Anyway, the box was sitting at my front door when I came home from
The Day Job, and rather than pick up the box and unlock the door and
fend off a pair of cats who really, really want to get out, all at
the same time, I decided to unlock the door and shove the box inside
(and thus startle the cats into backing up for a second or two,
giving me enough time to get in).

Good theory -- but no. Ow! That box was HEAVY! My toe was saved only
by the sturdy tip of my shoe (now that's a glowing testimonial:
"Crocs: The tips are sturdy enough to kick around boxes"), and the
fact that there was enough of an impact that the box tripped and
rolled over the threshold, allowing my foot to skid off.

Fortunately, I hopped inside, again startling the cats into backing
up, again allowing me to try a quick maneuver and close the door
before the cats could dash out. (I should say here that these cats
are elderly -- they're about 18-plus years old, neither in the
greatest of health -- but obviously, they're spry when they need to
be!)

As you might have imagined, the cats were bouncing around, not only
because of my homecoming, but because I kicked (or at least shoved)
something new into the house. But then they got bored and wandered
away, yowling for their dinner.

And after I took care of that -- feeding the cats asap when I get
home allows me to deal with other matters while they're chomping away
-- I opened the box and took out the books. There weren't that many,
mind you -- maybe twelve, ARCs of THE SLEEPER AWAKES and FESTIVAL OF
STARS, but they were dense enough -- and I decided to put them in an
organized pile, on top of the dining room table, which was crowded
enough (still clearing off from Christmas). And I had to do so a few
at a time, because those suckers were cumbersome.

When I was done, I had a pile of those books taking up precious real
estate at the corner of the table, and I knew that I would have to
figure out where to move them next when I had to clear off THAT area
(because, you know, once in a while we eat at the table or invite
someone else to eat at that table).

So the box was heavy; the books were cumbersome; and they needed to
be shuffled around. Now tell me, considering all that, don't ebooks
make sense? This is all leading up to two things: one, go visit
greenbookfriends at myspace, where Cerridwen Press authors have
gotten together to talk about ebooks and how they're actually a good
idea, and two, we'll be announcing a contest soon, also with the
theme of how ebooks are good.

Meanwhile, I'd better make sure the tips of my Crocs are okay!

Eilis Flynn
INTRODUCING SONIKA, on sale now from Cerridwen Press!

--

Posted by EilisFlynn :: Link :: 11:20 AM :: 0 Comments

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Excerpt from Silverhills

The ramrod absently smoothed his mustache. Something wasn’t right. The boy was hiding something. He could smell it. And the last thing he needed was trouble on this drive.

Cookie glanced at the foreman’s set face and the boy’s belligerent one and interjected hastily, “You know, Mr. Wade, I could sure use some help.”

The foreman’s eyes bore into the youth. The boy stared back, his thumbs hooked in his belt. The silence stretched between them, broken only by the lapping river and the monotonous croaking of a bullfrog on its banks.

He’s one of the handsomest men I’ve ever seen, Alexandria thought irrelevantly. The man was well over six foot with wide shoulders and a hard-muscled body that his shirt and chaps did little to disguise. His face alone would send a spinster’s heart aflutter, with thick tawny hair and cool green eyes. A mustache accented his thin lips.

Finally, Brandon said, “What’s your name, kid?”

Alexandria paused for a heartbeat then extended her hand and gave him her childhood nickname. “Alex, Alex O’Malley.”

The foreman gripped it, his hand engulfing hers. If Wade noticed the brief hesitation, he kept it to himself. “Those hands are a bit on the small side, soft too. But I guess as long as they can hold a rope, they’ll do. Pay is thirty-five dollars a month.”

Labels: Silverhills western romance historical romance Sandra Cox

Posted by Sandra Cox :: Link :: 9:04 AM :: 0 Comments

Friday, January 25, 2008

Remembering Heath

Evening fellow writers, readers and movie buffs,

Being Friday, it's a great day for those hungry for the weekend but for film fans around the world, many are still reeling from the news of Heath Ledger's untimely passing.

