My Very First Post!

Hi everyone!

Well, this is my very first post, and I have to say, I'm excited to be here! (I'm a little starstruck, too.) I've been a fan of every author here for quite a while, so when I was asked to join the blog, I was all wiggly and squealy and, "Was there really a doubt as to my answer?"

So anyway, I'm here, and I'm Larissa Ione (I also write as Sydney Croft with partner Stephanie Tyler,) and I'm a readerholic. I read pretty much anything, but my favorite genres are horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and paranormal romance. When it comes to all genres, the darker the better.

And when it comes to writing…well, I definitely let my dark side reign. Even my sense of humor runs to the dark side, often going as black as 'gallows humor.'

Still, as dark as I can get, I do love lighter books as well.

So basically, I like almost everything. I read mostly romance, but my favorite non-romance authors include Robert Jordan, Sharon Kay Penman, and Stephen King.

What about you? Do you gravitate toward the dark side, or do you have a lighter heart? Mix of both?

Thanks again, ladies, for having me! I look forward to getting to know everyone!

I'm Baaaack!

So sorry the blog is late, but I just returned last night from my Levy Book Tour! What a fabulous time. The Levy people were fantastic and treated us like celebrities. To be honest my head swelled to dangerous proportions and when I returned home I tried to convince my husband and sons that "I'm a kind of a Big Deal". Unfortunately, they didn't really agree and all the fetching and waiting upon me that I had been expecting was sadly absent. In fact, there wasn't even one fetch or wait to be found. Ah well. There's nothing like family to keep you humble :) I really did have a great time and met some of absolute idols in the writing world. Shockingly they're completely wonderful and went out of their way to make a 'newbie' like me feel completely welcome. We traveled through Michigan for three days, doing three signings each day at different stores. The crowds were so much fun and I had the pleasure of actually meeting some of my fans face to face, which I love to do. Sometimes when I'm in my 'troll hole' I feel like I'm writing in a vacuum and to be able to get out and talk with readers is something I truly treasure. At some point I'll try and get a few pictures up, (I'm such a tech dunce) and you can see the terrific writers that shared the trip. Once you see them you'll wonder what the heck I was doing there...but, I slipped in and no one threw me out so it's all good :)

On an even brighter side my *&^&*&&% sewer is finally, finally fixed. I warned my husband I wasn't coming home if the dang thing was still backing up :)

Hope all is well with you,
Alex

Will I Be in Your Town?

Had a great book signing with Stella and the girls upstate New York on Saturday and am looking forward a to spending some time with Jacki and others at Lora Leigh's Reader Appreciation Weekend (RAW) this coming weekend in West Virginia. If you're near Huntington, please come see us!

I'm doing a number of appearances in October and November, including Albacon in Albany, NY, and the NJ RWA Conference. We're also returning (triumphant?) to the Middletown Borders on November 1st for a signing. It's always fun to hang with other authors, talk shop and gossip like madwomen!

After seeing Stella's post, I'm trying to figure out how to embed a video in Blogger. Of course, I'm too mind-numb to figure out how to embed anything today, so check out my You Tube Channel if you feel so inclined. I have two videos up there right now - one for Sweeter Than Wine (in print October 30th!) and one for FireDrake, for which I did three art compositions that are featured in the video.

Other than scrambling to make appearances, I'm sitting tight, writing a lot and looking forward to my Fall releases. I have one every month starting in October until the end of the year - two print releases (Sweeter Than Wine and Davin's Quest) and an ebook called One & Only. (Check out the yummy new cover!) Hmm... that's two paranormals and a futuristic. (What? No dragons? Boo.)

So now I'm sure you're asking yourself, "Will Bianca be in my town?" If you're in the Northeast, chances are good that I'll be nearby at some point. If so, please come down and say hello! You can always find out where I am or where I'm going by checking my website events page, my personal blog, or by signing up for my monthly newsletter.

See ya soon, I hope!
Bianca
http://www.biancadarc.com/

Outlines, deadlines, and far too much on my plate.

So I'm back! Yes its my turn once again to come and play with you lucky lucky people! Its been a wild month since i was here last, more submissions going out, a new series outlined and still on deadline for three books at the very least. Yes, my work is never done.

So we have a new video. Yep. I broke down and did another one, this for the book Deep Water. Here it is. LOL.

Yes. I'm happy with it. It was fun to make, and maybe it will get some attention for the book.

So Audra and I are still looking for an agent to rep the Weresnakes. Its been a long hard road, especially because of the fact that the majority of the agents who have rejected us feel that it is a "hard sell" and a "risk" project for a first time author. I disagree. I think the market is ready for this kinda work, and this idea, giving the reading public a choice and something new and fresh to sink their teeth into. Still, apparently what I think doesnt matter. It's daunting, and discouraging because its a damn good book and the fact that its snakes is what is pushing people off right off the bat. I knew this was going to be a complete uphill battle but this is much more then I expected. But everyone keeps telling me that nothing worth anything comes easy. I get that, and I agree, but this is insane. We are hopeful, and Audra and I dont ever give up on anything we really want so... im grabbing my force lance and Im scaling the hill.

