I read romance novels. A lot of romance novels. A lot of them.  Back in the 80’s (and earlier) they were a joke IMHO. Always the same tropes (the model, the secretary, the princess, all with “fine textured skin” and “gray eyes”) with leading men who were crude, vulgar, aggressive…assholes.  Then they got better.  Romance novels came into their own, stopped being so caricatured.  They had plot! They had ROMANCE! They had good–excellent in some cases–writing!  But now…now it seems, things are failing.

I bought three books the other day (I’m a fast reader and those will last me almost a week).  I started one of them only to find, within two chapters, that rape=romance in that book.  Put that down, start the next. Same deal, within the first few chapters.  Book three kept it off till about midway.  And it wasn’t even “X is a rapist.” It was “The hero raped the heroine because she had it coming, she deserved it, oh but look she’s just a woman and she accepted it and falls in love because he’s sooooo strong even though he forced her to have sex when she did not want to.”

I’m, in a word, disappointed.  Two words: disappointed and disgusted.  Since when does rape mean romance? Since when do heroines “need” to be “taught a lesson”? It wasn’t rough sex, it wasn’t play, it was she said no, he made her anyway.  Three books, three different authors, three different publishers.  Ugh.

THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN by Joely Sue Burkhart
http://joelysueburkhart.com/

Worlds within worlds await through the Maya Bloodgate….

Dr. Jaid Merritt doesn’t do digs. The last time she ventured into the jungle, someone died. Now she’s content to decipher Maya glyphs from pictures sent to her by her famous archaeologist father. But when he goes missing while trying to perform a ritual based on her translations of an ancient codex, Jaid must put aside her fears and travel to Guatemala to find him.

After misusing the Bloodgates to bring his twin brother back from the afterlife, the Maya priest known as Ruin was cursed by the gods to stand as the guardian for all time. He was unable to stop Dr. Charles Merritt from opening the gates, and now demons roam this world. The last thing he wants to do is hurt the beautiful woman who is somehow infused with his magic, but if she uses the codex to retrieve her father, Ruin must do his duty. And this time, he won’t fail. Even if it kills him. Again.

Tell us a little about your book, Joely.

I’ve always loved the idea of blood sacrifice. From vampires to the symbology of communion, I’m fascinated by the inherent power in this essence of life. Add mythology to the mix, and I’m one happy camper, so of course, the Maya have always been one of my favorites mythologies. Bonus: pyramids!

One of my inspirations for THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN is a demotivator poster (link http://www.despair.com/sacrifice1.html) that shows the famous El Castillo pyramid of Chich’en Itza that says “All we ask here is that you give us your heart.” While there’s no archeological evidence that the Maya sacrificed hundreds or thousands of victims until the pyramid steps ran red with blood as in Mel Gibson’s Apocalytpo, they did practice blood sacrifice. Most of the time, they cut their ears or (men, avert your eyes and cover yourself) penis, caught blood on special paper, and then burned it with incense to honor the gods.

And yes, occasionally people were sacrificed, especially the losers of the famous ballgame or captured kings from other villages. Sometimes people were simply tossed into the cenote—large sinkholes that form over thousands of years in the limestone, often with an extensive network of caves. If they were still alive hours later…or possibly the next day…then they might be rescued to see if they bore any messages from the gods. Sadly, children were often the victims of this type of sacrifice, inspiring a short story that I’m offering for free on my website: Well of Sky.

Most of the time, it was the willing sacrifice—of his own blood—that imbued so much power into the priest’s prayers and rituals. Ruin, the hero in THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN, has paid that price numerous times himself. In fact, he’s died many times in service to the Bloodgates. He willingly pays the ultimate price over and over to protect that sacred magic.

When this man falls in love, he falls hard. How many times will he die to keep her alive?

* * *

But Can You Let Him Go? : Fairy Tales by Cindy Lynn Speer
http://apenandfire.com/

In this collection, Cindy Lynn Speer, author of The Chocolatier’s Wife and editor of StereoOpticon, a collection of re-told fairy tales, gives us several new stories and an interesting look at the classic ‘Cinderella’ as well. Cindy’s stories examine the roles of women, our expectations, and the aftermath of the classic happily ever after in interesting, sometimes disturbing, ways.

What are your hobbies, Cindy?

