he knew and
liked how hot he was, had the unfortunate result of making him quite unattractive
to her. Add to that the fact that she still didn’t know his name, and
this situation was even more unnerving. She
was once again nervously twirling the ends of her hair, and she watched the
sway in his overly masculine gait as he walked back through the darkened room
to join her. The dirty black boots he wore seemed to somehow
simultaneously clomp yet glide across the floor in slow motion. He held a
large wooden tray on which sat a steaming blue ceramic bowl, a
chilled glass, and a delectable biscuit. His intense gaze was focused on
her and his destination. When he arrived he offered her the bowl of soup,
the biscuit, and a glass of ice cold water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
She realized just
how hungry and thirsty she was and devoured the meal. He just sat in calm
repose, lounging like a cat waiting innocently to pounce, quietly with his
hands folded on the table, and watched her eat. His body was quite still
but his eyes roamed over her, her face and her eyes, her lips, and
then her hair.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Stare much?
I know my curls must be unruly by now. It takes a lot for me to get my
hair to cooperate, okay?” She made a ‘leave me the hell alone’ scrunched face,
“and if I spend too much time outside it gets all big again.” She knew
she was sitting there with a mass of giant red curls overwhelming her head and
running rampant around her shoulders. She put her spoon down,
perturbed. His silent stillness was making her nervous, making her ramble
and wrap curl after unruly curl through her fingers. “I feel like I’m little red riding hood
looking into the big bad wolf’s glaring eyes.” Glaring and dreamy, gold
eyes, if it had had big dreamy gold eyes. <em>Fine I guess he isn’t
that unattractive after all. Which is
probably another reason why I can’t stop rambling. </em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“I’m no wolf, Jade,
I have come to obtain your help. My name
is Nias.” he said flatly with no trace of emotion in his tone or face.
But despite his calm demeanor, his proximity allowed her to feel emotional
confusion rolling off of him, and a surprising slight hint of anxiety. Until then, she thought she was the only
one. <em>Order up, two servings of
confusion for table three, please.</em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Okay, let’s
assume, just for the fun of it, that I am actually the girl you meant to find…
in the forest… lost…where no one could possibly expect to find me,” she said
with sarcasm dripping from her every word. “How can I help you?” She
purposely made her voice sound like she was taking his order in a fast food
restaurant. This was such a surreal moment that Jade’s sarcastic defense
mechanism was kicking into high gear. Then she cocked her head to the
side, raised her brows and gave him a little smirk. “Go ahead, this ought
to be fun.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“The situation I
find myself in, who I am, and the circumstances I have to explain are quite
serious.” Although they were both seated at one of the large wooden
tables, he managed to look down on her; trying to intimidate her, she
suspected.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
His rough hands
started alternating between fists and extended flexed fingers, as though he
were irritated that he had to explain himself at all; the first physical sign
of the anxiety she had been feeling radiating off of him. The brow
between his sparkling eyes furrowed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Because of your
lack of knowledge of my kind, you’ll most likely think I’m insane. However, I insist you hear me out. You
will listen, and make your decisions after that. Do you understand me,
Jade Shear?” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<em>Dear God, he
makes it sound like the entire world depends on me.</em> “What I
understand, so far, is that you may be some kind of stalker, you are as
conceited a man as I have ever met, and on top of it all you are <em>way</em>
too bossy.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Then it hit
her. The strangest thing about this conversation was that she could tell
he wasn’t lying. She could always tell. She got a feeling when
someone lied to her. Almost like sharpness at the back of her neck and
behind her eyes, like a fierce headache was coming on. And she wasn’t getting
it from him. So there were only two possible conclusions; one, he
believed what he was saying so strongly that it didn’t come out at her as a
lie, which meant that her half-sarcastic comment was correct and he really was
quite insane. Or two, he was being truthful. Surprisingly to her it
wasn’t the possibility of the former, complete insanity, that worried her the
most; she had met her share of strange or even crazy people in her day and she
could deal with that; it was the possibility of the latter, that his story could
reflect the truth, that caused the bubble of nervousness and trepidation to
rise up from her gut like a bit of bad fish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Cease talking,
infuriating woman and listen. I come from an … unusual … family, we
know who you are and we are well informed as to what you can do.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Jade pulled and
twisted her hair back with a flip of her hand and studied his face.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Unusual huh?
How could you possibly know anything about me, about what you think I’m capable
of? Maybe you’re just misinformed. Have you considered that?”
His hands again became the tightly balled fists. He exhaled, brow
furrowed; seemingly a bit exasperated, but continued to answer her questions
with a strange, but strained patience. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“The Gifts you possess
came because one of the Goddesses granted them to you. She suspected that
someday those Gifts would be of use to us.
That day has come.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<em>Oh my God he
really is crazy. </em>“Why?” She
blurted. “Even if I were to believe your cockamamie story, why me?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Goddesses cannot
go where we must go, and so, for some reason you were blessed with the Gifts of
empathy and projection. I cannot tell you why you in particular were
chosen. It makes no good sense to me.” His face touched on pained
when he said this. “You must come with me; that I know for sure.
You need to do exactly as I tell you.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<i>How can he know about this?</i> She paused, considering his statements.
“You said I should listen, and I have, and I believe the answer is no.” She
supposed he decided to ignore her, because he went on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“You’ll have to
train first; unfortunately it will be me who does your training. And we
need to begin immediately, oh yes,” the man actually said in dead pan, “it will
be extremely dangerous. Now, what is your decision?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“You actually seem
serious; you believe what you’re saying, don’t you?” He was sitting there
waiting for an answer. “Wow, neuroses really can be an all-consuming
thing.” She would know. What the hell, she decided to reply as if she
were taking him seriously.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“NO, I’m sticking
with, NO.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
After all that
delusional crazy talk, she hoped he hadn’t poisoned her food. She stared
down into the empty bowl inspecting it for signs of nefarious
activity. <em>Like I would know, I haven’t gotten my CBS crime
investigation degree yet.</em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Jade stood up
pushing the chair back with the back of her legs, turned and calmly walked to
the bar, and asked politely if she could use the phone to call a cab. She
refused to even look back at what unfortunately had turned out to be a complete
nutjob. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
The next thing Jade
knew, someone’s giant hands gripped her around the waist, and with absolutely
no effort at all, heaved her straight up into the air and threw her over his
shoulder. Now, ass pointed to the ceiling, face looking down at his
backside and the floor, she was being carried away! <em>Omigod, omigod,
he’s going to kill me now! Why isn’t anyone stopping him?!</em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“PUT ME DOWN!
You freaking Neanderthal, I don’t care what kind of insanity you suffer
from! You can’t just abduct people! I said PUT ME DOWN!”
Apparently her screaming had no effect on the man, or anyone else in the
establishment, because he simply walked, at his leisure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“I have tried being
reasonable, I gave you an honest chance at free will, and you failed to use
it.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Hello large
deranged man, allow me to edify you on the finer points of free will, because
there is no part of that definition which states, ‘when a person decides
against doing what you want them to, you then have the right to throw them over
your giant, stupid controlling body and walk away with them!’ ”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
As her red curls
now flopped below her head bouncing off the man’s waistline, Jade fisted her
hand, and even though she knew it wouldn’t stop him or deter him from his
purpose, she slugged him several times and bashed her legs wildly as hard as
she could.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Calmly and
smoothly, he walked to the door with her over his shoulder and put his hand to
the knob, turning it and swinging the door open. Even as the noise level
of the crowd died down and they watched him walk out with her, they did nothing
to even try to stop him, and he stepped out into the chilled night air. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-77980099739392378152015-08-27T09:55:00.000-07:002015-08-27T09:55:00.200-07:00Progeny of Sin: Dark Dreams Excerpt #3After Jade is rescued, Nias takes her somewhere safe to heal her ... and things get a little heated ...<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
She couldn’t help it as his touch
sent a tremor through her and she began shaking. She was completely aroused,
covered in this man’s blood; he had his hand practically at her throat and she
wanted more. More of all of him, cocky bastard that he was. He had taken her
full circle, from being attacked and nearly killed to a state of euphoria. And
now she was face to face with a man, a seriously erotic one, who looked even
better than the ones she loved to dream up and thought were perfection, and she
looked like she’d just been murdered. It was a lot to take in all in the same
day, much less in an hour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Thank you?” She asked it as a
question in a breathy voice. Her wounds did feel better and she glanced down,
seeing some of them miraculously starting to close. She had definitely lost
control of herself and the situation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“You’re welcome,” he said looking
dreamily and directly into her eyes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Criminy, that was the sexiest ‘you’re
welcome’ I’ve ever heard.” The words fell from her mouth before she could stop
them. His voice was soft and deep. But the tone … the tone managed to stroke
her entire body all over again. The electricity was palpable between them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Then she thought back to his
previous behavior; what an arrogant ass he’d been and how she had detested him.
She thought about getting up and walking out, since she wasn’t having the sharp
pain anymore. But her body seriously objected; it had gone to the dark side and
it was staying.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
She drank him in; this was much
closer than she had been to him before. He had a chiseled strong, square jaw
and full, kissable lips, but they were completely outdone by the intensity of
his exotic golden eyes. She took in the entire length of him again; he had an
energy emanating from his body and demanding attention. He somehow managed to
be sleek, long, intensely muscular and amazingly masculine all at the same
time; like a panther, a big sexy cat, staring with his intense yellowish gaze.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
“Are you warm enough?” he inquired
in a deep, sexy drawl; he had a hint of an accent she hadn’t noticed before.
She couldn’t place it, but the sound of it slithered out, wrapped around her,
and slowly whispered “sex”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Her mind betrayed her next as she
thought about her books and her dreams. <i>What
usually happens at this point? Should I begin running my fingers through his
hair, do I stroke him? Should I </i>… and then he leaned in and kissed her.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">His hand was back to her belly,
and he turned in and lightly brushed his lips against hers. She had wanted this
so badly in her dreams and now she felt horribly nervous. With all of her
wishing and dreaming and hoping, and even with the aroused state she was in,
the fact that she had no practical experience at being intimate, and barely any
at kissing, was all she could think of right then, and her body tensed. She
began to tremble and wonder what came next, as the fear, excitement,
anxiousness, and desire all came to her at once.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-57762293919786517832015-08-27T08:55:00.000-07:002015-08-27T08:55:00.250-07:00Progeny of Sin: Dark Dreams Deleted Scene #2I am told we are being somewhat ... courageous, I suppose ... in allowing you, the readers, to see the scenes that, to use film-making parlance, landed on the cutting-room floor. But we figured, why not? Writing and publishing a novel is a process - so we let you in on a little bit of that process ;-)<br />
<br />
This is a continuation of the sequence that started when Jade was lost while hiking and was 'rescued' by the mysterious Nias, who is supposedly leading her to safety. He brings her to a strange tavern seemingly in the middle of nowhere.<br />
<br />
I can speak for myself here in that I liked the whole hiking/tavern sequence. There was only one problem - we never could get back to it, and it brought up questions that couldn't be answered in the context of the rest of the story. So, even though it was a fun scene to write and edit, it just didn't fit into the final version of the novel.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Jade kept following
him, but she was beginning to feel like this trek was taking much too
long. “I really need to find my way back to my car, and you are starting
to freak me out with the whole creepy I came for you thing.” <em>Just get
me the hell out of here.</em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
He led her to a
small well lit building. As they got closer it looked like a restaurant
or a bar.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“If this were a
movie,” she laughed despite the situation, “locals would be calling that place
a tavern in some strange accent. Unfortunately the movie might just be
‘The American Werewolf in London’, where soon after the lost travelers find
said tavern they are attacked by a man-eating monster.” This time her laughter
was a little nervous and she decided not to follow that train of thought
through.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Come on, you’re
going to be fine,” He said as he looked back quickly, cracking a small smile
and chuckling softly to himself. It was
actually quite endearing, the way she rambled when she was nervous.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“You thought that
was funny?” Jade was surprised to hear a bit of an amused tone in his
voice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Yes, I suppose I
did.” He slowed so she could catch up with his long strides and turned
his entire body this time to smile at her again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
The tavern was on a
small forested dirt road which looked like it wasn’t frequently used.
There were a few older cars out front, which made her feel a little better, but
not much.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Thank God,” she
mumbled. Regardless of the look of the building she was grateful to be
out of the woods.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Jade could hear her
new guide give a small laugh under his breath, but it didn’t sound like he
thought she was funny this time; it sounded just a touch menacing like he knew
something she didn’t. She thought, well actually hoped, that it was her
head running away with itself again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
She began moving
swiftly toward the door really hoping there was a phone inside. He opened the
heavy beat-up door and let her walk in before him. The inside was low
lit. It had an old medieval, shadowy feel to it. The tables were
made of thick distressed wood planks. The chairs surrounding them were
heavy wood and brown leather with metal rivets, very King Arthur’s court.
Giant mugs of beer were being served by a waitress who could have been anywhere
between thirty and fifty; her demeanor was insouciant at best. Jade
inhaled the distinctive aroma of some kind of hearty man food and it
seemed to be coming out of the back.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“It smells like
heaven in here. I’m starving.” She looked to the back of the dining
room and saw where the food was coming from. “It’s been forever since I
ate.” Tall and beautiful was looking to her with some kind of questioning
glare.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Jade figured it
would be okay if she sat with her rescuer for a few minutes and ate. Then
she would call herself a cab. Although, she wondered why he brought her
here and not to her car, since he seemed so sure of his surroundings and where
he was going.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Once she got past
the smell of the food, she realized the energy in this place was off; that is
the only way she could explain it, off. It felt similar to the bookstore
the day she had first seen the man; the people seemed suddenly nervous, uneasy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Um, hey,” she said
to him as he pulled out one of the large wooden chairs for her. “My
name is Jade by the way, Jade Shear, thank you for helping me out of there, I
was so lost.” He glanced down at her and
smirked, but didn’t offer his name in return; he just turned toward
the kitchens, leaving her at the table. She was again struck by how he
looked; at this point staring at his firm backside. “Fine don’t tell me your name then,” she
called after him, wishing she hadn’t been as open with her own identity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
There was something
feline about him, a smooth indifference. And yet he was completely masculine,
definitely arrogant. She couldn’t really explain it if she’d tried, how
they meshed within him, but the end result was dark and strangely delicious.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
She knew she
shouldn’t, but she wanted to get a feeling from him now that being lost in the
woods wasn’t her major concern. She realized she was face to face with
one of her dream guys; the man could have just walked out of her mind and into
the woods to find her, the hero already. She really wanted to know if she
was dealing with a disturbed psychopath or the sweet, gentle, knight in shining
armor who had just rescued her. She wanted to get inside his head, find
out what was going on in there. She found that she was staring at him, <em>again.</em>
She argued with herself over whether she should deprive him of his autonomy and
steal a taste of his feelings. She realized he noticed she was checking
him out, considering him. He looked like he was enjoying it. He
turned full toward her, his giant beautiful body in what she thought must be
his signature languid slant, just leaning against one of the tables. He cocked a dark brow and gave her the most
arrogant smile she’d ever seen and actually said “Go ahead, look all you like,
I’m quite used to it.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
The rebellious independent
woman in her reacted immediately, without thought or preamble. “Agh, did
that just come out of your mouth? Does that
kind of cocky attitude make women want to jump your bones? It makes me want to tell you what an
arrogant ass you are, possibly pick up something <em>large</em> and <em>hard</em>
and whack you with it, several times.” Scowling at him, she wondered why
the universe would give all that hotness to such an <em>ass</em>. He
straightened up and walked toward the bar and she couldn’t help but think, <em>umm,
but I bet he is large, hard, and that is a perfect ass. My God Jade, pull
it together. </em>She heard her new guide give a small laugh under his breath.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
A wave of his
emotion struck her - conflicted? Was that what it was, or did he just
throw her off kilter, she couldn’t tell. But she didn’t trust him any
further than she could hurl him.<o:p></o:p></div>
Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-37162232265247187022015-08-27T07:55:00.000-07:002015-08-27T07:55:00.075-07:00Progeny of Sin: Dark Dreams Excerpt #2After Nias lets Jade leave his apartment, she is immediately captured by Nias's enemies and realizes she is in even bigger trouble ...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Next thing she knew,
someone slapped her across the face so hard it split her lip and flung the
other side of her face into the beam. She would have registered immense pain,
except what was in front of her stole every bit of her attention. She sensed
the emotions coming off of the person joining her in the cavernous space. If
pure evil were a feeling, this would be it; hatred, jealousy, rage, loathing,
greed, mistrust hit her all at once, and then she tried to shut them out. She
pushed against it with her mind, despite the throbbing in her head. She had
minimal success, making it slightly less overwhelming. She could make out a
shadow of someone hunchbacked. From what little she could make out, it looked
like he, or she, had been born with some hideous deformities. It seemed
lopsided. One arm appeared to be longer than the other. Its breath smelled like
putrid sewage … no that wasn’t it; it smelled of death. She could also hear the
voices of several others behind her, but they weren’t speaking a language she
understood.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Then a high, whiny
voice spoke in English. “How is it you know Nias, what business does he have
with you, human?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<em>Fuck, fuck,
fuck</em>, <em>did it just say human like it wasn’t one?</em> She only wanted
to go back home. She wanted to wake up from this whole nightmare. She began
crying again, and she couldn’t breathe right. The chains were too tight and she
couldn’t calm herself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
She was screaming
again!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Stop!” It slapped
her, hard. “What is your business with Nias? Answer me or I will not continue
to be so kind,” it whined in a macabre, singsong manner.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Although fearful, she
felt compelled to lie. “I don’t know who that is! I have no idea who…what do
you want from me?” she managed to choke out through the blood running from her
mouth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
It tore through her
shirt with a razor-sharp claw, drawing down her chest, diagonally over her
breast, across the chains, ripping across her stomach. She cried out and then
bit her bleeding lip. The nails made a scratching noise as they pulled over the
last of her bindings. Sharp pains were now emanating from her torso in concert
with the continued pulsing in the back of her skull.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Do not lie to me,
I saw you transcend in with him! You were in his home; I saw you converse. What
did you discuss?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Her vision was hazy
and she wasn’t sure what she should say. She didn’t want to make it angrier,
but she had the feeling giving it too much information was definitely a bad
idea. Actually, she couldn’t think of a good idea at all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Speak!” It ran one
of its razors slowly down her arm.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
It was horrifying,
but the feeling of being trapped and powerless over the situation was starting
to make her angry, despite her terror. She clenched her teeth and began to
struggle again, but this time with fury. She shoved aside the pain and pushed
back at it with her mind, grabbing the emotions within its head and twisting
them. She attached herself to the darkness within it and it consumed her; she
knew it would, but she also knew it would only last until she gained control.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
When attempting to
alter someone’s emotional state, she used the opposite emotion to push it out. Her
success varied. It depended a lot on how in touch with the opposing emotion she
could get, and how strong the target was. Although the utter darkness and pure
hatred was heavy and difficult to move, she found its self-doubt and the creature
allowed her manipulate it; at least, she hoped, enough to get it to stop
injuring her. She tried her best to channel pleasure until she could feel its
hate dissipate, if only slightly. Unfortunately, she was finding it a little
difficult to find any pleasant images to pull from. She only wished hate could
move hate. She was feeling plenty of that and channeling it could have knocked
the fucking thing on its putrid ass.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Jade thought she
would try to trick it into letting her go. She tried to speak evenly. “I was
taken by the man you’re referring to, but I’m not sure how.” The best lies were
always the ones that contain at least minimal truth. “I have no idea what he
wanted from me. What is it <em>you</em> want from me?” Her anger and pain were
starting to make her breathless.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“I need to know
what the Djinn are planning. They are a bad lot. They hurt people, did you know
this?” It continued in its high-pitched, unholy melody. She could sense
immediately it was lying to her but decided to play along.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“I didn’t, but I
knew when he abducted me that he had bad intentions. I was afraid for my life.”
