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Rulebreaker Releases in One Week!
Holy moly! August 8 is almost here!
There are a couple of early reviews up, if you want to take a peek. One by Jill Sorenson on GoodReads, and another by LVLMLeah on her Loving Venus-Loving Mars blog. Both have some great things to say about Rulebreaker. Thanks, ladies!
Release week is going to be full of fun and some giveaways as I embark on a Blog Tour Extravaganza! Drop in and say hello, ask questions, give me a hard time.
August 7 The Galaxy Express
August 8 RELEASE DAY! at Maria Zannini’s
August 9 Louisa Bacio’s blog
August 10 Carina Press
August 11 Manic Readers
August 12 Shelley Munro’s blog
August 16 Sarah Makela’s blog
August 17 Maureen Miller’s blog
August 23 Castles and Guns
August 30 Heather Cashman’s blog
I hope to see you here and there over the next week or so!
Rulebreaker is up for pre-order at Carina Press, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Don’t Fear the Research with Guest Sarah Mäkelä
Hello, Blogger Buddies! I have another New Author Friend to share with you! Please give futuristic/paranormal romance author Sarah Mäkelä a warm welcome!
Don’t Fear the Research
Research is something almost integral to any writer since while we might know a lot, usually what we write about sometimes delves into what we don’t know. That was something I did with the two series I have right now, one is a futuristic cyberpunk romance with a private investigator and a technomage (Hacked Investigations) and the other is a paranormal romance about a village in the Amazon Rainforest that mingles with shapeshifters (The Amazon Chronicles).
When I first started out with Jungle Heat, I did my research first and then supplemented it while writing. I went all out, finding out about the Amazon warriors who fought Spanish explorer and conquistador Francisco de Orellana and his men, where they fought, what happened, and everything else I could about the culture of those people that I could. I also learned about the kinds of animals and weather to better wrap my head around how the women live. You could say I pretty much geeked out.
It was a good experience since I learned not to be afraid of research. I don’t have to be restricted to what I know just because I’ll have to dig around and find out more information on town/item/culture. Will you find out everything and be able to make your writing 100% believable to someone who knows the subject very well? That’d be great, but it’s important to do the best you can. Some people will spot minute details only a person intimately familiar with the town/item/culture and will put the book down. That’s on them.
Here’s roughly my process for research. First off, I go to Wikipedia, and then I’ll fact check with Google. If there’s not much information online, I head to my local library. It’s important to get the information you want while researching, but also allow yourself to delve into what you might not know you want, but then that’s easy for me since I love learning. Besides, it’s great for when you’re writing the next book, and you find a way to use what you’ve found out!
Do you find research fun or frightening? Do you have any tips that make it easier?
Sarah Mäkelä
Dark Magical Encounters of Passion…
Website: www.sarahmakela.com
Blog: http://blog.sarahmakela.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sarahmakela
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorsarahmakela
Here’s the blurb for my newest release, Jungle Heat. I hope you enjoy it! If you’re interested, the excerpt is available here.
The Amazon Rainforest still contains a few secrets. One of these secrets is a hidden village of women whose history is filled with the horror of conquering men.
Adara Rukan, princess of the Amazons, ventures away from her village to find something waiting for her. Andrei “Rei” Makarov is a weretiger and a biologist on assignment. Can Rei and Adara find love enough to bridge their two separate worlds?
Jungle Heat is available now from Changeling Press: Buy Link
Elsewhere: Contact Infinite Futures
Over at the Carina Press SF/SFR blog Contact: Infinite Futures today talking about moral dilemmas and the brain. It’s not nearly as boring as it sounds, I promise : )
Inspiration: Getting Between the Sheets with Louisa Bacio
I love getting to know authors, especially those who are new to me. And I want you to get to know them too! In that spirit, I’ll be having guests drop in now and again. Starting now 🙂
First up is author Louisa Bacio. Louisa writes hot (and I mean HOT) f/f contemporary and paranormal stories. Please make Louisa feel welcome.
Want to get to know me a little better? How my mind works? Slip between the cool sheets on this hot summer day, and let’s talk a little about my latest release Sex University: All-Girls Academy, which is a f/f contemporary erotic.
For those unfamiliar with the term, f/f translates into lesbian.
And immediately when one starts to write f/f fiction, many ponder the question on the writer’s sexuality and life choices. Those who have read me before must realize that I believe in equal-opportunity love. It’s not about the gender, it’s about the individual or individuals.