I have way too many…I sew, garden, obsess over home improvement, read constantly…but my primary hobby is learning how to fence the way that they did in the time of Elizabeth I, through the Society for Creative Anachronism. I have a true passion for the blade…I love trying to push myself to become a better fencer.

* * *

Deadly Lucidity by Julie Achterhoff
http://earthwalkr.wordpress.com

Caught in a tangled web of dreams and nightmares, Marie Reilly is being hunted by a psychopath in the dream world she can’t escape. Her single ally, a Ranger named Murphy, may be her only hope. He must help her reach the Great Fortress, where they’ve been told there is a way back to her reality. Together, they fight their way through the twists and turns of Marie’s mind so she can have her life back. But what of their growing passion for each other? How can Marie leave the man she has come to love behind in this nightmarish world he has called home as far back as he can remember?

What have you learned about being an author since you started writing professionally, Julie?

Gosh, I’ve learned so much! I started out reading a couple of books on how to write and taking a women’s literature class at the local community college. That was ten years ago. I started writing professionally three years ago, starting with a novella titled Native Vengeance, which was published on the Demon Minds website for their Halloween edition that year. That experience taught me that I might have what it took to write a full length novel. I started out small because I thought I’d test the waters and see if anyone thought I could write well. I was pleased to get my first acceptance letter, as well as recognition for my writing skills. Learning that someone else enjoys what you’ve written is one of the biggest thrills I’ve ever experienced!

I had some idea because I got an “A” on my class final, which was to write something. I went way overboard and wrote an entire three-act play titled Angel in the House! I wrote that in six weeks, too! So that gave me some validation about my writing. That’s when I also found out there just wasn’t enough time to write anything and homeschool my five children at the same time So I waited until most of them were out on their own to start writing my first novel, Quantum Earth. While writing this book, I learned all about the predictions for the year 2012 from the Mayan calendar. I also learned that I could create characters and scenes that would last through to the very end. It took me several months to write Quantum Earth. It takes up a lot of your day to day thinking to write a book. It keeps you up late at night, too.

Then I learned about writing query letters and synopsises to send out to publishers and agents. They have to really hook them from the very start. I learned that different publishers require different things from a potential author. Some want just a query at first, some want a query and a synopsis, and some want these plus some pages from your manuscript. You absolutely have to follow what they want exactly. If you don’t do this part just right, that alone will cause them to say no. I found out that some publishers are very nice, sometimes even giving you advice, but some of them aren’t very nice, and can say some rude things to you.

I had to find sources for publishers. I used Writer’s Market and Duotrope mostly. I learned to keep track of whom I sent out to so I wouldn’t duplicate my efforts. Then I learned the pretty painful feeling of being rejected over and over again. That was very hard for me because I don’t take rejection well! Those were a tough few months of sending out my work very carefully, and getting nothing back but negative replies.

I had already learned that there were people who liked my writing, so I tried not to give up hope. I tried to see every no as one step closer to that magical word, “yes.” Finally, after sending out at least fifty queries, synopsises, and/or pages, I got a very big yes from an e-book publisher. She said Quantum Earth was exactly what she was interested in and loved it from start to finish. But one thing I had learned was that e-books were just sent by email. They are not really a solid book you can hold in your hand. This put me off a bit, so I contacted one of the publishers who said they wanted more about Quantum Earth and asked them if they were interested in publishing it. They said yes, too! Now I had a decision to make, and not much information about the pros and cons. But I knew I wanted to see my book in print as a real book, so I ended up having to be the one to say no to the first publisher. That was a twist. She was very disappointed, but understood.

So it happened that All Things That Matter Press was the one to publish my first real book. A year later they published my second book, Deadly Lucidity. For this book I learned all about lucid dreaming, among other things. During the time I’ve been with ATTM Press I’ve learned so much from Deb and Phil Harris. They run this small press, and I couldn’t be happier with them. Deb has taught me everything I could possibly want to know about editing, and Phil has taught me all about promoting books and creating a name for yourself. They are experts at what they do. An author has to learn how to sell their own books by doing interviews, blogging, publicity, creating an author platform, and many other ways to get people to buy their books. It’s not an easy process. I work on this almost every day.

I’ve also learned so much from other authors, especially the ones that are also published at ATTM Press. We have a yahoo group where we keep in close touch, sharing ideas and supporting one another. Another source for my education is my friends on facebook who are also writers. I have learned a lot from these and other sources, and continue to learn what it takes to be a writer. Now I’m at the point where I am starting to do some teaching, myself. I recently got an offer to teach at a writer’s retreat next January in Georgia. I’m very excited about that, and hope that I can help others on the path to writing. As of this writing I am finishing up my next book, Earthwalker, which will be available by Christmas.

