Update: Thank you so much for all the responses to the ARC Giveaway. I loved reading the comments!  I picked 3 random winners, and those folks are: Wren Andre, Tiffaney, and January.  Congrats!!!  And, if you’d like another chance to win an ARC–stay tuned. I’ve got lots more contests coming.  Enjoy your Thursday!

I’ve got 3 ANGEL OF DARKNESS Advanced Reader Copies that I would absolutely love to giveaway.

Want to win? We’ll make this easy. I’ve got 3 main types of angels featured in my upcoming Fallen series. Guardians (yep, those angels who watch over humans), Angels of Death (bet you can guess what they do), and Punishment Angels (I’m betting you can figure out what they do, too). Now…guardian angels are the good guys. The Death Angels and the Punishers? Um, not so much.
If you were a character in one of my Fallen books, which category of angels would you belong to? Guardians? Punishers? Death Angels? Are you a good, gentle soul? Or do you like to dish out some retribution?

Leave me your answer, and I will be back tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM (Eastern Time) to pick the 3 winners. Thanks!!

Just wanted to post a quick reminder–the deadline for entering the Brava Writing With The Stars Contest is August 22nd.  If you’ve ever wanted to write a romance, then this is a great contest for you.  Here are the rules (as taken from the Brava Authors website):

The Rules:

1. Entries will be accepted July 1st , 12am EST, through August 22nd, 11:59 EST.
2. Only the first 500 entries will be eligible.
3. This contest is open to unpublished authors. For the purposes of the contest, “unpublished” means authors who have not been published IN ANY FORMAT. Authors who have only self-published are eligible; however, the manuscript you are submitting must be brand new material, never before published.
4. Due to varying contest laws, the contest is only open to authors in the US and Canada. Entries must be in English.
5. Entries must be Brava-level heat. Inspirational or “sweet” romances will be disqualified.
6. Entries can be any genre of romance other than inspirational.
7. Entries must be novella-length, 20,000-30,000 words. Please use the Word Count feature in your document program to calculate this.
8. You must send THE FULL MANUSCRIPT as your entry. We are not interested in seeing partials of manuscripts that are incomplete.
9. Your entry must be sent to us exclusively. Manuscripts that have won previous contests are fine, but please do not send projects that are currently out with other publishers. If your manuscript is out with agents, please let them know they cannot submit it to other publishers until finalists are announced.
10. Your entry must have your name, address, phone number, and email address. PLEASE ADD THIS INFO TO THE FIRST PAGE OF YOUR ENTRY. This information will only be used to contact you if you are a finalist. Please also include the genre you are targeting.
11. ONE ENTRY PER AUTHOR. Subsequent entries will be deleted.
12. Your entry must be submitted via email to marketing@kensingtonbooks.com with “Brava contest” in the subject line. Word doc or rtf format. Snail mail entries will not be considered. Manuscripts sent directly to Brava editors will not be considered.
13. Only the top 8 finalists will be notified. Finalists will be announced Sept 26th. If you have not heard from us by Sept 26th, you are not a finalist, and are free to submit your manuscript elsewhere.
14. Finalists agree to having their headshot and bio publicized by RT. Please do not enter if you are not comfortable with this requirement.

To enter, send your full manuscript to  Marketing@KensingtonBooks.com and be sure to make “Brava Contest” your subject.

Good luck!!

Today the BookPage blog has a listing of their 25 most anticipated books for fall. As I scanned the list, my attention was caught by a few books:

“The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian
A pilot who has to make an emergency landing on water (think Sully) survives the crash. 39 of the 47 other people on board do not. Haunted by the past, he moves with his wife and two daughters to a rambling Victorian house in Vermont, where the haunting becomes literal. Look for shades of The Shining.”

Honestly, they had me at “shades of the Shining.”

“Zone One by Colson Whitehead
In the wake of the plague, Mark Spitz is working to clear Manhattan of the infected ones—though the only zombies left in the area are not the dangerous kind but the “malfunctioning” sort who are basically catatonic and mourning their former lives. Then it all starts to go wrong.”

My husband is a zombie freak, so I bet he’d enjoy this one–and I like the different spin that seems to be used with zombies.