I have signings up the wazoo for the next 5 weeks in a row. Two conventions, a bunch of in store appearances and the Collingswood Book festival. Yeah. I'm not near ready for ANY of it. But thats how it gets when I get stressed. If you are popping out to any of the signings, lemme know you saw this blog and you'll get some cool special goodies. Yeah Im all about giving cool stuff away.

Speaking of which, my winner for this month is DREA. Congrats. email me your address at stella@stellaandaudra.com and lemme know what book you would like. I'll send it asap.

This months contest is about videos. What are your favorite book videos out there? Heres my You tube page, where we have almost all ours, and you dont have to pick ours, but I thought you should see. So what do you think makes a good video? Do videos on the whole make you wanna buy a book? Do you prefer videos to other kinds of promo?

So post your opinions, and winner will get choice of Print book of a book we have a video for. That would be either Fire in His Eyes, Deep Water, Wishbound, Gifts, Sugar and Sin. Good luck and enjoy the videos!

Ill be back next month... OOh and guess what? we have a mew AAD member: Larissa Ione! She will be posting on the 30th of each month starting this month so be sure you pop by and say hi!

The King Has Come!

Noah has arrived in bookstores everywhere!

The gloriously hot Demon King and his equally hot new mate are now on the shelf of your local bookstore. If it isn't, yell at the managers because it should be! Noah had already hit the lists at number 19 on the New York Times and number 45 on the USA Today. This thing is cooking with gas!

Then again, with Noah at the helm, no gas is necessary.

To celebrate, I would love to give away a free copy of Noah to one lucky person who comments here today and tells me who their favorite Nightwalker is and why. I'll pick out my favorite response by the end of next week and will send out a signed copy to the winner. :)


I don't want you to forget that I am going to be at Lora Leigh's RAW the weekend of Sept. 19th-21st with the book signing event on Sunday the 21st.



And now that Noah is safely in your nests, it's already time to start looking forward to January when my new series will begin! The first book in the series will be Ecstasy, and this is the cover over on the left. It is book one in the new Shadowdwellers series. I think everyone is going to really like this mysteriously dark culture and the journey I am going to take you on through it. So far there are three books in the series. I am considering a fourth. We shall see.

WEll, that's about all the news that's fit to print at the moment. I look forward to reading your comments :)

Hugs and Kitties
Jacki

Night Bites

I have been a very bad blogger lately but I hope to rectify that now and plan to blog every month like I am supposed too.

This weekend I am at Dragon Con, actually today is Day 1 of the four day weekend of festivities. Day one consisted of hitting the dealer rooms first thing cause we were on a mission looking for fairy wings and horns. LOL Found the wings, not the horns yet but will look again tomorrow. I only made it about half way through the vendors before I had to run off to make it to a Farscape panel.

After that one, we went straight to the Night Bites workshop with both Sherrilyn Kenyon and Laurell K Hamilton. It was a panel full of readers and fans who came to discuss why vampires are so beloved. Which is a really good question since I am about to embark on a Southern vampire series.

For the panelists they felt it boils down to the immortality aspect of them. The escaping of death. It was a lively and interesting discussion about why we love our sexy vamps. It gave me even more to think about before I start writing the southern vampire series I have been planning.

For now I am off to buy some custom made vampire teeth and then the Abney Park concert tonight.

A couple of weeks ago I had a new release. The third book in my Pentacles of Magick series. (The fourth I turned in not too long ago and it will be coming out in October)



Dennison Scott is destined to succumb to his dark magick unless he
finds and takes his empathic mate, a female born into the prophecy.
But this earth witch has already forged a bond with his current lover,
Jake that he has no intention of breaking. Curse or no curse.

When both Denn and Jake begin to fantasize about a dark-haired witch,
the real trouble begins.

Raven is a witch and a bounty hunter willing to sell her power to the
highest bidder, even the enemy. Until she tried to kill one of the
Scott twins which left her on the brink of death. Now with her magick
bound and captive to two men, she is more vulnerable than ever and she
has to decide whether to trust in the impossible or fight for the life
she thought she was destined for.

Read an Excerpt HERE

For information and to see the new series video, visit my website at http://www.elizagayle.com

Have a good one, and i'll post some DragonCon pics next month when i'm back for blogging.

Eliza

Tis the Season!!

I LOVE this time of year!! The boys go back to college (although they both still live at home...sigh) and my husband goes back to work (he's a teacher) so after a summer of constant men underfoot I at last have a few blessed hours to myself...huzzah :) Just as importantly, the new TV season is about to get underway :) I can't wait for True Blood to start, in fact, I signed up for HBO just so I could watch it! I also have a strange love for Chuck...I actually like a bumbling good guy as an occasional break from all the alphas. I haven't really had a chance to figure out all the new shows, I've been too caught up in the Olympics :) so I'd love some input from all of you on the spanking new, upcoming shows that I've probably overlooked! Oh, and as a brief update, I've turned in book five of the Guardian series (Jagr's Book) and preparing to write book six (which I'm planning for Salvatore). After that...well, I'm kinda up in the air. I love the Guardian series, but I'm a little afraid of driving it into the ground, so I've been considering a few other story lines. Ah well, it's all still up in the air, especially since I have to sell any new idea (including the continuation of the Guardians) to my publisher!! To each day...

Hope your summer is filled with joy!
Alex