Working on a LOT of edits, both for editors and for my own gratification before I submit some long overdue manuscripts. I’ve been reading a LOT lately (which is kind of why I’m behind on things) and I’ve come to two conclusions: the quality of romance novels is cyclical and the quality of romance heroines is cyclical. Bah.

“Requiem,” by Heather S. Ingemar

Hattie Locke has a gift: when she sings, the dead dig themselves from their graves to listen. As a death-siren, her life has always been this way.

Then the dead begin to show up in numbers far beyond expected. With each song she sings, they grow pushy and demanding, rushing the stage to reach her. Trapped in a place where her dreams of music become her nightmares, Hattie is left with nowhere to turn.

But then she meets a boy, who promises freedom from her curse.

Now Hattie wonders: is ridding herself of her voice worth losing the music she’s lived to create?

QUESTION: Tell us a bit about yourself and your novella, “Requiem”?

In some ways, Hattie reminds me of myself. I came from a musical family, and I delved right into all of it. By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I’d mastered seven different instruments, and it was pretty much thought a guarantee that I’d pursue Julliard, or Berkeley, or some other prestigious music school. Imagine everyone’s surprise when I decided to major in English lit!

Thankfully, I had a more-or-less understanding family who allowed me the space to pursue my words (they knew I wasn’t leaving music completely, and they were right; I still play now and then) – however, I faced extreme opposition from others. It was these experiences that I drew on in creating Hattie’s unusual situation. What if my family hadn’t let me do my own thing? What if they reacted like these vehement strangers and teachers and friends who all thought they knew best for me?

Combine that with my morbid streak (zombies! death! magic!), and “Requiem” was born.

————-
H e a t h e r S . I n g e m a r
Author of Dark Fantasies for Teens & Adults
Web | Twitter | GoodReads | Myspace | Flickr

Requiem voted Top Ten Young Adult Book for 2009! Learn more!
_______________________________________

Deadfall by Shaun Jeffrey

A team of mercenaries race to an abandoned mining village to rescue two children held hostage by rogue ex-soldiers. But the kidnappers are a ruse, the real threat more terrifying than any of them could imagine.

Aided by a couple of unsuspecting eco-warriors, mercenary team leader Amber Redgrave must fight to survive against foes that don’t sleep and don’t feel pain.

Now as the body count rises, so do the stakes, and when the dead won’t stay dead, there’s going to be hell to pay.

What are some ways in which you promote your work? Do you find that these add to or detract from your writing time?

As a writer, promotion is one of the hardest things to do as you’re competing against thousands of other authors for a reader’s attention. To promote my work, I participate in things such as this blog tour. I post on message boards. I maintain a presence on Myspace, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Goodreads and other sites. I help by sending out review copies. I do interviews in magazines and online. But it all takes time and obviously detracts from the writing side of things. I don’t think it matters whether you’re published by a major publisher or a small press one, most authors need to help promote their work. Now readers are a major part of this, and I would ask that if anyone has read a book and enjoyed it, they show their appreciation and help by posting a short review on any of the book sites such as Amazon or Goodreads etc, as it goes a long way towards helping an author along what is a long and lonely road. It only takes a couple of minutes, but I’m sure the author concerned would be most grateful.

For more info on my work, please check out www.shaunjeffrey.com
_________________________________________________
Aether Age Anthology: Interview with author Jaym Gates

I have to admit, when I first heard about the Aether Age project, I kind of wrote it off. Like so many other things, I’d heard about it on Twitter, when a couple of guys asked me if I would be involved. At the time, I was in California for a week, on vacation, and heading for some major deadlines.

I said I’d try. I wrote four different starts. My computer crashed, I was trying to put out a wildfire in the writing community I was administrating, I was running too tight on the deadlines as it was. On top of that, it’s been established that I don’t play well in other people’s worlds. I’m an unrepentant devotee of massive, detailed worlds, and had several failed collaborative attempts behind me.

A week before the deadline, I took my retired dinosaur of a computer and hammered out a first draft, a second draft, polished, sent it in 2 days before deadline…before the deadline was extended. The editors asked me if I’d be interested in writing another story. Ok, well, if you insist.

