Update:  The winners of ENTANGLED (Kindle versions) are…Khelsey, Betty Lewis, and Ashley A.  Congrats!

I’m so glad that awesome author Nancy Haddock is able to join us now!  (Nancy is in the ENTANGLED charity anthology with me, and she contributed one fabulous tale.) Nancy, thank you for coming to the party!

***

Me and My Big Fat Spanish Character

Helllloooo, Cynthia and Cynthia Eden fans!

It’s Monday morning, and Entangled is officially on sale in e-formats everywhere. Okay, maybe not everywhere, but at B&N for Nook, at Amazon for Kindle, and at Smashwords for those with Sonys, iPads, etc.

I’m thrilled to be in the stellar company of Cynthia, Allison Brennan, Jennifer Estep, and all the other amazing authors who contributed to Entangled. My own short story for the anthology is entitled “Medium Rare,” and it features the city of St. Augustine, Florida. It also showcases a slice of St. Augustine history, and a sampling of its ghost legends.

I fell in love with St. Augustine years before I was finally fortunate enough to move here. In fact, I credit the move to re-energizing my writing, so it’s no surprise that the city has become a strong secondary character in my work.

Ponce de Leon landed just north of the current Historic Old Town area in 1513 in the location that is now the Fountain of Youth complex. Why he didn’t stick around to drink a boat load of spring water, I don’t know, but then I don’t cheerfully chug sulfur water every day either. The actual founding of the Ancient City took place when Pedro Menendez de Aviles dropped anchor off the coast on August 28, 1565, the Feast Day of St. Augustine. In early September, Menendez and 600 soldiers and settlers came ashore with banners waving and trumpets sounding. I doubt the Timucuan Indians applauded the Spanish tromping through their village of Seloy, but thus is the pageantry that marked the birth of the city.

In 2015 St. Augustine will celebrate its 450^th birthday. That’s not a long life by European standards, but it’s good and long enough that a sense of history permeates the entire downtown and uptown areas. And long enough to generate a heck of a lot of ghosts, too!

I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy reading Entangled, and I hope you’ll remember these tidbits about St. Augustine when you read “Medium Rare.”

Best,

Nancy Haddock

***

Thanks, Nancy!  Loved the post.

Now, to celebrate both the anthology release & Nancy’s visit, three commenters will be selected to receive Kindle versions of ENTANGLED.  (I’ll be buying the copies so the Breast Cancer Research Foundation will still get the donation–and you can have some reading fun!)

Update: The ANGEL OF DARKNESS prize pack will be going to…Tina B! Congrats!! (And, psst..I’ll be giving more of these away soon!)

Inspiration can come from any place. (And it usually does.)  For my novella, BOUND IN DARKNESS, inspiration came from a fairy tale.

I’ve always loved the Snow White tale but I’ll confess…I wanted a slightly different ending for Snow White. Sure, gallant princes are all well and good, but I’d rather have Snow White wind up with a bad boy.  And from that one idea–well, BOUND IN DARKNESS was born.

Remember how sweet little Snow White was supposed to be taken in the woods and murdered?  That’s the beginning of my novella. My heroine, Allison, follows the wrong man into the woods. His job is to kill her but…

He doesn’t. Just like in the Snow White tale, our heroine doesn’t die at that moment, and in that moment, well, things get interesting.  The assassin sent after my heroine is soon the one who is protecting her from every evil that comes her way.  No, he’s definitely not a gallant prince. In fact, he’s a werewolf.

But then, my heroine isn’t exactly lily pure, either…she’s a vampire.  And the lady is getting the urge to bite.

What favorite fairy tales do you have? Which tales would you like to see with a new twist?  Leave me a comment and let me know. One winner will be selected to win an ANGEL OF DARKNESS prize pack that will include: an early copy of ANGEL OF DARKNESS (as soon as I get my author copies, you get the very first one!), an ANGEL OF DARKNESS t-shirt (size large), an ANGEL OF DARKNESS mug, and an ANGEL OF DARKNESS tote bag.

