Thoughtful Thursday: For Those Stormy Days

Artwork courtesy of Christopher Chamberlain: available for book covers, illustrations and more!

http://manyfacesart.blogspot.com/

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.
Louisa May Alcott

Disappointments are to the soul what the thunder-storm is to the air.

Friedrich von Schiller

I wish you sunshine on your path and storms to season your journey. I wish you peace in the world in which you live... More I cannot wish you except perhaps love to make all the rest worthwhile.
Robert A. Ward

The flesh endures the storms of the present alone, the mind those of the past and future as well as the present.

Epicurus

The artist, depicting man disdainful of the storm and stress of life, is no less reconciling and healing than the poet who, while endowing Nature and Humanity, rejoices in its measureless superiority to human passions and human sorrows.
Berenson

Sorrows gather around great souls as storms do around mountains; but, like them, they break the storm and purify the air of the plain beneath them.

Jean Paul Richter

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

There you stand like a duck in a thunderstorm again - aren't you ever going to understand?
W.A. Mozart

Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.

Charles Caleb Colton

They sicken of the calm, who know the storm.
Dorothy Parker

Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light. Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.

Seneca

The world isn't interested in the storms you encountered, but whether or not you brought in the ship.
Raul Armesto

Another Story Behind the Book with Jessica Dall

Jessica Dall
Genre: General Fiction
Buy link:
http://clublighthousepublishing.com/GENERAL_FICTION_PAGE_2.htm#THE_GOSPEL_OF_ABRAHAM

Where did the idea for this story come from?


Well, it was a combination of being a political science major and listening to Jesus Christ Superstar for a good little bit on my iTunes. There's a line in the musical that says, "I remember when this whole thing began/no talk of God and we called you a man." That, combined with too many political theory/international studies classes, sparked off the idea for The Gospel of Abraham

How did your characters come to life?

I've always been really lucky in that characters tend to show up fully formed when I start writing. The Gospel of Abraham is unique in that it's one of the few stories I've written knowing the plot step by step, but most of my stories have the same sort of thing where the characters come to me and basically just start talking to me until I figure out their personalities that way, sort of like how you'd get to know anyone else—they act and talk a certain way that tells you more about them than anything they can really just tell you. So I suppose I would say they've always been alive, they just worked their way into the book.

Blurb:

"Abe Carlson has followed his best friend, Edmund, around since childhood. When Edmund decides that he's done with his life as a politician, Abe takes a sabbatical from his job as a low-level bureaucrat to follow Edmund to the war-torn country of Katat on a humanitarian mission. Once in the country, however, Abe finds that Edmund has loftier goals than "improving his karma." The Gospel of Abraham follows Abe's journey through Katat as Edmund attempts to promote himself from man to messiah."

Another Story Behind the Book with Steve Kendall

Steve Kendall
Mystery-thriller
Buy link: http://www.clublighthousepublishing.com/

Where did the idea for this story come from?


For years, I have been fascinated by the still-unsolved 1990 theft of 12 pieces of artwork from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The value of the art is the highest of any theft in history. Three features of the theft stand out for me: First, a haunting image: The paintings were cut from their frames, and to this day, the frames remain on the walls of the museum with nothing inside them. Second, the theft of some of the work makes sense -- their value is high -- but the choice of some other pieces is odd due to their relatively low value. Third, the theft was accomplished very easily; indeed, the thieves could have taken hours to do their work.

This theft, and its peculiarities, inspired me to write Follow The Falcon. I decided to write a mystery-thriller that features many theories about an art theft, and just as many suspects, which has, in fact, been the case with the Gardner theft. My novel, too, is set in the Boston area (at least primarily -- there are some fun and exciting scenes on the Cote d’Azur, as well). The similarity ends there; Follow The Falcon doesn’t purport to solve the Gardner case, and is filled with plot points, characters and twists that are very much its own.

How did your characters come to life?

I wanted every character in Follow The Falcon to be real; my protagonist is an almost-starving young artist named Brooke Lancaster. She’s everywoman, someone with whom my readers can identify. Brooke has no unusual mystery-solving/crime-fighting abilities, however she does possess a healthy dose of courage and smarts. My goal was to place her in dangerous situations with little more than her guts and brain to help her. She came to life gradually. Early on, she is trepidacious, and has to decide whether to put herself at risk by attempting to locate stolen paintings. Her courage builds -- from breaking into a house in search of clues, to racing along twisting roads with killers in pursuit, to aggressively defending herself. As Brooke becomes more involved in the search for stolen art, and more desperate to acquire a $6 million reward, she becomes more determined.

The other main characters are just as real: the thieves turn out to be “ordinary” people who are clever, organized and not without sympathetic qualities. However, they’re not going to let anyone stop them from securing the $350 million in art they stole. Think Pierce Brosnan as “Thomas Crown” and Lucy Liu in “Kill Bill.”

Blurb:
The Falcon has a problem: He’s desperate to sell the twelve paintings he stole twelve years earlier from Gladstone, an art museum. The $350-million heist was the biggest in U.S. history—so big there’s a $6-million reward for the paintings’ return.

Brooke Lancaster also has a problem: She’s desperate to do what she loves—paint. But until she has some financial security, she can’t quit her two jobs to find out if she can make a living as a painter.

The Falcon needs a buyer. Brooke needs a windfall.

Suddenly, there’s hope for both. The Falcon gets an offer from a mysterious Frenchman. Brooke gets hope from a dying man’s last words.

With that, Follow The Falcon soars from a chateau-like museum outside Boston to the winding roads of the Cote d’Azur, from the dunes of Cape Cod to Thoreau’s ancient grave. Brooke pursues a dream while thieves, Mafia goons and unscrupulous art aficionados pursue her. At stake: fortune, freedom and twelve masterpieces.

Another Story Behind the Book with Ariel Tachna

Perilous Partnership by Ariel Tachna

A Partnership in Blood novel
Buy now! http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/




That’s such a simple little question, and it’s such an incredibly complicated answer that you may regret asking it. A Perilous Partnership is the spin-off to the Partnership in Blood series. To understand where the idea for the former came from you have to understand the latter as well. Six years ago, I belonged to a very active authors’ group that did monthly challenges along a theme that were then voted on by the members and the best one was awarded a banner to display anywhere you had shared that story. None of us were published at the time, but we shared our stories on a variety of free fiction sites. In October 2004, the challenge was to write something supernatural. I looked at the challenge, looked at everything else I was working on, and decided to pass. I went to bed that night and had a dream. I saw three scenes that all figured in Partnership in Blood, and I saw two characters. Waking up, I knew I had a story to tell. By the end of the month, I’d written the first eight chapters and realized I was far from being done. I offered not to enter the challenge because I didn’t have a complete story, but they said I should anyway. To my surprise, the story, incomplete as it was, won. So I kept writing.

Fast forward four and a half years. Alliance in Blood, Covenant in Blood, and Conflict in Blood were already written. Conflict in Blood would be released in a matter of weeks and I was rushing to finish Reparation in Blood so there would be no delays in publication because the terms of the contract on the series were that the subsequent volume had to be finished before the previous volume could come out. I was sending Elizabeth North, executive director of Dreamspinner Press, regular updates so she would know the status of the book, and she e-mailed me back after one update and said, “You realize you’re going to have to write Jean and Raymond’s story now.”

I had realized no such thing, so I went back and read the chapter I had just written and began to see what she was talking about. My muses are apparently her slaves, because a year later, I did just that.

How did your characters come to life?

Jean was in my mind almost from the start because he is the leader of the vampires in Paris. The wizards needed him and his goodwill to create the alliance that triggered everything that followed. Raymond was completely unexpected, though. I had no idea when I started writing how the story would develop other than the three images in my head, so I started with the first one and I wrote. When it became clear that the wizards and vampires would be pairing off for the purposes of mutual protection and fighting the war, Jean needed a partner, but I’d already had one partnership that fell very quickly and very deeply into a personal as well as professional relationship. There were emotional and magical reasons for that, but I didn’t want the book to become too sticky sweet so Jean wasn’t going to get as lucky as Orlando did in his partner. Jean needed someone prickly, complicated, surly even. He got Raymond, the black sheep of the wizarding world, a defector who had started the war on the wrong side and was still distrusted by just about everyone else. A highly intelligent, incredibly self-contained, stubborn man who wants nothing to do with vampires and has no interest in a partner, much less a lover. Until he gets one.