With that in mind, I created a special tribute to the late Heath Ledger on my blog.

If you're of the mind, please check it out at http://susanphelan.blogspot.com. Feel free to leave a comment.You can also access it by going to my website www.susanphelan.com and clicking on the BLOG link at the top.

Have a good night all :)

Susan

Posted by Susan Phelan :: Link :: 7:36 PM :: 0 Comments

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

so much I don't know, and need to

I'm stumbling around the learning block of promo-ing. Incidentally, any hints will be appreciated. I've got a website, and a myspace, but now am told I need a blog. Any of you guys out there have definite feelings about this? Didn't know till recently you don't post an excerpt unless asked. So how do you get asked? Just by showing up at a chat, I guess, and if an excerpt isn't requested just quietly fade away? There should be a set of rules out there for people who are anxious both to do the right things and not do the wrong things. Me, I'm bewildered. Jean

Posted by jean hart stewart :: Link :: 12:23 PM :: 2 Comments

Friday, January 18, 2008

He Said, She Said...on Playing to Win

Kate Alexander said:
When I opened my door I expected Jamie. Instead I found myself face-to-face with a glaring stranger. I gaped. Yes, I probably looked a little like a fish but consider the situation. What would you do when faced with a tall, dark and sexy stranger dressed in a designer suit. I mean what man doesn’t look good in a suit? My friend, Danielle says they’re good for hiding beer bellies, which is true. But this man didn’t have a beer belly. I know because I sneaked a look while he was glaring at me and eyeing me up and down. It made me want to squirm so I brazenly did the same to him. My cheeks went hot, my stomach took a dive south and I felt as if I were on a rollercoaster. I haven’t dated for ages because I’m too busy running my business and keeping ahead of the bills. But I started to think of sex. Heck, doesn’t this man ever smile? Who is he anyway? Ooh, sexy voice. He spoke and I started to think about sex again. He’s probably at the wrong house. I must grab a chocolate bar from the pantry. Maybe that will stop me thinking about sex…

Lane Gerrard said:
I expected a blonde bimbo with old eyes and a hard face. Instead an innocent pixy answered the door, fresh-faced and dressed in loose baggy clothes. She has freckles—-cute little golden dots across the bridge of her nose. When I asked if she was Kate Alexander she said yes, but her tone was cautious and she edged away from me. Hell. Not that I blame her. I can practically feel the smoke coming out my ears. The woman’s trying to blackmail me. Dammit, she’s not getting away with it, no matter how cute she is!

~*~

Will Kate have enough chocolate? Will Lane change his mind about her? Will they ever get together?

Read Kate and Lane’s story in Playing to Win by Shelley Munro, available now from Cerridwen Press.

Posted by Shelley Munro :: Link :: 12:04 PM :: 0 Comments

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Blustery Days

Hi Cerridwen Fans!

Today is a blustery day down in South Florida as Poo-Bear would say. The wind is really whipping in off of the ocean and it made me wonder about the way different authors use the senses when writing so that you, the reader, can completely experience the scene on every level. Do you as a reader feel that something is missing when an author leaves doesn’t delve into all five senses? And when they do, does it make the scene stand out to you? Are you able to lose yourself into the scene?

When an author goes into the sights, smells and sounds happening within a scene it is more memorable to me. I’ve completely lost track of time before because the author spun a tale so rich that I felt as if I was there experiencing it with the characters. Needless to say those writers are now on my must buy list. So what do you think?

This week has been really hectic for me. I’ve been all over the Internet. LOL If you’d like to review some of the places I’ve been interviewed or conducted interviews this week just check out the following:

I recently did a podcast interview with Mary Caelsto at Jupiter Gardens. If you'd like to listen to the podcast click here.