Now, with that out of the way … let’s move on to another topic that often comes up with writing, and that’s inspiration. With Sex University: All-Girls Academy, it began with a few characters whispering sweet nothings to me late at night. It all began with my first full-length novel in the Sex University “Universe,” Physical Education.
Strong female characters draw me. My mother always stressed not to be a “victim,” and to take control of one’s life. The character of Officer Margaret was seen briefly in Physical Education, but readers really get to know her story here. We slide into that uniform with her, so to speak. And, she shucks it off and transforms from “Marge” into “Maggie.”
Next there’s Ms. Lucy, headmistress of the schools. She’s another returning character – and her story’s not quite finished yet – but we primarily delve into the life of her niece, Savannah. Like her Aunt, Savannah wants to escape from her ultra-conservative home life, and experience something new, which brings her to the All-Girls Academy.
Also populating the Academy is a number of other strong-willed women. A favorite will be the Italian art teacher Antoinella who instructs on, among other things, the art of body painting.
Is it getting hot in here or is it just me?
Now, if you don’t mind, I think it’s naptime …
Sex University: All-Girls Academy
Raised by an over-controlling and manipulative father, Savannah “Van” Morgan flees the East Coast for the West, seeking sanctuary with her Aunt Lucy, headmistress of San Francisco Sex University. Rather than staying at the main campus, Van enrolls in SFSU’s more nurturing “sister” school, the All-Girls Academy.
After visiting the main campus of SFSU, Margaret “Maggie” O’Neil hangs up her police badge in search of new experiences and hoping to awaken her own dormant sexuality.
With subject matters such as an “Art Sex-education” class with an Italian visiting professor who’s more than happy to schedule private tutoring after-hours, the All-Girls Academy invites all sorts of sexual exploration. In the end, Van and Maggie will either fall victim to the pressures of society, or come together to save each other.
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Louisa Bacio enjoys soaking up the sun in Southern California, and spending time with her family.
To see how the story started, check out Bacio’s erotic thriller Sex University: Physical Education. Her story “Two’s Company” can be found in I Kissed a Girl: A Virgin Lesbian Anthology. For those who love paranormal ménage, check out the hot “The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf: A New Orleans Threesome.”
In addition to writing and editing, Bacio teaches college courses in English, journalism, film studies and popular culture.
Drop in for a visit:
http://louisabacio.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/louisabacio
http://www.twitter.com/louisabacio
Want to win a copy of Sex University: All-Girls Academy? Leave a comment … any comment will do! One random entry will be selected to win a .pdf copy.
Family Vacation By the Numbers
My husband decided we needed to take a family vacation. Not one that focused on visiting one set of relatives or another, but a REAL just-the-four-of-us vacation. Of course we all jumped on the idea like fleas on a dog. Originally, we decided to go to Southern California for a week then drive to Arizona and New Mexico where Husband has a few relatives he hadn’t seen in forever. No, we weren’t going there *just* to visit them. We had plans to see the Grand Canyon and other wonders of the Southwest.
Then we realized we’d be four Alaskans traveling through the desert. In June. Yeah, not a good idea. The wildfires kicked up about then and we put the kibosh on that direction.
Option Number Two: Stay in SoCal for a while then travel up the coast to Monterey.
Ahhhh. Much better. And cooler. So that’s what we did. Oh, and we did take a side trip to visit his family in eastern Washington for five days. When you live in Alaska, you look at the idea of “while you’re in the area” a little differently 🙂
Rather than give you a long travelogue of our adventure, here’s a down and dirty look at the trip.
Days Gone: 21
Air Miles Traveled: 4,000+
Airplanes Traveled in: 6
Rental Car Miles: 1,300
Foot Miles: Too many to count
Blisters: 4
Attractions/Museums/Parks: 15
(including: SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari, gobs of museums at Balboa Park–loved that place!–Universal Studios, Disneyland, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium)
(now you understand the Foot Miles and Blisters 😛 )
Hotels: 7
Pools Used By Kids: 1 (I still don’t understand how that happened)
Beaches: 1 (ditto)
Tubes of Sunscreen: 1
Pairs of Sandals Broken: 1
Lost Sunglasses: 1
Souvenir Hats Purchased: 3
Souvenir Hats Lost: 1
Souvenir T-Shirts Purchased: 14
Friends Visited: 5
Agents Met: 1
Happy Tourists: 4
We returned relaxed and tanned (except for DD#2 who is so very fair-skinned) but happy to see home again.