The world of Aether Age is difficult to write in, the first time through. Anything dealing with ancient Egypt or Greece is going to be problematic. The sheer level of detail is boggling, and the confusion. Was this ruler male, female, 1st Dynasty or 20th? Add a complex alternate history, and there are thousands of possibilities. It’s like trying to find the one special blueberry in a 5 pound box.

But, it does get a writer thinking. How would technologies change religion? How would airships change economy? How much horror would you get from mixing an unstable, unknown eternity of space with an endless pantheon of gods?

My stories explored the horror. What happens when criminals and monsters are abandoned on a rock, thousands of miles from anything they know, reliant on an atmosphere that goes away every now and then? What are those shadows in the dark? Where did the legends of Hades come from? What new gods would form in the endless depths of space, and how would they be worshiped?

Join me in the Aether, in the Age of Helios, this fall. It will be the adventure of a lifetime.

-Jaym Gates

Week 2 is here! I *know* you haven’t read all the books from week 1 yet but get your copies of these while they’re hot! don’t forget to comment to join in the raffle and check out these read and others at www.seasonalreading.com

AETHER AGE ANTHOLOGY, edited by Brandon Bell

A past remade…

Take flight on airships, balloons, and wooden rockets. Soar with winged
hoplites, exiled princesses, explorers and philosophers. Witness the struggle
for equality, freedom, and power like you never have before.

Explore a history transformed and travel into the heavens to discover what
awaits the civilizations of Humanity in…

Tell us about this anthology, Brandon. What was it like for you to work as editor?

Aether Age: Helios was my first crack at working as editor. By the time Aether
Age grew into something almost ready to open to submissions, Chris Fletcher made
the offer for me to co-edit the anthology, probably on the basis of my
involvement to that point, coupled with what he knew of me as a writer. Being a
decent writer does not equal a decent editor, but I’d also done the guest post
on M-Brane outlining my ideas about what makes a good story, so Chris must have
believed he had enough data about what kind of editor I might be to feel some
confidence.

I’ve read interviews with editors that I respect and blog posts by writers
discussing their experience in magazines and anthologies. Writers sometimes
feel betrayed by the inclusion of another story, or otherwise compromised due to
an inclusion, exclusion, or lack of editorial vision. And depending on the
lens, Chris and I could look either terribly unpromising or a potential win —at
least in the matter of a diversity of views: two white guys (ah, hmmm), a gay
guy and a straight guy (oh, could be interesting), a non-christian and a
buddhist (really?). All these are just details, though. Diversity was never
even a discussion we had, it just happened. I’m happy on this point: we have a
nice balance of female to male and a great world-spanning contributor list.

Ok, but what about the stories?

Yes, that’s what matters. I won’t name names, but I find reassurance that the
tale I liked least during our reading period has grown into one of my
favorites. Story, well told, trumps the most jaded of reader expectations.

Our guiding editorial principle was simply to cover the range of time envisioned

with interesting tales that varied in tone. We didn’t want a bunch of dark
stories or only stories that dealt with swashbuckling and adventure. Though AeA
has all that.

Some of the stories are not ‘my type of tale’. Not the sort of thing I’d
typically read. And I’m really happy about those stories. I know a book like
Aether Age, so difficult to blurb or explain, is going to be a hard sell for
readers of a more romantic or mainstream bent, but I wish I could put it in the
hands of exactly that reader. There’s just enough darkness, danger, and
adventure to make the gentle moments and so very human relationships echo in the
way that only seems to happen when a set of stories are presented as facets of
their own history.

We all love superstars. Having a superstar in AeA would help sell copies, for
sure. Well, we didn’t get the literary equivalent of U2 or The Beatles. And
that is good. If you are like me, you’ve had that pet band you know and love
that just never attained the household name-recognition of the superstars. The
Mars Volta, The Tragically Hip, Arcade Fire, Portishead… notwithstanding my
Canadian readers for whom a couple of these ARE huge bands, down here in Texas
these are the good stuff that no one seems to know about.

Maybe we have some future superstars in our midst among the AeA table of
contents. We certainly have writers who are widely published and making names
for themselves. But for now, here’s the short story equivalent to the
‘educational mixtape’ you might put together in the hopes of pulling your
hopelessly misled buddies away from Lil Wayne and Justin Beaber.

In that same spirit I present to you The Aether Age: Helios. For your enjoyment
and edification.

