Getting in the Paranormal mood

This week I find myself shoulder deep in the business of being an author that doesn't include the actual writing of a book. Editing, website updates, promo mailings, blurb writing, etc., etc. You get the picture.

Ok, so it's not really that bad but I think you can imagine the chaos I am in. No biggie, we all do what we have to. But the deal is this. I have a book deadline in less than 3 weeks and quite a bit of word count to go. I'm finishing up the last of the Pentacles of Magick: The Healing which is Book 3 in the series and coming out this fall. So I need to have witches, empaths, prophecies and evil villains on my mind. lol

I think my mistake was this. I didn't make a playlist for this book! *gasp* Now I don't normally need music to get me in the mood to write but with chaos reigning around the house I think it would have helped.

For Book 2 it was all about my Pink CD. The heroine of that story is a brash motorcycle riding firestarter, so the music was perfect.

Sometimes to get in the paranormal mood i need only look at the pictures and knick knacks I keep around my desk. Spike, Angel, Faeries, Gargoyles, Dragons, etc. And other times I watch movies. I'm a bit of a movie junkie so I have quite a few. I watched this one today.



I'm ready to write but I need a playlist for focus. So, what music gets you in the paranormal mood? Is it a favorite movie soundtrack? I have bunches of those. I've been surfing through itunes and have found a few but I need more. Got any suggestions?

There used to be this really cool video on YouTube that could really get you in the sexy paranormal mood but well, it was a bit racy and YouTube took it down. The song was Predator by Front Line Assembly and the video was from a vampire movie I think. It was erotic.

So I will leave you with a couple of videos from the now cancelled Moonlight. You don't even want to get me started on that rant. LOL And please if you have some suggestions for my playlist I would REALLY love to hear them.

Eliza

Introduction

I thought I should use my first blog as something of an introduction for those of you who don't know me! I've lived in many places over the years, but I'm currently residing in a very remote section of Missouri north of Hannibal. There's ups and downs to living away from civilization, but while I miss the excitement of a big city, I do love the scenery. I've been married 24 years to the world's most patient husband. He's a counselor and football coach at the local school, which means Friday nights spent on cold, hard benches, watching kids run into each other...sigh. I have two teenage sons, both in college although they both still live at home and commute. I don't think they'll ever move out :) My oldest is in a death metal band that has confiscated my garage as their studio. You can't imagine how much fun it is to try writing a love scene with the house shaking and a dozen kids yelling at the top of their voices.

I started my career twenty years ago...wow, I'm old. It took me ten years to finally get published writing regencies (which I love) under the name Deborah Raleigh. I still write historicals, but a couple of years ago I decided to turn my love for all things Buffy into words. I began writing the first in the Guardians of Eternity just for my own pleasure. I love the combination of fantasy and humor and it crept into the book even when I was trying to be dark and brooding. Ah well. It was actually my editor at Zebra Publishing that suggested we make the book a first in series, for which I'll forever be grateful. I've loved the journey and I hope my readers will too.

Living in the middle of nowhere means I love to chat about anything related to books with fellow readers, so I hope you'll jump in and let me know what's on your mind!

All the best,
Alex

New Books from Bianca

There's been some excitement on The D'Arc Side... new books! Yes, that is plural. For some reason, the book fairies like to give me multiples. Book releases, you pervs! Book releases! ;-)

What I mean, is that I usually end up having a bunch of things come out together, then a long dry spell, then more things coming out together. March was a good example. Not one, but THREE print releases at the end of March (Hara's Legacy, Sons of Amber, & I Dream of Dragons anthology volume 1). Now it's May and I have two ebooks that were released this week - the Dragon Knights novel, FireDrake, and a Gone Country novella called Perfect.

Here's a little bit about each of this week's releases:

FireDrake

A knight most unexpected...

Fifteen years ago, Drake left everything behind for a life in the shadows. While it broke his heart to leave his grieving dragon behind, serving Draconia as head of a network of spies suited him better. Far better than never quite measuring up to Mace, the “perfect” knight his father wished he could have been.

Mace has always done his duty, and done it well. Drake, his childhood friend and rival, was the charmer who effortlessly stole every woman who caught Mace’s eye. Some things never change—not one day back in town, and Drake’s already putting the moves on Krysta, the woman Mace has been courting.

And now the three of them have taken on the dangerous task of rescuing a kidnapped prince.

With each day that passes on their perilous journey, Krysta sinks deeper into the complicated relationship between the two men and their meddling, matchmaking dragons. Mace is clearly the safer choice for a mate; yet Drake tantalizes her with that unpredictable gleam in his eye. When the three of them come together, any sense of torn loyalty burns away in nights of fiery passion.

The safety of the stolen prince hanging in the balance, Krysta accepts the challenge to unite two strong men—and their dragons—into a real family.

If the fire within doesn’t burn them all to cinders first.

More Information

Perfect

A city girl meets a country boy. She's "gone country" and he's just the man to teach her to ride...

A city girl, successful business woman and former bakery owner, Cassandra, has sold out and moved West to her own slice of heaven -- a working ranch, complete with cowboys. She doesn't know much about ranch life, but she's a willing student, especially when the new ranch hand catches her eye.