<em>Yeah, does this stupid thing not get that I am afraid for my life now?</em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Yesss,” it
hissed, “you were right to fear for your safety, you are much safer now.”</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<em style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Really? Did it
really just rip its claws through my body and tell me I was safe?</em><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> She had
to get out of here. The pain in her head was abating, but it was starting to
swim now, probably from blood loss.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-75973675141826918992015-08-27T06:55:00.000-07:002015-08-27T06:55:00.782-07:00Progeny of Sin: Dark Dreams Deleted Scene #1One of the hardest things we found about writing a novel and the subsequent editing process is that sometimes you have to make the tough decision to remove a scene or sequence that you really enjoy. There was an entire sequence early in the book that starts when the main female character, Jade, decides to leave the city to go hiking in order to relax. There she gets lost and encounters the male lead, Nias, for the second time. This scene and the subsequent scenes in the early stages of the novel fell victim to the need to move the story along - but some of the conversations found their way into other parts of the book because we really enjoy the banter between these two characters. We hope you do too!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
After trying to
find her way out of the fog-bound surroundings for around forty-five minutes,
her frustration stopped her. This day,
simply meant for her to unwind or sort things out, had now lasted much longer
than she originally intended. The light was almost gone and the woods which had
been so warm and inviting were taking on a wholly different appearance in the
quickly dimming light. Her attempts to locate some landmark were proving
futile. The light breeze which had gone from warm and playful to unseasonably
chilly teased her hair now and seemed to claw at her clothes with icy fingers.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
A howl, sounding
less like a wolf and more like tearing metal echoed across the forest and went
right through her soul.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“I’m so friggin
lost,” she mumbled and kicked at the leaf-covered ground beneath her.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
There was a
rustling in the bushes to her right, and she turned quickly backing up a few
steps trying to see through the soupy air. Jade could see nothing beyond
a few feet. She felt her heart hammering in her chest as she scanned the
ground for something, anything, she might use to drive off whatever it was that
was coming at her. <i>It’s probably even hungrier than I am right now!</i> Her mind went wild with all of the
possibilities. Bear? Wolf? Bigfoot? <i>Damn, I’ve been watching the Discovery
Channel too much.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Suddenly, but
almost as if in slow motion, out of the mist a man came through the thick white
air. He was moving straight toward her. He seemed quite tall; 6’4”
maybe even 6’5”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Immediately she
noticed that he looked quite similar to the men she dreamed about in her
fantasies. Oh my god, he looked even more similar to the hot slice of man
from her bookstore. But it couldn’t be! She was immediately
suspicious of herself, of her crazy mind. Her head made her feel more off
kilter than most anything life could throw her way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
He had black hair
with hints of brown throughout. It shone and fell quite a bit below his
shoulders; his extremely well-built shoulders. His eyes looked dark as
well until he got closer and she noticed they were actually an intense deep
gold laced by black lashes. Large muscled arms exploded out of the
sleeves of his well-fitting t-shirt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
It was so like her
to be focused on how great he looked instead of the precarious situation she
was currently in. Her heart was beating hard, though not with fear, with
excitement; all thoughts of the sounds of the forest were lost to her now.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Then she snapped
back to the reality of her plight - eyes, hair, height, hello crazy lady, she
realized she was currently alone in a dark creepy forest with a large stranger.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
These eyes, the
ones she had been examining for color, were a little sinister and were focused
right at her. He had his eyes locked into hers, and she was finding it
hard to look away. She felt stuck in place, like somebody planted her
feet in a bed of cement.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Have you lost your
way?” he asked as his perfect although still dark glare reached her. It was definitely him, the man from her book
store. Even if she tried to deny it, there was no way around how her body
reacted to him; she shivered, and … <em>oh that is definitely him.</em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Huh?” was the
first thing that tumbled out of her gaping mouth. <em>Nice, he must think
I am such a spaz.</em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Her body was tense,
but alert at the same time, although he didn’t really frighten her. His
presence seemed calming; she felt safer. She knew she shouldn’t feel this
way; she wasn’t getting an accurate sense of him at all. She should have
been freaked, but she wasn’t, and that in and of itself was out of the
ordinary.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Not sure how long
she had been staring at him, finally she replied, “I’m … I’ll be fine … I’m
just going back to my car.” She gulped visibly, unable to move her feet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Don’t worry, I
have come for you.” He squinted slightly and moved closer to her.<em> </em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<em>What the hell
is he talking about? Maybe he’s just as crazy as me or maybe
he’s some kind of psychotic stalker!</em> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“You couldn’t
be, I’m not waiting for anyone. You must
have me confused with someone else. No one even knows I’m here.” Jade kicked up dirt from the ground this
time. <em>Oh my god, why did I say that? Now he can do anything he
wants and he knows I won’t be missed. Stupid! Stupid! </em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
She could have
sworn he smirked at her. He slowly looked her up and down, from her
boots, to her jeans, even slower over her tank top, and the straps of her
backpack, and then up to her face locking on her eyes for just a moment too
long. Then his gaze slithered back down her hair, stopped completely this
time, at her alert breasts, and then continued all the way down to her boots.
She should have been terrified at the way he was looking at her, instead she
was just irritated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Hey that really
wasn’t my outfit you were appraising was it?” She cocked a scolding brow
at him, and put her hand to her hip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
At this point she
saw his expression change. Now it was saying something like, <em>you look
as tasty as I thought you would,</em> and he gave her a devilish half-upturned
smile, which was clearly saying <em>I believe I might like to fuck you right
here.</em><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Her mouth fell
open, and she could see his apparently oversexed and overconfident smirk,
thinking to itself, <i>I know what to do
with that as well</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Excuse me!!”
She gasped, a little too loudly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Yes?” He
questioned with all the innocence of a school boy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<em>Yeah, a naughty
one!</em> Her heart began pounding and she felt a hot wetness rise
up from between her legs. <i>He really is
exquisite.</i> <em>My body is such a traitor.</em> She slowly
snapped out of her haze, after a few more seconds of staring. She
suddenly remembered that she was lost, and taking a deep breath, decided she
was going to have to trust him, but only a little.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Can you tell me
how to get out of here?” She said trying to change the unspoken
conversation. He shifted his gait and his t-shirt moved over his
firm and muscled chest revealing a V formation to his upper body which made his
finely muscled physique even more amazing. She swallowed, gulped really; his
physical beauty made her nervous. He grinned again knowing she had given
him a prurient approval.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">“I would love
to. Please, follow me.” He turned, and began a strong feral saunter
through the forest, just like a large dangerous cat, looking like he knew she
was enamored with him.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-56032295065187652642015-08-27T05:55:00.000-07:002015-08-27T05:55:00.070-07:00Progeny of Sin: Dark Dreams Excerpt #1This scene is from the introductory first chapter where we meet Jade in her bookstore and she sees Nias for the first time ...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
* * *</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
A gust of hot<span style="color: red;"> </span>air blew up from the floor behind her. It seemed to
come from nowhere. Jade inhaled as the fragrance of dark sandalwood and a dirty
masculinity wafted into her nostrils. Her eyes closed and as she breathed in,
her mind was abruptly flooded with the image of all the sex she wasn’t having.</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Matt’s lowered
voice invaded the darkness of her shut eyelids. “Oh, my Lord, no, I am not
looking at you, not anymore, now I’m watching that!” She opened her eyes and
saw the look in Matt’s eyes glaze over slightly as he motioned to something, or
someone, behind her that had now consumed his attentions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Do not turn around
quickly, but girl, turn the hell around. Slowly, I said, do not startle it and
make it run away,” Matt hissed as he placed a hand on her shoulder.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“What are you
talking about now? Is there some kind of animal in my shop?” Jade turned and
not twenty feet away, he stood.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
Legs crossed, a gorgeous man
leaned against a bookshelf, his cocked head resting against it in a lazy pose. A
long stream of dark, almost black, hair fell below his extremely well-built
shoulders, contrasting with the lighter red of the cherry wood. This man was
making no attempt to hide the fact he was staring right at her, assessing her. She
felt some disdain for his audacity, but honestly his stare caused her to
catch her breath, and then consciously begin breathing again. Rather than turn
away, she stole another peek. Jade’s eyes met his and they seemed to grab and
pull her in.<span style="color: #b2a1c7;"> </span>His eyes contained darkness, but
she saw that they were actually an intense gold laced by black lashes. As she
trailed down his body, large muscled arms exploded out of the sleeves of his
black t-shirt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
His emotion came
upon her unbidden and she felt a sudden wave of lust crash over her. She
unintentionally released a breathy sigh and clenched her teeth as the pure
animal nature of him surrounded her in an all-encompassing cloud of arousal.
Between this force and her body stood only a flimsy white tank and it
apparently was going to provide her no protection. Her breasts and nipples
tightened and became overly sensitive to even the slightest movements she made.