I was on the Raven with Michelle Pillow and Mandy Roth on January 16th. Click here to listen to the archived show. I talked about my work and gave lots of free psychic readings.

Today on my show, The Reader's Round Table, I interviewed Jane Toombs and Robin Owens. You can listen to the archives at http://blogtalkradio.com/MelissaAlvarez .

Saturday and Sunday 1-19 & 20-08: I'm blogging with Eden Robins and Katherine McCullough at Love Is An Exploding Cigar. We hope you’ll stop by to chat with us!

Smiles,

Melissa Alvarez/Ariana Dupre
Beneath A Christmas Moon On Sale Now
Visit my website, get a clairvoyant reading
or listen to The Reader's Round Table!

Posted by Melissa Alvarez :: Link :: 9:05 AM :: 1 Comments

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

It's a weird feeling -- backward somehow

Although I expect to have my (e-pubbed) Cerridwen books in (paper) print
sooner or later, a couple of days ago I had the rare opportunity of getting a few
ARCs (as in "advanced reading copies") of my first two books. Ordinarily I
wouldn't have had the chance, but I got these as the result of a contest entry
that didn't go off (long story, don't ask). And as I held them in my hands -- in
"real," perfect-bound book form, trade paper size, with the cover art in
black & white (and in the case of one of the books, with the earlier version of
the art, not the final version, which amused me no end) -- I felt a strange lack
of elation.

Mind you, I DID feel a certain amount of satisfaction. It's one thing to know
your book has been published and edited, with cover art, copyright notice and
everything, but if it's electronic, the knowledge is purely intellectual.
It's different if you hold it in your hands. (However, holding the books in my
hands doesn't make my actually reading them after the fact any easier. For some
reason, I don't like reading my own work after it's done -- it's FINISHED,
fergoshsakes, I have other things to do! No, after I'm done writing, the reading
of my books is in your hands, dear reader.)

But it's anticlimactic. If this were the first time I'd "greeted" these
books, that would be one thing. Getting my author copies a few days before official
release day, now THAT's the first time I held those books (even though the
"holding" was actually "beholding," but you know what I mean). That's when I
said, "Well, lookit you!" Or something like that. The feeling of accomplishment.
Even some pride, but not too much, because that's asking for trouble. No, the
ARCs I held were an afterthought. That's not to say I'm not proud of them --
but it turns out I didn't need the printed books to be proud.

Who would have thought? Not I, that's for sure!

Posted by EilisFlynn :: Link :: 5:58 PM :: 0 Comments

Sunday, January 13, 2008

New year, new e-book reader, and new book

A triple play!

Two exciting things happened this Christmas: I got a Kindle and I have a new book out.

I'm not sure which I'm more excited about.

First let's talk about the book. If Not For You is the story of a business-drive CEO whose life is turned upside down by an independent free spirit who 'accidentally' enters his life.

Accident? Or planned? Max Lerner knew that Layla Whitford was thrown into his path for some reason, but why? What do they have in common? He's a Suit from Tieland and Layla -- Layla is like an act of nature, a tornado who sweeps him up and leaves him breathless. Who wants them to meet and why?

I'll give you one hint: you won't see this one coming. You might suspect who might be involved, but you'll be left shaking your head saying, "Now wait a minute ... isn't that too much of a coincidence? If he met her and ... oh, wait. Now I see. Oh, yeah. Okay. Wow."

At least that's the reaction I got from my critique partners, my editor and others who've read it. {insert smug smile here} I think it's a doozy.

And speaking of doozies: the Kindle. I was drop-jawed surprised when I got that one. My DH heard Jeff Bezos talk about the Kindle on Charlie Rose one night and he bought it the next day. My DH knows that (1) I am a gadget lover and hence would love this gadget and (2) I plan to stay in e-publishing for the long haul since I believe it's the future of publishing.

