Thank you to Cynthia for having me as a guest during the month of monsters. In theUK, we don’t celebrate Halloween as much as you do in the States, but it has become more popular in recent years, probably because of the American influence.

When someone mentions monsters, the first thing to come to mind is not fairies. But during the research I’ve done for my Magic Knot Fairy series, I’ve discovered plenty of monstrous creatures in fairy myth and legend. I’ve even created some of my own monsters for my series. A main secondary character in The Magic Knot and The Phoenix Charm is a nightstalker—a creature I created. (Although I suspect the name nightstalker has been used before.) My nightstalker is called Nightshade and he starts off as one of the bad guys. He is a beautiful black vampiric fairy with wings and a lot of attitude. The name Nightshade gives a clue to one of his powers. He can shift into a shadow form to move fast—great in a fight.

I love writing about paranormal creatures who go against type—monsters who are good. In The Phoenix Charm, I introduce a character who is a shadow elemental—a djinn otherwise known as a demon. Although he is powerful and dangerous, he defies his breeding to be an honorable character with a good heart.

The classic monsters such as vampires and demons can be scary, but for me the scariest monsters are not supernatural at all, but humans who may be possessed or just plain evil. And I’d rather come face to face with a vampire than a snake any day!

The latest book in The Magic Knot Fairies series is THE PHOENIX CHARM. Due out December 29.

He’s Pure Temptation.

Cordelia has sworn she’ll abstain from looking into Michael’s future—particularly when the image in the gilded smoke of her divination mirror shows him half naked. Yet she can’t resist watching the sexy rascal slowly running his hand down his ribs, over his abdomen, flicking open the button on his jeans with a little flourish like a magician performing a trick.

She’s Trying To Resist.

Respectable wise woman Cordelia restrains her secret water nymph sensuality with the Celtic symbols painted on her skin. But Michael’s powerful fairy glamour leaves her breathless, off balance, struggling for control. When Gwyn ap Nudd, the Welsh King of the Underworld, steals away Michael’s infant nephew, Cordelia must work with him to save the child. But how can she trust her instincts with Michael tempting her to explore the hidden elemental depths of her nature and insisting that she believe in the power of…The Phoenix Charm.

I also have a novella—THE FEAST OF BEAUTY— in The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance due out January 26.

Kate’s grandmother’s dying wish is that she should return her pearl pendant to the tiny fishing village in Ireland where she was born. At the village’s Midsummer Feast of Beauty, the unearthly silver hair and emerald eyes of Esras, the wealthy local landowner, mesmerize Kate. But how can she trust her heart to a man who claims to be a sea fairy king?

Leave a comment to tell me what type of monster you would least like to find in your bathtub! (Can be anything from a spider to vampire.) I’ll choose one commenter to receive a copy of The Magic Knot or The Phoenix Charm so please leave a contact email address.

Helen Scott Taylor

Adventure Fantasy Romance

Visit me at www.HelenScottTaylor.com for more information, and to read book excerpts.

Did you cry when you watched Frankenstein? So misunderstood.  The guy didn’t ask to be created, didn’t understand the world he’d woken to find.

Did you cry when King Kong died?  All the guy wanted was his pretty blond girlfriend.  Dying for love.  🙂

Sometimes, the monsters in books and movies can be so sympathetic that they slip past our guards and yes, they make us care.  When I found out that Jason (from the many, many Friday the 13th movies) was supposed to be a kid who’d drowned years before and that the camp counselors weren’t watching him–just weren’t paying attention while he struggled to live–he got my sympathy, too.

Those tricky monsters. Sometimes, they can sneak up on your emotions.

What monster has made you care? What monster got under your skin?  I’ll pick one commenter to win a $15 Amazon.com gift certificate.

Hi Cynthia!

Elizabeth Amber here for the Month of Monsters! Thank you so much for inviting me. I finished writing the first draft of my 5th novel, Dane, The Lords of Satyr, about two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been reading like a demon. A fiend. Attacking the TBR stack I couldn’t get to for months.

I usually pick up a new book in the evening as I sit down with a glass of wine, often as a defense against my husband’s TV-watching tastes. Not that my tastes are more refined, but we’re just different. He rarely reads books, but devours magazines. However, if a book is really gripping, I’ll stay up till 4 in the morning to finish.

I was with a group of authors and readers a few nights ago, and I revealed the fact that I almost always decide which book I’m going to read by going through these steps, in this order. I . . .
1. Look at the cover
2. Read the back cover blurb
3. Read the first few pages
4. Read a random paragraph or two within the book
5. Read the ending

Number 5 drove everyone I was with insane. Is it really so unusual to do this? I’ve always done it. I had to come up with a reason why on the spot. People were really upset with me. Authors especially. I can understand that–we write a book in a certain order, and that’s the order we’d prefer events to be revealed to a reader.  I think the reason I read the endings early on is because I worry about the characters so much that I can’t bear to be in suspense. I’m so busy wondering what’ll happen to these characters I care about–if they’ll be okay–that I can’t focus on the story. Reading the ending doesn’t spoil the book for me.