The lower regions of her body went moist and warm and she crossed her legs; the
clenching, however, made the feeling even stronger.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Holy cow,” fell
softly out of her mouth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
And Matt concurred,
“Yes, ho-oly cow, girl.” Her mouth had apparently remained open because, keeping
his gaze stuck on the tall hunk of man before them, Matt put his hand under her
chin and popped it closed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Trying to shake off
the lusty arousal,<span style="color: red;"> </span>she turned and tried to take
on the look of the professional establishment owner she was, and took a tentative
step in his direction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Of course, that
didn’t work out; instead she tripped on the edge of the Turkish rug beneath
her, twisting her foot and breaking the heel off her favorite Jimmy Choo
knee-high boots.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
“Damn it,” she said
under her breath, “I saved for months to buy those.” As she bent down to pick
up the broken heel, she tried to take a step backward and stabilize her still
sexually stunned body against the wooden counter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Naturally, being
that she was Jade, her hand landed at the base of a stack of returned books,
sending them and herself tumbling to the floor. She was now red-cheeked, with
hair strewn across her face<span style="color: red;"> </span>and in her mouth, on
her hands and knees. She lifted her head to wait for the typical Matt-like
wisecrack, which surprisingly never came.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-82429559125804968732015-07-07T12:00:00.000-07:002015-07-07T12:00:01.882-07:00Chance and Opportunity: How Collaboration Happens<i>Leading up to the August 20 release of Progeny of Sin: Dark Dreams, Dawn and I reminisce about how our collaboration got started ...</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Aaron</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
For me, <i>Dark Dreams</i> started a little over four years ago. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long! But the story started a while before that.<br />
<br />
Dawn and I first “met” as part of an online roleplay writing group. Such are the wonders of the virtual world. Although we rarely had occasion to write together directly, I was always impressed with the humor and sensuality Dawn wrote into her character.<br />
<br />
Early in 2011, Dawn approached me with a manuscript she had been working on, the first in a series she had called “Children of Sheol”. She needed an editor, and thought to come to me for assistance. Now, I’d never edited anything, although I did have a deal to get a short story published with another writing partner. So after literally warning her of my lack of experience, I got to work.<br />
<br />
I immediately enjoyed the read! It was obvious this was a labor of love for her, and I committed myself to doing the best job I possibly could to help her make her dream of becoming published a reality.<br />
<br />
We talked, exchanged edits and ideas, and then amazingly, I was asked to come onboard the project as a co-author. The first submittal we made was into the Harlequin “So You Think You Can Write” competition, where we submitted the first chapter and it was voted on by readers. Although we didn’t quite make it into the final round (we were close), Harlequin still wanted to see the full manuscript. They eventually passed on it, but the experience was invaluable.<br />
<br />
Then we discovered that HarperCollins was starting a new imprint called HarperImpulse, a digital-first imprint that was looking for new submissions and seemed like a good fit for Dark Dreams. We bit the bullet and went for it, and our lovely editor Charlotte Ledger decided to give us a chance! She suggested a change to the series name which we took to heart, and Children of Sheol became Progeny of Sin.<br />
<br />
Make no mistake about it, <i>Progeny of Sin</i> is Dawn’s story. I will be forever honored that she came to me to help her bring it to life. It’s not like she had a shortage of great writers to choose from. I consider myself very lucky to be a part of it. It has been an amazing ride that hopefully has only just begun!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi495vWNbUfcZnF6iKDdeFSr-KQIRYkw5XEDWAjVpcvAAkVpc2V-D3uMP3fXjc8pMlCgeBI3ClQItXlQClXBeXvhKJe70VsByYo8EA3Ab6IcnNZ5kK2SEdhGfDqPq2Bs15NRWN83XZ0hjA/s1600/aaron_dawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi495vWNbUfcZnF6iKDdeFSr-KQIRYkw5XEDWAjVpcvAAkVpc2V-D3uMP3fXjc8pMlCgeBI3ClQItXlQClXBeXvhKJe70VsByYo8EA3Ab6IcnNZ5kK2SEdhGfDqPq2Bs15NRWN83XZ0hjA/s320/aaron_dawn.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dawn and Aaron finally meet in San Diego, months after<br />completing the Progeny of Sin: Dark Dreams manuscript</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>Dawn</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div>
I began the process of writing <i>Dark Dreams</i> as a solo writer. I was going through a time in my life when I was seeking an escape. After reading 38 novels in eight months, I closed the last book and decided it was time for me to set out on my own adventure.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Two of the heavy influences for <i>Dark Dreams</i> were Dante Alighieri’s <i>Inferno </i>and <i>Paradise Lost</i> by John Milton. As a lover of everything dark, creepy, sexy and intriguing my mind began to do two things. Fall in love with the power and intelligence of Milton’s Satan and all his demonic underlings; and wonder what it would be like to follow a “good” version of this character through Alighieri’s layers of Hell.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let me stop here and explain that my comprehension and patience for endless poetry written in a way I can barely understand only went so far. I suppose in some ways this is a good thing, my remedial grasp of the literature allowed me the creative freedom to take the basic concepts and twist them into that sweet spot where love and romance intertwine with the darkness in my head.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, how does any of this relate to being a partner in a writing duo? Well, I wrote my vision, I created what I think is the perfect man, tall, dark, demonic, slightly controlling and sexy as Hell but deep down you know that this being would rescue a kitten from a house fire. When I finished my journey was 86,000 words…and a total catastrophe.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is when I found Aaron. Aaron’s role-play character was the boyfriend of my sister; hilarious I know, role-play can be so much fun. I started reading everything Aaron wrote. I was pulled into his character because of the detail with which he thought out his scenes and the organizational skills he had as a writer and a group leader. I tried for a year to edit <i>Dark Dreams</i>. It was not in me. This piece needed another person, someone who had skills I did not possess. It needed Aaron.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I asked Aaron to take a look at <i>Dark Dreams</i> as an editor at first, and quickly realized that he could add to it and give it a shape it just didn’t have. I asked him to join me as a partner and he went through it once, twice, three times, I lost count. He is now a piece of this work. We go back and forth with ideas and usually agree about the direction the story should take. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
HarperImpulse not only will soon release <i>Dark Dreams</i> but has also purchased its sequel tentatively titled, <i>Dark Fate</i>. Aaron and I are excitedly working on this piece now. It will include the same delicious daemons you will fall in love and lust with, during the first novel, and a whole new dark escape to fall into. Until then…</div>
<div style="font-weight: bold;">
<br /></div>
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<i>Progeny of Sin: Dark Dreams</i> will be released on August 20 and is now available for pre-order!</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">Pre-order links:</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" /><a href="http://tinyurl.com/nrzak9j" style="background-color: white; color: #7a7a7a; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-decoration: none;">Amazon US</a><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" /><a href="http://tinyurl.com/nzm7ymy" style="background-color: white; color: #7a7a7a; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-decoration: none;">Amazon UK</a><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" /><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-dreams-dawn-treadway/1121956654?ean=9780007594702" style="background-color: white; color: #7a7a7a; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-decoration: none;">Barnes & Noble</a><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" /><a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/dark-dreams-harperimpulse-paranormal-romance-progeny-of-sin" style="background-color: white; color: #7a7a7a; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-decoration: none;">Kobo</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
The Devil wants his due … The Daemon wants his out … and Jade just wants it all to be over. You don't always get what you want.<br />
<br />
Jade Shear is an ordinary girl with an extraordinary ability that’s literally about to send her to Hell. When Daemons discover Jade’s power to read and manipulate others true feelings, they force her to assist with the rescue of their sibling; thrusting her from her everyday normality deep into the Underworld with the tall, dark and deliciously demonic Nias Hu’dor assigned as her guide.<br />
<br />
All Nias wants is to live out his life without being involved with anyone else. No more emotion, no more connections, especially to pain in the ass humans. But when he sees Jade twisting a long curl of her wild red hair, and showing off the most amazing backside he’s ever been privy to; Nias just knew he was staring at a world of trouble. How could his family have enlisted him to obtain this girls help to traverse Sheol?<br />
<br />
This dark paranormal romance takes you from Jade’s everyday existence into the world of the Djinn Sentry; an army of demonic solders determined to protect the human race; and then plummets you straight down into the seething malevolent Underworld where a multi-levelled caste system of Shaitan and the Devil himself welcome you.Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-71239519368726021272015-06-25T12:00:00.000-07:002015-06-25T12:00:00.758-07:00Dark Dreams Cover and Release Date!I know I have not been here in a while, and I am sorry for that ... but it's time for some big news. After many months, Progeny of Sin: Dark Dreams by Dawn Treadway and Aaron Speca is finally ready for release! Here are the cover, synopsis, and links. We will be posting more news up to the release date of August 20, 2015!<br />
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<br />
The Devil wants his due … The Daemon wants his out … and Jade just wants it all to be over. You don't always get what you want.<br />
<br />
Jade Shear is an ordinary girl with an extraordinary ability that’s literally about to send her to Hell. When Daemons discover Jade’s power to read and manipulate others true feelings, they force her to assist with the rescue of their sibling; thrusting her from her everyday normality deep into the Underworld with the tall, dark and deliciously demonic Nias Hu’dor assigned as her guide.<br />
<br />
All Nias wants is to live out his life without being involved with anyone else. No more emotion, no more connections, especially to pain in the ass humans. But when he sees Jade twisting a long curl of her wild red hair, and showing off the most amazing backside he’s ever been privy to; Nias just knew he was staring at a world of trouble. How could his family have enlisted him to obtain this girls help to traverse Sheol?<br />
<br />
This dark paranormal romance takes you from Jade’s everyday existence into the world of the Djinn Sentry; an army of demonic solders determined to protect the human race; and then plummets you straight down into the seething malevolent Underworld where a multi-levelled caste system of Shaitan and the Devil himself welcome you.<br />
<br />
Pre-order links:<br />
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/nrzak9j">Amazon US</a><br />
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/nzm7ymy">Amazon UK</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-dreams-dawn-treadway/1121956654?ean=9780007594702">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/dark-dreams-harperimpulse-paranormal-romance-progeny-of-sin">Kobo</a><br />
<br />Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-24900154507964663352015-03-31T17:59:00.005-07:002015-03-31T18:01:33.512-07:00Story Bundles - A New Way to ShopI'm helping out my fellow writer Nic Tatano with a new effort he's trying out - The Story Bundle! What if ten stories in a particular genre were packaged up for you to try? And then, you could pay whatever you think they are worth? That's the somewhat radical concept behind the Story Bundle.<br />
<br />
Nic can explain it better than I, which is why you should head over to his <a href="http://thechannelingauthor.blogspot.com/2015/03/story-bundle-worlds-coolest-shopping.html">blog</a> to check out the details. Plus you can register to win a $100 Kindle gift card ... sounds like a win-win to me!<br />
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<br />
<br />
Nic is also the author of the Jillian Spectre series ... you can check them out here ...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/odgs9ry">Book #1</a><b></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/pkbv8l2">Book #2</a><br />
<br />
Nic has been on the blog before! Check out his interview from last year <a href="http://aaronspeca.blogspot.com/2014/05/finding-fiction-friday-nic-tatano.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-60187389792467445412015-03-13T03:00:00.000-07:002015-03-13T03:00:09.864-07:00Finding Fiction Friday - Lorraine Wilson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Today I am very happy to have Lorraine Wilson on the blog, fresh off her new release! Lorraine, please introduce yourself ...</b><br />
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<div class="Body">
I live in Wiltshire, England, with my husband but love to
travel and have lived in four continents. From playing amidst Roman ruins in
Africa as a child to riding a Sultan's racehorse in the Middle East as a teen,
I<span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>ve many
experiences to draw on for the stories I<span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>ve been writing ever since I can remember. When I<span lang="FR" style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS', sans-serif;">’</span>m not writing you'll find me
listening to audiobooks while I sew or design handbags, usually with a rescue
terrier or two curled up on my feet!<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<b>Lorraine, when did you first think about writing for
publication?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">I wrote a book that tackled the subject of bullying when I was fifteen
and definitely thought about publication but didn't have the confidence to
submit anything to a publisher until I was in my thirties.</span> </div>
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<b>Tell us one thing about yourself that you think might surprise
us.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">I once touched a
hippogriff! I used to work at one of the Inns of Court in London and the
Prisoner of Azkaban launch party was held there. The Tudor hall was turned into
Hogwarts with 'floating' candles suspended from the ceiling and the shops from
Hogsmeade. All the props were kept on the floor I was working on and I couldn't
resist having a root through!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>So you have a lot of news this month, your short story </b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“</span>Chalet
Girl Plays Cupid</b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”</span> was released last week, and
the fourth novella in the associated Chalet Girl series, </b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“</span>Rebellion
of a Chalet Girl</b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”</span>, comes out March 26<sup>th</sup>. Congratulations! Tell us a bit about the series and the
inspiration behind it.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">I spend a lot of
time in Switzerland and absolutely love it. The mountain landscape is a perfect
dramatic backdrop and it's </span>the perfect setting for romantic stories- it
has snow, hot tubs, luxury and roaring log fires. Even if you don't like skiing
there's still the apr<span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: FR;">è</span>s ski to soak up. My stories are meant to be fun and little bit escapist but I
like to tackle more serious subjects in the stories too<span lang="EN-GB">. I write about</span> the kind of emotional
baggage a lot of people carry around with them but rarely talk about<span lang="EN-GB">.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">Readers can try
the series for free with 'Chalet Girl Plays Cupid' - </span><a href="http://hyperurl.co/chaletgirl1">http://hyperurl.co/chaletgirl1</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Are you planning future installments or do you have something
else in mind?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">Ah, now that
would be telling! There is one more novella planned but there are also some
longer projects in the pipeline that I'm super excited about :-)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="Body">
<b>If there is one character that you</b><b><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>ve written or are writing that you would really
like people to meet, who would it be and why?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="Body">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">I think most
people would like to meet Sophie. In fact I'd quite like to visit Bar des Amis
myself and hang out there with Sophie, Luc and their scruffy rescue terrier
Max!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<b>What about the book industry in general has most surprised
you?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">The amount of
work there is to do <i>after </i>you write the book! I suppose I assumed you
sent your book off and then got on with the next one. The amount of time needed
to spend marketing and on social media was a bit of a shock, although there are
aspects of it that I love, like chatting to readers. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Is there someone you can point to as being your biggest
encouragement in moving forward with writing?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">My English
teacher told me when I was thirteen years old that I had the talent to be a
writer. She planted the seed in me that I might be good enough and I'm very
grateful to her for that.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">Then I suffered
a brain injury five years ago and was told by my neurosurgeon I'd never be able
to write a book. I almost gave up but my support worker, a speech and language
therapist, refused to let me and taught me to use speech to text software.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<b>What do you do to get fired up to write? Do you have a ritual or a particular
inspiration?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">Tea and
chocolate. I'm very English!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Is there a particular genre other than contemporary romance
that you might like to try someday?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">I'd love to
write historical fiction. I read history at Oxford University and do have several
novel ideas but I know they'll take a lot of research that I'm probably not up
to, health wise, just yet.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<b>What other things do you have bouncing around in your head for
the future?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">Again, that
would be telling ;-)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<b>To close the interview, I have ten questions for you, plus
one. Here they go!</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: list .5in;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><b>What is
your favorite word?</b> Mutt.</li>
<li><b>What is
your least favorite word? </b>Pain.</li>
<li><b>What turns
you on? </b>My imagination!</li>
<li><b>What turns
you off?</b> Feeling ill.</li>
<li><b>What sound
or noise do you love? </b>A running stream.</li>
<li><b>What sound
or noise do you hate? </b>Traffic.</li>
<li><b>What is
your favorite curse word? </b>Hell.</li>
<li><b>What
profession other than your own would you like to attempt? </b>Seamstress/Dress
designer.</li>
<li><b>What
profession would you not like to do? </b>Shelf stacker.</li>
<li><b>If heaven
exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly
gates? </b>Lovely to see you!</li>
<li><b>What
question have you never been asked, that you wish someone would ask you? </b>What
do you want people to get from your books? I hope readers will get enjoyment,
entertainment and a bit of escapism from my stories. Also I'd like to think
that by tackling real life problems in a realistic but hopeful way I might be
able to help someone dealing with the same issues.</li>
</ol>
<div class="Body">
<b>Lorraine, thanks so much for spending time with us. Can you let us know where to follow you, and
where we can go to purchase your books?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">You can find out
more about the Chalet Girl series and any new releases via my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LorraineWilsonWriter" target="_blank">Facebook author page</a>.<br /></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpv9HfAEoVZTRl0iH7DQQEyswSBkS7g7AyWlm35SYgx8Bqv8DjbxGfMnssG42LSSQn9QXSNpJJ0OHAtLj6Yrkbd2wwxURZvRNmPwZIlF0mQBBQU50xDb9wwnaBzenGo8bEDBiAKdZ9tb0/s1600/chalet+girl+swag.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpv9HfAEoVZTRl0iH7DQQEyswSBkS7g7AyWlm35SYgx8Bqv8DjbxGfMnssG42LSSQn9QXSNpJJ0OHAtLj6Yrkbd2wwxURZvRNmPwZIlF0mQBBQU50xDb9wwnaBzenGo8bEDBiAKdZ9tb0/s1600/chalet+girl+swag.jpeg" height="320" width="296" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">You'll find buy
links for my books on my <a href="http://www.harperimpulseromance.com/authors/lorraine-wilson" target="_blank">Harper Impulse author page</a>.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">Or on my <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lorraine-Wilson/e/B00CWFWCG6" target="_blank">Amazon author page</a>. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<span lang="EN-GB">You'll also find
me on <a href="https://twitter.com/romanceminx" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<b><i>To celebrate having two releases this month I</i></b><b><i><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>m running a special
competition. Enter for a chance to win a Lorraine Wilson Design Shoulder Bag
made with novelty magazine cover fabric, a Chalet Girl book bag complete with
signed copies of all 4 Chalet Girl Paperbacks!<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="Body">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Enter <a href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6aa9629d12/">here</a>!!!!!</span><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-90581913172440480032015-02-20T03:00:00.000-08:002015-02-20T03:00:03.973-08:00Finding Fiction Friday - Jen Winters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgip9IT4nOg_MFESSSueqzR4iwBXcJjnRW8MxIiEZKEsXyZizk50WI3eGh7ivDfH02Vxik30gSbwwkvcmag3uii-Kk-qr84CSsXD_Q9sY3SHsLbJbT__dU-uF39eEPDHID_dtNHwga_68o/s1600/finding+fiction+friday+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgip9IT4nOg_MFESSSueqzR4iwBXcJjnRW8MxIiEZKEsXyZizk50WI3eGh7ivDfH02Vxik30gSbwwkvcmag3uii-Kk-qr84CSsXD_Q9sY3SHsLbJbT__dU-uF39eEPDHID_dtNHwga_68o/s1600/finding+fiction+friday+1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Jen Winters is an independent author, entering the world of self-publishing through digital media formats. Her first book, Kissing Demons, is a paranormal romance and available for Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.<br />
<br />
Jen is a mom, a wife, a homeschool teacher, supporter of indie authors and a lover of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and enjoy a diversion in to homeschooling on her other blog, The Slamdunk Homeschool.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Jen, when did you
first think about writing for publication?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b> <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Six years ago I found myself at a loss. I had an 8-month-old
and my husband-at-the-time had left us to pursue a different life. I had zero
marketable skills and a bachelor degree that was utterly useless. The only
thing I had was a lot of people who encouraged me to publish some of my
writing. So, I decided I wanted to try my hand at writing for a career and I
put my pen to paper. That was March 2009.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Tell us one thing
about yourself that you think might surprise us.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am so utterly normal, but I do homeschool my children and
I think that surprises some people because we are so utterly normal. We don’t
give off that homeschool vibe.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Your first novel,
“Kissing Demons” was released this past December. Tell us a bit about this book and the
inspiration for it.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kissing Demons is a paranormal romance that takes place
mostly in the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area. I
had been reading Sherrilyn Kenyon’s dark-hunter series at the time and she very
much influenced my writing. The Guardians are women who during their first life
lost a child and are now in their second life protecting others from the same
loss. I based my main character on Beatrice Marguerite de Geneve, and called
her Geneva Archer. I think you’ll like her!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>As this is the first
book of the series, give us an idea of what we might see in future
installments.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second in the series is called Falling Angels and it is
written from the perspective of a fallen angel named Ambrose. He is good to the
core, but bitter about his fate, sarcastic, and temperamental. This novel will
give the reader a chance to get to know Yuruch (the antagonist in Kissing
Demons) better as well. Lavinia will get her respite and Ambrose will figure
out what destiny and redemption really are.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The third is called Raising Hell, and it will be a story of
redemption for Yuruch. I haven’t gotten far along it, yet, but I do know that
there will be a bit of archeology involved. How’s that for a teaser?</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>What drew you to
write in the paranormal romance genre?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I love PNR! I love the escape it provides, the hope for magic
and romance, and I love the idea that love can come from the most unexpected
place. My own story of love could be written into a PNR if I embellished the
angelic interference a bit. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>If there is one
character you’ve written or are writing that you would really like people to
meet, who would it be and why?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Joseph of Aramithea. People need more unconditional,
enduring, undeserved love in their lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>What made you decide
on self-publishing versus traditional publishing?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
James Patterson’s huge success as an independent novelist
has been a great driving force for me. That and my mother who thought indie
publishing would be good for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<b>What about the book
industry in general has most surprised you?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As an indie author I have found a huge support network with
other indies. It has been amazing and I didn’t even know that we were such a
tight-knit group before I published. I hadn’t read a single indie book and now
I can say that I have read more indies this year than traditional. The support,
reviews, help and friendship I have found has been amazing!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Is there someone you
can point to as being your biggest encouragement in moving forward with writing?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My father has kept on me since I decided to write for
publication until today saying, “Finish the book, Jen.” Love that man.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<b>Is there a particular
genre other than paranormal romance that you might like to try someday?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am thinking about writing a New Adult novel with an old
writing partner. We have other books we are finishing up right now, but as soon
as we are in a good place, we are going to write together.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>What other things do
you have bouncing around in your head for the future?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a funny question. Everyday a new idea comes to me.