So .. the Kindle. I have barely scratched its surface, so to speak, but I am impressed. The resolution and ease of use is nice. The possiblities are legion. All I need is the hack to get Cerridwen and other publisher's books to load into it. There's no way I'm sticking with just "Kindle" books ... too limiting. Once I get that hack, look out. My Ebookwise reader may have to retire. Until then, though, I'll have 2 devices that I use.

Here's a link or two to the two new joys in my life (my book and my Kindle):

If Not For You buy link and excerpt

Kindle and other ebook FAQs

Fun!

Posted by J L :: Link :: 3:47 AM :: 3 Comments

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Building Up

My third book. Wow. I've been with Cerridwen Press for a year now and have three books out with them. I'm so excited. And hope you might stop by and see what I have.

As for what I write, a little bit of everything. My first book, Akashan'te, is a fantasy. It's a coming of age story with a female in the lead and sweet (they don't even kiss until the end). I absolutely adore this book. And so did Romantic Times magazine who gave it 4 stars.

My second book was "Prime Time" and is so far from Akashan'te as to be in a different universe. Which it is. It takes place on the moon (yes, our moon), a couple of hundred years in our future. It's more a romance than Akashan'te, with a warmer heat level, but still not Ellora's Cave hot! Oh, and Romantic Times gave it 4 stars too!

Then we come to today. Danger on Xy-One is a futuristic romance with an even warmer heat level (I'm building slowly!) and is part of the Hunters for Hire series. About a year ago, a bunch of us got together and thought about creating our own universe with bounty hunters in the future and thus H4H was born. We worked hard on our worlds, the backgrounds, everything you need to create a viable universe. Then we started writing our books. What's really great about the series is that there's something for everyone here. It spans both houses - Ellora's cave and Cerridwen Press and heat levels from warm to sizzling.

I hope you enjoy one of my books - or one of the H4H books!

Posted by Vicky B :: Link :: 8:48 AM :: 0 Comments

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

glad to be here

Have been struggling with the web and finally got through to blog again on this site. Sometimes I think the web hates me!! Can that be? The fourth book in my Garland of Druid series, Kiss of a Druid Bard, was released last month and I'd love to post an excerpt. Only have one review so far but it was five out of five from www.gottawritenetwork.com so I'm delighted with that. Too late tonight, but will get the excerpt up tomorrow if possible. On top of everything else my DH and I are spending a few days in the desert and the internest is more off than on....

Labels: Kiss of a Druid Bard, web problems

Posted by jean hart stewart :: Link :: 8:50 PM :: 0 Comments

A New Year, A New Review, A New Scavenger Hunt

Happy New Year! I hope 2008 is a great year for all of you. I know I'm going to try to make it my best year ever...

My year started out with a bang when I read that Fallen Angels Review gave BENEATH A CHRISTMAS MOON their coveted 5 Angels and a Recommended Read. I had a blast participating in this holiday anthology with Ariana Dupre and Karen McCullough. If you'd like to check out this review, please visit: http://www.fallenangelreviews.com/2007/December/StephanieB-BeneathAChristmasMoon.htm

Another fantastic beginning to this year is marked by the start of the 3rd Annual Romantic Times Faery Court Online Scavenger Hunt. Here's a little bit more about this fun event:

The 3rd Annual Romantic Times Online Faery Court Scavenger Hunt:
January-May 2008 It's that time again. As the week of the Romantic
Times convention and the fantastic Faery Ball grows closer, the Faery
Court is putting on another magical, mystical online scavenger hunt.
Participating authors are giving away fabulous prizes each month to
those of you who can find that tricky faery in all her hiding places!
Stop by http://www.rtconvention.com/FaeryHunt2008.htm today to join in
all the fun!