Partnership in Blood had a huge scope of characters. I actually had a spreadsheet to keep track of them, and I ended up with over one hundred named characters, some of them obviously more central than others. A number of those characters have cameos or more in Perilous Partnership, particularly Alain, Orlando, Thierry, Sebastien, and Adèle. Adèle’s story plays an especially central role in driving the outside events that shape Jean and Raymond’s story.
Blurb:
A year after the end of the war that brought them together, Raymond Payet and Jean Bellaiche have found a balance in their relationship: Jean drinks only Raymond’s blood; Raymond sleeps only in Jean’s bed. The demands of their public roles as president of l’Association Nationale de Sorcellerie and chef de la Cour of the Parisian vampires keep them busy dealing with fallout from the war and the alliance, particularly the not-always-successful partnerships between vampires and wizards.
The foundation of an institute to research and educate wizards and vampires about the implications of the partnership bonds only adds to those responsibilities. When political factions, both vampire and mortal, oppose their leaders' decisions, the stress begins to affect Raymond and Jean's deepening relationship. And when political opposition turns to vandalism and then to violence, they'll have to find a way to reconcile their personal and professional lives before external and internal forces pull them apart.
Excerpt:
Raymond shook his head at Jean’s grumbling. “Get out of here. Some of us have work to do.”

Jean laughed as he left Raymond’s office, but the questions raised by his sudden jealousy lingered. He wandered past the office Sebastien and Thierry shared, but the door was shut, and the light was off. He did not want to have this conversation over the phone, and he did not have time to take the train all the way out to Versailles and back before the press conference. His feet carried him out of l’ANS headquarters and halfway to Sang Froid before he even realized where he was going. Once he did, he sped up, hoping Angelique would be in and have time to talk. She had been a friend for many long years, as in touch with her vampire nature as any vampire he had ever known. If anyone could help him make sense of his feelings, it would be Angelique.

Arriving in Montmartre, he smiled to see the improvements to the exterior of Sang Froid in the year since the passage of the equality legislation that had allowed vampire business owners to come out of hiding. Where once the entrance had been nondescript, not attempting to draw attention to itself, now the entrance had an elegant sign proclaiming the name of the business. Where once Jean would have slipped across the square clinging to the shadows, now he walked openly to the door, not worrying someone would see him and wonder about the nature of his visit.

“Jean!” Angelique said, surprise and delight clear in her voice at the sight of the chef de la Cour. “What are you doing here? I know you don’t need the services of my employees.”

Jean laughed. “You never know, Angelique. Raymond could have decided he’s done with me.”

Angelique rolled eyes. “You don’t expect me to believe that. I can smell the blood and sex on you, mon cher. You’re as besotted with him as ever.”

Jean nodded. “That’s why I’m here, actually. I seem to fall more in love with him every day, to the point that I have trouble letting him out of my sight. If we were simply Raymond and Jean, that might not be a problem, but we’re also president of l’ANS and chef de la Cour.”

Angelique nodded. “Come into my parlor,” she said with a wink, leading Jean toward the room she used as an office. Only the escritoire against one wall gave any indication of the functional purpose of the room. Beyond that, the room could have been the boudoir of any high-class Middle Eastern courtesan, a reminder of her origins. Jean had often wondered how Angelique’s partner had adjusted to her past. “What brought this on? You’ve been chef de la Cour for almost four hundred years. I realize Raymond’s position is newer, but he doesn’t strike me as someone whose head would be turned by the spotlight.”

“It isn’t that,” Jean said. “He is one of the most down-to-earth people I know. He keeps insisting we need to be discreet about the depth of our personal relationship because of the nature of our public personas. I know he’s right, but it goes against everything I am. I want to declare him to the Cour as my Consort. I want to give him that security and have it for myself, but I can’t. No one would care who my Consort was if it were anyone else, but I don’t have a different partner. I have Raymond.”

“Do you really want a different partner?” Angelique asked.

“No! Mon Dieu, non!” Jean exclaimed. “I can’t imagine being with anyone else this way, not when I can have him. If, God forbid, he had not survived the war, perhaps I would have considered finding someone else, but he is as much a part of me as my hand.”

“Or your cock?” Angelique teased.

Jean flushed, something he swore he had overcome centuries ago. He could hardly deny it, though. “Or that. The point is that I don’t want anyone else. I have to learn to live with the partner I have, with all that entails. And at the moment, letting him out of my sight is nearly impossible, which makes doing our jobs difficult.”

“So what do you need from me, besides someone to listen to you vent?”

“I need to know if I’m the only one feeling this way. We haven’t made the announcement yet, but we’re going forward with a research institute to try to understand the partnership bonds. If I’m the only one feeling this way, then I’ll just have to learn to live with it, but if I’m not, we need to address that as we begin our research and as we prepare other wizards and vampires to take partners,” Jean explained.

Angelique smiled. “You aren’t the only one, and you’re doing far better than many. You wouldn’t believe the number of vampires who have come to visit me, hoping the taste of someone else’s blood would help them put things back in perspective. It has yet to work.”

“Who?” Jean asked, worried now about the stability of the Cour.

Angelique shook her head. “I don’t share information about my customers. You know that. It’s one of the reasons you always felt safe coming here before you met Raymond. I won’t jeopardize my business without a legal order requiring I share those records. I will tell you that most of them left with the intention of making things work with their partners since they couldn’t rid themselves of the need for them. And I don’t have to tell you who doesn’t feel that way.”

“Leighton.”

“You’ll want to do something about him, Jean. I don’t know what the solution is, but he’s a loose cannon, and that isn’t good for the Cour, with or without l’ANS,” Angelique warned.

Jean nodded. “I just wish I had an idea. Maybe our research will help us find a solution. I know he made his own bed with the way he treated Adèle, but I can imagine how I would feel if Raymond suddenly pushed me out of his life. It doesn’t excuse Jude’s behavior, then or now, but I feel sorry for him.”

“Well, stop,” Angelique ordered. “I worked with him and his partner, and I wanted to slap him more than once. Her restraint in not killing him was phenomenal.”

“No, they just fucked each other over by fucking each other silly,” Jean said with a sigh. “I’ll talk to Raymond. He wants Adèle to help with security for l’Institut. Maybe something can be done as we move forward, some spell or potion or something to either help Leighton control himself or to help her find a way to tolerate him.”
Where did the idea for this story come from?

Another Story Behind the Book with Kerri Nelson

Vegan Moon

Kerri Nelson: http://www.kerrinelson.com/

Buy link: http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615722051

Where did the idea for this story come from?

A true story…I was changing my daughter’s diaper one day and thought… “wouldn’t a werewolf who didn’t eat meat be really funny?” Alas, the story idea and book title were formed and the rest followed shortly thereafter.

Basically, I wanted to write a werewolf story and this just seemed like a fresh take on it. But also this is the first in a series. The next book will be entitled Malibu Moon.

How did your characters come to life?

I decided that it would add more humor and temptation to the story to make the werewolf’s love interest a famous chef (who handles meat on a regular basis). I’m also a huge fan of the Food Network and created my own version of that in the story.

Plus, I thought that the idea of a secret wolf society that lives in sunny California would be fun!

Blurb of your book:

When a vegetarian werewolf falls for a celebrity chef, will his appetite for her cause him to stray from his vegan ways?

Santiago Salazar is a reformed werewolf living in sunny Beverly Hills, California. When he catches sight of celebrity chef Gabrielle Connor on television, he’s soon drooling in his tofu burger.After they meet at one of Gabbi’s book signings, Santiago is thrilled to discover that the attraction is mutual. The two hit it off in a major way but when the night takes a dark turn…Gabbi must decide if she can live with the new world that she’s discovered and Santiago must ultimately answer to the werewolf code of conduct.

Take one hungry werewolf and mix with one lonely chef, stir in some hot sex and Vegan Moon delivers a tasty treat that will keep you coming back for more.

