The Next Big Thing…

I’ve been tagged by Sandy Wright for The Next Big Thing Blog Hop, where new releases and new authors get highlighted. Sandy’s SONG OF THE ANCIENTS, is a Paranormal Suspense currently making the rounds in finding a publishing home.  Feel free to check out her blog at www.writersandy.com for all the nifty details on her first book.

So since I’m it, let’s get to it!

• What’s the title/working title of your latest book?

For those that are following, we’ll do SHADOW’S MOON, because I’m keeping my current WIP under wraps for a bit.

• Where did the idea for the book come from?

This will be the third in the Kyn Kronicles, but this time I decided to leave Raine and Gavin alone to take advantage of some downtime.  Instead I got caught up in Xander and Warrick’s relationship. I’ve always loved the concept of magic and the supernatural existing alongside reality, so the world I created has some dark corners that you don’t want to face without a sharp, pointy object. For SHADOW’S MOON, I wanted to explore the relationship between the most dominant male wolf in the Northwest and his top female enforcer, Xander.  What happens when two strong personalities meet? Do they bend, break or create something new? SHADOW’S MOON continues the twists and turns of the Kyn universe, but also allows the readers a chance to see the world through the eyes of the Shifter House.  Plus the sparks from Xander and Warrick were a blast to maneuver through.

• What genre does your book fall under?

Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy

• What’s a one sentence synopsis for your book?

As the Northwest Alpha wolf, compromise isn’t in Warrick Vidis’s vocabulary, but when his reluctant mate, Xander Cade, refuses to leave off the hunt for the one threatening their pack, will he be able to bend before they both break?

•  How long did it take to write the first draft of the manuscript?

It took me about 4 1/2 to 5 months to get through the first draft.  Then another month or so to fine tune it.

• Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

         Currently it is under consideration by a handful of publishing houses/agencies, so fingers crossed one of them picks it up.

• What other books would you compare this book to in your genre?

Hmmm…think Ilona Andrew’s Kate Daniels series or Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson or Alpha and Omega series. 

Since I like to share the spotlight, here are my “MUST READ” new authors! Swing on over and check them out!

Mona Karel

Liv Rancourt

Amber Kallyn

Lynn Rush

Ladies and Germs, I Present…LYNN RUSH! @lynnrush #VioletDawn #VioletMidnight #YA #Paranormal

Wicked *stopping by the lovely gardens at Dreamer’s place*: Morning, Dreamer. How’s Angel Boy?

Dreamer *pats the already neat soil around another colorful flower*: Good, keeping me busy.  *Rises to her feet and leans against her pale blue picket fence*  So, what has you out during daylight hours? I didn’t hear anything about the Prankster Duo letting Eerie’s Zombie herd out for a run.

Wicked: Actually, I’m expecting company. As a matter of fact, she should be here.

Dreamer *gazing down the beaten Swamp path*: Does she happen to fly?

Wicked *puzzled*: Um, not that I’m aware of, why?

Dreamer *slightly alarmed look on her face*: Because unless your guest has grown a pair of wings, something or someone is heading in at a very unsafe speed.

Snarky *dashing out of her cabin, curling her “formal” whip*: So, is she here yet?

Wicked *turning to watch a racing blur on two wheels skid to a stop and spray up some dirt*: I’d say, yes.  

*Ooohhss and Awwwss commence and the Swamp inhabitants shuffle, slither and limp their way over to meet our latest guest*

Wicked *huge grin*  May I present the wonderfully awesome, up and coming Young Adult Paranormal author and all around great person…Lynn Rush!

As children we tend to have an idea of what we want to be by the time we’re ten.  Before you decided to pursue the artistic dream of being a writer, what did you want to be and why?

I wanted to be a psychiatrist and eventually an FBI profiler. Remember Jodie Foster’s character in Silence of the Lambs? I sooo wanted to be her!!!

Mine was a judge, so think of this…your cases could have sat before my bench. Oh, think of the fun that would be!

If you turned your laptop/computer/pen/typewriter (yes, some of still use these!) over to your character(s), how would they describe you?

Some of them would call me a crazy-insane speed junky (I used to be a speed skater and mountain biker). Some might called me a space cadet because when I start writing, I kind of lose track of what’s going on around me. But all of them would describe me as driven. I’m pretty persistent when I have my eyes set on a goal.

Hey Lynn, maybe we should check out the Bondurant Driving School Track sometime?  I hear they let you break the rules on speed!

Many writers have that first novel which will never see the light of day. Out of curiosity, do you have one stashed somewhere?  Inquiring minds want to know: what was your first attempt at writing and how old were you?

