Update: The winner of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and CLOSE CONTACT is…Ina! Congrats, Ina!

***

I wait patiently while Echo Adams pours a glass of my most expensive white wine, a Sirius ’45, and then strolls over to the most comfortable chair in the room. A purple-feathered dragon bird decked out in gaudy jewelry settles onto the chair arm beside her and peers at me in curiosity.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Echo says, and then sips from her glass.

“So,” I begin. “You’re a vampire.”

She snorts. “Of course I’m not a vampire. Vampires don’t exist. I’m a GEP.”

“I’ll bite. (no pun intended.) What’s a GEP?”

She smoothes a hand over her amethyst silk suit and leans back. “A GEP is a genetically engineered person. Naturals began creating us when there was a shortage of manpower to fill the jobs on Centaurius, the primary planet in the Alpha Centauri solar system. Normal GEPs are spliced and diced together from the best traits of regular humans, or Naturals as we GEPs call them. Basically, anything a Natural can do, GEPs can do better and faster.”

Gripping my vid corder tightly, I nod. “What job were you created to do?”

“I was created for the department of protocol.” A look of yearning fills her eyes. “Those were the days. Parties every night, a designer wardrobe, getting buffed and groomed at the most expensive spas on Centaurius, rubbing elbows with all the Federation bigwigs. I loved my life.” She leaned forward dramatically. “But then…”

“Then?” I edged closer, reluctant to miss a word.

“Then my bosses found out I was created by a rogue geneticist who illegally used GEP DNA to create me. Not only did he give me super powers, the Zorfa’s ass gave me psi abilities. Before I knew it, they’d shipped me off to the Bureau of Alien Affairs to become an agent. I mean, come on, me? An agent? What if I break a nail? And there’s no way I’m going to some backwater planet where I’ll have to deal with raw nature. The only bright spot was that they taught me fifty six ways to kill with one finger.”

“Uh, sure.” I nod vigorously. “What are your psi abilities?”

She gives me a rather feral smile. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to demonstrate one of those fifty six ways I mentioned before.”

Grabbing my gear, I bolt for the door, praying I make it out alive.

“Hey,” she yells. “Where are you going? Don’t you want to know about the stolen crystal containing a powerful alien life form, or how I met the man of my dreams?” She glances at the dragon bird as I sprint down the hall. “Guess she’ll just have to read the book. Come on, Peri, let’s go find Reynard.”

Humor is definitely on tap in the second book of Allred’s fun and fiesty Alien Affairs series. Allred’s genetically created heroine is a most reluctant operative, one who is more comfortable throwing a diplomatic party than kicking butt. This wonderful book is chock-full of excitement, danger and the heroine’s first person offbeat sense of humor. A real gem of a book!  A Romatic Times Top Pick for June.

To celebrate the release of Close Contact, Katherine will be giving away a copy of both Close Encounters and Close Contact, books one and two of the Alien Affairs series to one person. Just leave a comment to enter.

Update:  Jessa’s winners are…blodeuedd and Marlene Breakfield. Congratulations!!

Posted by: Jessa Slade
Currently working on: Revisions on Book 3
Mood: In praise of gritted teeth

Hello, Cynthia and friends!  Thanks so much for letting me come enjoy your Deadly Days of Summer.  And may I say that once again, your heroes for I’LL BE SLAYING YOU and DEADLY FEAR are looking hot, hot, hot!  Just right for the season 🙂

I’m glad to take this break from launching the second book of my Marked Souls series (FORGED OF SHADOWS June 2010) and revising the third book (VOWED IN SHADOWS April 2011) because I’ve been having a little trouble lately.  Well, not a little trouble.  Actually, about 6’4″ of muscular, brooding, smug trouble.

Yes, I’m having hero trouble.

And to make matters worse, he’s not even a hero I’m supposed to be writing!

