Death! Betrayal! Vampire revolutionaries! Just in time for Valentine's Day...

A new release, yay! It's been a while, so I hope you enjoy this little piece of bloodthirstiness and heartbreak...

Unforgiven is a dark fantasy love story, and I'm stoked that it's been chosen as part of this cool anthology. Look at all these awesome authors.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE

Eight cutting-edge stories

of the darker side of love.

Tiffinie Helmer ~ Heartless
Alex Bledsoe ~ Tantrabobus
V.R. Barkowski ~ Just A Lie
Erica Hayes ~ Unforgiven
Lizbeth Lipperman ~ Sweepers: A Kiss To Die For
Charlie Holmberg ~ Salt and Water
Coreene Callahan ~ Fury of Fate
S.G. Redling ~ The True Love of Sherry Papers

The premise of this antho was simple: the story had to begin with the words 'love hurts'.

So, y'know. Vampire revolutionaries. Bwahaha. Just in time for Valentine's Day…

Here's the first little snippet of my story, Unforgiven.

~

Love hurts, they say.

Still, I find it an impractical tool. In all my years, I've never extracted a traitor's confession with the threat of a broken heart, for the simple reason that on the subject of love, imagination fails us. We cannot conceive before the fact how excruciating its loss can be. Whereas any torturing scoundrel will tell you that the instinctive human dread of physical pain—a dagger pressed into the eye socket, for example—is often more persuasive than the pain itself.

I poke my blade in a little harder. "Give me a name, monsieur, or by Jupiter, I'll slice your eye in two."

"Don't know what you mean." The boy's in shirtsleeves, and sweat darkens his white linen. The pleasure den's warm gaslights slant my shadow across his face. He's bleeding all over his waistcoat, poor lad, his cupid's-bow lips split and swollen, and it isn't making my job any easier.

A few feet from us, behind the half-drawn curtain, the dance whirls on, oblivious, a riot of silk and brocade, paste jewelry, painted faces, dusty relics of the bad old days. When he approached me at these revels—me, a lady wearing a gentlemen's swallow-tailed coat and breeches, rapier and dirk at her belt, glossy brown curls twisted in a red ribbon—he had more erotic recreation in mind.

Perhaps, so did I. He's handsome, this minion of evil. Delicious. The eye I'm threatening to pierce is ocean blue, bright with belladonna, and the smell of his skin maddens me. Absinthe and fear and a succulent boy's sweat, a toxic reminder of days long gone, when truth and liberty were more important than tomorrow, and my blood raced wild and free.

But I'm a different woman now. A married woman. And though I worship my lord husband with my entire heart, on evenings such as this—with the prey trembling in my grip, warm night air sparkling on my skin, the scent of satisfaction inches from my reach—the interminable emptiness of that tomorrow stretches ahead of me, terrifying.

"Your coven master's name, villain." I slide my dirk under his chin. "Or perhaps you can do without the eyeball. Should I instead slice your throat asunder?"

"Please, don't hurt me. He'll kill me if I tell you." He's sobbing now, begging in the fashion I once enjoyed so ruthlessly, and sweat trickles between my breasts. I'm burning. Eager. Parched inside, as if my soul wastes away for want.

"Yet so shall I, if you remain silent. What a dilemma." I twist his hair in my damp fist. My mouth is dry. I want to lick his swollen lips, taste that shimmering moisture. "Give me his name, minion, or you'll know sorrow."

The boy's eyes harden, the besotted glitter of the Possessed. "His name is master," he rasps. "But he signs himself Charlot."

The syllables echo backwards in time.

I taste them. Mysterious, slightly bitter, like an old wine. Enticing. Just as he tasted, long ago in those restless days of revolution, when he and I were drunk on power and fury and the sheer brilliant bliss of being alive.

Charlot.

My heart beats faster. Fear or excitement? I ought to feel nothing.

I must feel nothing.

~

Cool, eh? You can read a bigger excerpt at my website.

Buy links for the antho: Amazon ~ B&N

Mega paranormal book giveaway!