Oh yes. I sure do! It’s called Light of Truth. It was my very first novel ever written. So, it was back in 2008—I won’t say my age (LOL)—and I didn’t even know what point of view meant! My sweet mother-in-law, Lynn, was the first to read that. Despite how horribly it was written, she found some things to encourage me with and that sparked everything! She’s the reason I give a portion of my proceeds to cancer research and treatment. She died of cancer October 2011, one month after the release of my very first novel (Wasteland).

What’s some of the funniest/sweetest/strangest things you’ve heard from your readers?

Getting emails from readers just makes my day. I try to answer every email, tweet, or message I receive because the readers are what it’s all about for me. I love interacting with them. I’ve gotten little messages from how they have book boyfriend crushes on David, my 400-year-old half-demon, to emails about how thankful they were for the New Adult category. That made me really smile because starting in a new category is always difficult. You’re just not sure how people are going to react, but so far, it’s really going well. New Adult isn’t as sweet as YA but it’s not so steamy as Adult. And when a mother wrote a note stating that when she saw New Adult, she felt safe letting her kids read it (16+).

Now it’s time for the best part–our bullet questions. Ready? Set.  GO!

Blades, guns, fists or feet?

Fists

Favorite Fairy Tale of all time?

Cinderella

Three titles and their authors sitting on your nightstand/bookcase/table/floor waiting to be read?

Jeaniene Frost: At Grave’s End, Destined for an Early Grave and This Side of the Grave. I’m digging that Night Huntress series!!

Greatest one liner of all time?

No soup for you!

Sarcastic witticism, Southern sweetness or Geeky disdain?

Sarcastic witticism

Strangest item currently taking up space in your writing cave?

Wad of gum on a coaster. I tend to chomp a bunch of gum while typing…was too lazy to get up and throw it away.

Favorite supernatural creature?

Demons

Now for the most exciting part of all.  Lynn’s latest title, VIOLET DAWN is here!

Violet Dawn (Violet Night Trilogy, #2)—Release Date April 1^st, 2013

 

Goodreads: 
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17160459-violet-dawn

In the darkest place, the Light shines brightest.

Emma’s love saved Jake from life as a vampire. But their happily ever after is threatened by a savage Vamp seeking retribution for destroying the Avenos Trinity of Evil.

A mysterious stranger enters the mix, coinciding with the first Vamp attack in months. Emma’s new friendship, and the suspicion and deceit surrounding it, further drives a wedge between her and Jake.

To complicate things, Emma is bitten by a Vamp with abilities no one has ever seen before, and that bite has left its mark.

A mark that might tear Jake and Emma apart forever…

“Fast-paced, action-packed, Violet Dawn is basically everything you’d want from a vampire hunter novel and then some. Emma has kick-ass written all over her.” ~Kate Evangelista, author of Taste

“Rush knocked this sequel out of the park.” ~Carrie Butler, author of Strength

If that’s not enough, check out Lynn’s other titles as well:

Violet Midnight (Violet Night, #1) Released October 2012

Amazon E-book         Amazon Paper       Barnes and Noble       Goodreads        All Romance E-Book     Book Trailer

Tainted (Wasteland, #3) Released January, 2013

Amazon                       Goodreads                   Book Trailer by Rachel Firasek

Awaited (Wasteland, #2) –Released May 2012

Amazon Print        Amazon Kindle          Barnes & Noble        All Romance E-Book          Kobo            Goodreads    

BooksAMillion (BAM)    Book Depository     Book Trailer

Wasteland (Wasteland, #1) Released September 2011

Amazon       Barnes and Noble       Goodreads      All Romance E-Book      Kobo        BooksAMillion (BAM)      Book Depository

Book Trailer

Salvation comes with a price…

Bound by the blood contract his human mother signed four centuries ago, half-demon, David Sadler, must obey his demonic Master’s order to capture fifteen-year-old Jessica Hanks. But as he learns more about her, he realizes she may be the key to freedom from his demonic enslavement.

The only obstacle—Jessica’s distractingly beautiful Guardian, Rebeka Abbott. He must not give in to their steamy chemistry, or he will lose his humanity. But fresh off a quarter millennia of sensory deprivation as punishment for not retrieving his last target, he may not be able to resist temptation long enough to save what’s left of his human soul.