I’ve been considering doing a BBW PNR for a while, and it is slowing making its
way to the top. I even have a character name and setting: Mitchell (werewolf),
Rosie (human), and Great Bend, NE.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>To close the
interview, I have ten questions for you, plus one. Here they go!</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><b>What is your favorite word?</b> flabbergasted</li>
<li><b>What is your least favorite word?</b> C@nt</li>
<li><b>What turns you on? </b>The smell of oil and gasoline on my hubby (he’s
a mechanic).</li>
<li><b>What turns you off? </b>Metro-sexuals are completely unappealing to me.
Nothing personal to my metro-friends, and they know that.</li>
<li><b>What sound or noise do you love? </b>My favorite is when one of my kids
is playing pretend all by themselves.</li>
<li><b>What sound or noise do you hate? </b>My son’s screech when he’s mad
(working on that).</li>
<li><b>What is your favorite curse word? </b>I don’t really have one, but I do
let the bird fly when appropriate.</li>
<li><b>What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? </b>I
think I might like to be a mortician. Macabre, I know, but…</li>
<li><b>What profession would you not like to do? </b>Pest-control…ewww</li>
<li><b>If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive
at the pearly gates? </b>Well done.</li>
<li><b>What question have you never been asked, that you wish someone would
ask you? </b>Were there moments that you found difficult to write? What were
they?</li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Jen, thanks so much
for spending time with us. Can you let
us know where to follow you, and where we can go to purchase your books?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Follow me on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/jenwintersne" target="_blank">Twitter</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like me on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/JenWintersNE" target="_blank">Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Follow my <a href="http://www.jenwintersne.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Find my book, Kissing Demons on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kissing-Demons-Guardian-Novels-Book-ebook/dp/B00R28094U" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span><br />
<br />
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<br />Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-32598290077923757932015-02-14T11:49:00.000-08:002015-02-14T11:49:06.548-08:00Used e-Books: Wave of the Future, or Legalized Piracy?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2012, on this blog, I examined the phenomenon of online
e-book piracy in a five-part series. In
that series, I attempted to examine the reasons behind piracy, the impact that
piracy could have on the publishing industry over time, and even tossed some ideas
around about the way the industry might eventually change to make piracy less
attractive to consumers. That series can
be found at the links below, and I think it’s a really good read for those who
want to get educated on at least some of the issues surrounding this
controversial topic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://aaronspeca.blogspot.com/2012/07/patriots-or-pirates.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://aaronspeca.blogspot.com/2012/08/patriots-or-pirates-part-2.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://aaronspeca.blogspot.com/2012/08/patriots-or-pirates-part-3.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://aaronspeca.blogspot.com/2012/08/patriots-or-pirates-part-4.html" target="_blank">Part 4</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://aaronspeca.blogspot.com/2012/08/engaging-pirates-on-high-seas.html" target="_blank">Part 5</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s nearly three years later, and the industry is
ever-evolving. Independently published
(a.k.a. self-published) books are more common than ever. E-books are beginning to outpace printed
books. The Amazon Lending Library has
been developed and led to other e-book lending programs. Subscription services for e-Books that
operate similarly to Netflix have begun to spring up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSPZYTJp_2nXMuKmxi6N6AbNDJHgcxXfNZn0dyUZIecJ1mEC6-L0NGGxy0bQANS0lVkzhoplz2foP_2ntpntyDAKCHR6zOIZ8qDwNnkJOv5Nxfe3Im-1Um5hxKJLbgw7LnAxgjqea6oYQ/s1600/usedbooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSPZYTJp_2nXMuKmxi6N6AbNDJHgcxXfNZn0dyUZIecJ1mEC6-L0NGGxy0bQANS0lVkzhoplz2foP_2ntpntyDAKCHR6zOIZ8qDwNnkJOv5Nxfe3Im-1Um5hxKJLbgw7LnAxgjqea6oYQ/s1600/usedbooks.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But there’s one article that caught my eye recently and made
me want to visit the issue, and that is the possibility of the selling of used
e-books.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There has always been a used book market. In fact, there have been stores that have
specialized in the selling of second-hand books. I know when I was in college, one would actively
seek out used textbooks (as long as the newest editions was not required). They were cheaper – one expected that the
books would have some wear and tear but was willing to accept that for the
lower price.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is now reported that a group is working with “one of the
world’s largest booksellers” in order to start up a used e-book
marketplace. Presumably, this would be a
place for sellers to load their digital books for resale once they are done
with them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So that brings us to the big question – would such a
marketplace even be legal? The legal
question involves the “first-sale doctrine” which prevents copyright holders
from stopping the sale, trade, or lending of legally acquired property. This is what makes things like used
bookstores and Gamestop’s used video game market possible. It also is what legally allows an owner of a
DVD to let their neighbor borrow it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are a couple of key premises that make the “first-sale
doctrine” work. First, it was
established in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century, at a time when the concern
was the resale and lending of a physical good.
Physical goods, including books, sound recordings, and film, deteriorate
over time. Thus it is a given that the
thing being resold or lent had lost some of its quality, thus some of its
value. This is a new time, and digital
media has no such “shelf life”. The file
is the same quality whether it is the initial sale or it has changed hands
dozens or even hundreds of times.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second premise, and perhaps the hardest to enforce, is
that upon resale or lending the product actually changes hands. This means that the item should become
unusable to the seller or lender. (Actually,
this is how Amazon lending works on the Kindle – when one user lends a book to
another, it becomes unreadable by the lender until the borrower “returns” it.) This is where things can get sketchy. For example, one e-book resale site can only
operate “on the honor” of the lenders, that they no longer have a copy of the
e-book.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>However, there’s a flaw in the system that could hurt the bookstore’s defense. One of the key provisions of the UsedSoft ruling was that, in order for the transaction to be legal, the seller must “make the copy downloaded onto his own computer unusable at the time of resale.” </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Tom Kabinet has no way of ensuring that this has happened, so it is easily possible for someone to both keep and sell the ebooks they’ve bought. The company can only run an honor system, asking people to confirm that they purchased the ebook legally and that they have deleted their own copy. - David Meyer, from an article on Gigaom.com</i></blockquote>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbOkqlIQSnvCyrDsC0-aAMXjjzOLJ87LROeM-zZ6J_KhPtKCCN4MtvGP4841a3l3RgxDnOlzO2c1PNY6bJXEQ92kKfD7qFm77Xh8NHTTW0bvMMeo92EouOcJZrqpTP3BlaD9yLzIvRkOE/s1600/used+books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbOkqlIQSnvCyrDsC0-aAMXjjzOLJ87LROeM-zZ6J_KhPtKCCN4MtvGP4841a3l3RgxDnOlzO2c1PNY6bJXEQ92kKfD7qFm77Xh8NHTTW0bvMMeo92EouOcJZrqpTP3BlaD9yLzIvRkOE/s1600/used+books.jpg" height="140" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is where the distinction MUST be made between
transference of a product, and creating another copy of the product, because if
this distinction is not made and enforceable, then what could result is a form
of legalized piracy. Think about it … as
a consumer I might choose to buy a $0.99 used e-book instead of a $2.99 “new”
version off of Amazon. This might be
alright if it is only the one copy that the seller owned that is being
sold. But what if that person is just
putting up endless copies of the e-book while they retain a copy for themselves,
and selling each one at $0.99 where only they (and perhaps the marketplace) see
that money?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Personally, I am keeping an open mind about this to see how
things turn out, but authors should be vigilant about these potential changes to
the marketplace.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Authors, what are your thoughts on this potential used
e-book effort? And readers, how would
you feel about a used e-book marketplace, or do you think the momentum is
headed more towards subscription services?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sources:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/02/11/secondhand-downloads-used-ebook-sales-coming/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDigitalReader+%28Ink%2C+Bits%2C+%26+Pixels%29" target="_blank">Digital Reader, “Secondhand Downloads: Are Used e-BooksComing?”</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-10/secondhand-downloads-will-used-e-books-and-digital-games-be-for-sale-?et_mid=723648&rid=241005533" target="_blank">Bloomberg, “Secondhand Downloads: Will Used E-Books and Digital Games Be for Sale?”</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://gigaom.com/2014/06/27/the-right-to-resell-ebooks-major-case-looms-in-the-netherlands/" target="_blank">GigaOm.com, “The right to resell ebooks — major case looms in the Netherlands”</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-34666910583462150072014-12-04T03:00:00.000-08:002014-12-04T03:00:00.646-08:00Release Day for Lisa Fox! Her Perfect Lips ...<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Her
Perfect Lips by Lisa Fox<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Book
Two of the Midnight Kiss Series, set in the dynamic world of </span></i><a href="http://www.harperimpulseromance.com/books/one-kiss/"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ONE KISS</span></i></b></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">…</span></i></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<b><span lang="EN-GB">Blurb</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">: </span><span lang="EN-GB">You have to take
a risk to live an adventure.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Determined, capable, and primed to rock her first big marketing
conference, Stacy Saunders is not about let to anything get in the way of her
ambition. It's been a long time since she's been in New Orleans, but she has no
use for beads or Bourbon Street. She built a strict itinerary for this trip –
one that certainly didn't include running into the gorgeous Tennyson Landry
again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A chance reunion between the former lovers brings old feelings to the
surface and the possibility of rekindling old flames. Their second time around
could be the best time of all – if they can bridge the gap even wider than the
thousand miles between them…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5Uni_5TqDK2-sodGwI4m6o2lzwJRWzRuG4Tthlj4PohIyTeYYmzH49OOLWtarHz2BD0LiZme_Y7kdcv8FdetbbxGrH5yNHzhskfrVoOM6TAE9ZerbioTEB2-iXOMLIdIiRpTtLsdGwM/s1600/her+perfect+lips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5Uni_5TqDK2-sodGwI4m6o2lzwJRWzRuG4Tthlj4PohIyTeYYmzH49OOLWtarHz2BD0LiZme_Y7kdcv8FdetbbxGrH5yNHzhskfrVoOM6TAE9ZerbioTEB2-iXOMLIdIiRpTtLsdGwM/s1600/her+perfect+lips.jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span lang="EN-GB">An Excerpt
From: </span></strong><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.harperimpulseromance.com/books/her-perfect-lips"><b>HER
PERFECT LIPS</b></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span lang="EN-GB">Copyright ©
LISA FOX, 2014</span></strong><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span lang="EN-GB">All Rights
Reserved, Harper Impulse, a Division of HarperCollins Publishers<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Bourbon
Street was just as she remembered—loud music and neon lights, frat boys in muscle
shirts and girls in crop tops, the stench of beer and pine-scented antiseptic
cleaner, the sidewalks littered with garbage and puke. Their little entourage
stumbled into the first club they found, which had “Play That Funky Music”
blaring from the speakers. Stacy shook her head. Some things truly never
changed. Bars on Bourbon Street would play that song until some ultimate, catastrophic
apocalypse finally managed to wipe the city out for good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
barker at the door proudly announced that the club was now offering their world
famous three-for-one happy hour. The vodka tonic Stacy ordered was served in a
plastic cup the size of which was rarely seen outside of a 7-Eleven. It
contained more alcohol than any human should probably ever consume in a single
serving, and she was glad to see that in addition to the bad music, the
drinking culture had not changed either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She
headed toward the back of the club, outside into the little courtyard area
where the music was somewhat blunted and she was less likely to have a drink
spilled over her. The others followed, people in the group talking amongst
themselves and goggling at the drunken antics on the dance floor. Peter had
fallen back to walk alongside Melanie, and they ambled slowly, their heads
close together, taking softly. Stacy sighed. So much for the whole reason to
participate in this journey. Not that she could blame him. Melanie was
gorgeous. Still, the rejection stung. Not that it would’ve worked anyway. The distance
between them would have eventually become a hassle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She
sipped her cocktail, watching the dance floor light up red, then blue, then green
as the strobe light pulsed over the dancers. Once again, she had a choice and
none of her options were all too appealing. She could go back to the hotel and
try to find a new group of people to talk with, she could go to bed, or she
could stay right where she was and basically drink alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Let’s
go someplace quieter,” Peter shouted over the music and everybody agreed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She
followed them back out onto Bourbon Street, seriously considering her next
move. <i>Should I stay or should I go now?</i>
She let the chorus play out in her head and in that one millisecond pause, a drunken
man wearing only jeans shorts and plastic beads lunged at her from the crowd.
She sidestepped around him and almost collided with a woman exiting Pat
O'Briens. The woman squealed and Stacy veered off the sidewalk into the street.
A group of tourists swept her away, forcing her backward along with them. She
fought against the wave of bodies, but it was a losing battle. And then, out of
nowhere, a hand grabbed her arm, a lifeline in the storm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
tourists continued on their journey, but Stacy was held in place, firmly
anchored by that strong grip. The hold on her arm was a little too familiar for
a stranger and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to thank or berate her rescuer.
She turned, and her breath caught when she recognized her savior. “Hello, Ten.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Hey,
Stacy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
grinned and every single part of her tingled. He was as attractive as she
remembered—tall and strong, with rich, chocolate-brown hair, and a twinkle of
mischief in his startling green eyes. The years had changed him only slightly,
taking away the softness of youth and adding hard ridges and planes to his
handsome face. His hair was a little too long, and he had a two-day beard, but
the scruffiness didn’t take away from his almost poetic good looks. And though
she would never admit it out loud, just the way his thighs filled out his
well-worn blue jeans sent a thread of wicked heat trickling down her spine. Ten
was the stuff of all kinds of naughty fantasies, and a few of her favorite ones
instantly flashed through her mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">BUY LINKS:</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Harper
Impulse</span></strong><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">: </span><a href="http://www.harperimpulseromance.com/books/her-perfect-lips"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://www.harperimpulseromance.com/books/her-perfect-lips</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<strong>Amazon</strong>: </span><a href="http://goo.gl/tEUlUn"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://goo.gl/tEUlUn</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<strong>Amazon UK</strong>: </span><a href="http://goo.gl/qw69Ma"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://goo.gl/qw69Ma</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<strong>B&N</strong>: </span><a href="http://goo.gl/K9Fd46"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://goo.gl/K9Fd46</span></a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAdTtHNhgoO7EExeRe-NPQGNAcGZeLFN0rCMPgsT8LBEEvkO1SA-h8pSz1KGlblIWYN_zE1Bh4cg0rNrXIyOXfwKoNUXeGBbt1bmdmsdj2hRhTGcY3DJv4elfpgeaE9LBgBGbvK-xf1Y/s1600/Lisa+Fox+Logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAdTtHNhgoO7EExeRe-NPQGNAcGZeLFN0rCMPgsT8LBEEvkO1SA-h8pSz1KGlblIWYN_zE1Bh4cg0rNrXIyOXfwKoNUXeGBbt1bmdmsdj2hRhTGcY3DJv4elfpgeaE9LBgBGbvK-xf1Y/s1600/Lisa+Fox+Logo.JPG" height="196" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">About
Lisa</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75"
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">World-renowned
neurosurgeon, jet fighter pilot, secret member of American royalty, seducer of
legions of beautiful, outrageously sexy angels and demons and vampires and
werewolves and the occasional pirate, Lisa Fox has done it all…in her own mind.