The Dark Side Down Under are having a huge ebook giveaway for Halloween! DarkSiders unite to bring you a mega pack of book giveaways. It's seriously scary how good it is!

The mega prize pack includes:

Cheryse Durrant - The Blood She Betrayed
Maree Anderson - Freaks of Greenfield High, Ruby’s Dream, Seer’s Promise
Erica Hayes - Demon Chained, Cherry Kisses
Shona Husk - The Outcast Prince (print)
Cathleen Ross  - Her Demon Prince
Tania Walsh - Cloaked in Fur
Kim Cleary - Path Unchosen
Maggie Mundy - Blood Scent, Hidden Mortality
Christina Phillips - Bloodlust Denied
Nicola E. Sheridan's ‘Magic’ series - Magical Gains, Magical Creations, Magical Redemption


Giveaway starts October 31. Check it out!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Free stuff!! and a new Shadowfae book

Creeping out of deep lurkdom... to squee about a few freebies!

First of all, CHERRY KISSES is free on Kindle to US readers. Yay! It's also free on Kobo right now.

I'm getting a great response from readers on Lena and Ethan's story. If you love witches, demons, sword-fighting and hot ninja guys? Go grab yourself a free one!


Also, without further sekrit squirrel ado... the new Shadowfae book is here!


Check out this brilliant cover art from Ravven. Isn't it gorgeous?

A snarky, sexy undead hero. A feisty djinni heroine. A jealous fairy best friend... oh, my. This book is juicy. And yes, before you ask - Kane is in it.

Check out the deets on Goodreads, and add it to your TBR! I love love love this story, and I'm so happy to be able to bring it to you at last :D

You can already pre-order it from Kobo (yay!) and other sites will soon follow. Release day will be 18 September.

For reviewers? It's up on NetGalley, so flip me a request and I'll oblige.

Cover art... and a free story!

Check out my awesome new cover art!

From Ida at Amygdala Designs, for my Shadowfae novella CHERRY KISSES. Isn't it gorgeous?

Sexy con-artist Lena Falco isn't a witch, not technically. She uses her cache of stolen magic tricks to seduce and bedazzle her marks. When she's hired by a demon to steal a cursed magical amulet from a monstrous tower in Hell, it must be her lucky day.

The prize? A single wish—whatever she wants. The catch? There's competition: Ethan Benford, swordsman and enchanter, arrogant, maddeningly sexy and the only incorruptible man in town.

Lena's been burnt before by Ethan's easy charm, and she vows he'll meet his match this time. But is ultimate power worth betraying the only man who truly believes in her?


It's so pretty! This 11K novella was previously published in the HEX APPEAL anthology from St Martin's Press, edited by PN Elrod. But this is my fancy new ebook edition. It's an urban fantasy, not a romance. Just so you know.

Where can I get one? I hear you ask. Well, that's the cool thing. Right now, I'm giving CHERRY KISSES away free! to my email newsletter subscribers. One day soon, I'll put her up for sale on Amazon, but for now... she's all yours!

You can sign up here, or use the form on my website. I hope you enjoy!

Sci-fi book giveaway with Amanda Bridgeman

Please welcome new Aussie sci-fi author Amanda Bridgeman! At the bottom, you can get a chance to comment to your heart's content and win her fab new release, AURORA: DARWIN. Doesn't it look awesome?!?

A distress signal on the edge of inhabited space. A mission that is far outside normal parameters. Two very different people with one common goal – survival.

When a distress signal is received from a black-ops space station on the edge of inhabited space, Captain Saul Harris of the UNF Aurora is called in from leave to respond. But the mission is not what it seems. Female members of the United National Forces have not been allowed to travel into the outer zones before, but Harris is ordered to take three new female recruits.

For Corporal Carrie Welles, one of the Aurora’s new recruits, her first mission in space seems like a dream come true. Determined to achieve the success of her father before her, and suddenly thrust into a terrifying mission, she must work with her new captain and the strained Aurora crew to make it home alive.

When the Aurora arrives at the station, Harris and Welles soon find themselves caught up in a desperate fight for survival. Station Darwin is not what they expected.

The lights are off. But somebody is home.