Thrilling Thursday Author Interview with Tara Newlands, Nirvana

By Amy Lance, www.WondrousWomenWorldwide.com

Nirvana is an “interracial paranormal erotic romance story” that will have you sucked in from page one.  Suspense coupled with an intense physical attraction between the main characters Adam and Jena have you instantly captivated and you’ll struggle to put the book down.  Tara does an exceptional job of developing the characters and leading them into the paranormal field of romance novels!

Tara writes her stories for  ”women and men who enjoy romantic, sensual stories in interesting, exotic and strange settings; as well as couples, partners and families who are in an interracial or multicultural romances and families, so that their relationships can be shown as healthy, loving and honest as any other. “  

Her natural ability to captivate our mind and lead us to a world of fantasy leaves her readers wanting more from her.  Tara “believes that in today's world where life is and can grow complicated, that readers like to be carried away for a time out of their everyday troubles, problems etc into a world where danger, romance and adventure reside and where love can and does prevail.”  Nirvana, easily helps you escape your mundane reality and feel the suspense and heat that the main characters face as the fight for life and their love.

Multi-published author, Tara Newlands is UK Yankee living overseas with a wonderful British husband and two great kids.  She “first grew interested in writing during high school and college.”  Through her coursework many of her teachers recognized her talent.  However, it was not until she moved to the United Kingdom that she took her turn at actually writing a novel.  She shares it was “during my visa wait I had time on my hands and that is how my first novel The Dream King was born.”

She has been drawn to writing paranormal romance because she feels they “are fun to read and consider because they take readers out of their regular worlds for a while into places that they might not consider or have had a chance to visit, such as India in my IR romance Nirvana.”

Tara’s first story was “The Dream King, was also a paranormal MC romance featuring a cast as strange as wizards, elves and a shaman trying to save the world.” She has also written Forever Tonight, which is a science fiction romance set in Seattle.   Nirvana is her newest release but she is currently waiting to hear if her Christmas themed story has been accepted.

For readers that want to learn more about Tara Newlands and her work you can visit www.taranewlands.com , www.authorsden.com, or follow her on Facebook or twitter.

Another Story Behind the Book with Maryann Paige

Welcome today's guest, Maryann Paige. She will be holding a contest where one lucky commenter will win an ecopy of her book. So be sure to post a comment.

Wolfstrap

By Maryann Paige. http://www.maryannpaige.com/

E-Book Link:
http://clublighthousepublishing.com/
HORROR_NOVELS_PAGE.htm#WOLFSTRAP

Paperback Link: http://www.amazon.com/Wolfstrap-Maryann-Paige/dp/1453702857/ref=sr_1_2?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285807009&sr=8-2

Cover Art: Martin Rowe

The Story behind the Book:

I had never planned on penning a novel about werewolves. I never had any interest in the creatures until one evening last year. A huge snowstorm had hit the Hudson Valley of New York putting the area in a state of emergency within hours.

I did what I could to maintain my driveway. After about thirty minutes and short of breath from shoveling, I threw the tool onto the ground and lost it in the deep snow. Oh great, I thought to myself, as an animal growl echoed in the distance.

Suddenly, I became aware that I was alone. Where was everyone? Where were the children that were sleigh riding only moments ago, I thought. Where were the sounds of spinning tires that accompany every storm in my neighborhood, as folks tried to make it up the large mountain in which we all lived.

Cautiously, I moved into the street as the howls grew closer. Experience should have told me it was the local coyotes, but this evening, they sounded different. Their barks and howls were deeper and more malicious, and much closer than moments ago. The creatures were on the move!

I heard a scream in the distance. Was it a cry of terror or the laughter of a teenage girl during a snowball fight? I thought the former. Chills ran up and down my spine as I turned toward my house. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw an animal-like figure on the roof of my home. Another howl, followed by a throat gurgling sound filled the air. That is no coyote, I screamed to myself.

Now blanketed under a cover of fear, I ran toward my front door. I have to get inside, I heard myself scream aloud. Once safely inside, I latched the door, and peeked out of my blinds for any sign of the paranormal.

I started to worry that something evil lurked out there and it came with the storm. Thoughts of how to kill a werewolf filled my mind. I knew I had no silver bullets, but there had to be other ways. Surely, many were killed before the invention of guns. How did our ancestors do it?

It took me almost forty minutes to finally raise a neighbor on the telephone and I took a deep breath of relief after his hearing his voice. I then made a cup of coffee and sat in front of my computer and typed in ‘ways to kill a werewolf.” Sure, many say what occurred that evening was all in my imagination. But, I wasn’t taking any chances. I still don’t.

How do your characters come to life?

For me, it usually takes a bit of time for my characters to come to life. I’ve always been a people watcher. I’ve studied people’s reactions to others, to sights, to smells and the way in which they carry themselves while walking during a flea market on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

As I mentally plan my story as if a mini-movie, I will use various personalities that I have met over the years to see how they’d fit inside of that particular role. I will allow a few different character types to the fill the roles for various scenes. They play a part as if trying out for a movie, and I will choose the best one based upon their reactions.

It’s never easy with the paranormal or horror genre because so many times you need an intelligent character to belief in extraordinary circumstances in order to survive. We all know the bad, the naughty and the those that still will not believe what they see with their own eyes, don’t; often survive in horror movies. The same types of characters need to be chosen for the horror novel as well. They need to doubt enough to build the tension but need to grow quickly in order to survive.

Another Story Behind the Book with Scarlett Jonstone

Author Scarlet Jonstone: http://scarlettjonstone.com/
Place of purchace: Buy link: http://pinkpetalbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=99

Where did the idea for this story come from?



When I saw the call for stories for Rekindled on the Avoid Writers Hell yahoo group, I immediately wanted to write a story for it. The Rekindled stories are novellas about reunited former lovers. So first things first, I had to come up with a story about two people who had been in love once, but something broke them apart, and now, years later, they find themselves together again and their journey to falling in love again.

A simple romance story. But I also wanted to do something I had never done before. So I decided to set the story in the 1950s. I thought that I could play up how different the 50s ere from now, the mindset with aspects to women in the working place to sex, and tie that in to the story beside the romance angle. I had a lot of fun writing this "historical" piece.


How did your characters come to life?


Betty told me her story and was fully formed in my mind from the beginning. Betty is far from your typical girl in the 1950s. She doesn't live at home but shares an apartment with her best friend and coworker. She also has a profession - she's a nurse. And her former love comes back into her life when he takes a job at the doctor's office where she works. He's the second doctor.

Why the medical profession? Well, hubby works in that profession himself, so it was easy to ask him any questions that I had, making the research for that aspect of the story easy.

I love Betty. She's strong and independent, and yet she isn't overly confident and has questions and doubts, just like all of us. I relate to her a lot. I tend to give a lot of my characters a bit of my personality, and she's no exception.


Blurb:

Betty Lewis thought she would never see her high school boyfriend, Will Walker, again after she had dumped him and refused to tutor him anymore in biology. Imagine her surprise when he shows up as the new doctor in the same practice where she is the chief nurse more than a decade later.

Will had always pressed Betty to the edge of her sexuality in their youth and immediately sets about doing it again. But this time around, Betty wants something more. Something more than just lust. Betty wants love… or nothing. Can the stirrings of old lust turn into the fires of lasting love?

The New Covey Awards-NSLB

Very rarely, has this blog been used for shameless self-promotion. Normally, too busy promoting others. 

 But No Shadows Left Behind, has been entered in the New Covey Awards and I am asking you to head over and give the cover by Christopher Chamberlain (http://manyfacesart.blogspot.com/) a voting click: 

http://thenewcoveycoverawards.blogspot.com/2010/10/entry-17-no-shadows-left-behind.html

Another Story Behind the Book with Gary Van Hass

The Ikon Greek
Author: Gary Van Hass: http://www.clublighthousepublishing.com/AUTHORS%20PAGES/GARY_VAN_HAAS'_PAGE.htm
Genre: Thriller/Fiction
Buy link:  in UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ikon-Gary-Van-Haas/dp/1902835212/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1286090431&sr=8-4

in USA: http://www.amazon.com/Ikon-Greek-Island-Thriller/dp/9609135404/ref=sr_1_2?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285218823&sr=8-2


Where did the idea for this story come from?

