I’m over at my lovely writer friend Suzanne Johnson’s blog, talking about why I love to write Epic Fantasy. Come on by and comment for a chance to win a gift card!
Five Reasons I Love Epic Fantasy (and #Giveaway)
//Tag: Suzanne Johnson
//Living the (Scary) Dream w/ Jeffe Kennedy (and GC #Giveaway)
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If you’re in the New York City area, I’ll be reading at Lady Jane’s Salon on Monday, August 1. Would love to see you there!
Today I’m over at Suzanne Johnson’s blog, kibbitzing with her on the uncertainty, scariness and utter thrill of writing full time. Already a good conversation going, if you’d like to chime in with making your own dream come true – and there’s a gift card, just saying.
Consorting with The Consort
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More in the continuing series this week of excerpts from the upcoming collection, DARK SECRETS: A PARANORMAL NOIR ANTHOLOGY. Other excerpts can be found here, here, here and here. For today we have a peek at Suzanne Johnson’s story, THE CONSORT.
Faulkner Hearne, the captain of the ruthless Fae Hunters, finds his duty at odds with his heart when he’s ordered to capture the consort of Faerie’s cruel Prince of Summer when she flees across the veil into modern New Orleans. Can Faulk turn Liandra over to a certain death at the hands of the prince, or will he risk a war with Faerie in order to save her?
An all-new novella set in the Sentinels of New Orleans multiverse.
The Excerpt
“Let her go, Romy.”
At the sound of the deep, quiet voice, both Lia and Romany stopped struggling.
“Faulk, let me take her to Florian.” Romy gave her a look of disgust. “Anything else is going to bring trouble on our heads like we can’t imagine.”
Lia’s gaze met the stern amber eyes of the man who would decide her fate. “Please, Faulk. Just a few moments alone.”
Faulk walked toward them. “Romy, monitor the alley to make sure we don’t get another unexpected visit. I’ve got this.”
“But…” Romy clenched his jaw shut and shook his head. “Fine. I’ll look forward to saying ‘I told you so.’”
Faulk gave his friend a small smile. “I’m sure you will.”
“Thank you.” Lia waited until Romy had closed the door behind him and she and Faulk were alone. Once they’d taken chairs at the table nearest the stairwell, he took a sip of beer, leaned back, and crossed his arms over his chest. Even his forearms were muscled, his hands strong and capable of wielding much magic. Lia wanted to touch him, but her seduction skills were nonexistent. She needed to seduce him, but didn’t know where to start. Instead, she kept her hands on her wine glass, fidgeting.
“Well?” Faulk cocked his head and studied her far too closely. “I assume you wouldn’t seek out the home of the Captain of the Fae Hunters if you didn’t have a plan.”
“This is your home?” Lia glanced at the stairwell, then at the doors along the hallway.
“Don’t change the subject, Liandra. Tell me why I should not return you to Prince Florian immediately and save myself a hell of a lot of trouble.”
Lia took another gulp of wine.
“I heard you last night,” she said softly. “You asked yourself how you could ever send me back to him. I…” She finished the glass of wine, its warmth burning along her throat and reminding her how long it had been since she ate anything of substance. “I thought of something that might keep Florian from wanting me back.”
“Did you now.” It was more statement than question, and Faulk motioned for her to stay as he went to retrieve the bottle of wine and pour more into her glass. “Don’t drink that too fast. So tell me, Lia. What do you think would make Florian back off?”
She took a fortifying sip and raised her gaze to meet his. “I want you to take me, to be my lover. If I’m no longer a virgin, Florian won’t want me.”
“Ah, my sweet Liandra.” Faulk reached across the table and took her hand. “I’m afraid that won’t work.”
“Why not?” She twined her fingers through his—a bold move, she thought.
He pulled his hand away, leaving hers lying alone and vulnerable on the dark wood. “Because Florian’s original deal for you is off the table, Lia. He will see you ruined physically and emotionally, and then he will see you dead.”
Taking another sip of beer, he studied her with an expression she couldn’t read. “My orders aren’t just to catch you. They are to take you as hard and as often as I want, then share you with any other Hunters who care to partake.”