Brr... spooky!! Welcome, Amanda!

Seeing as you're a new author on the scene, tell us about your path to publication. Did you consider self-publishing, or was a traditional publisher your ultimate aim?

I’d been working on my books (for the Aurora Series) for about five years before I had the confidence to seek publication. I always intended to approach a traditional publisher, mainly because I really didn’t know enough about the industry to go it alone. I also like the fact that being represented by a publishing house means they have confidence in me and my work, so it’s great to have that visible ‘backing’ in the industry. I think the expertise and contacts that a traditional publisher can provide is incredibly valuable and should never be dismissed. So far my experience with Momentum has been great, so I have no regrets.

Would I think about self-publishing in the future? Possibly. I certainly would’ve considered it as an option if the traditional publishing houses had rejected me. So, I guess never say never, but for now I’m all good.

Tell us how you came up with the idea for AURORA: DARWIN. Did the characters come first, or the scenario?

I tend to come up with key scenes in my head and develop my stories from there. With Aurora: Darwin, the character of Carrie was first to develop, as I pictured the desperate scenes she’s involved in during the climax of the story, and then developed the rest from there. I knew that Carrie couldn’t face the ordeal on her own, she was going to need back-up, and that was how Captain Saul Harris came to be.

So, I start with the key scenes and the characters, then backfill their stories and dream up the backdrop/settings, all the while drawing inspiration from the sci-fi and action films I grew up watching. It’s like baking a cake – you mix together your favourite ingredients, and a splash of yourself in there, mix it all around, and that’s how your own little story is born.

How would you describe the sub-genre: space opera? Military? Interstellar suspense? Do you think sub-genre matters to readers when they're choosing a book, or do they just want a good story?

I would describe Aurora: Darwin as a soft sci-fi thriller / military space opera. Ha ha! Too many sub-genres?

I aimed to write a book targeted at a unisex audience, that would hopefully appeal to sci-fi fans and non-sci-fi fans alike. In other words, it’s a mainstream sci-fi, not a niche. I think sub-genres help readers decide if this is the type of book for them. The book’s genre will class it for them, and the sub-genre will tell them what slant the book’s going to take. At the end of the day people want a good story, but I also think they want a ‘heads up’ as to what to expect from the novel.

The UNF. Securing the future. Uh huh. I bet they do... or not??

Sci-fi isn't all about space battles and death stars. The world-building in AURORA: DARWIN sounds intriguing – kind of like Aliens meets Riddick with a bit of spooky Event Horizon thrown in. Tell us about your world: what makes it stand out from others?

I think you’ve described it very well, actually! A:D is set in the future, but not eons away - it’s the near future, so there is a lot of familiarity to life nowadays. I’ve actually tried to make it as realistic a sci-fi as I could, so people don’t really need to stretch their imaginations too far to try and grasp what I’m trying to say.

The world-building elements of the military and space colonisation are important to provide that backdrop to the story, but the key focus of A:D are the characters and the plot. So hopefully it will stand out as the character-driven story, luring in potential readers that wouldn’t normally go for a sci-fi, yet at the same time, keeping the sci-fi fans happy.

The cover copy for AURORA:DARWIN sounds like you have more than one 'main' character. Were their stories difficult to handle? Did you use multiple points of view?

Yep, I always wanted two characters – one male pov, one female pov, as I always intended to write a unisex book. I didn’t find it too hard writing the Saul Harris character, as I have three older ‘blokey’ brothers and grew up watching ‘boys’ films, so I like to think I’ve been well-trained in the male action hero. I did use the occasional female phrase/word in his speech in earlier versions, but my brother (one of my beta readers) promptly picked me up on that. I basically just applied my tomboy side to Harris and my feminine/girly side to Carrie. Hopefully it worked!

Heroines in sf. Kick-ass is great, but as a reader I like to see other sides to the heroine, too. Tell us about your heroine, Corporal Carrie Welles: what are her strengths and weaknesses?