The hero of the first Marked Souls book, SEDUCED BY SHADOWS, was Ferris Archer.  He was quite the Southern gentleman.  Well, okay, he was an angry, wounded, marginally suicidal alpha warrior.  But still.  He is intense and driven, but coldly clear, like a river of glacial run-off that lures you in with its crystal beauty… only to sweep you away with down-the-mountain speed

He wasn’t always easy to write, but I felt I knew him, and he knew himself.  Didn’t always like himself, but he was a man of principle and action.

The hero of the second Marked Souls book is Liam Niall.  He was more conflicted than Archer. Liam has more doubts, more responsibilities, and a softer heart despite his old life as a blacksmith and now as leader of the Chicago league of demon-possessed warriors.

But he is a man of deep yearnings, and once I found his desire to share his life, he also wanted to share his story with me.

I don’t have a cover for my third hero yet.  I imagine somewhere in New York City, a graphic designer is cursing me because my Book 3 hero suffered an, um, accidental maiming in Book 2 that might be hard to portray on the cover.  But he too has been a fine hero to write.  Finer than most, actually, because at his core he is a righteous man, with a steady, unwavering light in his soul that just needed a little judicious fanning.

So where’s my problem, you ask?  There’s another man, another warrior in the Chicago league that several readers have asked about already, even though I only have two books out.  They want to know, which one is Ecco’s book?

Oh geez.  Ecco isn’t a hero.  At least, I never meant him to be.  I have this series all plotted out, you know.  I plan to write nine books (God, publisher and readers willing! — not necessarily in that order) and none of those books, according to my handy-dandy Excel spreadsheet, shows Ecco as a hero.

Why not?  Well, here’s a little excerpt of why not, taken from SEDUCED BY SHADOWS, where the heroine, Sera, is assigned supply chain duties with the talyan warriors Zane and Ecco:

*          *          *

When it came to snacking, Sera discovered the terrible talyan junk food habit that filled up cart after cart.  When Ecco groused about the length of the checkout line and the lack of good magazines, she just about lost it.

“Then quit eating so many doughnuts.”

“I’m supposed to save the world on yogurt and baby carrots?”  He looked appalled.  “Must be a woman thing.”

She glowered.  “Go wait in the car.”

He crossed his arms.  “And shirk my duty, risking my soul?   Assuming Archer didn’t just shred me for compost.”

“Then I’ll wait for you.”  She marched for the door.

“Go with her,” Zane said softly to Ecco, as if she might explode if he jostled her with loud words.  “I’ll finish here.”

She plunked herself down in the driver’s seat and stared at the first flakes of snow whipped in the wind.

Ecco disappeared into the back.  After a few minutes, he cleared his throat.  “Do you think you and Archer are compatible outside the bedroom?”

She glared into the rearview mirror.  “Excuse me?”

“Does he listen to your dreams?  Do you like his friends?  You’re a cute couple and all, but that trick you did together with the malice in Bookie’s lab seemed a little kinky as the basis for a long and loving relationship.”

She twisted around.  “Are you smoking something back there?”

“You gotta have things in common besides the zing, you know?”

Before she could answer, Zane emerged with his conga line of shopping carts.   Zane shot Ecco a hard look.  “Why’d you let her drive?”

“I had my magazine.”  Ecco waved the glossy pages with the voluptuous brunette on the cover promising “Ten Ways HE Can Please YOU In Bed.”

Zane looked disgusted.  “Shoplifting?”

“Hey, I’m possessed by evil incarnate.”

*          *          *

See?  What do you do with a “hero” like that?  Didn’t he sound kind of serious about wanting a deeper relationship than sex?  But what kind of hero eats only doughnuts?

Ecco is opaque to me.  He originally stepped onto the stage to say things the other characters wouldn’t say aloud.  And he says them in an honest-to-the-point-of-rude way.  But I suspect he’s hiding something from me, some damage that he’d never, ever, in a thousand years share.  Those heroes are trouble.

Besides, what sort of heroine would put up with a man taking her magazines?

