Susan Hanniford Crowley's Blog: From Nights of Passion Blog, page 248

Author’s Wild Life Continues: Underfoot’s Revenge at Sully’s Pub in Hartford

I’m posting again because I could not help myself.  Tonight in Hartford, people were everywhere.  Route 84 came to a standstill more like a parking lot.  A friend stuck there never made it in time.

My daughter Cera Crowley is the female singer with Underfoot’s Revenge, and when traffic stopped she was running late.  So we got off the highway and went into the city instead, thankful for the trusty navigator on her phone.  We finally got to Sully’s and there wasn’t any parking.  Cera leaped out of the car, explained to the gentleman at the door that she was singing,  he said, “Yeah.”

“No, I mean I’m singing right now.  With the band!”

“OH!”  He let her pass and she ran up on stage and took the microphone and started singing.

It was my job to find parking which I did two blocks away.

Underfoot’s Revenge was completely awesome.  And I got an honor I’ve always wanted.  I’m a Roadie!  YAY!

Stayed tuned to this channel for more of the exciting adventures of this author’s wild life!

-Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley

http://www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under:

New Author, New Books, New Upcoming Contests by Susan Hanniford Crowley

First off, the first Monday of each month is going to be a blast. You will wake up and see Becky Lower a wonderful new writer.  Scroll down and you’ll see the Paranormal-Scope as weird as always. So on  the first Mondays, you’ll have double the pleasure. I don’t want to tell you about her as she is doing that on Monday.

Smiles.

I’m hoping to be running a Goodreads contest next week.  I’ll let you know as soon as I do.  I will be posting the details as part of the Paranormal-Scope, so be sure to check. I’m also participating on The Romance Studio’s End of Summer Bash. Another opportunity to win a free book.  I will give those details by nthem too.

What’s new?  Vampire King of New York is out in print. Mrs. Bright’s Tea Room is out in Kindle      with a new cover, and is the beginning of a new steampunk series, Tale of the Tea Room.

I’m writing like the wind on two books for the Arnhem Knights of New York series. These are my vampire knights of New York.

Have a lovely summer.  We’re into August now.  Have fun!

-Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley

http://www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Filed under: Becky Lower, contest, fantasy romance, Introduction, Max Vander Meer, Norse, paranormal, paranormal romance, party, romance, romance novels, Susan Hanniford Crowley, The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais, vampire books, Vampire David Hilliard, Vampire King of New York, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer, vampires, Viking, Weekly Paranormal-Scope

My first blog post by Stacy Hoff

Welcome to my very first post on Nights of Passion. I am excited to be here, and to meet all of you!

Not only is this my first time posting here, it’s my first time blogging. Ever. (Gulp!) Coming up in September will be the release of my first romance novel. (Double gulp!)

I’ve got lots to learn, so feel free to give me lots of feedback. I’m here to work for you.

If I have all of you pegged right, you love romance. Excellent. So do I. I read it. I write it. I tweet it. On Facebook, I “friend” it. Why? Because I’m a big believer in the HEA (happily ever after). Why not spend a few hours in a world where we know things will ultimately come out okay? Even in the face of adversity. With everything going on around us – from the rough economy to our kids saying they’ve lost their school library book again – romance gives us all a respite.

I find when things are truly tense for me, merely reading a book can’t give me the HEA euphoria I desperately crave. Then I sit down in my study and write. And write. Until my characters are at a place where I want to be.

Tell me why you read or write romance. We’re in this together.

Follow me in http://www.twitter.com/authorStacyHoff, on the web: http://www.stacyhoff.com, and on http://www.facebook/authorStacyHoff.

Filed under: fear, goals, romance, romance novels, Stacy Hoff, What Are You Reading?, What inspires you?, Writer's Life, Writing

Saying Farewell by Marian Lanouette

Hi Readers,

Gerri here. I know that Thursday is my normal day, but today I invited Marian to post. Please help me give a warm farewell to our Friday contributor, Marian Lanouette:

MARIAN:

It has been my pleasure to be a contributor on Fridays to the Nights of Passion. I want to take this opportunity thank Susan for inviting me here.

Also I want to thank you. You’ve have been a warm and wonderful audience sharing your opinions and thoughts with me. I will miss you, but as you know I’ve had a year that put me behind in many things. My writing has taken a backseat and now it is time to give it my full attention again. I have several books in various stages that are just calling my name.

Look for some exciting news coming in October for the holidays.

As a fan of Nights of Passion I’ll still be dropping by to read the posts every day. I hope to see you here. Once again thank you for a memorable run here.

I will miss you all,

Marian Lanouette

Filed under: romance

That Perfect Combination

I think latest estimates are around 7 billion and counting humans on earth and based on a quick Google search, there may be slightly more males than females in the world and of course we are all unique in our own way and have our different preferences. Still, the combinations or pairs and possible love or hate relationships are infinitesimal.