THE IKON plot's original idea came from an artist I know who went crazy one day and destroyed his art studio. We were all wondering what would make a successful artist do such a drastic thing.

I started to write my book THE IKON when I arrived on Mykonos Island in Greece in the summer of 1983 and met up with a lively, energetic Irishman called Eugene who I use as a main character, who is 'Garth Hanson's' buddy in the story. Eugene sort of took me under his wing and introduced to all the happening people on the island and best places to go. That's when I met John Rathson the real artist who went crazy which I heard about later, that's was the impetus and where I got the idea to write the book about what could have happened that drove him mad in a paradise like Mykonos. It was indeed perplexing to all of us and from there I met more strange characters such as Hans Meissner, Mr. Bryan and Fredricks who were sympathetic art collectors. The fisherman 'Dimetri' was also a real Mykonian fisherman who ran Eugene's wild "Booze-Cruises" that took tourists on a fabulous all day barbeque party where most came back totally plastered but had a great time. I met 'Linda Heller', my future wife there as well and she was just like I mentioned her in the book, a lovely, charming, vivacious woman with a lot of class. That unique summer on Mykyonos provided me with all the ingredients for THE IKON which is an exciting, fast paced thriller selling well in the USA and UK and is now also available translated in 21 different countries selling worldwide.     

How did your characters come to life?

THE IKON story's characters came from the real characters I met while in Mykonos in the 1980s, and that's what makes them so real because they were all real people living on the island.

Blurb of your book

Garth Hanson, a down on his luck artist, is blackmailed into making a copy of a world famous icon in Greece, and becomes inadvertently involved in a dizzying sphere of international intrigue, love and murder. The colourful cast of characters all come to life on the exotic jet-set island of Mykonos for the suspense-filled ending, where all characters converge for one purpose alone --- To steal a gem-studded icon worth millions of dollars. The twist is, that there's something more to the icon than jewels and diamonds-something of international importance and consequence, that could very well change the course of the world as we knew it! This is a classic tale with all the intrigue of a major block-buster film

Another Story Behind the Book with Stephen B Pearl

TINKER"S PLAGUE
Author:Stephen B Pearl: http://www.stephenpearl.com/
Buy link: Draumr Publishing: http://www.draumrpublishing.com/store/cart.php?target=main
Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction, medical/political thriller, action adventure.

Where did the idea for this story come from?
This is such a fun question. It really gets into my whole writing process. I always start a book by deciding what the world/universe that it is set in is like. I do it that way because we’re all shaped by our environment, and I can’t make a character in a vacuum.
Tinker’s Plague came out of my long-standing love of the Earth and interest in sustainable technologies. Growing up I loved the sf series that had people picking up the pieces after some horrid event. Back then it was always a nuclear war. Looking at the current environmental situation I thought that this is our nuclear threat. Problem is, most of the depictions of the future are either too rosy or dismal beyond belief. I wanted to show a future that was a believable extrapolation of our world. A world where our descendants are dealing with the consequences of our bad decisions, but people are still people, good and bad. So I picked a world where our society died with a whimper. A world where the base change was that we exhausted the fossil fuel resource without having alternatives in place. That, coupled with the pollution we are spewing into the environment, gave me the start point of the collapse when everything caught up with our descendents. I followed the logic dominos as they fell and it painted a nasty picture.
I then started Tinker’s Plague one hundred years after the collapse so that the environment was beginning to heal and people were adapting. What I got was pockets of high tech where there was still power, the hydro electric plants, and vast areas pushed into a pre-electric technology with some small, electric conveniences bought from the advanced societies.
I then split the advanced areas between two governments: Novo Gaia who are attempting to fix the mess their ancestors made and the United Grid Regions, named after the electricity distribution grid, basically a feudal government. The rest of the world is the dark lands areas with 1890s technology. Given the polarization on environmental issues happening now this seemed a logical division.

Now I have a world to play in. Furthermore it’s populated with left over decaying technology. Where can I get a conflict? Hmmm. Nuclear? Flashy, showy, maybe not as dark as I want for the first book and a tad overdone. Plague? Yes, and where are there plagues? Bio research facilities. So I now have a central conflict that drops lots of logic dominos when you think about it. I need a place to put the plague. It has to be in the dark lands, far enough away from any pocket of advanced society to give it isolation but close enough to a current population centre that it makes sense for the facility to be there. Guelph fit the bill and the villages around Guelph were perfect for places where populations were likely to hang on.

Now I have a world and a conflict. I need a hero. I’m a generalist, a backyard mechanic, a fair rough carpenter, I’ve rewired my house and I have first aid enough for three people. In addition, I have studied sustainable energy technology for years.

In short, I exaggerated my skill set into a doctorate, the Doctor of General Applied Technologies. A person with a skill set tailor made for helping devastated areas take the first steps towards rebuilding. Doctor of General Applied Technologies was a mouth full so I thought of a tinker. Technically a traveling tin smith, but more commonly used to mean a Jack of all Trades. So I asked, what type of man would become a tinker? The character would be highly intelligent, considerably more so than the writer; physically fit, to face the challenges of the dark lands; handsome, why not? The list goes on but out of it in the end came Brad and, as I was writing the book, Edie.

Who would fit as a foil for Brad? Carla came about. She was a little harder because she was less defined by her world.

So now I was ready to start writing. Well, after I spent a few weeks researching various technologies and where hydro-electric generators were in Ontario.

I know it seems involved but the base is there. I wanted to write a cautionary tale about how we are treating the Earth that, while pulled no punches, offered solutions. I don’t do helpless!  I also wanted it to be enjoyable because that is the first duty of fiction. I think I succeeded but you be the judge.

How did your characters come to life?

Brad started as an archetype. Most of my characters do. It allows me to get into the action quickly and people know what to expect. Hero, weary warrior, wise man etc. Each archetypal character draws an immediate picture in the mind. Call Brad the just man alone against an unjust world.

From that start the character grows in the writing. Brad quickly evolved foibles as I got to know him. Claustrophobia being one. Where did it come from? Abuse by a school teacher. Novo Gaia is a nice place, not a perfect world. From me, I’ll admit, he picked up a taste for athletic brunets. I have a Y chromosome so shoot me.

I also think people are defined by our regrets and these are woven into Brad as we go along. He loves his life as a tinker but it has taken from him many things that other men take for granted. ‘Father to many, parent to none.’ Is a line from a tinker’s teaching rhyme. Brad feels the losses acutely when he lets himself.

Brad also has faced conflict because few of his family understand him. His devotion to his grandfather is largely because they are the same type of men.

During the writing I think Brad really came to life for me when he remarks that an abusive husband he encounters has skin cancer and his only feeling is that soon the man’s wife won’t have to worry about being beat up anymore. A harsh but real sense of justice. A pragmatist.

Carla, as I mentioned above, was harder. She’s younger, less worldly. Again highly intelligent, well read, trained by her grandmother as a midwife and healer. I needed her to have some medical skills because of the nature of the book, but the skills fit nicely with the character. At first I was going to have her as the daughter of Greg Thompson, the abusive husband mentioned above, but the character refused. I just couldn’t write her that way. Then I made her Meb’s, the village midwife’s, granddaughter and everything fell into place. Carla evolves throughout the book. She first came alive to me when she learned that Meb had arraigned for her to go to the Novo Gaian skills academy and be trained as a ‘real healer’. Carla greets the news with unbridled joy, despite the fact it means leaving her lover and all she has ever known.

In my writing I find I don’t so much create a character as they introduce themselves over time. Yes, there are some things I determine at the start. I need the character to have certain skills to be useful. To be a person who will take action given the circumstances they are faced with, but ultimately the character develops as the pages role on. My characters often surprise me with their quirks and opinions. I was as shocked as anybody when I found out that Meb, the midwife, and Edie, the tinker whose militia commission has been activated so he can lead the troops enforcing a quarantine, had a same time next year kind of thing going on when he was working her route. That floored me, but it fit and didn’t disrupt the book so why not? That’s what I love about writing. Somehow the characters take on a life of their own and when it’s going well, they tell you their stories and you just type.