Carrie Welles is a bit of a loner. She’s a perfectionist, who’s driven, stubborn, fiery and determined to succeed. She’s somewhat estranged from her father, and is ultimately trying to follow in his footsteps to prove herself to him. So, being a sharp-shooter in the military, she has that tough element about her, but her emotional side is actually quite fragile (not as tough as she makes it out to be). She tries hard not to wear her heart on her sleeve, but at the end of the day she is only human, and she needs to learn that it’s ok to be weak sometimes.

Is there a romance plot in your book? How do you strike a balance between romance and action?

There may be….*she smiles coyly*. For someone as career driven as Carrie, there’d be nothing quite like falling for a guy to side-swipe you! For me, mixing romance and action can be a tricky fine line. Too much romance and you turn the male readers off, not enough romance and the female readers are left unsatisfied.

Again, I’ve gone for trying to keep things as real as possible. When you’re in a world of a shit-storm, the last thing you’re thinking about is shagging someone. But hey, if you make it through alive, that’s a different story… *winks*.

Are you planning to write more books featuring these characters or their world?

Definitely! This is the first book in a series, and hopefully book 2, tentatively titled Aurora: Pegasus will be out by year end!

You have a cool Pinterest page, with images related to AURORA: DARWIN. (Go on, everyone, go look. It's really cool!) Tell us how that came about: did you use these images as inspiration while writing, or collect them afterwards?

I actually collected these images afterwards! I’ve always been a photography fan, so when I stumbled across Pinterest I just started collecting nice images. But then I began gathering the world-building/inspirational images for sci-fi, fantasy and horror, etc. As they say, a picture tells a thousand words, so by collecting these images I’m drawing inspiration for future works.

I remember doing writing exercises at Uni whereby you’d be given a picture/s and then have to construct a story based on that images/s. They were my favourite exercises to do! From one picture you can develop a character, a setting, a plot, you name it. It all comes down to your imagination. But even your imagination needs to be jump-started from somewhere – so why not a cool picture?

What's next for you? Any more stories in the works?

I’ve got another four manuscripts ready for the editing process, and I’m dying to start work on some more! As far as I’m concerned, this is only the beginning. Fingers crossed you’ll be reading a lot more of me in the future!

We hope so too! Amanda's links:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AmandaBridgemanAuthor
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AmandaBridgema1
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ayjay76
Website: http://amandabridgeman.com.au

Right-y-o! Want to win an .epub or .mobi copy of AURORA: DARWIN? You bet. Just leave a comment, and answer this question:

You're a spaceship crew member. Would you rather be on the Enterprise D (ST:TNG), the Serenity (Firefly) or the Battlestar Galactica (BSG)? And why?**

**Special consideration if your answer has nothing to do with Captain Mal's tight pants. This is a family blog, people!

For extra entries: follow/Like/friend Amanda on FB, Twitter or Pinterest (links above) and let us know in your comment. One extra entry each. 

Giveaway is international and will run until Tues 7 May. Go to it!!

Kick-ass chicks in space!

I promised I'd tell you about my December release, DRAGONFLY.

Conveniently, I've been tagged for The Next Big Thing by Areteus, so here goes:

The Next Big Thing ~ kick-ass-chick space opera! (well, we can hope...)

What is the working title of your book? 
DRAGONFLY. It used to be called quite a few other things, including 'that sci-fi manuscript' and 'the short one' (it used to be a novella; now it's a full-length novel).

Where did the idea come from for the book? Space pirates!! Cool bad guys in spaceships. We need more of them, I thought. This book is what happened. It now has secret agents, super-intelligent terrorist geeks and space marines, too. And an evil empire. Yay!

What genre does your book fall under? Romantic sci-fi? Space opera? Spaceships and rayguns, anyhow, with a cool kick-ass heroine. That's her on the cover. Like, y'know, an urban fantasy heroine. Except in space. Geddit?

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie? Oh, I hate this question :) Um. In my head, the heroine, Carrie, looks a bit like Jodie Foster, or maybe the actress who plays the futuristic cop in Continuum. For anyone who follows cricket, Lukas the space pirate looks sort of like Chris Gayle.