And don’t forget…you can buy BOUND IN DARKNESS at Amazon, B&N, All Romance eBooks, or Smashwords for .99! Thanks!!!

My new ebooks, BOUND IN DARKNESS and ENTANGLED are available now! (Though the official release day is tomorrow, the books are available now at Amazon, B&N, All Romance EBooks, and Smashwords, so I thought I’d go ahead and spread the word.)

But…I am planning to have my release day party tomorrow (9/12/11), so I hope you will come back by for the fun!!  The party will kick off at 8:00 am tomorrow (Central Time) and last until 10:00 pm.  Each hour, a different author will be joining the party.  Many of my writing friends from the ENTANGLED anthology will be at the party(like Edie Ramer, Michelle Diener, Dale Mayer, and Nancy Haddock), plus great folks like Donna Grant, Jennifer Haymore, Lisa Renee Jones, and Caridad Pineiro.  There will be tons of contests (and all contests will stay open until noon–again, Central Time–on 9/13/11 so that people in different time zones will have a chance to participate.  It will be a great time, and I hope you can join us!

Now, back to those releases!  🙂

Here’s the blurb for BOUND IN DARKNESS:

Hunter…

When it comes to killing vampires, werewolf Cade Thain is the best slayer in the Northwest. So when a witch hires him to take out a pureblood vamp, the assassin thinks it will be just business as usual. One less vicious vamp on the streets…one more undead parasite gone from the earth. Then he meets her.

Protector…

Allison Gray isn’t the prey that Cade expects. Beautiful, innocent, she stirs a dark desire within him. Allison hasn’t transformed fully into a vampire, not yet, and it’s Cade’s job to make sure that she never does. Allison thinks that he’s at her side to keep her safe, but Cade is supposed to pick the right moment—and kill her.

Lover…

Killing Allison is soon the last thing that Cade plans. As she begins the transformation that will turn her into a vampire, her bloodlust and their desire merge in an explosion of need that neither can control. But Allison’s enemies are closing in, and the coming battle will take Cade and Allison beyond life, beyond love…and into a deadly darkness that waits to claim them both.

Bound in Darkness.

***

You can find BOUND IN DARKNESS at Amazon, at B&N, at Smashwords, and at All Romance eBooks (I know–I said this before, but this time, I’m providing links!) Also, did I mention that BOUND IN DARKNESS is just .99?  Cause it is!  This is a novella story, with a word count clocking in at just over 21,000.  It’s a sexy story about one hot werewolf with a very dark side.  Tomorrow, I’ll be talking about how I got the inspiration for this tale (Snow White helped a lot!)

And for my second release:

ENTANGLED is a paranormal romance anthology (all of the stories are linked to Halloween).  The anthology is priced at $2.99, and ALL of the proceeds from this book will be going to the Breast Cancer Research Fund.  So you can get a great read, and help out a great cause at the same time.  It’s a double win.

My contribution to ENTANGLED is an 11,000 word short story called, “A Bit of Bite.” (Most of the stories are between 10-11k. but with 11 authors participating, that means you are getting a book with over 100k words for just $2.99.  Deal! This price will last for the months of September and October. )

ENTANGLED is available at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, and All Romance eBooks.

Both of these books are ebooks, but if you don’t have an ereader, you can still read the tales.  You can download a free program like Kindle for PC or Nook for PC and read the books right on your computer (I use these programs all the time. Very handy).

Here’s the blurb for ENTANGLED:

Ghosts, vampires, demons, and more! Entangled includes ten suspense-filled paranormal short stories from authors Cynthia Eden, Jennifer Estep, Edie Ramer, Lori Brighton, Michelle Diener, Misty Evans, Nancy Haddock, Liz Kreger, Dale Mayer, and Michelle Miles, plus a Seven Deadly Sins novella by Allison Brennan.