I’m not even sure how I got thinking about this during the week. Perhaps it is my withdrawal from writing and reading due to baby time and my mind is cooking up all sorts of possible love stories that I can write some time in the future. Still, combinations or the combining of people and/or things have been something of focus for all of time. Hence a few common sayings: “they go together like oil and vinegar” or “two peas in a pod” or “opposites attract”, etc. Most of these are used to refer to how well or not so well a pair combines. Ideally in our romance novels, we want our hero and heroine to be a bit of an oil and vinegar combination. It adds a bit of necessary tension between them and gives them something to overcome, adding further to the story.

So all this thought had me further wandering about the combinations readers most favor. Therefore, I’ll throw the question out there to you all. What is your perfect love story to read? What sort of pair or combination makes putting that book back on the shelf irresistible? For me personally, it is definitely that oil and vinegar pair with a tortured hero, gets me every time!

Happy writing this week!

Filed under: Toni Kelly, Writer's Life, Writing Topics

Going to be in Germany Soon By Mandy Rosko

One of my books will be, anyway.

The Princess’s Dragon Lord is almost finished being translated, so I might see it up on the Amazon.de store by mid August as Der Drachenprinz. I’ll show off the cover that I get for it when it’s ready, but it will look exactly the same as the English version, with just different text.

I’m so excited, and nervous, getting a translator was something of a scary process, even though I already had a good idea of where to go to hire freelancers, but knowing whether or not they could actually do a good job was something else entirely. After all, I don’t know how to speak German, so how am I supposed to know whether it’s being translated properly?

Thank God for Google Translate :) Not that I plan to use that to check and see if the translations are any good or not. That would be both impossible and monumentally stupid on my part, especially considering how poorly Google Translate actually works when it comes to speech. What this worked out for, and what I would recommend for anyone who wants to try translating their books, is to use Google Translate to check the reviews left behind on books that were translated by the person you’re hiring.

Navigating Amazon.de was pretty simple, considering it looks pretty much the same as my English version of the store. All I had to do was ask my translator for references of other books that had been done, and then I went on over to Amazon.de, copy and pasted the reviews left behind, and read on the poorly translated German to English on Google Translate whether anyone thought the books were terrible.

I checked all the one and two star reviews, and while these were low key books like my own, not too many reviews at all, there were still enough for me to make a decision, and tell from those reviews that the people were not happy with the story itself, and not the way it was translated.

So far I’m loving my translator. I’ve got excellent communication with this person, and always love it when I see another chapter in my inbox. I’m excited and terrified of the day when the book will be live on Amazon.de, but more and more I’m thinking it’s going to be money well spent, and definitely something I want to do more of.

For now, however, I just wanted to share this little achievement I had since Dragon Lord, or Der DrachenPrinz, is one of my favorite self contained stories. Self contained for now ;)

If anyone wants to check the story out, here are some links for you to try

 

Amazon.com

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

 

Cheers,

Mandy Rosko

Connect with me online:

Facebook

www.goodreads.com/Mandyrosko

Twitter: @rizzorosko

Mandyrosko.com

Newsletter: http://rizzorosko.com/contact.html
Filed under: Mandy Rosko, paranormal romance, Promotion, romance

Weekly Paranormal-Scope

Rain is like dancing!  I love the rain. It helps me write and gives me great dreams.

While I am not qualified in any way to read neither stars nor planets, I am intimately linked to the paranormal in the world in many ways. So are you.

The paranormal scope is for entertainment purposes only and is not meant to guide your life by.

The week for:

Aries:

Sprites dance in the rain. Sprites are small and it’s the small things that are important for you this week.  Make small changes only.

Taurus:

Narwhales have survived by researching first before taking new opportunities.  Did you get the point?

Gemini:

Faeries sing your praises.  It’s time to act and show your stuff.

Cancer:

A vampire will give you balance and inspire you to new heights.

Leo:

Werewolves will fight over you like a bone.  Don’t choose between friends just organize your schedule better.

Virgo:

Shapeshifters don’t always fit well with others. Consider this before forming any collaborations.

Libra:

Pixies are sensitive.  A close one may need more hugging and hand holding to get through tough times.

Scorpio:

Vampires are good diplomats. Reinforce your good business relationships.  Listen and encourage others.

Sagittarius:

Mermaids like to reflect. As your star starts to shine, don’t ignore your personal growth.

Capricorn:

Dragons will fly above the storm to avoid crashing on the rocks.  Keep a low profile at work.  Avoid confrontations.

Aquarius:

Elves love reunions. An unexpected blast from the past is headed your way.

Pisces:

Dragons will give you a life if you are willing to take a risk of making a dream come true.  Let your friends help you.

-Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley

www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

New release: Vampire King of New York now in print at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Also in ebooks.

New release: Mrs. Bright’s Tea Room now in Amazon Kindle.

Filed under: Max Vander Meer, Mrs. Bright's Tea Room, Norse, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, romance novels, steampunk romance, Susan Hanniford Crowley, The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer, vampires, Viking, Weekly Paranormal-Scope

RWA Nationals

I spent most of this week in San Antonio, Texas at the Romance Writers of America National Convention.  I have never been so busy! I am exhausted while  seeming to not have done anything!

There were book signings–I participated in two:  the Literacy signing and a Kensington signing.

KENSINGTON PARTY

Then there were parties–I went to three:  Kensington where I met awesome RITA winning writers from the Word Wenches blog Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, and Nicola Cornick; Boroughs Publishing, where I met with my wonderful and dear CP Kary Rader, and Amazon, where I smoozed with fellow Kensington author A.C. Mason.

It wasn’t all play, however.  I went to workshops, such as Marketing:  Work with What You Have, The Hard and Fast Rules for the Kickass Query and Synopsis, English Titles and Usage and How to Write Hot Sex. :)  Great workshops!

Then there were the pitch sessions…I did much better than I expected to.  I tend to get very, VERY nervous when pitching to agents and editors, but this year for some reason I had turned off my nervous button and ended up pitching my new WIP, a Regency, to two agents and an editor, each of whom requested either partials or fulls!  I’m so psyched!  As soon as I get home, I’m dusting off those synopses, giving a last tweak to the manuscript, and sending them off. :)  Wish me luck!

And then last night, the gala event:  The RITAs and Golden Heart Award Ceremony.  This is the Oscars of the romance writer’s world.  We all dressed up in

THE RITAs 2014

our bling and congratulated our fellow writers on their achievements in writing for the past year.

Now I’m doing some last-minute packing before catching my plane back to Virginia.  I had an incredible week with roommates Collette Cameron, Gina Danna, and Ella Quinn.  Already looking forward to RWA 2015 in NYC!

Filed under: Craft, Jenna Jaxon

Mrs. Bright’s Tea Room Is Live on Kindle! By Susan Hanniford Crowley

Mrs. Bright’s Tea Room is back and not in a hard to get anthology.  This time it’s as it’s own ebook.  It is Book 1 in a new series called Tales from the Tea Room.  Any minute now, Kindle will go live with it.  Yay, and it’s only $2.99.

In Alternative History Victorian London, dirigibles fill the sky, but one is the notorious Mrs. Bright’s Tea Room. The lavender dirigible is infamous as the place where wealthy men keep trysts with their mistresses, spies conduct covert activities and business men are entertained while conducting business. It’s know the tea servers serve more than tea.

For Euthalia James, she despairs that by working for Mrs. Bright is the only way she can earn enough to get her father out of debtor’s prison.  She doesn’t know that her life is going to change from horrible to exciting the moment Captain Travers walks in the door, and that excitement never ends. A swashbuckling steampunk tale of plots against the empire and the choices brave people must make.

I considered putting up a love scene but decided against it for this week.  So at any minute this weekend, this book comes available on Kindle.  Be sure to write a review on the book’s Kindle page.  This is one of my favorites and I keep coming back to that strange brothel in the sky with more tales percolating in my head.

I’ll add the Kindle link as soon as it become live.  It’s Live! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M4U4TKG

–Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowleyhttp://www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Filed under: romance, romance novels, Secret Lives, steampunk romance, Susan Hanniford Crowley, The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais

Thoughts, emotions and writing

What are you reading? I’m reading the Inside Out Trilogy by Lisa Rene Jones. It’s not my normal reading genre but the writing had me turning the pages. I read all three in three days.

 

Recently, I was asked if I disguise people I know as characters in my books. The answer is no. I might take a part of this one, and a part of that one, but I never portray someone I know. My characters are created in my head and developed over time. While they’re developing, I might be standing in line at the DMV, or sitting on a beach people watching. I might like the twitch on this one, and the smile on that one.  Out clubbing is another good spot to watch interaction. Lots of drama there too.

It’s the same thing when it comes to emotions.

I’ve also been asked if I wrap my emotions or turmoil up in a story. The answer there is two fold: one, not intentionally, and two, I find it hard to write if I have things going on in my life. Yet, I know authors who thrive and embrace their drama and use it well.  This week I said good-bye to a friend of over forty years, and next week my brother Timothy who  passed away this winter will be placed in his final resting spot. Two special good-byes and ripping emotions that stop you in your tracks to reassess priorities.

Rest in peace, Mr. G.

Timothy, our last conversation filled with your humor is what’s in my head. Thank you and  I love you.

 

Filed under: romance