In reality, she can generally be found at her desk with a cup of coffee close
at hand. Or maybe a martini. It really depends on the day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lisa Fox is a multi-published author of contemporary,
erotic, and paranormal romance novellas. Feedback, comments, opinions, words of
wisdom, chocolate cake and the addresses of super hot men are always
appreciated and encouraged. Please feel free to contact Lisa any time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Website:
</span><a href="http://www.lisafoxromance.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">www.lisafoxromance.com</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Twitter:
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Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-50374849562892723902014-11-07T03:00:00.000-08:002014-11-07T03:00:04.333-08:00Finding Fiction Friday - Debbie Johnson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Debbie Johnson writes romance, crime, and fantasy. She lives in Liverpool, UK, with a small tribe of children and pets, in a very messy house.</i><br />
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<i>Debbie, when did you first think about writing for publication?</i><br />
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I was a journalist for most of my adult life, so have always been a writer – but I only seriously turned my hand to fiction a few years after I left the newspaper I worked for. It freed up my mind and writing style, and allowed me to really push myself. It was also a couple of years after the birth of my third – and final! – baby, once I was finally clear of the deep, dark, energy-sucking hole that having a newborn can sometimes feel like!<br />
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<i>Tell us one thing about yourself that you think might surprise us.</i><br />
<br />
I studied History at Oxford University – which always surprises people. They always look completely shocked when they discover that. I guess I must come across as being pretty dumb!<br />
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<i>Yesterday was your big Release Day for “Cold Feet at Christmas”! Congratulations! Tell us about this book and your foray into contemporary romance.</i><br />
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It tells the tale of Leah Harvey, who is all set for her big fairy tale wedding at a remote Scottish castle on Christmas Eve. Sadly the festivities go slightly awry when she discovers her husband-to-be playing ‘hide the sausage’ with one of the bridesmaids! She runs – or drives to be precise, she’s not completely brain-dead! – off into the night, and ends up stranded in a snow blizzard in the middle of nowhere. She stumbles across an isolated cottage, inhabited by an equally isolated man, Rob Cavelli. The story is really about how everything appearing to go wrong in your life can actually result in everything going right!<br />
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<i>This is not your first book, can you tell us a little about your prior works?</i><br />
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I had an urban fantasy, Dark Vision, published by Del Rey earlier this year. There are Gods and vampires and all kinds of crazy stuff, but all set in modern-day Liverpool, where our heroine, Lily McCain, is a pop writer for her local newspaper. So in between reviewing gigs, she’s saving the world! The follow-up, Dark Touch, is out in Spring next year, and is partly set in New York. I also have Fear No Evil out at the moment on Maze/Avon – a supernatural crime thriller featuring private eye Jayne McCartney. Plus another one for HarperImpulse sometime in 2015…<br />
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<i>If there is one character you’ve written or are writing that you would really like people to meet, who would it be and why?</i><br />
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The positive reviews so far of Cold Feet At Christmas have all liked the lead, Leah, who is really funny. She has no filter control between what she thinks and what she says, and is always optimistic, no matter how bad things are – so she is great. But Jayne McCartney, the private detective from Fear No Evil, would probably be the one I would most like to go the pub with (always the way I judge these things!) – she’s intelligent, hard-working, fun, and takes absolutely no sh*t from anybody!<br />
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<i>What about being published with HarperImpulse and the book industry in general has most surprised you?</i><br />
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How much hard work the promotion side of things is – writing the book is the easy part; getting people to read it is a different matter entirely!<br />
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<i>Is there someone you can point to as being your biggest encouragement in moving forward with writing?</i><br />
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In 2010 I won the Harry Bowling Prize for Writing at the Romantic Novelists Association annual event. The contest was judged by professional editors, agents and publishers, and I was so stunned to hear my name called out. Stunned, and a little tipsy to be honest, which made the walk up to the stage and the acceptance speech pretty interesting! But knowing that these experienced people thought I had something to offer did give me a boost.<br />
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<i>Is there a particular genre you haven’t written yet that you might like to try someday?</i><br />
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Goodness, I’ve done three – isn’t that enough?? But seriously, possibly a young adult – I am sadly addicted to dystopian stuff, anything about survivors, whether it’s post zombie-apocalypse or post killer-disease-infection.<br />
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<i>What other things do you have bouncing around in your head for the future?</i><br />
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I really need to concentrate on making the current three work – and there’s more copy editing etc to do on Dark Touch before that comes out, so I’m trying to prevent my brain from bouncing around any more ideas just yet!<br />
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<i>To close the interview, I have ten questions for you, plus one. Here they go!</i><br />
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<ol>
<li><i>What is your favorite word? </i>Liberty</li>
<li><i>What is your least favorite word? </i>Egg</li>
<li><i>What turns you on?</i> Intelligence</li>
<li><i>What turns you off?</i> Cruelty</li>
<li><i>What sound or noise do you love?</i> Kids laughing</li>
<li><i>What sound or noise do you hate? </i>Kids crying!</li>
<li><i>What is your favorite curse word?</i> I couldn’t possibly choose – I love them all dearly!</li>
<li><i>What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?</i> Medicine</li>
<li><i>What profession would you not like to do?</i> Accountancy</li>
<li><i>If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?</i> ‘I forgive you my child – the bar is that way, and all your loved ones are waiting to buy you a drink’</li>
<li><i>What question have you never been asked, that you wish someone would ask you?</i> ‘Would you like to know next week’s winning Lottery numbers?’</li>
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<i>Debbie, thanks so much for spending time with us. Can you let us know where to follow you, and where we can go to purchase your books?</i><br />
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Thanks for having me! I’m on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/debbiejohnsonauthor" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/debbiemjohnson" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and my own <a href="http://www.debbiejohnsonauthor.com/" target="_blank">website</a>. All of my books are available on Amazon, the usual e-book outlets, and in the case of Dark Vision, also in paperback.<br />
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Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-79115223648907341312014-11-02T17:30:00.002-08:002014-11-02T17:30:26.231-08:00A Rare Post About FaithI once took a test on spiritual gifts. It was designed to provide an idea of what kind of skills that I, as a Christian, would be best suited to use, and the most comfortable using. I was rated on a 15-point scale in different areas such as Administration, Encouragement, Leadership, etc. There were a few areas I scored over 10, and a few in the middle of the pack.<br />
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I scored a 1 out of 15 in Evangelism, which is the ability to spread the word of God and talk about my faith. So you can understand why doing so is a hard thing for me. I much prefer to just do my thing in other ways.<br />
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But when our pastor posted <a href="http://www.brandedwithlove.com/2014/11/01/adventure-over-abandon/" target="_blank">this blog</a>, it hit some kind of nerve. I, of course, think you should read it, but let me try to boil part of it down.<br />
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He received a pair of communications during the week. One issue occurred when a friend of his tagged him in a photo where there was someone giving the camera the number one salute. People actually unfriended him on Facebook over this.<br />
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Another was from a person who visited our church for the first time, and that's the one that really got to me. That person, in part, wrote him this:<br />
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"The person next to me smelled like alcohol. It was unbearable. How could true leaders tolerate such things happening???? I will NEVER attend your ‘gathering’ and inform every person I know about the lack of following Jesus at this place. I cannot bring myself to call it a church with those kind of people in it."<br />
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There is a lot I would like to say about this. I'd like to talk about how this person shouldn't stand in judgement. About how she didn't know if perhaps the person who "offended" her might have been coming to our church for the first time. Or maybe ANY church for the first time. Maybe they had a really bad night and really needed to be there. About how that kind of attitude turned me off to church for a long time (and still does in many cases).<br />
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But as I continued to turn it over in my head, I realized that wasn't what I really wanted to say. It's this ...<br />
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I am the person who partied all night and woke up the next morning smelling of alcohol.<br />
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I am the person who flipped the bird in a photo and tagged my pastor in the picture.<br />
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I am the member of the LGBT community who would like nothing more than a little fellowship without being constantly judged.<br />
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I am the homeless man who hasn't showered in days.<br />
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I am the internet troll who gets his kicks out of getting people riled up.<br />
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I am the guy who has trouble every day prioritizing his life.<br />
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And I am also the person who sits in a church judging all of these people.<br />
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Obviously I'm not speaking literally. My point is this - there is one thing these people all have in common, that everyone in the world has in common.<br />
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There is not a single one of them, of us, that is worthy of the love of a perfect God. And He loves us anyway.<br />
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Think about that. We ALL screw up. We all fall short, and yet He still loves us as only He can.<br />
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"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8<br />
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I wanna heal, I wanna feel<br />
What I thought was never real<br />
I wanna let go of the pain<br />
I've felt so long<br />
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I wanna heal, I wanna feel<br />
Like I'm close to something real<br />
I wanna find something I wanted all along<br />
Somewhere I belong<br />
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- Linkin Park "Somewhere I Belong"Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-31712003033786964272014-10-20T03:00:00.000-07:002014-10-20T03:00:07.962-07:00Cover Reveal! "We've Always Got New York" by Jill L. KnappToday we have the first glimpse at the cover art of HarperImpulse author, Jill Knapp's next book, "We've Always Got New York", coming out November 20th! This novel is book #2 in the "What Happens To Men..?" series, which is now available in paperback in Great Britain. The first book has gotten rave reviews, and has divided its readers into two groups. Are you on Team Michael? Or are you on Team Hayden?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">COVER REVEAL!!!!</td></tr>
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<br />
You can get a copy of book #1 <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Happens-When-They-Manhattan-ebook/dp/B00KKC43BA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1413380045&sr=1-1&keywords=jill+knapp" target="_blank">here</a>!<br />
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"We've Always Got New York" picks up after Amalia Hastings returns to Manhattan from her trip to Brazil to find that life has in fact gone on without her. Fresh off the plane, she is left feeling anxious and unresolved, left alone to pick up the pieces, and deal with the repercussions of choosing her own path over Michael. Amalia finds herself without an apartment, without a job, and starting to wonder if she's even without a best friend!<br />
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Jill can be followed on <a href="https://twitter.com/jl_knapp" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jill-Knapp/1488935691330000?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a><br />
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Now here's a sneak peak at the first chapter of "We've Always Got New York"!!<br />
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¬¬Chapter 1- Amalia<br />
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I could tell by the look on her face that she was expecting something from me. She was expecting something to be different. For me to be, in some way, changed.<br />
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I’m Amalia Hastings, and on August 20th at 9:17 pm, I was home. <br />
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Home. The word seemed funny to me because I didn’t have a home to go back to. I moved out of my apartment right before leaving for Brazil and after my friend-with-benefits, Michael, showed up at my apartment, asking me to stay. I hadn’t thought it through properly; I just knew I didn’t want to live in that apartment anymore. Before my trip to Brazil I packed up what little stuff I owned and put it in storage for when I returned, assuming I would deal with it then. Well, “then” has become “now”. So for tonight I was staying with my best friend Cassandra. Who was currently waving at me.<br />
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I knew what she wanted. She wanted stories. Juicy ones that involved hot hookups on the sand. She wanted to see pictures. Pictures of the places I went, the food I ate, and the hot guys I met. She wanted me to run up to her in a sun dress, hair braided and skin tanned, and explain, no, to pontificate, to her how life-changing my trip was. She wanted me to playfully link her arm around mine and gush about how amazing it all was. How I was changed forever. That I had a new appreciation for life, food, and music. She wanted me to tell her that I would never be the same.<br />
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But this isn’t the movies and I’m not Julia Roberts.<br />
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The florescent lights above me flickered, making the airport look dark and ominous. I looked down at my hand as I pulled my rolling suitcase across the sticky, tiled floor. Not even my hand had acquired a tan. Three months in the Brazilian sun and my skin remained as pale as ever.<br />
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Cassandra was looking right at me with wide, unblinking eyes. I walked a little slower.<br />
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For some reason I couldn’t pinpoint, coming off the plane felt like a surreal experience to me. Although I was relieved to have landed, and I wouldn’t have wanted to stay in Brazil any longer, I still wasn’t utterly happy with being back. I wondered if it merely had to do with the fact that I had no apartment to go back to and was feeling pretty untethered from not having a proper home.<br />
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There’s an old saying. I’m not really sure where it’s from or who said it first. Kind of the proverb equivalent of The House of the Rising Sun. It proffers, “Wherever you go, there you are”, and up until about one month ago I had no idea what it meant. But now it means everything. It rings in my ears like a scolding mother, repeating itself over and over again until I submit.<br />
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I finally stood face to face with Cassandra, who was grinning like a fool at this point. She was dressed down for the night, wearing a purple racer-back tank top that showed off her summer glow, jeans, and gold flip-flops. Her blonde hair was pulled into a loose, messy bun and her make-up was minimal, apart from the extra-shiny, coral lip-gloss she was wearing. She reeked of summer.<br />
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“Hey,” I offered, looking down at my sneakers. I wished I had more energy for her, but after ten hours on a plane it was all I could muster up.<br />
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Cassandra cocked her head to the side and smiled. Her hair swung back and forth and she popped her hip out like a model in training. She looked as fierce as ever, even dressed-down in comfortable summer clothes.<br />
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“That’s all I get? Get over here!” she said, pulling me in for a hug.<br />
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I hugged her back for a moment and then pulled away, overcome with exhaustion and jet-lag. I smiled at Cassandra. She smelled like a salty coconut and I realized she had probably come straight from Fire Island, a beach not too far from Long Island and just outside of the city. That explained the dressed-down attire, but not the lip-gloss. Unless, of course, we were going straight back there from JFK airport.<br />
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I looked back at the gate. Most people I knew hated airports, but I liked them. They offered a chance to escape. Get on a plane and in six hours from now you could be across the country. You could be in a different town, in a different house, with a different group of people. I think we all took that for granted.<br />
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I could go back to Brazil right now. Or I could go somewhere else. I’ve never been to Cincinnati; I wonder what it’s like there. Or maybe Savannah. I could definitely live in Savannah! I took a step backwards, away from Cassie. Back toward the inside of the airport. She just smiled.<br />
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“Very funny, Amalia!” she said through perfectly white teeth. “Don’t sneak away from me now. I’m so glad you’re back, I really missed you.”<br />
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Cassie threw her arm over me and smushed our faces together. She whipped out her iPhone and flipped the camera application around so the front lens could be used and snapped a picture of the two of us. Before I knew it, she uploaded the picture to Facebook with the caption “So excited, Amalia is officially home!”<br />
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Without glancing back, she walked a few feet in front of me and remained glued to her phone. The back of her Havaianas smacking onto her heels echoed throughout the now nearly empty hallway. I let out a long sigh that Cassandra didn’t hear and pulled my suitcase toward the exit. Yep, it was official. I was home.<br />
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Jill Knapp, a native New Yorker, is an author with HarperImpulse, a United Kingdom division of HarperCollins Publishers, a writer of New Adult/ Women's Fiction novels, and a regular contributor to The Huffington Post. Originally called "Chase", her novel "What Happens To Men When They Move To Manhattan?" is now available!</div>
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Before publishing her first novel, she received a Masters in Psychology from the New School For Social Research in Manhattan.</div>
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Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-22127535508749678962014-10-10T03:00:00.000-07:002014-10-10T03:00:00.921-07:00Finding Fiction Friday - Eve Devon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Finding Fiction Friday returns with a visit from fellow HarperImpulse author Eve Devon fresh off of her latest release! How does she keep the mental fires burning? Let's find out!</i><br />
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My name’s Eve Devon and I write sexy heroes, sassy heroines and happy ever afters…<br />
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I kind of secretly believe it’s not too late for me to train as a professional dancer, MMA expert, or get asked to be Angelina Jolie’s body-double. I know. This is why writing fiction is for me!<br />
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<i>Eve, when did you first think about writing for publication? </i></div>
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I had always written some form of fiction but about six years ago I was sitting in a café with a friend, discussing what we’d be doing if it wasn’t for the fear, and I had one of those weird planetary-alignment moments! Suddenly the excitement about a spot of no-holds-barred going-for-it outweighed any fear of failure. I started writing my first full-length manuscript that evening. I had absolutely no clue what I was doing but it felt so incredibly right to try, and even better, it was the most fun ever.</div>
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<i>Tell us one thing about yourself that you think might surprise us.</i></div>
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Because of a brain malformation I have difficulty word-finding sometimes. I’ll use the right number of syllables and it will sound similar but be completely wrong. Bit challenging for a writer but makes for great entertainment… I once told a host at a party that I had to leave early to pick up some embalmed goblins. I actually meant engraved goblets! </div>
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<i>Before we get to your new release, tell us a bit about your first two books, “The Waiting Game” and “Her Best Laid Plans”.</i></div>