“A pulse-pounding adrenaline surge brimming with poetic pyrotechnics, Rush’s story caresses your heart. Wasteland is a game-changer in the ho-hum angel/demon world. Beautifully written prose, strong characters and a compelling plot will keep readers hooked until the last page.”  –Romantic Times

***A portion of all proceeds benefits cancer research and awareness***

About Lynn…

Driven to write, Lynn Rush often sees her characters by closing her eyes watching their story unfold in her mind. Lynn Rush is a pen name that is a combination of two sources – Lynn, the first name of her mother-in-law, who passed away and Rush – since the author is a former inline speed skater and mountain biker. All of Rush’s books are dedicated to Lynn, her namesake, and a portion of the proceeds benefits cancer research and awareness.

Rush holds a degree in psychology from Southwest Minnesota State University and a master’s degree from the University of Iowa. Originally from Minneapolis, Rush currently enjoys living in the Arizona sunshine by road biking nearly 100 miles per week with her husband of 16 years and jogging with her two loveable Shetland Sheep dogs.

Connect with Lynn online

Catch the Rush™: www.LynnRush.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LynnRushWrites

Twitter: www.twitter.com/LynnRush

Pinterest: 
http://pinterest.com/lynnrushwrites/

Newsletter: 
http://eepurl.com/f55fL

It’s Amazing What A Little Time Off Will Bring…

I came back to the Swamp on Sunday after spending the weekend with Snarky at the RWA Desert Dreams conference down in the Valley of the Sun and found the Zombie Horde had finally deserted Dreamer’s little piece of property.  I’m guessing Eerie and Mischevious have been making tracks to the Impentrable Forest considering the path of gnawed bones littering the trail.  Have to love those Piranha Hummingbirds, they clean their dinner plates!  Not to worry, the Prankster Duo has no problem attracting new Zombies, it seems to be an inborn talent of theirs.

So after rounding up the Hellhound, I was pleased to see my Knight in Slightly Muddy Armor had managed to keep the Duo busy while I was away.  Seems there was a required marathon of movies involving a horned-helmeted blond with a facination for hammers, a green muscle head with a temper problem, and that dashing king of sarcasm who looks good in red and self perpetuating battery.  Something about all three, plus a red-head in latex and, if I do say so myself, a rather good looking archer gathering for their debut this weekend. The tickets have already been purchased–twice.

In the meantime, Snarky and I attended this conference.  Now you may wonder why two paranormal, urban fantasy writers would attend a gathering of those mavens of love and hard chests, but there are some really good workskhops at these things. Plus we were considering kidnapping a few agents and editors for our own amusement.  Since this time I wasn’t on pins and needles endlessly practicing my story pitch, I was able to enjoy the expierence.  For writers, conferences are like a red carpet gala–you get to meet the actual human that writes those books you wait on pins and needles for every Tuesday.  It can reduce a 41 year old to a 16 year old in like two minutes flat.  It’s so embarrassing!

Anyway, other than the massive amounts of information that I’m still processing, the biggest success I pulled from my three day stint was the eight hour brainstorming session Snarky and I indulged ourselves in.  What was funny was there was an actual brain storming session planned on Saturday night during the dinner.  We got a head start, because that’s just how we roll.  We headed over to the nearest barrista heaven, spent two and half hours there before realizing we might miss dinner, dashed back to the conference, gathered necessary sustanance, then hunkered down in our room and balcony and spent the next 6 plus hours taking everything that had been thrown at us and incorporating it into our WIPs (works in progress).

Doing things this way is a double edged sword.  I was having issues with Shadow’s Moon (Book 3 of the Kyn Kronicles) and by the end of the evening realized why (you really do need a strong villian for a good story!), and now all those pages I’ve accumlated are being moved to the cut pile–yes indeed, we are starting over.  Here’s hoping that since there’s a clearer picture of where we’re going and Xander’s stopped being so damn coy, it will go much faster.  Plus Snarky figured out her sticking point on her hush-hush project.  It’s hard to explain to a non-writer how much fun the expierence was because for some peeps the idead of talking through plot points, character motivation, series arcs, and personalities is just….blehh!  But for me–I LOVED IT! 

Plus it was the most awesomest thing in the world to meet both newbie and not-so-newbie writers and READERS! I swear the writing community just rocks.  Conferences are where no one gets upset if you space in the middle of a conversation, they understand sometimes those voices in your head just drown out those around you.  Plus where else could you chat about what exactly constitutes a psychopath versus a sociopath, or why corsets are a hell of a lot harder to get rid of than just “ripping” them off–think bones and damn tough material? There was even the most entertaining conversation regarding the staminia of the men of the Paranormal community versus the rakes of the historicals–truly riveting!

Now the goal is to make it to the Paranormal Conference next year because as lovely as the RWA crowd was–I think I’d like to expierence the wild, twisted worlds of the Paranorms for a bit.  Think of what it would do to my Muse!  She’d have others to play blade-darts with, they could go on Zombie hunts, and maybe torment a few demons along the way.   Who knows, maybe we’ll get to come back with new alligator boots next year! 