Blurb of your book

Betrayed by petty minded superiors in Novo Gaia, Brad and Carla race to save innocents from the blind hatred of long-dead killers.

The Earth is struggling to rebuild itself from the excesses of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Brad, a Doctor of General Applied Technologies colloquially known as a Tinker, travels the Dark Lands- areas without electricity- helping the people bootstrap themselves back from the edge of civilization.

All until he finds the plague in the town of Guelph.
Now Brad and his assistant Carla struggle to save the lives of the rapidly succumbing townspeople, while a cold war battle between Novo Gaia and the United Grid regions plays out over the quarantine and the lives of the people in the Dark Lands. The political theater is leaving Brad with a mounting toll of dead victims.

Will Brad and Carla be able to stop the plague, or will the contagion escape, infecting a world that is in no condition to survive another catastrophe?

First Chapter: http://www.stephenpearl.com/Books/Books.htm#TP

Another Story Behind the Book with Cheryl Pierson

Fire Eyes
Cheryl Pierson: http://www.cherylpierson.com/
Buy link: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/
cheryl-pierson-m-534.html
Genre:Historical Western Romance

Where did the idea for this story come from?

I had written a LONG story, the story of my heart, called Brandon's Gold. It was too long, really, to ever sell in today's market--1000 pages! But I had a lot of agent interest in it, and the ones that were interested wanted to know "do you have anything else?" I had finished another shorter western, but knew it needed polishing with the POVs, and I had started a paranormal western. But the idea for FIRE EYES hit me, and I put everything else aside and worked on it. It practically wrote itself. Since I was born and raised in Oklahoma, everything I write takes place either here or in Texas. The idea for the marshals in Indian Territory just seemed natural, and I had a wonderful editor at The Wild Rose Press, Helen Andrew, who helped it all come about.


How did your characters come to life?

As always in my weird thinking process, this book took shape from one scene--close to the very beginning, where the Choctaw chief, Standing Bear, delivers Marshal Kaed Turner to Jessica Monroe's doorstep. What would happen from there? Who would the villain be? I knew that Kaed had to have reinforcements of some kind, and the marshals, his buddies, just came to life. Each of them has a distinct personality and I may be using one of them in another book later on. As for Jessica, my daughter's name is Jessica and she asked me when she was younger why I didn't name one of my heroines "Jessica"? I told her the next book I wrote, I would. Also, we are part Indian, and when the kids were younger, I talked to them a lot about the ceremonies and so on that some of the Indian Nations observe. Jessica wanted to pick an Indian name. I asked her what she'd like for her name, and she said, FIRE EYES. (This is when she was about 9 or so.) So the title for the book was easy. It just had to be. Oddly enough, many people have thought that the picture on the cover was my daughter--even relatives who hadn't seen her in a while.

Blurb of your book

Beaten and wounded by a band of sadistic renegades that rules the borderlands of Indian Territory, U.S. Marshal Kaed Turner understands what the inevitable outcome will be for him: death. But Fate and a war party of Choctaw Indians intervene, delivering him instead to a beautiful angel with the skill to heal him. Jessica Monroe has already lost a husband and a brother to the outlaws who tortured Marshal Turner. As the rugged lawman lies bleeding on her bed, she faces a difficult decision. Can she afford to gamble with her heart one last time? For when Kaed recovers, he is sworn to join the other Territorial Peace Officers in their battle to wipe out the renegade gang once and for all. When vengeance is done, will Kaed keep riding? Or will he return to claim his future with the beautiful woman the Choctaw call "Fire Eyes?"

Another Story Behind the Book with Lex Valentine

Lex Valentine: http://lexvalentine.com/
Buy link: http://pinkpetalbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=26&products_id=119

Where did the idea for this story come from?


This story grew out of two things. One, my absolute need to give Corey Green, the cheeky personal assistant from Hot Water, his very own story. Two, I wanted to out the very dour werewolf Seth Dylan from Common Ground.

How did your characters come to life?
Corey’s personality seemed quite set for me when I started this book. After all, he’d been in other Tales books and he had a very outgoing sunny disposition. However, as I started to write I decided that instead of Corey’s happy personality bringing the light to Seth’s darkness, I wanted to shake things up. So I built on the epilogue to Common Ground in a less obvious way. In Common Ground, I leave Corey about to take Seth’s virginity. Most readers would take the path of least resistance and believe that in Sunstroked Corey has to work to gain Seth’s trust and pull him from the darkness.
Instead of taking the easy road – which neither character seemed to want anyway – I set Sunstroked 18 months after that pivotal encounter in Common Ground. During that time Corey has become the dark one, depressed and brooding since the loss of his mate. Seth is the one who has come to terms with the fact that he’s gay and when he discovers Corey is unhappy, sets out to bring the sunlight back to the wildling.
Following this path made Corey and Seth much easier to write. Sometimes love doesn’t happen in prescribed ways and I didn’t want Corey and Seth to be predictable. The angst, the pain, the emotions they both feel are all a product of their first night together and the 18 months they’ve been apart since then. I think I actually took a more realistic path that readers can empathize with and I feel my characters became more three dimensional for it.

Blurb:

When wildling Corey Green discovers his mate is Seth Dylan, a tough as nails, dour werewolf from the McCallan clan, he thinks his life is set. However, Seth's not out and doesn't know if he wants to be. A pivotal sexual encounter between the men has Seth running scared and leaves Corey broken hearted. The men meet again nearly two years later and this time Seth's out but Corey's dark depression is about to send him behind the Veil of the Jewel Box to the fae world. Seth's determined to make up for running out on Corey, but the wildling's sunny disposition has gone so dark it may be too late for them to build a life together. With love on his side, Seth sets out return the sunshine to Corey's soul.

Warning: Contains two hot gay men who love sunshine, sex that makes the plants and trees grow, and a big bad wolf who will do anything to win the man he loves.

Another Story Behind the Book with Carolyn Haley

 Carolyn Haley:http://carolynhaley.wordpress.com/
The Mobius Strip Tease Buy link:http://www.clublighthousepublishing.com/PARANORMAL_FICTION_PAGE2.htm#THE_M%D6BIUS_STRIPTEASE 

Carolyn Haley will be holding a contest for today only, ending at midnight tonight, October 7th. One lucky commenter will win an ecopy of her book.

 

Where did the idea for this story come from?

It spontaneously combusted at work thirty years ago.

I was employed as a word processor back when that was a very new, very specialized occupation, and the equipment was situated in closed environments. The company I worked for shut down for two weeks every summer, forcing most employees to take their vacations at that time -- except for a skeleton crew of engineers and me, the most junior employee, who had to be available for whatever documentation work was required.

It amounted to almost none. So there I sat with nothing to do for days, not allowed to read or talk on the phone, or in any other way occupy myself productively. I hadn't accrued vacation time to take off, and couldn't afford to do so without pay. What I did have was a sophisticated typing device at my fingertips and invisibility behind a solid door.

At that time I had a keen interest in the supernatural and associated mysticism; was embroiled in a complex mess of relationships never matched before or since; shared with my cousin a groupie's interest in a particular musician; and was slowly transforming from an artist into a writer. That two-week period completed my transformation.

I shook together the bits and pieces in my head and commenced typing. The challenge of linking everything together turned me on. Though I didn't finish the raw draft during my two-week bubble, I was hooked and kept on until "The Temple of Love" was completed. It stank, but I knew that within it lay a good idea, and I wanted to get it published.

It took three decades to reverse-engineer my fantasy-dump into a commercial-quality novel. I studed writing craft and underwent every form of rejection and criticism until the lessons came together and the book -- now "The Mobius Striptease" -- finally worked.


How did your characters come to life?

It happened for me as for so many other writers -- the characters one day took on a life of their own.

Originally they were caricatures of types I'd absorbed from reading romantic suspense, fantasy, and mysteries since childhood, colored by attributes borrowed from key people in my life. My alter-ego, of course, was the heroine. As I struggled with a two-pronged plot, various themes, and the logistics of making supernatural power appear credible in today's world, I had to shuffle people around to accommodate the changes, plus make characters unrecognizable to anyone who might read the manuscript.

Eventually they resisted my manipulation and started thinking and speaking for themselves. This messed me up for several versions, until I got all the elements aligned and the characters were able to be true to themselves inside the world I had created.