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? This one kind of developed over a couple of years. It was shorter at first, and then I returned to it months later to make it novel-length.
 If it seems episodic, that's because it is :)

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? 
Er. It's a bit like a flip version of Anne Aguirre's Sirantha Jax books. Either that, or it's a female James Bond in space.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
 See above on space pirates.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? It's awesome. You should read it. No joke. And my mum loves it!! (Actually that's not true. My mum hasn't read it. Sorry, Mum, you'll have to get an e-reader!)

How about a teaser? Well, soon you'll be able to read a big fat juicy excerpt, courtesy of the publisher, Momentum. For now, here's the cover copy:

Carrie Thatcher is a tough Imperial counter-terrorism agent. Her mission: pose as a sexy cyber-thief to entrap the notorious rebel Dragonfly, who’s planning a heist on the space station Casa de Esperanza – an orbital casino on the fringe of Imperial space.

And this assignment’s personal: Dragonfly murdered her closest friend, and she’s in no mood to show him mercy. Even getting stuck with the partner from hell—Malachite, her sociopathic ex-lover and the Empire’s most dangerous agent—can’t dampen her relish for the kill.

With Carrie’s expert weapons skills and penchant for cracking codes, insinuating herself into Dragonfly’s confidence should be easy. But is he the ruthless killer she was led to believe? Or has her precious Empire deceived her? With Malachite watching her every move, the slightest flinch in loyalty means death.

Carrie is soon racing to uncover an audacious treachery that will shock the Empire to its core … if she can stay alive for long enough to expose it. 

Cool, eh? Release date is 1 December, in e-book for Kindle, iBooks and whatever else. There's also a paperback version, if you're really keen.

So there ya go. The Next Big Thing: kick-ass-chick space opera. With pirates, and math-geek terrorists. You heard it here first.

P.S. I'm supposed to tag some folks for this meme... I think I'll ping you folks on FB. Seems easier that way...

Cover art: REVELATION

So... a lot's happened since I last dropped by. Christmas, and all that. I've moved to England, in the middle of winter {waves through the icy mist. Seriously? It is really cold here.}. I've been sorta-writing a bunch of stuff.

And I have a fabulicious new cover and release date for my next book, REVELATION, first in a new series from Berkley Sensation. Is he not scrumptious?

A fallen angel with a mission and a medical examiner who’s lost her faith are fighting for their souls in a glittering, near-future Manhattan…

Blind faith is for fools. That’s what Dr. Morgan Sterling believes. And she’s going to prove it by curing the zombie plague ravaging her city’s slums. She’s certain it’s not a sign of the End of Days, but a nasty disease—until an angel appears in her morgue in a flash of glory.

Luniel is not just a fallen angel. He’s a powerful warrior sworn to fight evil in hopes of a chance at redemption. He’s after the demon princes who are stealing the seven vials of holy wrath which, when perverted, will unleash eternal hell on earth.

To stop the plague, Luniel needs Morgan’s help, and her faith. But Morgan believes science is their salvation. If the zombie plague is a demonic curse—and if Luniel is true—he’ll have to prove it. Even if he loses his heart to true love or his soul to Hell…

Cool, huh? It's due out 2 October. Says so right here at Amazon. Can't wait :) now I've gotta get onto writing the next one, REDEMPTION.

Blood Cursed cover art

Is this awesome? Or is it, like, totally awesome!?!

This is my fourth Craig White cover and I love it. Love, love, love it. It is so much what the book is about that I can't think of anything I'd like better.

"Sigh. So... what's the book about, then?" you ask patiently? Behold, cover copy.*

Enter the fierce, fantastical world of the Shadowfae, where blood is a drug, magic is a crime, and love is the most dangerous weapon of all…

To a vampire, nothing is sweeter than bloodfairy essence -- and Ember is the most sought-after fairy on the underworld circuit. Selling her blood to the highest bidder -- and robbing her clients in the process -- Ember has unwittingly become a target of dark and dangerous forces. Her enemies are everywhere. And if she hopes to survive, she needs protection...