THE KULT by Shaun JeffreyThe Kult – People are predictable. That’s what makes them easy to kill.

Tell us about yourself, Shaun.

My name’s Shaun Jeffrey, and having grown up in a house in a cemetery, it’s
pretty safe to assume I was never going to be writing love stories, and perhaps
goes some way to explaining my attraction to the dark side of the literary
spectrum.

I’ve been writing on and off for around twenty years, and it never gets any
easier. But then that’s all part of the challenge and the fun. If it was easy,
everyone would be doing it, and while everyone may have a story to tell, not
everyone can tell it.

Now along with cover pictures, I think taglines are important. They sum up the
story in as few words as possible and hopefully entice readers to buy the book.
Or at least to give it more than a passing glance. ‘People are predictable.
That’s what makes them easy to kill.’ That’s the tagline to my novel, The Kult,
which is a fast paced serial killer story that contains a mix of horror, crime
and mystery.

Is it true that it has been optioned for a movie?

The book was optioned at the end of last year by Gharial
Productions, and shooting on the film begins in September.
www.gharialproductions.com. It will be interesting and exciting to see my story
brought to life, a story that award winning author Jonathan Maberry called ‘a
bumpy ride through nightmare country’. I have two other novels available,
‘Deadfall’ – when the dead won’t stay dead there’s going to be hell to pay. And
‘Evilution’ – humankind is about to change.

Details of these and any other projects can be found on my website:
www.shaunjeffrey.com and sample chapters and my previously published short story
collection ‘Voyeurs of Death’ can be read for free at
http://www.scribd.com/document_collections/2519626

BASED UPON AVAILABILITY by Alix Strauss

What is your book about, Alix?

Based Upon Availability delves into the lives of eight seemingly ordinary women,
each who pass through Manhattan’s swanky Four Seasons Hotel. While offering
sanctuary to some, solace to others, the hotel captures their darkest and
twisted moments as they grapple with family, sex, power, love, and
death. Trish, a gallery owner, obsesses over her best friend’s wedding and
dramatic weight loss. Robin wants revenge after a lifetime of abuse at the hands
of her older sister. Anne is single, lonely, and suffering from
obsessive-compulsive disorder. Drug-addicted rock star Louise needs to dry out.
Southerner-turned-wannabe Manhattanite Franny is envious of her neighbors’
lives. Sheila wants to punish her boyfriend for returning to his wife. Ellen so
desperately wants children, she’s willing to pretend to be pregnant. And Morgan,
the hotel manager— haunted by the memory of her dead sister—is the thread that
weaves these women’s lives together.

In this an utterly original read, I try to ask and answer the age-old question; ‘what happens behind closed doors’ while
examining the walls we put up as we attempt intimacy, and inspecting the ruins
when they’re knocked down.

Alix Strauss
Journalist/Author
www.alixstrauss.com

NATIVE VENGEANCE by Julie Achterhoff

Julie Achterhoff is the author of three books, Native Vengeance, Quantum Earth,
and Deadly Lucidity. They are paranormal thrillers. She grew up reading such
authors as Stephen King and Dean Koontz, which influenced her own writing. She
has been writing since childhood, scaring her teachers with her horror stories.
Reading has also been a great influence on her. Her books can be found on
amazon.com in regular form, and now on Kindle for $3.19 a piece. They can also
be purchased from the publisher at allthingsthatmatterpress.com. You can read
parts of her books on BookBuzzr.

Why did you become involved in your particular genre?

I just love scary stuff! It’s exciting for me to write stories that will scare
people and make them wonder if something like that could really happen. When I
was a kid I read every scary book I could get my hands on. I loved H.P.
Lovecraft and others that kept me up at night. I enjoy creating characters who
are strong, yet also vulnerable, so the reader can relate to them throughout the
story. I also enjoy writing a strong storyline that will keep readers engrossed
until the very end. I also like adding a romantic element in my books. I think
that gives them a little spice. I believe that thrillers are the most
interesting books. They can really get to you!

Read more about these, and other great titles at Vacation Reads.

It’s that time of year again—vacation time! for most folks, anyway!  Looking to catch up on some reading?  Need a beach read, slopes read or just…a read?  Check out these books courtesy of the Vacation Reads blog tour!

THE KULT by Shaun Jeffrey

People are predictable. That’s what makes them easy to kill.