Blurb

Although estranged from her twin sister Blanche over belief in the supernatural, Madeline LaRue still runs to her side when Blanche calls for help. Strange phenomena are occurring at New Atlantis, the fortress home of Blanche’s lover, Dru Montclair -- a superstar celebrity whose mission is to inspire global peace through music and the model community he has created at New Atlantis.

Madeline is the only person who can help, because she is a powerful psychic. She sees this gift as a curse more than a boon and has fought to suppress it since childhood. Her faith lies in science, not in forces she can neither see nor understand.

But to help Blanche, she must willingly confront her power and learn its secrets: how it works; why no one can prove psychic power exists; and why, through history, the bearers of such powers have been ridiculed, persecuted, or destroyed.

More frightening for her, Madeline must learn to embrace and harness her own power in order to transform the negative energies massing around Blanche and Dru into positive energies, before the gathering evil ripples outward into the world. In the process, she must untangle star-crossed lovers and identify her soulmate among them, for those relationships seem to be generating all the energies involved.

Her faith in science finally leads Madeline to the Möbius strip, a mathematical symbol, which transports her beyond occultism to the transition point between physics and metaphysics. There the truth awaits, if she can survive long enough to find it.

Another Story Behind the Book with Cary Stone

‘MinX’ my first outing with Club Lighthouse,Publishing is a roller coaster fantasy ride of sex, drugs and Rock n Roll. Based around the globally famous all girl rock band ‘MinX’ as they embark on their world tour called ‘ThinK MinX’. Their adventures are hot, fast, sometimes drug fuelled often dark and dangerous, very erotic and sometimes criminal and tragic...


It was also my first collaboration with writer Jake Horton of New Jersey; it took 4 years to write and was worth all our fights some of which are often played out in the dialogue of the two lead male characters. Being a collaboration and given 4 main characters Jake took on the mantle of Drew Coltrane horn section backing band leader and female character Crystal Lake. I took Stone Redman the 2nd sax player and Serene Dubois the lead singer and Matriarch of band entourage and show; later when the tour hits London I introduced Danny Bannion the London underworld crime Lord.

Where did the idea of the story come from?

Jake and I met at an erotic website which we both wrote for; it also had a chat room for the authors, editors and publishers etc involved at the site. We all got along great and had a lot of fun for a couple of years. Jake and I became notorious for our occasional sarcastic outbursts at each other although mostly “tongue in cheek” we did occasionally clash big time and profanity was not unknown! We did however have respect for each other’s writing abilities.

The editor of the site on seeing the volatile energy and potential in our relationship challenged us to collaborate on a story. We immediately took up the gauntlet and so the story was born.

We based Serena Dubois on the chief editor, as she is the leader of the band as editors tend to be. Crystal Lake the keyboard player was based on her assistant editor. Jake took on the role of Drew Coltrane, I Stone Redman. All the other characters in the tale were based the other writers etc that we communicated with in the chat room. Also some plots were very loosely based on things we had shared and the names were ones that everybody could recognise as their characters .

17 or so chapters were serialised on the website for everyone’s amusement; unfortunately the site closed soon after that. By now Jake and I realised we had a monster of a gem on our hands and were hooked on it.

We decided to carry on, upgrade the plots big time; change all the names to what you see now. Add another 15 chapters and change the title to ‘MinX’. I was also lucky enough to get my friend and mentor Jude Mason the Canadian author to edit the first 4 chapters. She gave us great advice to carry and set the standard and pace with which we rolled on.

How did your characters come to life?

Well in the beginning they were all loosely based on real people, so for Jake and I Drew Coltrane and Stone Redman never changed much they were always just exaggerations of ourselves and incidents in our lives; plus a shit load of imagination and artistic predilection.

Stone Redman’s character is loosely based on my alter ego and some dramatised experiences in my life. Danny Bannion much the same but over exaggerated and thrown in are some essence of people I have known. He is also a character from other stories of mine and came to life in “And then we Danced the Tango” which is incidentally one of the tales in my latest release ‘Dark Arenas’. Serena is based on my impression of some successful black female singers. I have the ability to get inside my characters and they take me over whilst I am writing them.

The cover design/concept for Minx was mine and I was very ably assisted by creative Texan photographer Karen Tawater. Here is a link to a promotional video I created with Jon Benjamin for the story) http://youtu.be/FFPeoia2NUY

Blurb

‘MinX’

The truth the whole truth and nothing like the…
Singer Serena Dubois and co-founder keyboardist Crystal Lake form the groundbreaking multi-ethnic all-female rock band MinX with gorgeous world-class musicians Inez, Kat, Jennifer and Keisha, along with backing duo Suzette and Nicole Before starting their ‘Think MinX’ world tour, veteran sax men Drew Coltrane and Stone Redman are recruited to form an equally talented brass section to supplement MinX distinctive sound. They in turn recruit session men Blair, Amin, Scott or Space as he’s known as well as Charlie ‘T bone’ Sinclair a last minute much regretted decision. Meanwhile, hot & cold running romances develop between Serena and Stone, as well as Crystal and Drew to form a continuing subplot throughout the story. As well does the humorous Cockney/Yank banter between the two male main protagonists and the rest of the band. The band starts the tour playing all the major market venues in the USA in more ways than one. Their adventures and misadventures include memorable episodes involving all facets of their mantra of Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n Roll. Not forgetting much menace, love, violence and drama. Romance and tragedy are also components of the plot, not least the ousting of ‘T’ Bone after a tragic incident involving three MinX girls in Atlanta…The tour then crosses the pond to Europe and the action and the plot both grow even more passionate, powerful and intense. Drew is arrested and imprisoned upon their arrival in London. Suddenly Danny Bannion, a powerful London underworld figure appears on the scene as an old mentor of Stone’s. Crystal is smitten with Danny’s charm and bad boy charisma. She is then seriously injured in a life, threatening life changing suspicious car crash in Bannions car. The reconfigured MinX continues to conquer Europe and Japan involving many more outlandish adventures and disasters before bringing their spectacular odyssey to a triumphant close in Australia.

The story and the band come full circle in a massive dramatic surprise ending and MinX becomes a legend, both in the story, rock and roll history and the readers’ hearts and minds.

‘MinX’ will be re launched at CLP in November.

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

Dark Arenas is my latest outing at CLP, this is an anthology; three short stories of my own Ring Master, GladiatriX, And then we Danced the Tango’

Ring Master

Where did the idea for the story come from?

It came from my skull cinema where movies of my mind just project themselves; I just scribble them down as fast as I can then spend ages refining them. This tale is where the sinister undertones begin to show. Dhanta is the Ring Master of the “Circus of the Sexual Underworld” this story may capture your soul if you stare into it long enough!

This is the first story in the trio and where Sirocco from CLP started to edit. As we went along she realised something unusual and dark was on occurring and linking the stories; a certain, intriguing and mysterious undercurrent. Also something clicked between us and we found ourselves definitely on the same page! Sirocco really got into the mood of things and offered a lot more into the stories than just a basic edit; I was more than happy to take her ideas on board.

How do these characters come to life?

Dhanta comes to life in his menacing presence, strong appearance and dark seductive voice.

Lawrence comes to life as the knight in shining armour.

Stephanie as the willing slave enchantress.

Blurb

The “Underworld” had taken the lovers of all of his knights and mesmerised them into a sensual web of debauchery. Willingly they went, led by their own deep-seated lust and desires, depravities amplified by the sexual demons Dhanta, Patrice and Nina and other souls sucked under their fiendish spell. The Tantric Knights, both male and female, had vowed to reclaim their lovers from these lust sucking demons and to destroy the timeless sexual Hell that was trying to make the Earth its own sensual pleasure park. Lawrence knew that as evil as these things were, there was an even stronger, darker, force afoot here. He had felt it once, albeit for only a fleeting second, when Stephanie was torn from his loving arms. That pain had lived with him for the last three years, the pain that became a burning obsession.