So what are the steps you follow in reading a book? Do you ever read the ending before reading the book? Does it spoil things for you?

To celebrate Cynthia’s Month of Monsters, I’d like to give away a copy of my first novel, NICHOLAS, THE LORDS OF SATYR, to one person (over 18 in the USA) who drops a comment below. If you already have Nicholas, no problem. You can choose another of the satyr novels. Good luck and Happy Halloween!

Elizabeth Amber
erotic historical paranormal romance
Nicholas | Raine | Lyon | Dominic | Dane: The Lords of Satyr
Kensington Aphrodisia
excerpts: www.elizabethamber.com

Are you planning to dress up for Halloween this year? What are you going to be? I’m thinking about Medusa–should be easy enough to get some fake snakes to put in my hair!

If you’re looking for some costume ideas, check out this video. Interesting…

Let me know what you’d like to be for Halloween…I’ll pick one winner to win a mystery prize pack. Ah, yes *mystery* (that means a box full of paranormal books…just in time for Halloween!

First, thanks to Cynthia for having me here during her Month of Monsters. I’ve enjoyed reading all the other posts so far. Some of them were good and scary! That Carolyn Jewel put a good fright into me!

Though I don’t live there now, Louisiana has always been “home” to me. My first two books are set there. Changing Times is in New Orleans. Everyone knows that New Orleans is one of the most haunted cities in America, but did you know about the surrounding areas? Well my second book, Changing Hearts, is in the bayou country of my home state. I want to tell you about a monster that may or may not be a monster. Depends on who you are talking to, cher.

Deep in the bayou, mostly late at night, if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, you may see a light moving – just over there. Now, some folks will tell you that ain’t nothing but swamp gas. You can believe that if you like…but let me tell you about Le Feu follet before you go off traipsing through the swamps. After all, it’s not just the gators you have to watch out for.

Black Bayou, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana

The older Cajuns will tell you Le Feu follet are the souls escaped from Purgatory – or maybe the souls of babies who were never blessed by the Church. Maybe you believe them to be the Fae or Elves – holding their dances over those marshy places just waiting to trap unwary wanderers in the swamps and bayous. Whatever you believe them to be, they certainly hold a place in Louisiana folklore.

Wandering into the bayou where the trees grow close together and the darkness holds sway, where the gators and water moccasins hold court, you might see those dancing lights. If you’re coming home after dark, poling your pirogue along that black water, don’t be surprised if those lights follow you along the shore – they can’t cross that water to get to you, so don’t be afraid. But you’d better be wary when you step back on land. Cold iron will stop those restless spirits from following you – take a pocket knife and thrust it into the ground behind you – that’ll hold ‘em for a bit. I was told once, by an old Cajun woman making her home far away from most, that she preferred pushing a needle into the ground as those restless feu follet just couldn’t resist trying to fit through the eye of that tiny bit of steel.

Abandoned boat house, Lake St. John, Louisiana

In Louisiana, to this very day, you can buy a beer in a local bar and listen to stories of those who just last week escaped the feu follet. Down in Gonzales, just outside of Baton Rouge, get directions from a local resident to the intersection of Narcisse and Cante Roads – listen to the warnings about those who follow the lights. Some will tell you the Gonzales feu follet is perfectly harmless – others tell a more compelling story of terror.

Have I ever seen Le Feu follet dancing across the bayou late at night? Well, once, gazing out my bedroom window while thinking about a boy I liked, a flicker of something caught my eye. I remember straining my eyes, trying to make that light come into focus, but it danced just at the edge of the water–mocking me. When I went to tell my Mama, she told me not to dare go “dancing with the Devil,” and to go back to bed. She might have called me a foolish child, but I saw her drive that steak knife into the front porch.

There are no feu follet to scare you or pull you deep into the bayou in my Lusting Wild books, just a bunch of shifters finding their mates and journeying through their lives. I hope you’ll take a look at the excerpts on my website then come back and share your own ghost stories with me.

Lusting Wild: Book 3

Changing Focus is book three in the Lusting Wild series. It was released September 2009. While not set in Louisiana, it does feature a few New Orleans scenes and some familiar faces from books one and two.

WHO: Marilu Mann brings the steaminess of the Louisiana bayous to her books and she doesn’t stop there. Marilu’s willing to travel to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin to heat up those northern nights and melt a little snow. She’ll also circle the world to Wales, Ireland, Scotland and back just to bring you books that make you sweat.

(Louisiana photos copyrighted to Stephanie Arwen Lynch. Book cover courtesy of Ellora’s Cave.)