Acting out of misguided loyalty to his friends, police officer Prosper Snow is goaded into helping them perform a copycat killing, but when the real killer comes after him, it’s not only his life on the line, but his family’s too. Now if he goes to his colleagues for help, he risks being arrested for murder. If he doesn’t, he risks being killed.

***

“With Kult, Shaun Jeffrey hits one out of the park with this creepy, character-driven thriller that starts with a jolt, stays in the fast lane, and plunges into the darkest territory of the human mind. It’s a bumpy ride through nightmare country.”

–Jonathan Maberry, multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author of PATIENT ZERO and PUNISHER: NAKED KILL

“Jeffrey, one of horror’s rising young stars, has really hit his stride with THE KULT. Part mystery, part police procedural, part horror story, it’s one thrilling ride. Jeffrey had me guessing at the killer’s identity half a dozen times, and the reveal, when it finally came, knocked me over. You don’t want to miss this one!” –Nate Kenyon, author of THE REACH and THE BONE FACTORY

“The Kult is a creeping stalk through a shadowy labyrinth of thrills and terror. Shaun Jeffrey delivers a pulse-pounding novel of superb skill and unequivocal horror. Fans of many genres should be ready to embrace one of the brightest new talents on the scene today.” — Jon F. Merz author of PARALLAX and the Lawson Vampire novels.

Details of these and any other projects can be found on Shaun’s website: www.shaunjeffrey.com and sample chapters and his previously published short story collection ‘Voyeurs of Death’ can be read for free at http://www.scribd.com/document_collections/2519626

ALIEN DREAMS by John Roseman

Captain Eric Latimore leads a four-person crew to Lagos to investigate a previous team’s mysterious disappearance. Once there, he discovers that an ominous alien presence is invading their dreams. Each member of his crew has the same dream–huge, seductively beautiful “angels” speak to them telepathically.

The creatures strand his crew on the planet and only Latimore can free them–if he survives.

Link to purchase: http://drolleriepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=11

Personal Website: www.johnrosenman.com

CHOCOLATIER’S WIFE by Cindy Lynn Speer — NEW RELEASE!!!

Tasmin, William’s wife to be, was chosen by a spell, as all wives and husbands are chosen. It’s a nice, tidy way to find a reasonable mate for almosteveryone. Unfortunately, Tasmin is from the North, a place of magic and strange ritual, and William is from the South, where people pride themselves on being above that kind of insanity.

William doesn’t seem in a hurry to send for Tasmin, for which none of his family blame him. After all, she’s a barbarian. She, on the other hand, would like to know what’s keeping him. When he’s framed for murdering his patron, Tasmin takes matters into her own hands. She’s gotten to know Wiliam from his letters. He’s not a murderer and she’s going to help him prove it.

Someone out there doesn’t like him and is beginning to dislike Tasmin almost as much, and that someone isn’t at all averse to making sure William and Tasmin aren’t around long enough to celebrate their wedding.

Read more at http://www.apenandfire.com

UNSEELIE by Meredith Holmes

The darkness tasted like bitter bark and earth, sharp berries, and cold water. I could not feel it as it came over me but I could smell it, taste it, hear it . . .

When Alfhild was a little girl, her grandmother called her a fairy princess and told her all of her favorite tales.

She’d never imagined they were real.

Anxious to avoid the swarming reporters and ghoulish souvenir hunters who won’t leave her alone when her brother Gulliver is tried and acquitted for multiple murders he almost certainly committed, a grown up Alfhild changes her name to Lorelei and flees Louisiana to the sanctuary she inherited from her grandmother, the ancestral home in England.

All is well until she wakes one morning to find a naked man in her rosebush.

And the games begin . . .

Find out more information about Meredith and her projects at www.meredithholmes.com

COLLECTING DREAMS by Heather Ingemar

There are eyes in the darkness.

Late one night, Isabele’s reality takes a wild and supernatural turn into the shadows and shimmering light of stolen dreams.

Once lost, they aren’t easily reclaimed. And she’s been touched by the monster….

From the beginning with ‘Dream-Drinker’ (appeared in “StereoOpticon” from Drollerie Press), Isabele finds her way through two other tales. But what’s learned cannot be unlearned. What’s done cannot be undone. At the end of it all, Isabele may or may not be the same.

Learn more about Heather S. Ingemar at her website: http://ingemarwrites.wordpress.com/

Buy the book at: http://drolleriepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14&products_id=90

COMPOSING MAGIC by Elizabeth Barrette

Composing Magic: How to Create Spells, Rituals, Blessings, Chants, and Prayers guides you through the exciting realm of magical and spiritual writing. Explore the process of writing, its tools and techniques, individual types of composition, and ways of sharing your work with other people. Each type of writing includes its history and uses, covering diverse traditions; plus step-by-step instructions, finished compositions, and exercises. Intended for alternative religions, but it can be generalized to others or used by fiction writers to create background tidbits.

LINKS:

“The Wordsmith’s Forge” blog by Elizabeth Barrette / Ysabetwordsmith
http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com
Special post “So Your Story Needs a Prophecy” on adapting _Composing Magic_ to write cultural bits to put into fiction:
http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/1212401.html

Elizabeth Barrette’s personal Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000506157220
FB Fan page for Elizabeth Barrette’s business, PenUltimate Productions Writing & Editing:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PenUltimate-Productions-Writing-Editing/118404341520029?v=app_2347471856&ref=ts#!/pages/PenUltimate-Productions-Writing-Editing/118404341520029?v=wall&ref=ts

Elizabeth Barrette’s MyBlogLog profile:
http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/ysabetwordsmith/

Composing Magic at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Composing-Magic-Magical-Rituals-Blessings/dp/1564149358

IVAN AND MARYA by Anna Kashina — NEW RELEASE!!!

“…a pleasure to read. Uncluttered yet vivid with detail, Kashina’s writing promises to beautifully update Russian folklore for a worldwide audience. “ Tracy Fable, The Fantasy Tavern.

“Kashina manages to capture all the elements that make fairytales such fun to read and adds a voice of her own to it as well.” Pearls Cast Before a McPig.

“Rich description, fascinating characters with dark motivations and even darker methods, and scenes that keep the story moving ever forward. Anna Kashina does not waste a single word.” Black Sun Reviews.

The Dark Essence of Russian Myth

Ivan-and-Marya is a dark fantasy with elements of romance, based on Russian folklore.

Marya, a shapeshifter and a powerful sorceress, helps her father rule the kingdom by sacrificing young virgins whose life force feeds her father’s soul. She wards off the enemies of her cult by luring them into a trap of her beauty, and destroying them. Marya never questions her duties, not knowing that the man she calls her father holds the dark secrets about her birth and the true source of her magic powers.

Ivan, a young man on a quest to put an end to the virgin sacrifice, walks straight into Marya’s trap and falls in love with her at first sight. At first his gentleness makes Marya believe he would be easy to defeat, but as she confronts him she finds him a tougher enemy than she imagined. Ivan’s hidden strength – and the forces that aid him – for the first time challenge not only her powers, but the very foundation of her beliefs. To face Ivan and achieve her ‘happily ever after’, Marya must first face her darkest fears — and survive it.

Find out more about Anna and her work at www.annakashina.com

Buy the book at Drollerie Press – special price in July!!!

Long time no post! Crazy thing, babies… they tend to suck time like a sponge sucks water lol! I’ve got two new projects in the finishing stages right now so cross your fingers! And two short stories in for consideration so more finger crossing! Right now I’m pondering romance novels, a format near and dear to my heart, and the problem of the annoying-as-hell heroine (and hero). You WANT to like them but it’s just too hard. The author has tried, in many cases, to make them “strong” and “independent” but they come off as “bossy” and “really wish they’d go away”. I’m reading a story right now set during the English Civil War and seriously, I’d have hung the “rebel” ages ago. I’m not sure how much of it is the heroine’s irritating traits and how much of it is the out-of-time phrases the author puts in the characters’ mouths… “Nirvana”? In Cromwell’s England?

Don’t forget! CoyoteCon starts today! I’ll be “speaking” at the Mythic Fiction panel today at 5 pm CST/6 EST and many more throughout the month! There’s SO MANY great speakers on the panels that I can’t name ‘em all here!

We’re having the monthly DP chat at the Coyote Con website! www.coyotecon.com! If you haven’t signed up for the con yet, get on it! There’s some AMAZING people taking part!

I had no idea it’d been so long since I updated! Having a baby makes time fly! Almost done with my short story for consideration in an upcoming anthology, really hit my stride with my demon story…all in all productive! Learning to write around Spawn’s schedule is a challenge but worth it. There’s an upcoming panel discussion event with Drollerie Press coming up in May-ish! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on the Drollerie site or on this blog!