The flickering flames from the torches around the perimeter of the huge black marquee seemed to be trying to bewitch Lawrence with the offer of a sinister, sensuous invitation; but his inner being took control and brought him back to his senses. Quickly he regained his composure as his breath deepened, and a strange fear he hadn’t anticipated gripped his stomach. His mind began to spin with a mix of anger, jealousy and apprehension. A strong, erotic sexuality pulled on his soul, but his soul was strong and resolute and prepared for the temptations to come. Lawrence’s spirit was determined that nothing was going to stop him achieving the terrifying task ahead. The thought of the reward within it was all consuming.

Distant rolls of thunder seemed eerily to announce the sign that hung over the entrance canopy pronouncing proudly in red & silver letters,

For Tonight and Tonight and only

Dhanta presents

‘The Circus of the Sexual Underworld!’

GladiatriX

Where did the idea of this story come from?

It was inspired by my wife and muse after watching the movie Gladiator. She has all the courage that is extolled it this epic tale and more. She certainly has those bewitching green eyes and all the other virtues of Octavia and I like Atticuss would die for her...

How did my characters come to life?

Octavia is a slave Gladiatrix at the top of her game and loved by all of Rome.

Atticus is the ultimate elite warrior with a surprising tender heart; he is a paradox of virtues.

They are already alive this is the story of the age old ‘Battle of the Sexes’ my muse and I.

Blurb

Atticuss stood his ground as Octavia’s vision from Hell thundered upon him. At the last moment he leapt aside as it crashed by. Whips lashed his arms and legs. A lash caught its target and wrapped around his throat, pulling him off balance. It dragged him to the ground and pulled him behind the chariot for a few yards before he could free his sword and cut himself loose.

Although disoriented, he quickly sprang to his feet, only to see that Octavia was no longer aboard the chariot as it thundered back towards him. There were only the two other demons with it now.

Atticus dived out of the way to avoid being trampled by the wheels and hooves of the charging beasts. The whips cracked again. The lashes drew blood this time as they wrapped around his legs pulling him off balance, dragging him across the sand. Again he managed to cut himself loose. As he rose to his feet a red cape landed over him, and he heard her death defying screech. With lightening speed he slashed the cape into pieces.

Octavia appeared behind him, and came at him like a spinning, screaming cyclone. She knew that she would have to get him as quickly as she could. He spun around in the direction of her sound. Her sword missed his eyes by a hair’s breadth. He instinctively swung his sword straight for her throat. Her shield deflected his blow.

*********from a different chapter*******

Octavia rose and strode toward him, her confidence showing in the arrogant swing of her hips. Then she smiled at him; a smile that was at once vampish and ominous. He noticed that she was dragging a long, thin, elegant silver chain leash.

When she reached him she ran her hands over his chest, shoulders, and stomach.

“You are a truly magnificent Gladiator, my slave. Your body is very beautiful, and most desirable!”

She then ran her fingers over his scars.

“I am sorry I had to damage it so much.”

As she spoke she pushed her finger hard against the dressed wound in his right arm, his eyes hardened as he gritted his teeth at the pain. A trickle of blood ran down his bicep and she cleared it with a wipe of her finger, then put it to her lips and sucked it dry, rolling her eyes as she smiled vampishly at him.

Now she was running her fingernails lightly all over his upper torso, leaning forward to press her lips against his cheek. He could feel her teeth biting him, a teasing bite as she fastened the leash around his neck.


And then we Danced the Tango

Where did the Idea of this story come from ?

It was inspired by the Tango sequence in the movie Moulin Rouge; it just fitted the ambience of Danny’s club the La Vie en Rose

A dirty dance, a sleazy club and my favourite character appears for the first time. Danny Bannion, his second appearance is in MinX and lasts 3 or 4 chapters and the ladies seem to love this villain with a heart of gold...Sex, drugs, martial arts, and blood on the dance floor. But just who shot who? Now editor Sirocco picked up the threads and we began again to “dance with the devil” and this story then expanded into its true form as did the others...

How do these characters come to life?

Here are a couple of snippets that should bring the characters to life, Nina:

SHE SHIFTED AROUND ON his extended tongue, bringing herself closer, ever closer. Oh! Oh! So close until the feelings of orgasm shot through her as she shivered and shook. She gripped the edges of the table screaming out in her ecstasy; beat the table uncontrollably in time with the tribal drums that now filled the air. It was as if everybody in the club now had their eyes on her.

She just kept on going to Jean Paul’s mounting oral pace, until she could stand it no longer. Her shrieks filled the room as she came in ecstatic floods of juice, as orgasms swept her away into ecstatic oblivion.

A massive cheer rang out around the club and the diners rose to give Nina a standing ovation. She was unaware what was going on, she was so delirious in her orgasmic afterglow. Her wetness intoxicated him as it ran into his mouth, down his face as she came in floods. Finally she collapsed into the chair, the perspiration running down her face and body.

Jean Paul:

“I CAN ONLY STAY a few moments Jean Paul,” she conceded.

With that she waved her hand and a pretty waitress appeared by her side.

“Bring us champagne. Quickly Nicole, I don’t have much time”

She sat across the table from him looking deep into his eyes. She liked very much what she saw. He was a good-looking man around 5’9” tall, well built, dark tanned skin, wavy full flowing shoulder length black hair. He had the deepest, sexiest brown eyes that she had ever seen, close trimmed black beard that ran to his sideburns, and a moustache.

She admired the way his black silk shirt fitted, hinting at his gorgeous hard body. He was slim, his muscles well defined;, he looked strong, defiant and self assured. His black trousers were tight around the hips and groin and slightly flared from the knee down. His boots were Cuban heeled like those worn by Spanish Flamenco dancers and the new breed of animal known as rock star. There was a black leather coat draped across his shoulders; he exuded confidence and had natural charm.

She was intrigued by the two black leather wrist straps he wore. He was a devilishly attractive man with a lustful, erotic white smile, a menacing combination of virtues; in fact a very dashing, dangerous and enigmatic man.

Her desire and fascination was such that she would give anything to stay with him and leave her pressing prior engagement,

Danny Bannion:

It was a cry that stopped the music, filling the air with a deep menacing silence.

Jean Paul couldn’t believe his ears. Another fucking lyric from that crazy song; but now it was no longer in his mind or coming from the sound system. It was coming from reality; it was coming from the mouth of the guy in the tuxedo right in front of him. That man was Danny Bannion and he had a gun pointed right at him.

Then, as the Latino held Roxanne, a deafening crack smashed the ghostly silence.

Roxanne:

Roxanne danced slowly and erotically towards him, strutting, her legs that were exposed in the beautiful red tango dress she now wore as she waved it about high and low in a flamenco style. She was now transformed into some erotic vision as she sensually danced, hands behind her hair lifting it upwards, moving towards her Latin infatuation and clapping her hands loudly in time with the beat.

Her eyes stared deep into his, holding her head high and arrogant as she moved closer to the man she found irresistible. She stamped her feet to the beat, her arms moving snakelike around her body as she drew close up to him. He was helpless to resist; and, like a poor sheep to the slaughter, took her bait. Immediately he put both his hands on her hips and spun her around, grabbing her on the turn, bending her back across his arm, his hand high in the air holding hers in a graceful erotic movement, his grip vicelike and meaningful.

The crowd was now spellbound into deep silence. Why had she chosen to act like this? What had possessed her when she knew the consequences would be dire?


I am indebted to Sirocco for the great editing job and understanding of the concept and character development etc. So much so was our simpatico that we are now 9 chapters into a total collaboration called “Dark Mirrors” a story that expands on the concepts and characters of Dark Arenas and really bringing things to an almighty conclusion.

Another Story Behind the Book with Robin Glasser

Did you know that concubinage actually exists in France? Neither did I until I met the frog prince of my dreams and moved to Paris as his concubine. While living in The City of Light, drinking vin rouge in the same bistros as Simone, Ernest, Gertrude, et al., I’d been working on a roman à clef—My Life as a Concubine—the story of a savvy, New York City woman, never married, not looking to be, who suddenly falls in love with a Frenchman. She gives up everything—including a rent-controlled, Park Avenue apartment, even her cat!—for l’amour.

Part travelogue, My Life as a Concubine offers recipes, insights into those galling Gauls, the HUGE cultural differences between Americans and French, and a sometimes poignant and often funny view of what it’s like to live and love in a foreign land.