Cody compliments her cooking and charms his way into her life, but he's keeping secrets, and she doesn't know if she can trust her instincts where he's concerned. She's going to have to make a decision, but should she take the risk?

More Information

Sorry to make my first real post here a promo post, but the timing just works out that way. *shrug* I guess my turn to blog won't roll around again until after the Lori Foster event in June, so if any of you are going to the get together, please look me up! I'll have lots of goodies to give away! :)

Bianca

Come over to The D'Arc Side... www.biancadarc.com

The D'Arc Side blog... http://biancadarc.com/blog/

Greetings!

I know....I am last and slow. But bear with me. Things are not right in the Nightwalker goddess's realm. Oy! Remind me the next time I think it's a good idea to have family come live with me that...well, it's not!! What the heck do they stuff into these five year olds these days? Mega Energizers?? NASA should know about this kid, the way she converts food (fuel) into energy (can you hear my root ripping from my scalp?) I am on the third month of this. Also on my journey of discovery, I have come to realize I am a mean bitch, a 'wicked stepmother' of an aunt, and...you can't discipline other people's children in front of them no matter how freakin badly they need it!!

And that, my friends, is my introduction. I am a NYT Bestselling author with (GASP!! HORRORS!!!) normal real life petty bullshit problems. Tada!! I will talk about the good the bad and the ugly. I will talk about books, both mine and yours. And I will talk about charities, reaching your hand out and helping little creatures who need you to help. I am, as my father might say, a big fat tree-hugging bleeding heart (he'd tack on LIBERAL, but I don't do politics...just individual causes.)

Interested? Great! We'll get on swell together. Not interested? Then go away. We are normal crazy people here who love romance, love books, love writers and LOVE the worlds of fantasy, paranormal, the erotic and even science fiction! As far as I know, none of the women here are boring, none are conventional, and none of us take any shit.

Just like any self-respecting kick-ass heroine should!!

Hugs and Kitties
Jacki Frank

Hi From Bianca

Wow! I'm honored and excited to be included in such auspicious company!

By way of introduction, I write romance in several sub-genres including paranormal, futuristic, contemporary, sci fi & fantasy. I tend to usually be going in several directions at once, but somehow it all works out.

On a personal note, I'm a native New Yorker and worked on Wall Street until August 2001. I got out of there just in time to avoid 9/11, but that event forever changed my life in very significant ways. It led to my being able to devote a lot more time to writing and to achieving a lifelong dream of becoming a published author on Valentine's Day of 2006. Since then, I've had a number of books released in both ebook and print and have made some awesome friends along the way.

So that's enough for now. I'm sure we'll all get to know each other better as this blog rolls along. I want to thank my fellow Authors After Dark for inviting me and welcome our readers as well. This is gonna be fun!

Eliza waves to all

Oh! Oh! Oh! I am so excited to be here. This is the place where I get to come and talk about all the dark and twisty thoughts in my mind right? haha Just Kidding. Maybe.

Stella did such a wonderful job designing the blog and as I perused everyone's covers I started making a list. Read it, read it, read it, ooh gotta get it, read it , read it, must have it and so on. You see I love covers and I am easily influenced to buy based on one and Yowsa there are some awesome authors here!

As for myself, I write a lot of paranormal and fantasy romance on the super spicy side of things but occasionally like to shake things up with a contemporary here and there. I currently have 5 titles available with 4 more due this year so i'm pretty much hiding in my writing cave all the time.

My new paranormal witch series, Pentacles of Magick debuted last month and Book 2 will be coming out in June with 3 and 4 following in the fall. I love writing about the metaphysical with a special interest in Tarot, so you'll notice quite a few books in that area.

I look forward to some fun and fascinating conversation here and if you ever have any questions feel free to contact me anytime, I love to chat.

Eliza

Hello from Alex

First, I’m delighted to be invited to be a part of Authors After Dark! I’m honored to be in such company and I look forward to joining in the discussions. As a brief introduction, I write contemporary paranormals as Alexandra Ivy (as well as regency historicals as Deborah Raleigh). My current paranormal series, The Guardians of Eternity, are a strange brew of action, humor, and sensuality…not always in that order. So far three of the books have been published, with three more scheduled in the series.

In real life I’m a wife and mother of two teenage boys. As the lone woman in a houseful of men I’ve discovered sanity is a relative term and that anything is possible, including the magic of writing with a dozen teenage boys playing death metal in my garage.

I love to chat with fellow readers and hope that I can bring something of interest to the table…

Meeting Stella (and Audra) Price

Hello! I'm glad to be the first to post on this here blog and introduce myself! I'm sure that most of you don't know who I am, and thats ok, Audra and I are hardly a household name.

Yet.

We are sisters, and have 9 books in print in small press. We write Paranormal Romance, Erotic Dark Fantasy and Urban Fantasy Romance. Our series include the Eververse series, the Dragon Elementals series, the Duvall Inc. series and the Knossos West weresnake series.

On the side, I'm a graphic artist and award winning cover artist.

I'm really excited to be involved with this blog and the fabulous women who blog here. They are some of my favorite authors and some of the best women in the business. I cant wait to see what everyone has to say and to really get everything going here!

Oh and Ill be gone most of the Month of June, I will be over the pond in Scotland for my sisters wedding, so stop by for updates and fun pictures.

So hi everyone! its great to be here!

Check back soon!