Not only did this vacation give us the opportunity to get out of our small town, but I think it brought us together as a family. There were never any moments where I wanted to leave my kids or husband along Highway 1, and I hope they were good with keeping me in the car as well. We enjoyed ourselves and each other immensely. Which is the point of a family vacation, isn’t it?
Time to Go Home
We’ve been on vacation since June 13 so it’s about that time, folks. Time to go home. It’s been amazing, seeing all kinds of things, enjoying each other’s company (no really!) and spending the last week hanging out with family in a super relaxed sitution.
But tomorrow we head back, and while we’ve had fun, we’ll also be happy to see our own home, our own beds and our critters. Plus, there is work to be done, blog tours to prep (Rulebreaker comes out Aug. 8 and I’ve got things to do!) and the rest of the summer to survive.
I’ll post some stats and some pics from our SoCal tour in the next few days.
See you back in the Semi-Frozen North!
Happy Summer!
Happy first day of summer, folks! We’re celebrating the turn of the season (and DD #2’s upcoming b-day) in sunny California. Yep, an actual family vacation full of tourist attractions, cranky kids, and tired adults. Kidding (mostly). It’s been a blast so far, and we have another couple of weeks to go before heading back to Alaska. A full report will be issued then.
In the meantime, I hope your summer has started off well! Catch you later, dudes! (Well, I told you we’re in California 🙂
Social Media for the Unsocial
Well, I’ve finally taken the plunge and joined Twitter. Why? It’s. The. Thing. To. Do.
Not that I’m a follower of the latest trends (see sad closet as proof), but I do understand the basics of networking and such.
Living in a somewhat remote location, I love things like Twitter and Facebook that allow me to keep in contact with friends, family and associates in 420 characters or fewer. For on the go folks, or those of us who are often at a loss for how to fill in dead air space, these options are appreciated. Sure, I like the occasional round of small talk, but if I can tell you what I’m up to or make a witty retort then go on to the next shiny topic, I’m happy with that too.
So what do you do to keep in touch? Are you a Twitterer? FBer? Other? Does it work for you? Love it? Hate it? Wish we were back to actual face-to-face conversations that required fully spelled out words? Tell me.
Happy Anniversary, Carina Press!
Before Carina Press ever released its first book, there was tons of buzz and anticipation about this digital first imprint. Between the Harlequin connection and Angela James at the helm, authors pubbed and unpubbed couldn’t wait for them to open to submissions and see who would have the first books out of the gate.
Carina Press announced its existence while Rulebreaker was still being tweaked and I was looking into publishers. I had the feeling the story would be a perfect fit for Carina. I’m glad they did too.
One year later, tons of amazing stories have been released, with more to come 😉 The imprint is thriving. Authors are happy. Readers are happy.
In celebration, there is a big party of blog posts, contests, announcements and giveaways going on. Head over to the Carina Press blog for details.
Happy Anniversary, Carina! And thank you!
RULEBREAKER Cover
Liv Braxton, a small-time thief stuck on a backwater planet, takes on the gig of a lifetime filling in as executive assistant at Exeter Mining Company. Her job is to download incriminating files, but Liv finds herself unexpectedly torn when she falls for Zia Talbot, the beautiful and alluring VP she is supposed to betray.
When I saw this for the first time, my jaw dropped and I felt myself getting all faklempt. Can you blame me? It’s a gorgeous cover, and I can’t thank the art team at Carina Press or the artist at Croco Designs enough for the perfect rendition of Liv and Zia. That’s them, I said to myself.
Perfect.
The cover shows Liv and Zia’s strength and vulerability, two characteristics I love in heroines. Liv is a thief, she needs to be tough but she’s not unfeeling. That’s sort of her problem : ) Zia may be standing behind Liv, but she’s no shrinking violet. Far from it.
The blue tone, weapon and background let you know this is going to be a futuristic/science fiction story. The position of the characters tells you it’s a romance, but not erotic. It looks like Zia is about to kiss Liv’s shoulder. There’s a scene in the book where Zia comes up behind Liv and does that. I’m not sure if the artist read it, but it’s nicely implied here. And rather sensual, IMO : )
Rulebreaker comes out August 8. I’ll be posting a blog tour schedule in conjuction with the release. I hope you join me.
But until then, feel free to pop back and drool over the cover. I know I will : )
The legalese:
Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Copyright© 2011 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited