Werewolves, Geeks, Hot Blondes - Ends 9/3

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Werewolves, Geeks, Hot Blondes

On a long car ride North back to my home town in Canada, I came up with the idea of the Omegas. The prospect of going home brought back memories of high school and how I was considered a nerd. Every society has its version of outcasts, which got me wondering about werewolves. There are stories of rogues, too dark or angry to be part of the pack, but what about a pack of geeky werewolves, pansy of the paranormal? I could relate to them.

The first story of The Vanguard series: The Omegas focused mostly on Sugar their human neighbor and friend and Daedalus, an ancient Nosferatu vampire the pack hired to teach them how to fight. But readers kept asking.  “What about Eric? You can’t leave him alone.”

They’re right, I couldn’t. I can’t tell you much about Eric without spoilers except to say he’s a romantic and would die for his pack mates.  For months I tried to find him a potential mate. Wracked my brain, introduced him to a few girls I created but NO. He’d cross his arms and deny each candidate. “Come on! There’s got to be someone you at least like.”  I almost gave up.

Then one night, during a long hot bath, I pondered writing a book about Sugar’s twin, Spice, since Eric wouldn’t cooperate. I went to bed and dreamed. A women’s voice spoke to me and told me how hard life had been since she deserted her younger twin. I awoke at two AM to bolt from my bed, trip over my sleeping fat hound dog, and write the first chapter of The Alpha.

My husband came to check on me about three AM, called me crazy, but didn’t drag me back to bed.

After writing Spice’s part of the first chapter Eric snuck in. He finally admitted to me he’d been crushing on her since high school but being such a nerd, he never had the courage to do anything about it…until now. 


Blurb:


Someone is about to get some Spice in his life.


Spice has nothing but the clothes on her back when she returns to Chicago. She's looking for a better life, and that means reuniting with her estranged twin sister, Sugar. She isn't thrilled to find out Sugar's boyfriend is a vampire. But then she meets Eric, once the bottle-cap-glasses wearing nerd next door - now grown into the kind of man she'd love to snuggle with on this cold winter night...and he’s offered her his room in Sugar’s house.


Eric can’t believe Spice has returned. He’d given up hope of ever seeing her again, let alone having her stare at him as if he’s sex on a stick. But now that all of his fantasies for them are coming true, reality rears her ugly head and Eric must tell Spice his intimate secret; he’s actually an Alpha werewolf looking for his mate and he thinks he’s found her.


You can find this book at most ebook retailers or click this link www.lyricalpress.com/the_alpha


You can find me and more about my books at www.annienicholas.com


www.annienicholas@blogspot.com


www.paranormalromantics.blogspot.com

Creating Fantasy from Reality - Ends 9/10

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Enter to win a copy of Seduced by the Wolf - To enter you must Be a member of the NOR newsletter, leave the first bit of your email address on the post, and leave a meaningful comment. USA / Canada Shipping only. No P.O. Boxes. Publisher to ship prize. Two winners will be selected. Contest Ends 9/10/2010

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Creating Fantasy from Reality by Terry Spear


When we build our worlds, whether it’s a contemporary romance where the world can be as realistic as possible, real city even, or something much more fantastical, we still create a world that is from our imagination—the suspense, the characters, the conflict, the story.

But when we create urban fantasy romance, we have to create a whole world around the story.
Here are some issues I had to decide on when I first began to write the series.

When do werewolves first shape-shift? Most authors write where their werewolves shape-shift when they reach puberty. Mine are born with the ability. Some suffer pain through the experience. The old werewolf stories showed this. Mine don’t. Do they have werewolf genetics? Not sure about other author’s works, but mine change with the shift so that as wolves they have wolf genetics and as humans they have human genetics. Can silver kill them? Sure, which is explained from a scientific way in Legend of the White Wolf (Book 4). If someone is a werewolf, does he or she have to shift with only the full moon? Some do in other werewolf stories. During other phases? In mine, yes.

We have to have reasons why we create the world we do. Why are mine not like everyone else’s? Shouldn’t we all use the same basic principles?

That’s what’s fun about being a writer. Creating a world that’s unique to your own characters.
Why I have that the shape-shifters are born with the ability to shift: As wolves, from an early age they must learn to live within a pack. If you’ve ever raised dogs, you must be the alpha, teach them not to bite, or to play, or not to chew, or to housebreak them. From an early age, the pack dynamics are established. For humans, it’s the same thing. Parents have to show they’re the ones who are the alpha leaders. Now, at the library some parents let the children rule the roost and look at us like “woe is me, how do I ever manage?” And that’s the key. They don’t. Manage. They let the kids rule. The parents and their offspring would not make good werewolf leaders.

So at an early age, not at puberty, a wolf or human must learn how to behave properly according to pack rules. In Seduced by the Wolf (Book 5), I show a couple of grown werewolves who have difficulty “learning” the rules because of not being made to mind earlier in their youth. Yes, it causes more problems for a pack if the children can shape-shift when they’re young. But to me, it seemed more realistic. What if the mother had to shape-shift into a wolf in an emergency and her children are toddling around as humans and can’t change? Not until puberty? But having young children who can shape-shift at will can create other problems, which is why they homeschool. Now you know why there are so many homeschooling their kids today! 

Why make the transition from human to wolf not painful? I understand why it would be painful, the changing of the bones, etc. But to me, it would make the werewolf hate the shift whenever they go through it. Except if the human is newly turned and uncomfortable with the changes they must experience and lack of control, my werewolves love the shift, feel comfortable with it, welcome it. They’re happy with what they are. Being werewolf is natural and the shift is natural. Instead of breaking bones, heat invades their body and it’s like a melting and blending of forms. 

When I think of something painful, I think of avoidance and not wanting to do what makes us hurt. So to me, making the transition painful wouldn’t work for my stories.

The shifting during the phases of the moon: In the old stories, werewolves shifted when the full moon appeared. But even if the moon was covered with clouds, the werewolf would shift back to being human. With mine, they don’t have to see the moon’s phases to know what’s clinging to the night’s sky. If they have very few human roots, as in their ancestors were mated with other werewolves for generations, they’re royals and can shift at will. But all others can’t shift during the new moon. I wanted a period of rest for those werewolves who had less control over the shift. A time when they didn’t have to worry about shifting. Or as in Bella’s case in Heart of the Wolf, it put her in a real bind! A woman in a wolf’s pen at the zoo, naked, is not the easiest situation to explain.

I do a lot of research about werewolf mythology and real wolf trivia. In Wolf Fever (Book 6, coming December 2010), I talk about how to change a wolf back into a human, according to myths and legends, and the truth about wolfsbane.

Of course some werewolf legends I keep in my stories. The werewolf who is killed in his wolf form, reverts to his human form. It makes it difficult to explain to the world if ever they see this, which makes it imperative the world doesn’t see this happen. Which causes problems for Faith in Legend of the White Wolf.

I was telling my manager what I'd learned about wolf saliva for some research I was doing for Dreaming of the Wolf (Book 8, coming Fall 2011), and she asked me about my werewolf genetics. She'd read the series, and thought I had where when they shifted, their DNA changed to whichever form they were in. So why do I have this?

Because I wanted them as real as possible. It would be too easy to get their blood under a microscope and determine they were not what they were supposed to be. Neither human or wolf. Why do you think it’s so hard to tell if the hunky guy living next door or working in a cubicle across the office from yours is a werewolf? 

Ah, the world of make believe.
  
I had a commenter on a blog say he was a shape-shifter and to contact him and he’d tell you about it. But you see, shape-shifters live in secret. Otherwise, they’d be sequestered away into some secret government project. So they keep their identities secret. And that’s as it should be!


Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my world of wolves—werewolves, that is! I hope you give them a chance, if you haven’t already. And if you’re already following the series, I hope you love Leidolf as much as I did writing him in Seduced by the Wolf!

So if you were a werewolf, would you rather have your babies as a wolf, or as a human? 

Terry


“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male.”

SEDUCED BY THE WOLF BY TERRY SPEAR – IN STORES AUGUST 2010

His first priority is to protect his pack… 

Werewolf pack leader Leidolf Wildhaven has just taken over a demoralized pack. With rogue wolves on the loose causing havoc and the authorities from the zoo suddenly zeroing in on the local wolf population, the last thing he needs in his territory is a do-gooder female, no matter how beautiful and enticing she is…

She’ll do anything to help wolves… 

Biologist Cassie Roux has dedicated her life to protecting wolves in the wild. On a desperate mission to help a she-wolf with newborn pups, the last thing Cassie needs right now is a nosy and entirely too attractive werewolf pack leader trying to track her down…


With rogue wolves and hunters threatening at every turn, Cassie and Leidolf may find their attraction the most dangerous force of all…

About the Author

A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry Spear has an MBA from Monmouth College. An eclectic writer, she dabbles in the paranormal as well as writing historical and true life stories for both teen and adult audiences. Spear lives in Crawford, Texas. For more information, please visit Terry at these various places on the web:


www.terryspear.com  http://www.wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com/ http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/ http://fierceromance.blogspot.com/ http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear http://shapeshifterromance.wordpress.com/  http://terry-spear.blogspot.com/  

In Praise of Night Owls - Ends 8/20

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Enter to win a copy of Hero - To enter you must Be a member of the NOR newsletter, leave the first bit of your email address on the post, and leave a meaningful comment. USA / Canada Shipping only. No P.O. Boxes. Publisher to ship prize. Two winners will be selected. Contest Ends 8/20/2010

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In Praise of Night Owls by Cheryl Brooks

It’s always a pleasure to visit Night Owl Romance, and believe me, as a night nurse for more than thirty years, I can relate to those nocturnal birdies. We’re the kind who stay up half the night because a book has grabbed our attention and won’t let us sleep. We’re the kind who get hungry, raid the refrigerator and then, of course, don’t want to go to sleep on a full stomach—that sort of thing adds pounds, and nobody wants pounds!—so we stay up even longer and keep reading. Somewhere in the night, our eyelids get heavy and we drift off, only to wake ourselves up when the book slips out of our hands, landing in our laps, or, as sometimes happens, hitting us in the face. I never stop reading on that first eye closure; I always wait until the second before finally putting the book aside and calling it a night.

Generally speaking, I’m up fairly late even on my nights off, but they have to pay me to keep my eyes open all night long. My son, on the other hand, is a night owl unlike any I’ve ever seen. When he’s home from college, no one makes him stay up all night playing video games, watching TV, and surfing the internet; he does it by choice. Every now and then he tries to readjust his internal clock, but then one of his friends comes over to spend the night and since they generally don’t conk out until after I get home from the hospital at about 8 AM, the cycle continues. He says he always manages to get to class on time when he’s at school, but, as one who has had to drag him out of bed to mow the lawn before dark, how he how he does it is a mystery. I can usually get him up for dinner, but only if I’m cooking something he likes. 


My son’s nocturnal habits may drive me crazy, but as an author, I love night owls. It warms the cockles of my heart to hear that one of my books has kept someone awake turning pages until the wee hours of the morning. To tell an author “I couldn’t put it down!” is high praise indeed. It makes me wonder just how many lost hours of sleep authors like Nora Roberts, Stephen King, and JK Rowling are responsible for—I’m guessing millions—but since there’s no way to document those hours, that, too, will remain a mystery.

I’ve been burning the midnight oil writing guest blogs to promote my current release, The Cat Star Chronicles: Hero—this is the ninth blog of fourteen—and my eyes are getting fuzzy, my feet are swollen, my brain is as sluggish as chocolate pudding, and my chair is getting very hard, indeed. But I wouldn’t miss this for anything. Having the opportunity to share my stories with readers from all over the world is near the top of the list of the best things that have ever happened to me. So if I get bleary-eyed from writing, editing, or blogging, I remind myself that out there somewhere, I’m making someone else lose a little sleep.


And that makes me smile.

HERO BY CHERYL BROOKS – IN STORES AUGUST 2010 

The Cat Star Chronicles #6

He is the sexiest, most irksome man she’s ever encountered...


Micayla is the last Zetithian female left in the universe. She doesn’t know what’s normal for her species, but she knows when she sees Trag that all she wants to do is bite him…


He has searched all over the galaxy for a woman like her…


Trag has sworn he’ll never marry unless he can find a Zetithian female. But now that he’s finally found Micayla, she may be more of a challenge than even he’s able to take on...


About the Author 

Cheryl Brooks is an Intensive Care Unit nurse by night and a romance writer by day. Previous books in The Cat Star Chronicles series include Slave, Warrior, Rogue, Outcast and Fugitive. She is a member of the RWA and lives with her husband and sons in Indiana. For more information, please visit http://cherylbrooksonline.com/.   