And yet…  He keeps teasing me.  I even have a hint what he looks like.  Kinda like this:

Oh man, really?  You’re kidding me.  The Rock?  What am I supposed to do with that?  I don’t know…  What do you think?  What does one do with a maybe hero?  Do we redeem him?  Kill him horrifically?  Give him his own Twitter account and hope he doesn’t get us arrested?  Who are your favorite heroes who you didn’t think could ever be heroic?

Leave an answer in comments and two random readers will win a copy of either Archer’s chest or Liam’s butt, your choice.  Heck, if we got man chest on Book 1 and man behind on Book 2, what’ll be on the cover of Book 3?!

One of the tricky issues in writing urban fantasy is finding the appropriate balance between fantasy and reality. Urban fantasy, by definition, includes fantastical elements (including paranormal ideas or magic) in a mundane setting. Fantastic elements make a story interesting, and realistic elements make a story believable. Too much fantasy makes the magic less special, drowns it in a sea of fantastic characters and places. Too much realism makes the world too gritty or dull. But how much of each is too much?

Often, this takes a good deal of trial and error, depending upon the rules of the world. There are two types of general settings in urban fantasy: an open world in which the fantastic elements are known to all its inhabitants, and a hidden world in which the fantastic elements are unknown except to a select few.

Open worlds include worlds in which fantastic creatures roam the streets, have the right to vote, and are well-integrated into the fabric of society. An open world would be the kind of world in which my brother would bring a vampire home for dinner that he met on a paranormal dating site. I’d be glowering at his hickeys while I was spooning out the mashed potatoes. Open worlds allow for more elements of the fantastic, because they have become ordinary in that setting. People are accustomed to hair removal products for Weres being marketed on daytime television. The world is flexible and resilient, operating under a different set of rules than our own. The reader’s beliefs are effectively suspended at the outset, and the reader knows that anything is possible in this world – it’s wide open.

Hidden worlds require a lighter touch with the fantastic. Hidden worlds operate almost exactly the same as our own on the surface. It’s what’s beneath that’s cause for alarm. Too much magic roiling underneath the surface can make the fantastic elements seem less special and dull their impact. Too much magic can also strains the credibility of a secret world needs to remain secret. Ordinary humans may miss a few supernatural creatures or organizations operating in their midst, but ordinary people less likely to be able to ignore a zoo of things that go bump in the night living across the street.

The urban fantasy I write is primarily of the hidden world variety. In EMBERS, Anna Kalinczyk is an arson investigator by day. By night, she pursues malicious spirits with an eccentric team of ghost hunters and her fire salamander familiar. Anya must stop an attractive arsonist intent on summoning an ancient entity that will leave Detroit in cinders. She exists in a very real world, with a real day job, and most of her conflict and magical activities are hidden from her boss and the rest of the city, where it’s business as usual.

In DARK ORACLE, which I wrote as Alayna Williams, Tara Sheridan swore off criminal profiling after narrowly escaping a serial killer. By combining Tarot card divination with her own intuition, she must help an intense federal agent find a missing scientist who has unlocked the destructive secrets of dark energy. In Tara’s world, her power as an oracle using Tarot cards is concealed from her partner. To keep Tara’s powers in the spotlight, I limited the amount of additional magic in the book to the magic used by the other women in her sisterhood of oracles.

Each story is different, with a different focus on magic and the mundane. But the writer should keep in mind where the emphasis lies and keep experimenting with the ratios to craft a believable story that is also interesting and compelling.

-Laura Bickle

Laura Bickle has worked in the unholy trinity of politics, criminology, and technology for several years. She and her chief muse live in the Midwest, owned by four mostly-reformed feral cats. Her short fiction has appeared here and there. Embers, her debut novel, is first in an exciting new urban fantasy series that continues with her forthcoming second novel, Sparks. More information is at www.salamanderstales.com

Laura also writes as Alayna Williams. Alayna’s “debut” is Dark Oracle, Pocket Juno’s June 2010 release. More info on her work can be found at www.alaynawilliams.com

Update:  The winner of a copy of MASKED BY MOONLIGHT is…Ali!! Congrats, Ali!