And Nora Roberts has a book on the list–Nora has been a favorite of mine for years:

“The Next Always by Nora Roberts
Perennial bestseller Nora Roberts launches the Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy with The Next Always. This series is especially intriguing because it is inspired by the real Inn BoonsBoro, which Roberts bought and restored in 2007.”

Of course, I do think the list could use with a bit more romance. I know there are dozens of books that I’m looking forward to reading this fall, including new books from Elisabeth Naughton, Christine Feehan, Christie Reece,  and Maggie Shayne.  What books are on your most anticipated list?  (I’m about to make me a full list now–I have a feeling I’m gonna want A LOT of books.)

A HUGE thank you to everyone who reported THE DEVIL’S DANCE as plagiarism on FanFic.net.  The story is down now, and Misconception76 (the person who stole my story and used it as her own), left this note on her page:

“Okay…confession time. What people said I did, I really did do. It was an experiment with a friend of mine. Her mom is totally addicted to the site, and it made me wonder. How many people actually copy other stories and claim them as their own. Well, now I know. Probably not many at all. I’m sorry for all the crap that I caused, and I promise to never show my face again. When my mom’s friend found out what we did, she was livid to say the least. I don’t blame her, or you for any words or actions you brought my way. I totally deserved it.

Once again, I’m sorry.

Misconception”

***

An experiment? No, it’s an illegal act.  It’s plagiarism.  And Misconception76 STILL has not replied to the PM I sent to her about this activity. She hasn’t contacted me at all. If her friend’s mom was actually “livid” then I’ll say that’s no big surprise. She knew the actions were more than just wrong.

Thank you, again, to everyone who has commented, tweeted, emailed–I am thankful for all the support that I’ve received during the course of this “experiment” (totally calling bullshit).

(Thank you SO much to the kind folks who alerted me to this situation.)

I’m being plagiarized. It sucks.

I’m not just talking some similarities in a plot line (that can happen). We’ve all read our share of books with similar story lines.  I’m talking about word for word plagiarism of DEADLY HEAT.

I was alerted that a person using the online name of Misconception76 had posted a story called The Devil’s Dance on fanfiction.net. (Here’s a link for you:  http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7129614/1/The_Devils_Dance).  At the beginning of her work, she includes this disclaimer:

“The Twilight Series character names belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.”

You see, she’s renamed my characters Edward & Bella.  My SSD Agent Kenton–he’s Edward. My tough female firefighter? She’s Bella.

She changes the names, acknowledges that she’s using them from the Twlight books, and then Misconception76 goes ahead to use my entire Deadly Heat story.  She changes the POV (using “I” instead of 3rd person), but everything else is the same. For pages and pages and pages.

She adds comments at the beginning and end of each chapter–talking about how hard it is to write. How the characters can be difficult.

And she steals my work.

Let me just say this–I want readers to like my stories. I want them to care about my characters. To talk about the plots and twists and love relationships.

What I don’t want? For someone to steal my work and act like I don’t exist.

I work hard on my writing. I often go to bed long past midnight because I’m up pounding out stories. I miss sleep. I miss family functions. I live and breathe my stories.

Please don’t steal them from me.

If you want to be a writer, then be a writer.  Use your own imagination and write your own stories. Don’t lie and act like something is yours when you’ve just taken the EXACT words from someone else.

Please, don’t plagiarize me.

Update:

I realize that some folks who haven’t read my work are coming to the site to check out this story. Some may not believe me when I talk about this plagiarism situation. (After all, if you haven’t read my work, how can you be sure? Makes sense.) So I wanted to share a small excerpt from my published book, DEADLY HEAT, with you:

Choosing to run into a burning building probably wasn’t the smartest decision he’d ever made. Then again, sadly, it wasn’t his dumbest either.

Kenton Lake choked in a deep breath of air—already tasted the smoke–then lifted his arm over his mouth. Some jobs just sucked.

He went into the wall of smoke. Ah, hell.

His nostrils burned. Heat scored his flesh, but he heard the voice calling, the same voice that had lured him to the building, lured him across the street and into this inferno.

“H-help! Dammit—h-help me!”

His informer. Upstairs. In the middle of the flames and fury.