Kerri Nelson - Cross Check My Heart

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Enter to Win an ebook. Your choice of Kerri's backlist. 


Just comment on Kerri's post. Include the first part of your email address with your comment.You need to be a NOR newsletter subscriber to enter. That's how we get your full email address...so you don't have to post it all on the comment. You must be 18 or over to enter. No Purchase Necessary. Contest Ends: 8/27/2010


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Title:  The Life of an American Hockey Player


By:  Kerri Nelson 


Kerri:  Today, I’m interviewing pro hockey player Danny Cipriani who is the star of my novel entitled Cross Check My Heart (now available from Eternal Press).  Here’s a quick blurb of the story: 


She’s on the run from something ominous in her past and escapes to a new town and a new job as the physical therapist for the U.S. Hockey Team who is preparing for the Olympics. 


He is a veteran hockey player with a secret of his own that threatens his chances at making the final cut for the team. 


When she discovers his secret, will she attempt to stand in the way of his childhood dreams?  Or will he unwittingly become the new target when her past ultimately catches up with her?


As their attraction for one another grows, danger looms nearby.  Jana and Danny must decide what they will risk for the ultimate game of love…
 
Kerri:  Danny, welcome and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us today. 


Danny:  Oh, well…anything for you. 


Kerri: Ah, you flatter me.  Now, knock that off or everyone will think that what they say about hockey players is indeed true. 


Danny:  Oh yeah, and what do they say about hockey players? 


Kerri:  That they are players, of course.  And I don’t mean just players of hockey but players in the field of women as well. 


Danny:  That’s definitely the case with some guys.  I just don’t happen to be one of them. 


Kerri:  That’s good to hear.  Now, I guess we should get started with your interview. 


Danny:  If we must.  I would really much rather hear about you instead. 


Kerri:  Me?  Why is that?  Your life is far more interesting.  What with the professional hockey, your quest to make the Olympic Team and all the drama that you recently went through with Jana. 


Danny:  I can’t really talk about that. 


Kerri:  About what?  Hockey? 


Danny:  No, I can’t really talk about Jana right now. 


Kerri:  Hmm…well I was hoping you could tell the readers more about how you met and that sort of thing. 


Danny:  I’d really rather not.  I’d really rather talk about the author who brought us to life.  I mean we wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for you. 


Kerri (blushing):  Really, it was just something that I needed to do.  Your story simply needed to be told. 


Danny:  I have to say that I’m glad that you did.  I mean, there were parts of the book that I would have rather avoided.  Of course, I can’t go into that now but let’s just say that all’s well that ends well.  Ya know? 


Kerri:  Yes, well…I guess it is tricky to talk about a book where there’s murder and kidnapping and all sorts of other action involved without giving away too much about the story for those who haven’t read it. 


Danny:  Exactly.  I, personally, love surprises and I want all your readers to enjoy the story unblemished and unspoiled. 


Kerri:  Fair enough.  So, how about if you just tell everyone if Perrot managed to get his teeth repaired? 


Danny (laughing): Sadly, no.  Even though the epilogue doesn’t cover that tidbit, I can safely tell you that he’s still the same toothless aggravation that he was in the book. 


Danny’s cell phone rings. 


Danny:  Excuse me, do you mind if I take this…it may be important? 


Kerri:  Sure.  Go, ahead. 


Danny has a brief conversation and then snaps the phone shut. 


Danny:  I hate to cut our conversation short but I’m going to have to run.  Steele is going to need my help. 


Kerri:  Oooh, would that be the same Steele who appears in my bestselling debut novel entitled Miss Taken (now available from Whispers Publishing)? 


Danny (grinning ear to ear):  You know the answer to that but I appreciate you taking the opportunity to plug one of your other books while we are here discussing mine. 


Kerri:  Always looking for the next sale, Danny.  Just like you’re always looking for the next goal. 


Danny (standing and bowing slightly):  Touché.
 
Fall in love with Danny in Cross Check My Heart! 


Author Bio: 


Kerri Nelson has always been passionate about reading books but when she wrote her first poem in the second grade, she discovered her love of writing.  At the age of sixteen, she became a columnist for her local newspaper as the high school correspondent for the weekly "Panther Tales" column.  She won the Outstanding Young Journalist of the Year Award for her efforts.