This is the condensed version of how my book got published. A friend sent me an email about a reality show called “Book Millionaire.” You didn’t even need a manuscript to enter—-BIG clue—-which I totally ignored. All you had to do to qualify was fill out an endless questionnaire and send in a video of yourself explaining why you wanted to be on the program. I wrote a great script (you can judge for yourselves on myspace.com/robinglasser - "Robin in 7 Minutes") and won the first-week contestant contest. There were nine more weeks of judging and then all the winners would begin filming for the show. The prize—a million dollar book contract. Another HUGE clue—again ignored. Let’s be realistic here—how many first-time writers would receive such a windfall?

Months barreled by. Emails flew back and forth between contestants and the ‘producer.’ The results: nada, rien, zero, zilch from BM (exactly what the show was turning into). Tired of the waiting game, I decided to take matters into my own nail-bitten hands. I composed a tantalizing query letter declaring that I was the Book Millionaire Reality Show’s first-week winner and the publishers should checkout my video on their (BM) website. Within ten minutes, I received a reply from a small online publishing house declaring they’d never received such a unique query before and please e them the manuscript. I did and got a contract. HEA, right? Wait. There’s more.

A few weeks before My Life as a Concubine was to be released, I went down to Miami. A writer friend had rented a table for their huge book fair and invited me to share her space. I had a self-published book of suggestive poetry, MEN AT WORK, plus a zillion postcards printed with the cover of my romantic comedy on the front, and blurb, publishing info on the back. Pressing my promo into countless hands, I felt like a politician. My campaign seemed successful—many potential customers professed profound interest.

I returned home and, wading through a tsunami of emails, saw one from my publisher informing me they were no longer in business. Talk about devastation! Several margaritas, numerous consolations, and %$#!! outbursts, I took deep yoga breaths and e’d my editor from the defunct publisher, asking if she knew anyone who’d be interested in my book. She put me in touch with one of her publishers and they gave me a new contract.

Yes, My Life as a Concubine was published as an e-book. It wasn’t until it came out in print and I could hug it to my perky breasts that I finally believed it was real.

The moral of this tale: Believe in yourself. Do NOT give up. When you get in that funky mood, after receiving yet another rejection, reread this story—some do end HEA.

Buy links:

http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=My+Life+as+a+Concubine+/exact_match=exact

Amazon

Website: http://www.myspace.com/robinglasser

Another Story Behind the Book with Mia Baily

Where did the idea for this story come from?

With my debut novel, "Spicing It Up!", I was actually dating a chef. One night we were discussing the similarities between our professions - the creativity, the passion. And all through history, there has been an inalienable connection between food and romance.
And with "Of Night and Desire", a friend of mine who is a local independent film director and Systema Marital Artist inspired my hero character. He had just completed a film as a vampyre hunter and I thought he might be better as an Immortal. My love for the Renaissance era inspired my H/H's courtly romance while the Gothic works of Edgar Allen Poe inspired my vampyre character.
How did your characters come to life?

It was odd how the characters came together in totally different and unique ways. With "Spicing It Up!", I dreamed the entire book one night, in color, from start to finish. I was like watching a movie. It also sparked two cookbooks that I am currently editing.

But I'll admit I did struggle in some areas with "Of Night and Desire". I was dealing with my "lemons to lemonade moment in life" of being unemployed and had a hard time creating. In order to finish the book, I spent a lot of time up North enjoying the country life to gain a fresh perspective and clear my mind.

But with my writing, I find my characters take on a life of their own - there are times when they seem to jump off the page to scream at me "I would never say that" or "This is the way I would handle this." They are flesh and blood, mind and hearts and truly touch a part of me.

A friend of mine editing"ONAD" as I worked would always ask "Did the bastard (vampyre) die yet?". When I replied no, she would stomp her foot with a "Damn!"

That's the kind of emotion I want to bring out in all my characters - love them or hate them; cheer them on when they are striving to reach a goal, cry with them as they experience loss and hurt and celebrate with them as they succeed and find love.


Spicing It Up!

Cara Manning has worked very hard to get to the top of her career. Staying on top is going to be the hardest work she has ever done. Running with the current trend in cooking shows, she pitches 'Spice It Up!'. Now all she needs is a sizzling chef to host the show.

She definitely finds that in Jack Monroe, an aspiring restaurateur who has a flair for haute cuisine, a scandalous reputation, and a killer smile that makes Cara's knees melt like butter. From the moment they meet, their heat is evident.

Jack can see beneath Cara's uptight exterior is a woman with passion. But can he shake the rumors of his "bad-boy" escapades to be with an uptight, corporate executive?

Can Cara take a chance with a man who, technically, works for her, without risking her career or losing her own identity?

Of Night and Desire

Richelle Sommers has inherited her mother’s magical gifts: empathic and telepathic, she can feel and hear the thoughts of others as well as speak with the beasts of nature. Raised in the mountains, she becomes a beautiful woman dedicated to saving her beloved wolves.

For centuries, Valya cel Mare has defended the innocent against the evil forces seeking to destroy them. One fateful day, he loses an innocent--a powerful psychic witch--and is left to protect her only child, Richelle, from a cult of religious fanatics led by a demented old priest bent on using her powers to fight on the side of his ‘God’ and serve The Evil One, the most ancient and powerful of Vampyres.

Hunted by both man and monster, can Valya save Richelle from the religious fanatics and the Evil One, Luka cel Rau, who plans to use her powers to enslave the world?

Buy link: http://www.sirenpublishing.com/miabailey/

Author Website:http://www.miabaileyromances.info/

PRESS RELEASE:
Writing is the culmination of a life-long dream for Romance/Romantica Author, Mia Bailey. She remembers as a child spending summers on her grandparent‘s farm creating little books from rolled butcher paper her grandfather would bring home his store. She would cut and fold the papers, stapling them to design the little books, and then spend days creating her own personal library with tales of imagination and wonder.

As an adult, her dream of becoming a published author had to be set aside as she endured many changes in her life. She unexpectedly found herself a single parent and spent several years in the Welfare system. Wanting to build a better future for her daughter, she completed her Bachelor‘s degree at Oakland University and ventured forth into the world of corporate America. She became a career mentor at a Training and Development company servicing other welfare families in Detroit, helping other women achieve their career goals. But she never gave up on her own.

The better part of her writing during her career was in professional development in career exploration as well as writing articles for several local newspapers and magazines. It was only after the simultaneous occurrence of several life events – her fortieth birthday, her daughter‘s high school graduation and acceptance to college, and her survival of a major automobile accident – that rekindled her energy to pursue her dreams of writing.

So with a new attitude and renewed spirit, she started down a different road; not one on the straight and narrow, but rather one with many twists and turns. She chose not a fast track to success but rather the scenic route to a new and exciting destination. She wrote her debut novel, Spicing It Up! in six months and within two months, had received several offers to publish her book.

And with the downturn in the Michigan economy, the Career Mentor used her education to develop her own career plan to ultimately achieve her career dream of being a full-time Published Author. Inspired by a friend she used as the model for her hero, she wrote "Of Night and Desire", a paranormal vampire romance that called to her Renaissance Woman spirit taking advantage of what she calls her "lemons to lemonade moment in life". "I don't have time to be depressed or bored," quoted Mia. "There is so much to see, and do, and learn and I want to experience as much as I can for as long as I can."

And although she has returned to work as a Career Mentor and continues her education for a Masters in Counseling, she also spends her time writing in several genres including Romance, Poetry and Children‘s literature as well as in Professional/Career Development.

Never one to waste a moment, Mia charges in headlong in to face new challenges and experiences to broaden the mind, body and spirit. Mia often comments, ―It‘s a good thing I love to work and live to write!‖
Mia Bailey lives near Detroit, MI with her best cheerleader - her daughter. She continues consulting through IDEAS – Innovative Designs for Entrepreneurial Advantages, as well as conducts training as a Career Mentor in Career Development. But most importantly, she writes daily and looks forward to the day when she can walk into someone‘s home and there, on the bookshelf, she will see their library of Mia Bailey novels. She truly lives by the mantra…
“Embrace Every Dream...Live Every Moment...Fulfill Every Fantasy”