He jerked off his jacket, covered his mouth, and tried to stay as low to the floor as he could.

His eyes burned, and the ash and fire singed his nostrils. How the hell had this happened? He was investigating arson, not supposed to get drawn into—

Part of the ceiling fell behind him.

Kenton glared up at the long row of stairs. Ten-to-one odds they’d fall away before he got to the top.

Ten to one.

“H-help…”

Weaker.

He took the stairs. One. Two. Three.

And, yep, they gave way just when he reached stair number four. Kenton went down, hard. The broken wood bit into his arms and legs, and the fire flew toward him.

A blast of water shot out, hard and fast, slamming into the flames.

Someone grabbed him, hauled him up, and a hand locked tight around his arm. Kenton found himself staring right at a firefighter.

He caught a smoky glimpse of narrowed eyes behind a clear eye shield. Kenton had a fast impression of a thick, black helmet and a brown uniform—

The firefighter shoved him forward, obviously trying to send him toward the front of the building.

Hell, no.

More firefighters swarmed around him, battling the fire. Some struck out with axes, some scrambled into the rooms.

Couldn’t they hear the voice calling for help?

He tried to break free and jump for those stairs. There was a gap, he could make it, he might—

The firefighter who’d grabbed him before dragged him right back and gave a hard negative shake of that black helmet.

Screw that, he wasn’t leaving a victim behind—

He wrenched away.

Then the firefighter slugged him. Hard. Right in his jaw. Damn, one hell of a hit.

Kenton went down.

The firefighter’s arms wrapped around him. Another grabbed him. Another.

Then they dragged his ass out of the flames.

***

And here’s the material that Misconception76 posted on FanFiction.net:

~Edward~

Choosing to run into a burning building probably wasn’t the smartest decision I’d ever made. Then again, sadly, it wasn’t my dumbest either.

I choked in a deep breath of air – already tasted the smoke – then lifted my arm over my mouth. Some jobs just sucked.

I went into the wall of smoke. Ah, hell.

My nostrils burned. Heat scored my flesh, but I heard the voice calling, the same voice that had lured me to the building, lured me across the street and into this inferno.

“H-help! Dammit, h-help me!”

My informer. Upstairs. In the middle of the flames and fury.

I jerked off my jacket, covered my mouth, and tried to stay as low to the floor as I could.

My eyes burned, and the ash and fire singed my nostrils. How the hell had this happened? I was investigating arson, not supposed to get drawn into–

Part of the ceiling fell behind me.

I glared up at the long row of stairs. Ten-to-one odds they’d fall away before I got to the top.

Ten-to-one.

“H-help…”

Weaker.

I took the stairs. One. Two. Three.

And, yep, they gave way just when I reached stair number four. I went down, hard. The broken wood bit into my arms and legs, and the fire flew toward me.

A blast of water shot out, hard and fast, slamming into the flames.

Someone grabbed me, hauled me up, and a hand locked tight around my arm. I found himself staring right at a firefighter.

I caught a smoky glimpse of narrowed eyes behind a clear eye shield. I had a fast impression of a thick, black helmet and a brown uniform–

The firefighter shoved me forward, obviously trying to send me toward the front of the building.

Hell, no.

More firefighters swarmed around me, battling the fire. Some struck out with axes, some scrambled into the rooms.

Couldn’t they hear the voice calling for help?

I tried to break free and jump for those stairs. There was a gap, I could make it, I might–

The firefighter who’d grabbed me before dragged me right back and gave a hard negative shake of that black helmet.

Screw that, I wasn’t leaving a victim behind–

I wrenched away.

Then the firefighter slugged me. Hard. Right in my jaw. Damn, one hell of a hit.

I went down.

The firefighter’s arms wrapped around me. Another grabbed me. Another.

Then they dragged my ass out of the flames.

***

See what I’m talking about?  And she does this for my entire book.  On Twitter, Evening_Shadow recommended that I tell people how to report The Devil’s Dance as abuse. View the material at: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7129614/2/The_Devils_Dance, and click on the drop-down menu in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.  Then just select the “Report Possible Abuse” and click “Go”.   Hopefully, if enough people report this, The Devil’s Dance will be removed.

Thank you.