After an education and career in the legal field, Kerri began to pen romantic suspense novels with a legal or law enforcement theme.  She is a true southern belle and comes complete with her dashing southern gentleman husband and three adorable children.  When she’s not reading or writing, you’ll find her baking homemade goodies for her family, feeding her addiction to blogging online or designing custom made book trailers.  Kerri is an active member of Romance Writers of America as well as numerous Chapters including Hearts through History,  Futuristic Fantasy & Paranormal, and Celtic Hearts Romance Writers.


Kerri is a multi-published author of romance in every genre from romantic suspense and paranormal to young adult and inspirational novels.  In 2009, Kerri wrote and sold twelve books to multiple publishers using her Book Factory method.  Her latest paranormal romantic suspense “Courting Demons” will release from Dorchester Publishing in 2011. 


Read more about Kerri’s books at her website:  www.kerrinelson.com
Want to play, learn and compete with other authors in the biz?  Visit Kerri’s industry blog here:  www.thebookboost.blogspot.com


For the latest news and updates from Kerri, follow her on Twitter here:  http://twitter.com/kerribookwriter

Things Happen In A Blink Of An Eye by Mary Eason

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Just comment on this post. Include the first part of your email address that you used to sign-up for the Night Owl Reviews newsletter / Fan Club. You must be a member to enter. Ends 8/13/2010.

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Things Happen In A Blink Of An Eye by Mary Eason

Recently, while traveling back from Colorado, my husband and I had a near catastrophe happen in our motor home. We had just crossed over the state line into Texas when we blew out a steer tire on the driver’s side. 


Now, I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this before, but to say it was scary is the understatement of the year. 


Thankfully, my husband, who owns a trucking company and has driven big trucks for most of his life, knew exactly what to do. We were able to avoid hitting anyone while making it safely over to the shoulder of the road. But as a writer, well, naturally that got my creative juices flowing, (at least after I recovered from the fright).


I started thinking about other near misses and how most of the major events in life happen in the blink of an eye, both good and bad.


For instance, I fell in love with my husband in a blink of an eye. Yeah, I know, corny, but true. I read my first romance novel, was hooked, and knew (in a blink of an eye) that this was what I wanted to do with my over-active imagination that kept getting me in trouble, (thank goodness). 


But for all the good moments that happen instantly, there are some bad ones that stand out as well. 


My dad passed away in the blink of an eye the summer before I turned twenty-one. I still miss him even after all these years.


And, in a moment in time, the world changed forever, (at least for us Americans), after September 11, 2001. I will never forget where I was at that time when the first plane hit the World Trade Center and life, as we knew it, was gone in a vapor. 


Well, that’s kind of the premise of my upcoming  Inspirational romance, entitled, Standing On The Edge Of Goodbye, available August 13 in e-book format through White Rose Publishing. 


In a blink of an eye, Matt’s Stevens life is changed forever when his wife and son are killed in a car accident. 


For Matt, life as he knew it, being a proud father and happy man all ended that day. 


For Kate Alexander, learning that she is pregnant by the man who almost ended her life is hard to accept. 


Hearing that her Grandmother, her sole support system, has passed away, well it’s almost too much for Kate to deal with, until in a blink of an eye, God brings these two damaged souls together and an unlikely friendship leads to the love that neither of them expected to happened again.


So, you just never know what’s going to happen next…in the blink of an eye.


All the best…
Mary Eason
www.maryeason.com 

Standing On The Edge Of Goodbye – Coming to White Rose Press, August 13, 2010

Matt Stevens is finished with life. Grieving the death of his son, Matt withdraws from humanity, sequestering himself in a mountain cabin far from the reaches of anything human, anything that may remind him of the life he can no longer have. That is, until Kate Alexander arrives on his doorstep and begins to strip away the bitterness he carries in his heart.

Running from an abusive ex-husband who tried to murder her, Kate Alexander's life is turned upside-down. Learning of her grandmother's death, — the only woman who ever believed in her, — is almost Kate's complete undoing, especially when the devastating news comes from a man so lacking in human emotion he may as well be a robot. Yet, Kate is drawn to Matt Stevens in a way she's never before experienced. Could
there be more to this unlikely friend of her grandmother's, —something beyond the cold surface he presents to the world?