***

When I was little, my mom used to sit in the back seat with me during those long car trips to our cabin so we could color together. She was quite the artist and would work very carefully on her own page, shading and blending the colors, while I, with the exuberance and inexperience of youth, scribbled madly all over the place on mine. When we compared pictures, hers so perfect and realistic, mine bold strokes of color without boundaries, never once did she criticize my technique or suggest I copy hers. She simply said we saw through different eyes and that’s what being creative was all about. Different eyes? That sounded silly. I figured it was because she wore glasses.

I never forgot the pleasure I got from making leaves blue and putting polka dots on clouds, but I soon realized I was never going to be an artist. Words were my passion, putting them together to paint pictures, layering them to shade and blend characters. When I got better at it, I learned something else about the writing process. Once you learn your craft, it’s fun to explore outside the boundaries. This is particularly true with my new dark paranormal MOONLIGHT series.

“MASKED BY MOONLIGHT is more than a scary werewolf tale. It is a steamy romance; a whodunit; a story of intrigue and power. Gideon definitely cloaks this tale in darkness and shadows.” Romance Reader at Heart, top pick

I started with a simple project, a paranormal shape-shifter story. But when I began toning those grim shades of gray in MASKED BY MOONLIGHT with the hopeful pastels of romance, a whole new palette appeared. A shape-shifter indebted to the mob. A New Orleans cop trying to solve a gruesome murder that points in his direction. Suspense and action/adventure soon blended together with the bright glare of thriller red. Add in a hero and heroine whose developing world, troubled secrets, torn loyalties and unlikely passion continue in a four book story arc, you have shades of Urban Fantasy added to the mix. When I looked at where I started and where I ended up with a six book series for Pocket with its many layers and unique elements, I wasn’t sure how to describe it.

Then I finally saw my series clearly through different eyes.

Look Mom! I’m writing outside the lines!

WELCOME TO ROMANCE BY MOONLIGHT…

Homicide detective Charlotte Caissie is dedicated to bringing down the crime boss responsible for her father’s murder. Using Jimmy Legere’s right hand man is a dangerous gamble, not just because of his ruthless reputation as more monster than man, but because her feelings for her mysterious and irresistible enemy are … complicated. There’s just something about Max.

Rescued from the swamps as a child, Max Savoie owes Jimmy Legere his life. Existing silently in his rescuer’s shadow, he heeds only one voice. Until Charlotte Caissie awakens his emotions and tests his loyalties. Forced to step outside his cautious rules to save her, he risks more than his heart . . . he risks exposing his dark secret.

Working together means facing the truth about who and what they are, and what they need from one another. If Max is the murderer she seeks, Cee Cee might be his next victim. She can’t afford to trust any man. Good thing Max isn’t one.

Learn more about MASKED BY MOONLIGHT (June), CHASED BY MOONLIGHT (July), CAPTURED BY MOONLIGHT (August) and the rest of the series by visiting me at http://nancygideon.com/.

Want to win a copy of MASKED BY MOONLIGHT? Then tell me…What’s your favorite “outside the line” you’ve found in a romance book? I’ll pick one commenter to win.

Thanks!

Nancy Gideon

Today, I’m helping JoJo celebrate her birthday bash–and I’m talking vamps. Or, rather, things I know about vamps. If you get a chance, come join the bash & you could win a copy of I’LL BE SLAYING YOU.

And speaking of I’LL BE SLAYING YOU…I want to thank everyone who entered my newsletter contest. (What? You didn’t know I had a newsletter? Sign up!) The five winners from the contest are:
Gabrielle, Marci C., Sandra S., Patricia M., and Sheila T.  Congratulations!  I have already sent emails to these winners with prize details.

Thanks!! I hope you are enjoying my Deadly Days of Summer.