-Wicked

Guest blog by Michelle Miles!

Pay attention, everyone! Today I am having my very first guest blog appearence. You must be nice to her or I may not be able to convince anyone else to ever stop by again.  The talented Michelle Miles is going to share with us the exclusive behind the book peek at what went into creating her One Knight Only.  Who can resist snarky faery princesses and heroes and heroines who double as card sharks?

 

 

Living in Medieval Times

By Michelle Miles

 

 

 

When I first started writing One Knight Only (now available from Ellora’s Cave), it was around 2005. I know six years is a long time to work on a book, isn’t it? But it actually started out as a straight historical and then morphed into a historical with paranormal elements. My heroine was Grace, she had brother named Lars, Elyne was nothing more than a handmaiden, and the hero was Sir Drake.

 But as I wrote, I realized my heroine was too wimpy, so I changed her name from Grace to Maggie and she became a modern woman with modern sensibilities. My hero wasn’t very interesting either, so I changed his name from Sir Drake to Finian and he became a Scottish knight with a gambling problem. For good measure, I threw in a snarky faery princess who befriends Maggie.

The main story stayed much the same. I still had the book set during a jousting tournament in the mid-1300s. I’ve long had a fascination with the Middle Ages and specifically jousting. I was that girl at Scarborough Faire (our annual ren faire here in the area) hanging off the fencing watching the make-believe jousts. The one who wanted to go to Medieval Times and sit in the front row to ogle the knights. I was the girl who wanted to sleep in castle. (The closest I’ve gotten is Excalibur in Las Vegas. But as God is my witness, I will do that before I die.)

I started researching the book about the time I started writing it. I bought books on jousting and spent a lot of time searching specific information about jousting, tournament banquets, the Tree of Shields, where they lived during tournament, etc. I picked the mid-1300s because of some research I found that King Edward III held a tournament in England after one of his victories in France in the early years of the Hundred Years’ War. I also searched for information on speech. I found a great resource for speech of the time where I learned great phrases like, “God’s Teeth!” and the insult, “a plague-sore boil upon humanity.” I feel sure I can use that in everyday conversation today, don’t you? I also enjoyed using words like mayhap, anon and huzzah.

One of the things I wanted to write into the book was actual jousting. So I did a lot of research on how to do it, what they wore, how they rode, etc. Then I knew I wanted my heroine to do the actual jousting. How did I pull that off? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

Another thing I researched was card games and dice games in the Middle Ages since I had a heroine with a gambling problem. The dice game, Hazzard, was the predecessor of today’s Craps. Playing cards were actually introduced to the Western Anglo world in the mid-1300s. The suit system that we know today (hearts, clubs, spades, diamonds) was adapted by the French in the fifteenth century and referred to as a French deck. Other regions had their own suits (e.g. Germany, Italy, Spain) which included cups, swords, coins, and batons (or sticks); others had animals, flowers, etc. For my story, I went with the familiar and used the French deck during the gambling scenes.

 Did I mention my faery princess likes to gamble, too?

 This story was a lot of fun to write and has a lot of great characters. I’d spent so much time with them during edits that I actually missed them when I turned in the book. My head had been in the Middle Ages for so long, it was hard to pull myself out of it and back into our everyday world.

 I hope you enjoy reading One Knight Only as much as I enjoyed writing it. Book two has been planned and is underway. Elyne, my snarky faery princess, was insistent that she get her Happily Ever After. Who am I to deny her that?

 

 

 

 Michelle Miles writes contemporary, fantasy and paranormal romance.

She believes in knights in shining armor and HEAs. For more information about her and her books, visit her website at
http://www.michellemiles.net
.

You can also follow her on Twitter @MichelleMiles and Like her Facebook page at Facebook.com/MichelleMilesRomance.

Indie publishing… to be or not to be?

So, I have a novel I wrote a few years ago. It’s been updated and polished recently (but of course, it needs another pass, LOL).

Agents and editors really like it. Except…

It’s a *Paranormal* *Historical* *Romance*.

Say that 3 times fast.

While agents and editors like the book, they don’t think there’s a market for it.

O.o

So, after a few months of hard thinking, I’ve decided to find the guts and Indie publish later this year. This means cover art, a copy editor, self editing (and my lovely wonderful group, LOL)

But, I think it will be a good step for me.

I still have a lot to learn, and I know it’s not going to be super easy.

But I’m willing to put in the time and the work.

Q4U:

Would you Indie Publish? Why, or why not?

Love ya’ll