Best of Luck!
Eden

Eden Robins
Dark, Dangerous and Decadent Happily-Ever-Afters
www.edenrobins.com
http://www.myspace.com/edenrobins
AFTER SUNDOWN: ILLUMINATION Coming in 2008!
BENEATH A CHRISTMAS MOON December 2007

Posted by Eden Robins :: Link :: 6:40 AM :: 0 Comments

Monday, January 07, 2008

The Dragon on my Christmas Tree

I took my Christmas tree down this past weekend. I expected to be melancholy about it, and I was a bit, but I was also excited. More on that shortly, but first I realized I have a somewhat unusual tree. Some of my ornaments are a bit, well eccentric.

I have a miniature crystal chandelier hanging on my tree, a needlepoint grandfather clock with a tiny mouse running up it, several small birdhouses with minuscule birds perched outside them, a cut-out metal lighthouse, two balls bearing the logo of Duke University, where my husband and I met while we were students, Chinese bells on a fancily knotted silk rope and a beautifully hand-embroidered fan. Perhaps the most unusual thing on the tree, though, is my dragon.

Anyone who’s looked at my web site knows I love dragons. One of my favorite characters I’ve written is the dragon in my romantic fantasy novel, WIZARD’S BRIDGE You can read his initial meeting with my heroine, Alsa, here: http://www.kmccullough.com/WizardExcerpt.html

Do any of you have unsual Christmas ornaments that relate to characters or situations in your books?

Anyway….

My Christmas was wonderful, pretty much everything I hoped for and looked forward to. We ate too much, drank just enough, laughed a great deal, hugged almost enough and took joy in the time of year, the company, the gifts, the cookies, and all of it.

I hope all of you had a wonderful time as well, whether it involved feasting or visiting or just getting some extra rest.

Now, as a writer, I’m anticipating getting back into my story in progress, finishing it, and moving onto other ideas that are burning in my mind to get down on paper. I’ve done very little writing for the last month and a half, as the holidays bring so much extra work and activities. Those characters in my head are clamoring to get their stories told.

Posted by Karen McCullough :: Link :: 4:41 PM :: 0 Comments

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Write what you know? What if you don't know anything?

You've heard it, time and time again, when it comes to writing. "Write what you know" is always the advice. "But what if my life is really boring?" the question always comes. I have yet to hear the perfect reply to that one.

For some of us, "what you know" somehow translates into nothing about our lives, but something else.

My newest book, INTRODUCING SONIKA, is and isn't a "what you know" thing. How could it be anything I would have any experience in? After all, it's about how a young woman comes back into the family business of superheroing when she meets a guy she wants to protect. I can assure you, I am no superheroine, my family has had no history of superheroing, and my husband, better known as The Hub, can protect himself (which is why he cooks very well, but that's another story altogether, one involving my experimental cooking technique). Despite all that, SONIKA is a "what you know" book.

When I was a kid, I read comics - specifically superhero comics. I decided to stop reading comics when I turned 14. I figured I was growing up, and I should, as they say, "set aside childish pursuits." It didn't take; I took up the habit again only months later, and after that, there was no going back.

Superman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder WomanŠI was always a DC Comics girl. Never got out of that habit, Marvels were always second-best as far as I was concerned. I went to college, got to write a few Superman-family stories (Lori Lemaris, Lex Luthor, Clark Kent) for the comic-book company, made lifelong friendships with other comic fans. In particular there were other fans interested in a team called the Legion of Super-Heroes, the fan club for which was started by a guy who wrote into the letters column of Adventure Comics, where the Legion strip lived back then, inviting those who were interested in the team to join a fan club. I liked the team well enough, and I certainly liked the guy well enough: years later he became The Hub.

Eventually, I did grow up - sort of - but the friendships remained and the heart of those comic stories lingered, eventually forming the essence of INTRODUCING SONIKA.

So when the advice of "Write what you know" comes up, I have to remind myself that "what you know" may not necessarily be the adventures of your lifetime. It could also be the Adventure of your heart.

-- 

Posted by EilisFlynn :: Link :: 3:26 PM :: 1 Comments

Images & logos ©Cerridwen Press, Inc. 2004 - 2006. All rights reserved. Used with permission.