***

I hope you enjoy a terrific Sunday, and don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the release day fun!

.99 Paranormal Novella

Scroll down…new contest posts are below!

Welcome to the party!!! I’m celebrating double releases today, and so I’ve got some great guests who are coming by to keep us all entertained & happy! Scroll down to see their posts, to enter the giveaways, and to join the conversations. Thanks for coming by!

The party will kick-off today at 8 AM (Central Time) and last until 10 PM (again, Central Time). Each hour, a new author will be here–and there will be new prizes listed. All giveaways will stay open until noon on 9/13/11. Have fun!!

Paranormal Charity Anthology, $2.99

Vampires…

Werewolves….

Forbidden Romance….

Let’s have ourselves a howling good time!

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday…I hope this weekend you get to curl up with a good book. And speaking of books…author Lucianne Rivers is here to chat with us about her new story, THRILL ME (and warning–giveaway ahead!)

***

Thanks for having me at your blog, Cynthia. I don’t know how the weather is where you are, but here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, fall has arrived. Overnight, it seems. On August 31 it was summer, and the following morning autumn had come. It rained and there was a decided chill in the air.

Now, for a drought-ridden state, rain is a good thing, but I come from Ireland, where it rains practically all year around. Grey skies and me don’t go well together. It’s the kind of winter’s-a-comin’ atmosphere that makes we want to hibernate with a good book and a bottle of wine…preferably followed by a snuggle with a beautiful man. If any of the latter are missing, I get lonesome.

Although, I have found a suitable alternative to at least one of the above…It’s called EXERCISE. Now that the evenings are getting darker, I have to make an extra-special effort to leave the house for my gym. However, once I’m there (I do Olympic weightlifting, Crossfit and Jiu Jitsu), and get those endorphins going, I feel a little bit of summer come back to my system.

Margo, the heroine in THRILL ME–my new release in the Caldwell Sisters Trilogy from Entangled Publishing–is an Olympic lifter, also.

Having just been made detective at the Santa Fe Police Department, she has to make one final trip before she gets her first case. In the Virgin Islands, she searches for her long-lost father, Zach, with a little help from the hunky Captain Adrian Prince, but finds more than she bargained for in the form of gunrunners, drug-dealers and dangerous, open water.

Very few grey skies in THRILL ME, but plenty of potential for wine and snuggles for Margo and Adrian. After the danger has passed, that is.

I hope you enjoy it, and the prequel and sequel, HOLD ME & ENTICE ME.

Lucy

Want to read THRILL ME?  Then tell us what you’re looking forward to this Fall–or leave a question for Lucianne. I’ll pick one winner to receive a Kindle ebook copy of THRILL ME. (And remember…no Kindle? No problem! You can still read the tale with the free Kindle for PC program.)

Here’s the blurb for THRILL ME:

Santa Fe Police Detective Margo Caldwell needs a vacation, but the wild goose chase her mother’s death triggers isn’t quite what she had in mind. Margo and her sisters must locate their father, or the Caldwell estate will remain unsettled—and they’ll never know why their father didn’t return from the Gulf War.

Pursuing a lead, Margo heads to the Virgin Islands in search of Zach Caldwell. To navigate the waters of the Caribbean, she needs a boat and a captain. Too bad Captain Adrian Prince, with his mesmerizing muscles and wicked grin, may be gunrunner.

Adrian takes Margo on his delivery route to small islands near St. Thomas that hide more than wildlife, booze, and sexy boaters. On a remote, mangrove-ridden patch of sand, they find gun-toting Zach Caldwell. When their mission turns deadly, Margo must save Adrian’s life—and her own—even if she loses her heart in the process.

Title: Thrill Me (Caldwell Sisters, #2)
Author: Lucianne Rivers
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novella
Launch Date: September 2011
ISBN: 978-1-937044-22-0