Diamond is a glassfairy who, for better or worse, knows his way around the vampire underworld. Smooth as silk and tougher than trolls, Diamond is Ember’s only chance to keep her magical blood inside her body, where it belongs. But he also poses a threat to Ember, a strange kind of danger she’s never experienced before: She’s falling in love with him...

Yay! I'm so excited. Release date is 2 August 2011, US and UK and Canada.**

And if anyone out there's doing their Cool New Covers of the Week post, or Awesome Homicidal Chicks in Tight Dresses or suchlike, please feel free to plaster this one all over it, should you so choose :)

In other news:

Today, I finished my demon-hunting witches short story! Yay! It's tentatively titled CHERRY KISSES. Coming soon to an anthology near you.

And lastly: remember, you've got until midnight Friday West-Coast-US-time to enter last week's Friday Fancies giveaway of Eve Silver's SINS OF THE HEART. It's a great book. You know you want it.

*This may not be the final cover copy. But it's near enough.

** Those are pre-order links. The more orders, the more copies they print. If you enjoy my books, you'd really be doing me a favour...

happy release day to me

 Well, it had to happen.

Today, my debut novel SHADOWFAE hits the shelves (crash!). I'm weird. I'm giggly. I'm kinda stoked.

And, I'm doing giveaways, of course. Drop a comment on my guest posts, maybe win a book. You know the drill. Here's a few quick links to this week's free book mayhem:

At Literary Escapism, I'm blogging about paranormal powers and why they're so cool.

At VampChix, it's evil vampires and why they're so cool.

SciFiGuy has a thoughtful review (thanks, Doug!) and my post on why I think my urban fantasy world is so cool.

And here's an interview with me by Angela at Dark Faerie Tales.

More to come later in the week.

I have had such a nice day :)

EDIT: Oh, I forgot Writers Gone Wild. Paranormal heroes, and why they're so cool. Or hot.

That's five free books, folks. Someone out there's gotta get lucky :)

week, thou art full of awesome

I'm going to Sydney for a writing workshop this weekend. It's by Robert McKee, screenwriting expert and author of Story.

If it's anything like the book, it'll be truly awesome. My Inner Outlining Geek is already salivating.


In other news, behold the following, from Publishers Marketplace:

Erica Hayes's SHADOWSONG, in which a knife-wielding banshee gangster's quest for revenge on the assassin who ruined her life is interrupted when a deluded fairy sorceress steals her magical song, again to Rose Hilliard at St. Martin's, in a two-book deal, by Marlene Stringer of the Stringer Literary Agency (World).

Yeah, that's my series, now to be a glorious four books long. Mighty pleased, I am...

the cover art fairy

Well, I'm excited.

Is this hot or what? It's for SHADOWGLASS, book 2 in my Shadowfae Chronicles series. 

Fairies, magic mirrors and mayhem. In Melbourne. You know you want to :)

 

Book 1, SHADOWFAE, is out 13 October 2009. You'll have to wait for April 2010 for this little yellow baby, though there's a sneak peek in the back of book 1.
 

Here's a blurb for SHADOWGLASS:
 

A seductive magic mirror, deep in a demon's lair. A simple warning: don't stare at the glass. A light-fingered fairy who can't resist.

For Ice, a compulsive fairy thief, life is a wild party of mayhem, fae trickery and magical confidence scams. She's never cared about rules or warnings, so when she filches a demon's beguiling magic mirror, she can't resist taking a peek.

Malicious enchantment strikes, and Ice can no longer tell a lie. If she can't undo the spell, she'll have to turn respectable. Two words: no way.

It sounds simple, especially when Indigo, a frosty metalfae thief, agrees to help her, as he too has fallen foul of the mirror's mischief. But when the mirror's victims start turning up dead, it seems someone doesn't want Ice or Indigo cured. As they draw closer to answers — and to each other — Indigo remains stubbornly silent about the nature of his enchantment. Is he the killer's target? Or does he harbour a more chilling secret?

Bwa-ha-ha-ha. I love this story. I love this cover. I'm all fulla love.

Right. Now I can get back to work.

shadowfae cover

Here's what the fabulous folks at St Martin's have done for my cover! I think it's awesome!


 


Release day 13 October 09. How good??