“Oh.” Lia had no answer for that, and the horror of her fate sank on her like the heaviest anchor at sea. Her face burned so fiercely, she thought it might spark flames.
“He doesn’t want you physically marked when I return you to him.” Faulk leaned across the table, his eyes unreadable. “But he does want you broken.”
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Add DARK SECRETS to your TBR!
We are now on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26135577-dark-secrets-a-paranormal-noir-anthology
Preorder here!
Meet My Noir Princess
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I’m over at the Contemporary Romance Cafe, talking about the characters in Heart’s Blood, my Goose Girl retelling in DARK SECRETS: A PARANORMAL NOIR ANTHOLOGY.
Sharing the Love
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One of the fun things about writing in several genres and series is that sometimes exciting things happen in multiple worlds at the same time – a very frisky kind of serendipity!
If you haven’t seen it yet, the USA Today HEA Sci-Fi Encounters Blog has a great write up on Fantasy Romance, with terrific insights from the leading writers of the genre – including me, wow! – along with selections from their TBR (to be read) lists.
Also, Going Under tied for Honorable Mention (3rd Place) for Best Book of 2014 at the Love Romances Cafe! This is a readers’ Yahoo loop, so I don’t *think* there’s any way for me to link to it. That came as a total surprise – a thrilling one!
One of the most fun parts of being a writer – particularly in the romance community – is sharing the love with other authors. I’ve been so privileged in the last year to have developed even more friendships with writers who are writing similar stories and even reading mine. We get to have the great pleasure of talking about each others’ work with sincere enthusiasm. Two authors who I’ve been reading and loving – and who’ve been really great about suggesting my books to their readers – are Grace Draven and Jennifer Estep. Really fabulous ladies.
and the possibilities for collaboration go up.
For example, I’m participating in an anthology with five other amazing authors. We’re calling it DARK SECRETS: A PARANORMAL NOIR ANTHOLOGY. It’s going to be SO delicious, people!! The participating authors are Rachel Caine, Cynthia Eden, Megan Hart, Suzanne Johnson and Mina Khan. I’ve only read Megan Hart’s story – a chilling and sexy deal-with-the-devil tale – but I’ve read everyone’s blurbs. Really excited about this!
Through this anthology – and another weird, random connection – I’ve become quite chatty with Megan lately. Yesterday on IM she suggested an idea for a future project. Did I want to play? Yes, ma’am! I’m already percolating on that one. Her idea is terrific and I love being inspired that way. In a similar vein, I read and loved, loved, loved Rachel Caine’s PRINCE OF SHADOWS. Seriously amazing book. It’s a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but from Benvolio’s point-of-view. Almost impossible to describe how super good it is. That said, Rachel doesn’t go for the smexy like I do, and I complained to her about the scene we did NOT get. (I don’t want to be spoilery, but if you’ve read it – and if you haven’t, you should! – you’ll know exactly what scene I mean.)
So she wrote it for me.
Ha! How awesome is that? Even better, I get to make it even hotter. I don’t know if she’ll share it publicly, but what a fun thing for me.
At any rate, this is kind of a rambly, gushy post, but that’s my mood today.
Sharing the love, people!
Smutketeer Parties, Double Standards and the Emergence of Fantasy Romance
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Today is a concatenation of various blog appearances for both of my genre selves. Tis the Season?
I’m over celebrating Day 10 of the Smutketeers Twelve Days of Christmas. There’s a huge giveaway involved with tons of naughty authors, so it’s very fun. Along those lines, I’m giving away UNDER HIS TOUCH, which just received 4.5 stars from RT Book Reviews. *happy dancing*
I’m also talking about my second Twelve Kingdoms book, THE TEARS OF THE ROSE today in several places. The brilliant and generous Suzanne Johnson is hosting me on her blog, where we’re discussing the double standard of the unlikable heroine vs. the dark hero. Harlequin Junkie has a terrific post up where she interviewed me for secrets about the book and extracted all sorts of excerpts. Finally, I’m at Fresh Fiction, talking about the rise of Fantasy Romance as a genre and why I think it’s happening now.