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The Waiting Game is a romantic suspense with a much darker feel than my contemporary romances and is about an alpha security specialist determined to make up for a mistake and the gritty survival of Brooke Bennet, who ten years before survived a madman who stalked her, kidnapped her and tattooed her. I’ve been told I write really good villains, so if you like your suspense with a side-helping of psychological thriller, then The Waiting Game is for you.</div>
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Her Best Laid Plans is a contemporary romance and the first book to feature a member of the King Family. Jared King deviated from plans set out from him at birth and it cost him big. Now life is measured; planned. Until, blindsided by news his father is gravely ill and the family business is in trouble, he misplaces his famous control and responds to his best friend’s little sister. Worse, after persuading her to accompany him back to London as his P.A., instead of distracting him from the dark emotion attached to seeing his family again, she’s fast becoming his main focus. Sassy go-with-the-flow Amanda Gray has a healthy fear of planning her life to the nth degree. Whenever she’s tried, Life and those pesky planning gremlins have reared up to bite her on the behind! But now it’s time to grow up and get her life on track—if only the delicious Jared King would stop distracting her.</div>
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<i>Last Thursday was Release Day for “The Love List”! Congratulations! Tell us about this book and how it relates to your prior work.</i></div>
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Thank you. The Love List was incredible fun to write. It features Jared’s sister Nora who we meet in Her Best Laid Plans when she persuades Jared to return to London to reconnect with their father before it’s too late and help her save the family business KPC. KPC is everything to Nora. She eats, sleeps and breathes it and in The Love List it stands very safely and very firmly between her and her grief over losing her father. But then she meets Ethan Love, a disaster relief worker in town to ask her a very special favour and suddenly his sexy laid-back charm is crashing through her barriers, dragging her out of her self-imposed state of suspended animation and making her want to put him on her To Do List!</div>
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<i>You have written a ton over the years, but what has drawn you to romance?</i></div>
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I was introduced to category romance at a young age and fell in love with different genres. I loved that you got to step into all these very different worlds (be it contemporary, historical, PNR, suspense, medical, urban fantasy—whichever) but always get that romance between the main protagonists. I think the romance genre gets some grief from readers who haven’t ever read it, but far from turning happy ever afters into something unrealistic, they actually demonstrate over and over how and why you need to work at relationships.</div>
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<i>You also speak of having written what I would certainly term “fan fiction” – taking characters from television episodes. Do you have a favorite that you’ve written?</i></div>
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Okay. I can’t believe I’m about to admit this but here in the UK we used to have this series called “Dempsey and Makepeace”. It starred US Michael Brandon and UK Glynis Barber. The chemistry they shared on screen was off-the-scale (so much so that they got married in real life!). Every single week I’d watch the show and stay up most of that night “re-writing” the episode so that they ended up together. At school on Mondays I could hardly keep my eyes open – but all my friends would get to read the latest installment. </div>
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<i>What do you do to keep from burning out?</i></div>
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That’s a really good question because it’s something that easily sneaks up on you in this business. It’s so hard to turn down an opportunity and so easy to think you can do ALL THE THINGS! The truth is you have to really listen to yourself. That moment where you realize it’s not the first time that your mind’s racing with responsibility and the writing you rely on to be there is feeling not so much slow, as completely absent? That’s the time to step away and go and do something completely different. For me it’s anything craft. The act of doing something different somehow soothes my frazzled brain and brings Muse back with a smile on her face. </div>
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<i>If there is one character you’ve written or are writing that you would really like people to meet, who would it be and why?</i></div>
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I think it would be Brooke Bennet—the heroine in The Waiting Game. She’s real, flawed, and shows incredible courage to grasp hold of life again.</div>
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<i>What about being published with HarperImpulse and the book industry in general has most surprised you?</i></div>
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I truly appreciate the support that authors freely offer each other and romance readers are honestly some of the most lovely, down-to-earth, positive people you can find. </div>
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<i>Is there someone you can point to as being your biggest encouragement in moving forward with writing?</i></div>
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My husband! He has always, without reservation, believed in me. I think the fact that he doesn’t seem to see limits to me writing, always allows me to step forward with a touch less fear. </div>
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<i>What other things do you have bouncing around in your head for the future?</i></div>
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So I’ve just handed in the book that features the last King sibling—Sephy. I have a book completed that is part of a suspense continuity for next year. I’m working on my next contemporary and then I launch straight into writing my next suspense title. Oh, and I have a superhero urban fantasy I really want to get finished. </div>
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<i>To close the interview, I have ten questions for you, plus one. Here they go!</i></div>
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<li><i>What is your favorite word?</i> Pootle</li>
<li><i>What is your least favorite word?</i> Can’t</li>
<li><i>What turns you on?</i> Humour and confidence.</li>
<li><i>What turns you off?</i> Bigotry.</li>
<li><i>What sound or noise do you love?</i> Rain on a roof.</li>
<li><i>What sound or noise do you hate?</i> People biting into apples.</li>
<li><i>What is your favorite curse word?</i> Crap-a-roon-spoon! I have a tendency to lengthen short words and shorten long words.</li>
<li><i>What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?</i> Aerialist or…forensic psychologist.</li>
<li><i>What profession would you not like to do?</i> Door-to-door sales.</li>
<li><i>If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?</i> You’ve been upgraded—please collect your wings from Gabriel.</li>
<li><i>What question have you never been asked, that you wish someone would ask you? </i>I’m calling from Ben Affleck’s office—he would like to know if you’ve found the director for your latest bestseller yet?</li>
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<i>Eve, thanks so much for spending time with us. Can you let us know where to follow you, and where we can go to purchase your books?</i></div>
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I love connecting with readers—you can find me here: </div>
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<a href="http://www.evedevon.com/">WEBSITE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/EveDevon">TWITTER</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/EveDevonAuthor">FACEBOOK</a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7066976.Eve_Devon">GOODREADS</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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And you can buy The Love List here:</div>
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<a href="http://www.smarturl.it/thelovelist">AMAZON</a> <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/her-best-laid-plans-eve-devon/1119435168?ean=9780007558452&isbn=9780007558452">BARNES
& NOBLE</a> <a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Eve_Devon_The_Love_List_HarperImpulse_Contemporary?id=fShBBAAAQBAJ">GOOGLE
PLAY</a> <a href="http://smarturl.it/lovelistitunes">iBOOKS</a> <a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-love-list-harperimpulse-contemporary-romance">KOBO</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-86985478337352974482014-09-05T03:00:00.000-07:002014-09-05T03:00:05.545-07:00Finding Fiction Friday - Zara Stoneley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Today we sit down to chat with Zara Stoneley!</i><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><i>Bestselling author Zara Stoneley lives in
deepest Cheshire surrounded by horses, dogs, cats and amazing countryside. When
she’s not visiting wine bars, artisan markets or admiring the scenery in her
sexy high heels or green wellies, she can be found in flip flops on the beach
in Barcelona, or more likely sampling the tapas!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><i>Zara writes hot romance and bonkbusters.
Her latest novel, ‘Stable Mates’, is a fun romp through the Cheshire
countryside and combines some of her greatest loves – horses, dogs, hot men and
strong women (and not forgetting champagne and fast cars)! <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><i>She writes for Harper Collins and Accent
Press.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><i>Welcome to our page, Zara!</i></span></div>
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Thank you so much for having me here today Aaron!</div>
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<i>Zara, when did you first think about writing for publication?</i></div>
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I’ve always written, and sent my first book off to a publisher when I was in my early teens. I didn’t quite appreciate at the time how lucky I was to get a quite detailed, and lovely, encouraging response.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><i> </i></span></div>
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<i>Tell us one thing about yourself that you think might surprise us. </i></div>
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I’m a bit of an adrenalin and speed junkie, fast horses, cars… I’d love to do one of those ‘driving experience’ days, a Jag F-type would do nicely!</div>
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<i>I’m fascinated by your description of where you live. Tell us about it and the animals that are part of your everyday life.</i></div>
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I live in a very old country cottage in a pretty part of Cheshire. It’s a small market town that has great restaurants, lovely country pubs on the doorstep, artisan and street markets and several wonderful country estates and parks. It’s very much a mix of traditional England and country ways, sitting alongside footballers and film stars with very different ideas on how to spend their money and how the countryside should look. </div>
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At the moment I’ve just got one old retired horse, although in the past I’ve had show and dressage horses, and horses that I’ve just enjoyed hacking out on. I’ve got two cats, but really miss having a dog around. I always loved having big dogs, like my Retriever and Samoyed, but was surprised to find how much fun (and how much larger than life) a terrier can be – there just had to be terriers in Stable Mates, they’re just part and parcel of country life and, more often than not, if you spot a horse box then there is at least one inside.</div>
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<i>It’s the day after Release Day for you, congratulations! Tell us about your new release “Stable Mates”.</i></div>
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Thank you! Stable Mates marks a change of direction for me, from erotic romance to sexy bonkbuster – Jackie Collins in the countryside!</div>
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It’s a story about old money and new, tradition versus change, country pursuits vs celebrity lifestyle, and the type of scandals and secrets that are uncovered when the tranquility of a country village is threatened by outsiders… but most of all it’s about the people and animals that inhabit two very different villages. As one reviewer has put it ... ‘a delightful romp peppered with humour, sadness, scandal and steamy sex.’</div>
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<i>You certainly drew on your own life for the setting of your latest book, but how much do you draw on your real life for your characters? </i></div>
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There are fragments of all kinds of people I’ve known in my characters. I love the down to earth nature of a lot of people who live in the countryside, plus their sense of humour and determination. Horse riders are like most sportsmen, extremely competitive, fit and determined, which can lead to larger than life characters who have a real enjoyment of life. </div>
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<i>You describe your works as “hot romance and bonkbusters”. I might regret asking this, but what is the definition of a “bonkbuster” for the uninitiated?</i></div>
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I think it’s a very British term! So, from the Oxford English Dictionary (where else?) we have the definition "a type of popular novel characterized by frequent explicit sexual encounters between the characters." A play on the term ‘blockbuster’ and bonk, British slang for sex.</div>
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<i>If there is one character you’ve written or are writing that you would really like people to meet, who would it be and why? </i></div>
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That’s a tricky one – there are so many characters in this book that I love. If I had to pick one out though, I think I’d go with Pip – she’s tough, more complex than people realize and very accomplished at hiding her insecurities. She’s snagged a very hot guy in Stable Mates – but you’ll have to read the follow up to find out if she sticks with him!</div>
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<i>What about being published with HarperImpulse and the book industry in general has most surprised you? </i></div>
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The people. The writing community is a wonderful one, I’m constantly surprised how generous, welcoming and supportive everybody involved in the industry is. </div>
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<i>Is there someone you can point to as being your biggest encouragement in moving forward with writing? </i></div>
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My mum! She’s always encouraged me to write – and always wanted me to write the ‘funny bits’ down. I wouldn’t let her read my erotic stories as they were a bit racy, but I’ve dedicated this book to her.</div>
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<i>What other things do you have bouncing around in your head for the future? </i></div>
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There is too much bouncing in there at the moment!! I’ve got two short stories for anthologies that I’ve been asked to write, then a follow up to Stable Mates that me and my editor are excited about (Country Affairs – you heard the title first here!), and then more of a ‘footballer’s wives’ bonkbuster that I’ve had in mind for a while, but was left to stew when Stable Mates appeared! And then there is this much more serious story about losing your identity that has been in my head (and heart) for years and really needs to be written….</div>
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<i>To close the interview, I have ten questions for you, plus one. Here they go!</i></div>
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<ol>
<li><i>What is your favorite word? </i>Coffee</li>
<li><i>What is your least favorite word? </i>No</li>
<li><i>What turns you on? </i>Humour</li>
<li><i>What turns you off? </i>Cruelty</li>
<li><i>What sound or noise do you love? </i>Nature – you know that almost complete peace apart from the sound of the sea, or wind in the leaves, or animals…</li>
<li><i>What sound or noise do you hate? </i>A dentist drill. Eurghh.</li>
<li><i>What is your favorite curse word? </i>Bugger.</li>
<li><i>What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? </i>A veterinary surgeon. It was my dream job when I was at school, then somehow I ended up in IT, then teaching, then writing…</li>
<li><i>What profession would you not like to do? </i>Dentist (see above)</li>
<li><i>If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? </i>Wow, I’m so pleased you’ve finally got here! Cup of coffee?</li>
<li><i>What question have you never been asked, that you wish someone would ask you? </i>Will you sign a 6-figure book deal with us?</li>
</ol>
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<i>Zara, thanks so much for spending time with us. Can you let us know where to follow you, and where we can go to purchase your books?</i></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB">Find out more about Zara:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.zarastoneley.com/">Website</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ZaraStoneley">Twitter</a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/zarastoneley"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Facebook</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/111877006621586137535/posts"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Google+</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stable Mates<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Blurb - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB">Secrets and scandals, love and lust –
when the ‘Cheshire Set’ are up against the ‘Footballer’s Wives’ the only common
ground is carnal…</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
<br />
Flirting and fun seem the perfect antidote for Lottie's battered heart, and
where better to find them than back in tranquil Tippermere, home of sexy
eventer Rory Steel, the smiling Irish eyes of hunky farrier Mick O'Neal, and
mysterious newcomer, model Tom Strachan?<br />
<br />
But when landowner Marcus James drops dead unexpectedly, and the threat of his
waggish wife Amanda selling the heart of the village out from under them looms
large, things look like they're about to heat up in and out of the saddle.<br />
<br />
With tensions running high, and the champagne flowing as freely as the
adrenalin, is it any wonder that love catches more than one of them unawares?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB">Buy
links –<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://smarturl.it/StableMates">Amazon</a> <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stable-mates-zara-stoneley/1119951766?ean=9780008101732">Barnes
& Noble</a> <a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/stable-mates">Kobo</a> <a href="http://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/fiction-poetry/stable-mates,zara-stoneley-9780008106409">Foyles</a> <a href="http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/zara+stoneley/stable+mates/11162519/">Waterstones</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.sainsburysebooks.co.uk/book/Stable-Mates-Zara-Stoneley/7910524">Sainsbury’s</a> <a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=gusCBAAAQBAJ">Google Play</a> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/DE/book/id898898573?l=en">iTunes</a> <a href="http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/id/Stable_Mates/9780008106409">Blackwells</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-74426276924400568872014-08-26T17:46:00.001-07:002014-08-26T20:04:05.520-07:00Doctor Who Season 8 Premiere!!!! Theories and Observations from "Deep Breath"<div class="MsoNormal">
“Deep Breath”, the season 8 premiere of Doctor Who, has come
and gone, and now that we’ve all taken a collective deep breath ourselves, let’s
take a moment to look at some of the things that MOFFAT!!!!! set up for the
season! (WARNING: SPOILERS!!!)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3DzkfFqZ7CLhz-Gw9WgAcLcx5rAPwp8SS9YDGOcIWX7VYzlNtkti0loZ81uSaWt1lYfC4QQX0q8P8GNNiDkTh56sS1rtI6LXHQXcyb-CtVo6UGP_ucg58plETW4JjPYnP8DEjgkRlNps/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3DzkfFqZ7CLhz-Gw9WgAcLcx5rAPwp8SS9YDGOcIWX7VYzlNtkti0loZ81uSaWt1lYfC4QQX0q8P8GNNiDkTh56sS1rtI6LXHQXcyb-CtVo6UGP_ucg58plETW4JjPYnP8DEjgkRlNps/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+1.png" height="178" width="320" /></a></div>
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(DISCLAIMER: I am
probably completely wrong about every single one of these ideas … I just enjoy
chatting about them …)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Face of the
Doctor<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFB5otXTgtNyv-31a_VLb82Q2bT4PRGFm2oSwTLeXdilX1CAl5X_Q2kOD1xOPH-X40_6KZS4d14-mNtyAMbw-X9xJzgCuqSPHjNme2foVl3Tpl2xQRdGHFt7r5or6mH0N8G7woEEFhV4/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFB5otXTgtNyv-31a_VLb82Q2bT4PRGFm2oSwTLeXdilX1CAl5X_Q2kOD1xOPH-X40_6KZS4d14-mNtyAMbw-X9xJzgCuqSPHjNme2foVl3Tpl2xQRdGHFt7r5or6mH0N8G7woEEFhV4/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+2.jpg" height="193" width="320" /></a></div>
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Peter Capaldi wears the Doctor’s face well! But, as has been discussed in the months
since he was announced, he has appeared on Doctor Who before. Would Moffat try to explain this occurrence? It appears he will, as early in the episode,
we have this …<o:p></o:p></div>
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“<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Why this one? Why did I choose this face? It's like I'm
trying to tell myself something. Like I'm trying to make a point. But what is
so important that I can't just tell myself what I'm thinking?</span>” (Twelve)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I don’t even have a theory for this one … yet.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<b>Who left the
newspaper ad?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4TmJzP3XUWXFoXTrYJhl6HRbK_ID2gny3nd8XfFzs9fVUJqrZNigy1YLbOhN-Qysa0PrDAOh-0nLRItqmceTufDviHa_YkmIPE1n0QkL1D0mYyu4BOB66kNWUXSQ6Voh-2RC867Y_jns/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4TmJzP3XUWXFoXTrYJhl6HRbK_ID2gny3nd8XfFzs9fVUJqrZNigy1YLbOhN-Qysa0PrDAOh-0nLRItqmceTufDviHa_YkmIPE1n0QkL1D0mYyu4BOB66kNWUXSQ6Voh-2RC867Y_jns/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+3.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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Someone leaves a newspaper ad titled “Impossible Girl”
which leaves a cryptic message telling where Clara should go meet the
Doctor. Or is it a message telling the
Doctor where to go to meet Clara? Turns
out it is neither … or is it both?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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My thought is that it might be another version of Clara that
left the message. After all, she was
scattered throughout the Doctor’s timeline.
Wild thought: Bad Wolf?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Did the Doctor push
the robot or did the robot jump?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyp3hbyBbCVazyFE6Gh1ypp5Q3wwd_2Y_Qd8Cflpru62aH-AgVnCsy5x_zSoYwgT76qh2NjOW5GFY01W2vR6jzsjDLuex6thm8ZJ9vJwxANeLyJ2DjEoR-NH_6iQdpvm_Drt8YELdZaU4/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyp3hbyBbCVazyFE6Gh1ypp5Q3wwd_2Y_Qd8Cflpru62aH-AgVnCsy5x_zSoYwgT76qh2NjOW5GFY01W2vR6jzsjDLuex6thm8ZJ9vJwxANeLyJ2DjEoR-NH_6iQdpvm_Drt8YELdZaU4/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+4.jpg" height="176" width="320" /></a></div>
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I think the robot jumped, because it became truly sentient
and made a decision to do so, which sort of leads to where he went when he “died”
…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>What is Heaven?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEqcj3uavF1atKgCvyugn63WEqFnJIcQb9ISkz3EHWHRpBkrkxe6eXyp0HcjviOMgpJYRoKCVNhhJYUBKVfo4nG64IL9u2aPthXqwzN0t8qJ_2wcN4OtQlo4BBFscI9BgCy6AfXcrIfEA/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEqcj3uavF1atKgCvyugn63WEqFnJIcQb9ISkz3EHWHRpBkrkxe6eXyp0HcjviOMgpJYRoKCVNhhJYUBKVfo4nG64IL9u2aPthXqwzN0t8qJ_2wcN4OtQlo4BBFscI9BgCy6AfXcrIfEA/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+5.jpg" height="172" width="320" /></a></div>
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This question, and the next one, could be the mystery of the
season (and I originally thought it was going to be the search for
Gallifrey). When the clockwork robot “dies”,
he wakes up in “Heaven”, “Paradise”, or “The Promised Land” – whichever you
want to call it. What is this
place? Well I have an idea.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOUEOVpQS11IfnRbQTAFY_v9P-Mg1V8YVsnPAL-y6MQtNdIIP5vIIsaZguCLyLoP1R5Yz8WWl_IOG2iNB2aZc_9UFJEa_nariPXqIq6mdRsNi-2E7T2g99pZkj0xUqM23x7hg19mBDis/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOUEOVpQS11IfnRbQTAFY_v9P-Mg1V8YVsnPAL-y6MQtNdIIP5vIIsaZguCLyLoP1R5Yz8WWl_IOG2iNB2aZc_9UFJEa_nariPXqIq6mdRsNi-2E7T2g99pZkj0xUqM23x7hg19mBDis/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+6.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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I think this place is … *drum roll* … the mainframe that
River Song was “saved” into in the episode “Silence in the Library”. If you remember, the image of the inside of
that mainframe was quite idyllic, a “paradise” of sorts. Perhaps the library mainframe has grown to no
longer need a physical constraint, existing outside of time and space, and
still fulfilling its programming to save whomever it can. Where else would heaven for a mechanical
being be than inside a mainframe? Especially one that achieved some level of
sentience. (Could Handles be in here
somewhere?)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHJKMB4uszf9rnaK3CqZZYQ4wv4SPQ99FBvEyfflYsM_-bHZkasH5a8NHEbZ3oRSfm3arrpxZO0SmQwppTu5s_BpYMYBkMK1-5VU7jQNnnDQtabQm7Qj7oLh-WH2r_zbM1CayAoW3wB30/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHJKMB4uszf9rnaK3CqZZYQ4wv4SPQ99FBvEyfflYsM_-bHZkasH5a8NHEbZ3oRSfm3arrpxZO0SmQwppTu5s_BpYMYBkMK1-5VU7jQNnnDQtabQm7Qj7oLh-WH2r_zbM1CayAoW3wB30/s1600/Doctor+Who+801+8.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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This also fits with my favorite theory that Tasha Lem might be River
Song after she discovers how to download her consciousness from the mainframe
into a new body. When she got out, she built
a religion around the mainframe (whose real undercover purpose is to help the
Doctor when needed). Tasha equals River would give a deeper meaning to a couple of the comments by Tasha in “Time of
the Doctor”:<o:p></o:p></div>
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“<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Flying the TARDIS was always easy. It was flying the Doctor I
never quite mastered.</span>” (Tasha Lem to Clara)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“I died in this room screaming your name.</span>” (Tasha Lem
to the Doctor)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">That means, of course, that it’s quite possible River is still
in the mainframe somewhere. Which brings
us to our next big question …</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Who is Missy?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Missy is the strange woman who greets the clockwork robot
when he arrives in “Paradise”. She calls
the Doctor her “boyfriend”. She seems to
be running the place, or at least acts like she does. I have heard and considered a lot of ideas on
her identity, assuming she is someone we know:<o:p></o:p></div>
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A female version of The Master (The Mistress = Missy)<o:p></o:p></div>
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An older version of Clara<o:p></o:p></div>
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Missy from the episode “Nightmare in Silver”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The woman who gave Clara the Doctor’s phone number<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Rani (whom I have only read about – she was a renegade
female Timelord who worked with the Master against both the sixth and seventh
Doctor)<o:p></o:p></div>
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None of these would seem to fit my Paradise theory, so I am
going to go WAY out on a limb – I think she is River. Or at least, some part of River in the
mainframe I mentioned. Perhaps River’s
personality has fractured within the eternity of the mainframe, and this piece
of it is quite crazy. This coupled with
Tasha Lem being “River reincarnate” could explain this statement by the Doctor
from “Time of the Doctor”:<o:p></o:p></div>
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“<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Listen to me, you have been fighting the psychopath inside
you all your life.</span>” (The Doctor to Tasha Lem)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This of course assumes that it is indeed someone we might
know and not a completely new character.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>How did Eleven know
when to call Clara?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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This one is sort of a head scratcher. In “Time of the Doctor”,
Eleven clearly tells Clara that he cannot regenerate again. We have to assume that on Trenzalore, the
call from Eleven to Clara in “Deep Breath” took place before he told her
that. So why would he assume that Clara
would be with his next regeneration, if he knew he had none left?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Because he did know he would regenerate again! Remember, the Doctor lies. He told Clara what he told her in "Time of the Doctor", because he had gotten to
the point where he needed Clara to do something to convince the Timelords to
give him extra regenerations.<o:p></o:p></div>
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How did he know he would regenerate again? Because he knew there was an extra TARDIS
when he “saved” Gallifrey in “Day of the Doctor” (as the Timelords did). Eleven knew it, and the Timelords knew it, it
was just a matter of the right event happening at the right time for Eleven to
get his extra regenerations – it happened just like he planned it to.<o:p></o:p><br />
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EDIT: A friend of mine pointed out that the phone call may have happened in "Time of the Doctor" between when Eleven got the regeneration energy and destroyed the Daleks, and when he completed the regeneration in front of Clara in the TARDIS. Looking back I think she might be right! Thanks, Faith!</div>
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<b>Vastra, Jenny, and
Strax<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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One last observation – BBC give these three their own
spinoff miniseries already!!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-29407971180039838712014-07-25T03:00:00.000-07:002014-07-25T03:00:04.429-07:00Finding Fiction Friday - Steve Peek<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome to the Longclaws and Alien Agenda tour, by Steve Peek. </div>
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<img alt="interviewb" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-850" src="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/interviewb.png" height="93" width="600" /><br />
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<i>Steve, when did you first think about writing for
publication?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Technically, a neighbor gave me a toy printing press when I
was seven. Using little rubber, linotype
letters, I wrote and printed a neighborhood newspaper, but even then, being a
smart little guy those sixty years ago, I saw the internet and knew newspapers
had seen their day. From that point on
wherever my imagination put me as an adult:
lawyer, preacher, policeman, fireman, soldier, scientists, I always
wanted to be a writer. I began writing
game instructions for publication in the early 1970’s. Over a forty-year career in gaming someone
told me I had published over a million words.
My response was, ‘Where’s the money.”
I published my first traditional book in 1982, The Game Inventors
Handbook. I wrote off and own for the
next twenty years. Now I write full
time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Tell us one thing about yourself that you think might
surprise us.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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During the course of my life I accumulated more than five
million frequent flyer miles. My butt
still hurts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>You had a long career in the game industry. Can you tell us a bit about that? How has that influenced your writing?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Writing game instructions are a lot of work, much like any
form of technical writing. The rules
require levels of testing to eliminate any ambiguity. I think eliminating the ambiguous is now
second nature.</div>
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<i>First tell us about your book “Longclaws” and the premise
behind it.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Longclaws combines my research into parallel universes and
my love of horror novels. The basic idea
is that worlds are connected and during certain times and events, and at
certain places, gateways open. This
thinking came from my earlier book, Otherworld, I imagined a horrid world where
nothing survived many years. Everything
was both predator and prey every moment; to sleep was to die. I populated it with things from various
cultures universal myths and made them iconic prototypes of creatures we
believe to exist today. These creatures,
with their own societies and needs, cross into our world and all hell breaks
loose.</div>
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<i>Then there’s your book “Alien Agenda”, please tell us about
that and the research that went into it.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Alien Agenda: Why they came, Why they stayed, was born from
the several hundred books I read while researching Otherworld. In those days, scientist didn’t talk about
parallel universes for fear of losing their place on the government grant teat,
the same as now with weather and such.
Anyway, the idea that aliens came from parallel universes and not
thousands of light-years away, led me to wonder why they came and then why did
they stay. It combines known historical
facts with UFO mythology in a way that makes it difficult for the reader to
know where facts end and fiction begins.
I call it Science Faction.</div>
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<i>If there is one character you’ve written or are writing that
you would really like people to meet, who would it be and why?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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One of the main characters in Longclaws is Royce Mason. He’s an old, World War Two veteran who has
experienced a lot of strange things during his life and has that country way of
allowing people to underestimate him.
When Longclaws was finished, I missed most of the main characters,
including the Longclaws.</div>
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<i>Do you find it fun to “reimagine” historical events to match
them up to the narrative you want to bring to your readers?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course, how can I not like playing god? It is fun, but it is much more difficult than
it sounds if you do it so the combination is not only seamless, but logical to
the reader.</div>
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<i>What about being published and the book industry in general
has most surprised you?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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How quickly the powerful publishers have succumbed to the
internet without putting up much of a fight.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Is there someone you can point to as being your biggest
encouragement in moving forward with writing?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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My great friend, Herbie Brennan. Author of more than a hundred published
books, Herbie’s constant encouragement and feedback kept me working on my darkest
days.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>What other things do you have bouncing around in your head
for the future?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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I am editing a novel called Islands. (Working title). One day everyone who lives on a coast on any
land mass, wakes up and discovers new islands were none existed before. It’s a little bit end of the world in a
Douglas Adams sort of way.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Their world is crowded with active volcanoes, sulfur and acid rains, permanent thick clouds turn day into deep twilight. It is a violent place: moment-to-moment survival is victory, every creature is constantly predator and prey, sleep is certain death. This is home to the longclaws, beings of super-human speed, strength and senses. Their predatory skills allow them only a tenuous niche in their hellish environment. Though smart and fierce, their rank in the food chain is far below the top. One clan leader draws from ancient legends of paradise and devises a plan to escape and take his clan to the otherworld - a world filled with slow, defenseless prey. The clan activates an Indian mound deep in southern forests and enters our world -hungry for prey. Torrential rains and washed out bridges force a runaway teen, an old dowser and a Cherokee healer to face the horrors of the clan's merciless onslaught. Mankind's legends are filled with vampires, werewolves, dragons and other nightmarish. Perhaps our legend of hell is based on the world of the Longclaws.<img alt="Abab" class="aligncenter wp-image-847 size-full" src="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Abab.png" height="93" width="600" /> </div>
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<a href="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Steve-Peek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Steve-Peek.jpg" /></a>Steve Peek grew up in a family of readers and writers. In the second grade a neighbor gave him a toy printing press and, using rubber linotype, he wrote and printed a neighborhood paper. His first short story won a competition in his third grade class. Sometimes he dreamed of being a policeman, fireman, lawyer, minister, soldier, politician, but in every dream he was also a writer. Peek loves games. He enjoyed a forty year career in the game industry which allowed him to travel the world where he was able to explore many of the ancient, mythical places he’d read about. Some legends associated with these enigmatic sites led him down a winding road to a junction where myth meets science and the hold of this magical place continues its grip. Over the decades Steve always wrote. Sometimes just here and there. Twice he managed to have books published. Now, with the precious time to write, Steve found the traditional publishing world in disarray and decided that it is more important for him to write than to sell books to the big publishing houses. The venue of the e-book makes this possible. So, for better or for worse, Steve sits at a kitchen table looking into the woods around his home in the Smokey Mountains and writes every day. Reviewers have declared his books Longclaws and Alien Agenda: Why they came, Why they stayed to be a new sub-genre, ‘science faction’. Much of the books are based on history and science while the story falls under fiction. Steve’s books are based on things that interest him and he works hard to make them interesting for his readers. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He would like to hear from you via </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Steve-Peek-Author/149646865240824" style="line-height: 1.5em;">jstephenpeek on facebook</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> or send him a message via his contact form.</span><a href="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/social-media.png" rel="attachment wp-att-715"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-852 size-full" src="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/socialmb.png" height="93" width="600" /></a>
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Follow Steve on social media!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/StevePeekAuthor">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/js_peek">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17373099-longclaws">Add Longclaws on Goodreads</a> | <a href="http://stevepeek.com/">Steve's Blog</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Peek/e/B004G7JS42/">Amazon</a></div>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Longclaws-Steve-Peek-ebook/dp/B0010ZGPB2/">Buy Longclaws</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ALIEN-AGENDA-they-came-stayed-ebook/dp/B0086YLKBK">Alien Agenda</a> here</h1>
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Steve is on tour between 12th and 26th July - you can check in with <a href="http://thefinishingfairies.com/steve-12-26">tour central here</a>, and please check back each day to read more fascinating thoughts by this eloquent and interesting author.
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<pre style="text-align: center;">Tour arranged by <a href="http://thefinishingfairies.com/">The Finishing Faires</a></pre>
Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-88506030803226392562014-07-18T02:35:00.000-07:002014-07-18T02:35:16.405-07:00Finding Fiction Friday - Jane Linfoot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today, fresh off of yesterday's book launch, I'm very excited to have Jane Linfoot, author of the new novel <i>High Heels and Bicycle Wheels </i>from HarperImpulse. First, a bit about Jane ...<br />
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Jane Linfoot writes fun, flirty fiction, with feisty heroines and a bit of an edge. She lives with her family and pets in Derbyshire UK, and loves hearts, flowers, happy endings, everything vintage, and most things French.<br />
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<i>Jane, when did you first think about writing for publication?</i><br />
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I first had chance to write romance for publication when the property crash hit the UK, back in 2010. At the time I was working as an architect and property developer, and as the work slowed down I decided to get on and write that novel I’d always dreamed of.<br />
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<i>Tell us one thing about yourself that you think might surprise us.</i><br />
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I speak fluent French, with a specialist agricultural vocabulary, a hangover from when I was officially a French farmer.....not many French teachers know the word for combine harvester – it’s moissonneuse batteuse if you want to catch them out!<br />
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<i>You call your home a “mountain kingdom”. Can you tell us a bit about it?</i><br />
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I live in Matlock Bath which is a Georgian Spa resort, built in the Derwent Gorge. I live in a tiny hamlet towards the top of the hill, reached by a very narrow, very steep, mile long single track road. I call it a mountain kingdom, (with a winky eye), because it does have a kind of hidden, fairy tale quality. It’s not so good if you go out and forget something, or when it snows and there’s a mile of road to clear, and it is quite a muddy place. But the views down the valley are lovely, and it’s very quiet and rural up above the bustle down below. It’s great because we can walk straight out into the woods for dog walks, and there’s a local herd of dairy cows who wander past the garden on their way to their field, yet there’s a station and a main road at the bottom of the hill.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Available now on <a href="http://amzn.to/1qvx4wo" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><br />
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<i>It’s the day after Release Day for you, congratulations! Tell us about your new release “High Heels & Bicycle Wheels”.</i><br />
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I am SO excited about <i>High Heels & Bicycle Wheels</i> going out into the world, because it’s a much longer book than my previous ones. It’s sexy summer chicklit – think camper vans, beaches, long hot days....and a feisty TV production assistant Bryony, possibly the least sporty girl on the planet, who winds up on a tandem ride with a hot, hot pro cycling star called Jackson. There’s heaps of fun, lots of clashes, a whole stack of emotion....oh, and it’s sizzling hot too.<br />
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<i>You definitely have a fun and flirty streak in you, even in your titles (“The Right Side of Mr. Wrong”, “How to Win a Guy in 10 Dates”). Are your characters anything like you? Do you draw on experiences of yourself or others?</i><br />
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Well, in <i>High Heels & Bicycle Wheels</i>, Bryony screams when she goes downhill on a tandem, and I have been known to do the same.... And Shea, in <i>The Right Side Of Mr. Wrong</i> has long curly hair which refuses to be tamed, and I know how that feels.... So fragments of me and my life are implanted in my characters, but mostly they are very much themselves. Bryony has way more shoes than I do – yes, I am soooo jealous of her shoe collection – and she eats way more cupcakes than me. Am I fun and flirty? You’ll have to ask my friends that!<br />
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<i>If there is one character you’ve written or are writing that you would really like people to meet, who would it be and why?</i><br />
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I’d like ALL my readers to be able to meet the hero of their choice....there’s quite a lot of book-boyfriend love going on out there for the guys I write about, so being able to arrange some real life meetings would be totally awesome.<br />
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<i>What about being published with HarperImpulse and the book industry in general has most surprised you?</i><br />
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I had no idea that the team at HarperImpulse would be so lovely and warm and special and endlessly helpful. Charlotte Ledger is beyond awesome, and Katie Sadler and Alex Aldern are wonderful too. I was surprised that their working relationship with authors is so close – I didn’t know I’d be allowed so much input in decision making.<br />
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<i>Is there someone you can point to as being your biggest encouragement in moving forward with writing?</i><br />
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Joining the Mills and Boon New Voices Facebook Group, in conjunction with the 2012 competition, was my most helpful step in writing romance. This group was very active, and was made up of both published authors and hopeful writers, many of whom have had huge success since. I wasn’t eligible to enter the competition, but I learned so much from the articles and information the group members shared, and it was my first experience of the brilliantly supportive romance writing community. So, this is a big shout out for all the members of that community, and the help and encouragement I received from them.<br />
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<i>What other things do you have bouncing around in your head for the future?</i><br />
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There are SO many stories in my head which are all fighting to be told, and I’m also excited that Harper Impulse will allow their authors to try new and different things.<br />
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<i>To close the interview, I have ten questions for you. Here they go!</i><br />
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<li><i>What is your favorite word?</i> Oxymoron - I like the sound of the word itself, and I enjoy the contradictions it implies </li>
<li><i>What is your least favorite word?</i> I hate anyone saying they’re “bored”</li>
<li><i>What turns you on?</i> Fabulous design and creativity, and I include stories in that.</li>
<li><i>What turns you off?</i> I’m useless when I’m cold</li>
<li><i>What sound or noise do you love?</i> I love to hear my cat Umberto’s purring croon – he’s got a huge purr, but a while back he had a head injury, when he fell off the shed roof, and he lost his purr – so it’s lovely to hear it now that it’s come back</li>
<li><i>What sound or noise do you hate? </i>I hate whispering and low voices </li>
<li><i>What is your favorite curse word? </i>Holy crap – it began tongue in cheek, and kind of stuck – holy crap to that too</li>
<li><i>What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? </i>Jewelry design sounds cool, or lingerie design, or maybe working in TV might be fun.</li>
<li><i>What profession would you not like to do? </i>Apart from decorating, I find anything to do with maintenance pretty tedious – I much prefer creating.</li>
<li><i>If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?</i> ‘The library is that way, you’ll find the sun loungers in the garden, your friends are waiting for you, help yourself to red wine....’ or ‘Yours is the house with lots of glass....’</li>
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<i>Jane, thanks so much for spending time with us. Can you let us know where to follow you, and where we can go to purchase your books?</i><br />
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You can find me here:<br />
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Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JaneLinfoot2" target="_blank">Page</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jane.linfoot.1" target="_blank">Profile</a><br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/janelinfoot" target="_blank">Twitter</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.janelinfoot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Website</a><br />
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And find buy links to all my books at <a href="http://www.harperimpulseromance.com/authors/jane-linfoot" target="_blank">HarperImpulse</a><br />
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<br />Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-37203664546113878282014-07-17T01:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T01:00:03.141-07:00LAUNCH!!!! High Heels and Bicycle Wheels by Jane Linfoot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Meet Jane Linfoot, tomorrow's guest on Finding Fiction Friday, whose novel launches TODAY!<br /><br />
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I’m Jane Linfoot, and I write fun, flirty fiction, with feisty heroines and a bit of an edge. I live in a mountain kingdom in Derbyshire, England, where my family and pets are kind enough to ignore the domestic chaos – happily, we’re in walking distance of a supermarket. For me, writing romance is cool because I get to wear pretty shoes instead of wellies. I love hearts, flowers, happy endings, all things vintage, most things french. When I’m not on facebook, and can’t find an excuse for shopping, I’ll be walking, or gardening. On days when I want to be really scared, I ride a tandem.<br />
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<b><i>High Heels & Bicycle Wheels</i></b></div>
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<b>Meet Bryony:</b> She's a fun-loving, very single TV production assistant whose idea of sport is the Jimmy Choo sales scrum</div>
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<b>Meet Jackson: </b>Cycling's bad boy superstar. Injured and out of racing this summer, without his training he's looking for another distraction.</div>
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Bryony's facing a triple whammy – her last single friend just named the day, her mother's offering to have her eggs frozen, and the guy she's loved from afar, forever, just got hitched. So she's more than happy to accept the offer of a totally out of character but seriously steamy one night of no-strings fun. Especially when the guy in question is so attractive he even looks good in Lycra!</div>
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Jackson's on the look out for a new career but if the opportunity to work on TV means a fortnight with the most uptight woman in the world, he'd rather not bother. He never goes in for seconds – and who in their right mind would head off in a camper van with a woman who irons her knickers?</div>
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Add in a tandem (yes, a tandem) and fast forward to double trouble for a summer neither of them will ever forget!</div>
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Buy Links! Author Links!</div>
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<a href="http://amzn.to/1qvx4wo" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JaneLinfoot2" target="_blank">Facebook</a></div>
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<a href="http://amzn.to/1jh3Z2x" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/janelinfoot" target="_blank">Twitter</a></div>
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<a href="http://bit.ly/1lcnNUu" target="_blank">HarperImpulse</a> <a href="http://www.janelinfoot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Website</a></div>
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Come back tomorrow for an exclusive interview with Jane Linfoot!</div>
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Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-22419726898336386972014-07-12T03:00:00.000-07:002014-07-12T03:00:02.886-07:00Myths and Me - Guest Post from Steve Peek<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;"><i>Steve Peek is guesting on the blog today, and will be the subject of Finding Fiction Friday on July 25 ....</i></span></div>
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Welcome to the Longclaws and Alien Agenda tour, by Steve Peek. Today, Steve is talking about mythology and the pervasiveness in our culture.</div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Alexander Eliot had retired from Time magazine at thirty-nine and devoted the rest of his life to studying mythologies and their impact through the ages. He begins his book, Universal Myths, with these telling words: <i>“Myths are never factual, but seldom are they totally untrue.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Virtually every acknowledged authority on mythology has made a similar statement at one time or another. As fanciful and weird as myths seem, they appear to be rooted in some primordial reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">How old are myths? The original myths were stories born of a time thousands of years before history was written. According to Eliot, Joseph Campbell, and others, these primal tales still invoke powerful responses. As long ago as 525 BC, Greek scholars suggested that since the original meanings of myths had been lost, we should look for hidden ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The search has continued ever since. Mythology reveals itself differently to different investigators. Historians find garbled histories of kings, wars, and migrations. Anthropologists dust off tribal imperatives and taboos. Psychologists see archetypes. Philologists point out the ancient roots of language. And so, under intellectual scalpels, these simple tales are cut to pieces, rather than examined as a whole. My exploration of myths led me toward the monsters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The question that pulled me was: <i>why would ancient peoples separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years develop the same universal myths dealing with esoteric things?</i> The Sun, moon, stars, storms, volcanoes, earthquakes are examples of myths that should be born of every culture. But there are some myths that at first glance don’t appear to be to be nominees for Universal, but they are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Vampires, shape shifters, ghouls and dragons appear in every ancient civilization’s library of legends. Why? Occam's Razor suggests they are present because they were real.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When I recovered from the realization that these and other creatures of the night may once had existed, indeed, they still may. The next question was where are they? Why are they so elusive? I discovered the answer in the 1980’s while working on the book Longclaws: Stone Gates Trilogy. The answer was found in quantum physics that suggested that for our universe to exist with its laws, then other universes must exist as well. In the thirty years since physicists continue to close in on the theory of everything and to get there they demonstrate over and over again that parallel universes must exists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So, using my research of Celtic and American Indian myths I theorized that at certain times and places and in specific conditions, the gateways open and sometimes we humans cross into other worlds but sometimes the denizens of those unknown worlds cross into ours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Longclaws: Stone Gates Trilogy </i>is a tale of creatures from a cruel, unforgiving world crossing into our own. It incorporates many myths in a fresh way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I know that in one of the infinite number of parallel worlds my books are selling well. </span><br />
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Their world is crowded with active volcanoes, sulfur and acid rains, permanent thick clouds turn day into deep twilight. It is a violent place: moment-to-moment survival is victory, every creature is constantly predator and prey, sleep is certain death. This is home to the longclaws, beings of super-human speed, strength and senses. Their predatory skills allow them only a tenuous niche in their hellish environment. Though smart and fierce, their rank in the food chain is far below the top. One clan leader draws from ancient legends of paradise and devises a plan to escape and take his clan to the otherworld - a world filled with slow, defenseless prey. The clan activates an Indian mound deep in southern forests and enters our world -hungry for prey. Torrential rains and washed out bridges force a runaway teen, an old dowser and a Cherokee healer to face the horrors of the clan's merciless onslaught. Mankind's legends are filled with vampires, werewolves, dragons and other nightmarish. Perhaps our legend of hell is based on the world of the Longclaws.<img alt="Abab" class="aligncenter wp-image-847 size-full" src="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Abab.png" height="93" width="600" /> </div>
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<a href="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Steve-Peek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Steve-Peek.jpg" /></a>Steve Peek grew up in a family of readers and writers. In the second grade a neighbor gave him a toy printing press and, using rubber linotype, he wrote and printed a neighborhood paper. His first short story won a competition in his third grade class. Sometimes he dreamed of being a policeman, fireman, lawyer, minister, soldier, politician, but in every dream he was also a writer. Peek loves games. He enjoyed a forty year career in the game industry which allowed him to travel the world where he was able to explore many of the ancient, mythical places he’d read about. Some legends associated with these enigmatic sites led him down a winding road to a junction where myth meets science and the hold of this magical place continues its grip. Over the decades Steve always wrote. Sometimes just here and there. Twice he managed to have books published. Now, with the precious time to write, Steve found the traditional publishing world in disarray and decided that it is more important for him to write than to sell books to the big publishing houses. The venue of the e-book makes this possible. So, for better or for worse, Steve sits at a kitchen table looking into the woods around his home in the Smokey Mountains and writes every day. Reviewers have declared his books Longclaws and Alien Agenda: Why they came, Why they stayed to be a new sub-genre, ‘science faction’. Much of the books are based on history and science while the story falls under fiction. Steve’s books are based on things that interest him and he works hard to make them interesting for his readers. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He would like to hear from you via </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Steve-Peek-Author/149646865240824" style="line-height: 1.5em;">jstephenpeek on facebook</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> or send him a message via his contact form.</span><a href="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/social-media.png" rel="attachment wp-att-715"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-852 size-full" src="http://thefinishingfairies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/socialmb.png" height="93" width="600" /></a>
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Follow Steve on social media!</div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/StevePeekAuthor">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/js_peek">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17373099-longclaws">Add Longclaws on Goodreads</a> | <a href="http://stevepeek.com/">Steve's Blog</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Peek/e/B004G7JS42/">Amazon</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Longclaws-Steve-Peek-ebook/dp/B0010ZGPB2/">Buy Longclaws</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ALIEN-AGENDA-they-came-stayed-ebook/dp/B0086YLKBK">Alien Agenda</a> here</h1>
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Steve is on tour between 12th and 26th July - you can check in with <a href="http://thefinishingfairies.com/steve-12-26">tour central here</a>, and please check back each day to read more fascinating thoughts by this eloquent and interesting author.
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<pre style="text-align: center;">Tour arranged by <a href="http://thefinishingfairies.com/">The Finishing Faires</a></pre>
Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1969987296663654936.post-75260418333164700792014-07-11T03:00:00.000-07:002014-07-11T03:00:04.635-07:00Finding Fiction Friday - Lisa Fox<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Foxy ... Foxy Lady! Lisa Fox is here on the blog to chat about her novel "One Kiss" and other adventures in writing ...</i><br />
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World-renowned neurosurgeon, jet fighter pilot, secret member of American royalty, seducer of legions of beautiful, outrageously sexy angels and demons and vampires and werewolves and the occasional pirate, Lisa Fox has done it all…in her own mind. In reality, she can generally be found at her desk with a cup of coffee close at hand. Or maybe a martini. It really depends on the day.<br />
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Thanks so much for having me over, Aaron!<br />
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<i>Lisa, when did you first think about writing for publication?</i> </div>
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I always thought about writing for publication. That was always my goal.</div>
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<i>Tell us one thing about yourself that you think might surprise us. </i></div>
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I have no sense of direction. I ALWAYS get lost. I’ve lived in New York City most of my life, but I could get out of the subway tomorrow and turn in the wrong direction. Always. Without fail.</div>
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<i>You have quite a few books under your belt, but first I’d like to ask about your latest release, “One Kiss”. Tell us about this novella and where it came from.</i> </div>
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One Kiss is all about two friends who learn they might have more than strictly platonic feelings for one another after they share a New Year’s Eve midnight kiss.</div>
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As to where it came from… that’s like one of the most impossible questions to ever answer. Where do any stories come from? The gods? The ethers? The vast, unknowable universe? </div>
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<i>You’ve written contemporary, fantasy, and paranormal romance. Do you have a favorite genre? And is there really a big difference among the three from a writer’s perspective?</i> </div>
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I really do like them all. I don’t think there’s any real difference in writing the various genres either. No matter what I’m writing, I just keep in mind that every world has its own rules. As long as I stay true to them, the story works just fine.</div>
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<i>If there is one character you’ve written or are writing that you would really like people to meet, who would it be and why? </i></div>
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I’d love form them to meet all my characters! I think they’re interesting people. But if I had to pick only one, for now, I’d choose Ryan, the hero from my latest submission to Harper Impulse, A Kiss in the Dark. He’s young, full of energy, and he’d be a great guy to have cocktails with. </div>
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<i>What about being published and the book industry in general has most surprised you?</i> </div>
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How slow it moves sometimes. I really thought publication would be a whirlwind experience. It’s actually more akin to waiting for water to boil. </div>
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<i>Is there someone you can point to as being your biggest encouragement in moving forward with writing?</i> </div>
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I have so many people in my life who have always encouraged and supported me – far too many to list here. I am very blessed.</div>
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<i>What other things do you have bouncing around in your head for the future?</i> </div>
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So much. The ideas never stop, you know?</div>
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<i>So, I need to ask, and be honest – do you have an obsession with Hugh Jackman? ;-) </i></div>
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LOL! Just a little one. You know, totally tiny. Not what you would call an obsession or anything. Definitely not. </div>
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<i>To close the interview, I have ten questions for you, plus one. Here they go!</i></div>
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<li><i>What is your favorite word? </i>I go through phases with this. Right now I’m fond of persnickety. </li>
<li><i>What is your least favorite word?</i> Failure</li>
<li><i>What turns you on?</i> Success. (And Hugh Jackman)</li>
<li><i>What turns you off?</i> Whining – even when I’m the one whining. </li>
<li><i>What sound or noise do you love?</i> A bluesy guitar riff</li>
<li><i>What sound or noise do you hate?</i> The grinding of train wheels on metal tracks. The sound makes my teeth ache.</li>
<li><i>What is your favorite curse word?</i> Motherfucker</li>
<li><i>What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?</i> I’d love to be a rock star.</li>
<li><i>What profession would you not like to do?</i> Anything that requires a suit, a desk, and 70+ hours of my life every single week.</li>
<li><i>If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?</i> Don’t you have reservations elsewhere?</li>
<li><i>What question have you never been asked, that you wish someone would ask you?</i> Seriously though, how awesome was Charles Bukowski?</li>
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<i>Lisa, thanks so much for spending time with us. Can you let us know where to follow you, and where we can go to purchase your books?</i> I am everywhere!</div>
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Email: lisa@lisafoxromance.com</div>
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Website: <a href="http://www.lisafoxromance.com/">www.lisafoxromance.com</a></div>
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Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LisaFoxRomance">https://www.facebook.com/LisaFoxRomance</a></div>
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Twitter: <a href="https://www.twitter.com/lisafoxromance" target="_blank">@LisaFoxRomance</a></div>
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Aaron Specahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876328732059829984noreply@blogger.com0