Cate Masters's Blog, page 63

Crime Fiction Blurb Fest at TBR

TBR's having two blurb fests again this month - first up this weekend is the Crime Fiction blurb fest for any stories involving - you guessed it - crime. :)
July 28-29 will be the Military/Espionage Fiction blurb fest.
If you know authors who write in these genres, please encourage them to share their blurbs, gain a little extra exposure, and hopefully some new fans.  Blog vacation 
Not much is going on right now. Unless I receive a release date for my dark paranormal, Death is a Bitch, I likely will be taking a two-week blog vacation. I'm hoping to catch up on some writing, and some reading! Look for the next post on Saturday, July 28. Mark your calendar - it will be Halloween in July! Mwahahaha. :)

Do you have any getaway plans for the summer? Whatever you do, I hope you have a great time.

Contest today at TRR's Sizzling Summer Reads!

If you'd like a chance to win an ebook of Just the Right Amount of Wrong, today's the day to enter at The Romance Reviews' Sizzling Summer Reads contest. 
TRR is giving away tons of prizes all month long, so be sure to check back every day for new giveaways!
 Here's the story blurb:
All wrong? That’s what Sara Mullaney’s parents always said about Ravelo Pena. She’s starting to believe it. After dumping her years ago, he’s back in town. And threatening to ruin her business plan designed to help local farmers. When he’s fired for trying to help her, she realizes he’s still the same old Rav. And she’s finding it hard to keep her hands off him. Can the right amount of wrong make the perfect combination?


 

Changing covers again

Next month, I'll re-release my historical set in 1850s Key West, Florida, called Angels, Sinners and Madmen. I've revised it, and hopefully improved it.

I spent a lot of time searching for the right cover images, and found two that contained the images I wanted and, I thought, would have the right feel. I then spent a lot of time trying to combine them, which turned out like this:

It had the right theme - the ship in a stormy sea, and the couple seeming to be overwhelmed by the waters. But even though I'd invested time and money in the cover, it didn't feel right to me.

So, back to Dreamstime I went. And I decided to change the cover to this:

This image conveys such yearning. I love it. It's much simpler, and cleaner. I thought about adding a tall ship on the horizon to indicate it's a historical, but I like that he's looking out at an empty sea. Though wreckers in 1850s Key West often searched the horizon for ships in distress, this image suggests he's not sure what -- or who -- he's looking for, but is determined to find it (or her?).

And yes, there's the beefcake aspect. :) But while that might (hopefully) attract a reader's eye, it's secondary to me.

What do you think? Any preference?

I'm shooting for August 31 as the re-release date.

Casting Call: In the Midnight Hour

If you're not familiar with Casting Call, it's my blog series where I show you who I imagined in the major roles while I wrote each story. You can find more under the Blog Series tab, beneath the Casting Call heading.


Normally, I imagine my stories as movies in my head. As usual, the characters of In the Midnight Hour played their parts very vividly.


Josie's my flawed heroine - the daughter of divorced parents, who themselves are flawed. As a teen, Josie strikes out on her own because she has a better chance away from her mother.


Since she was young, Josie's seen ghosts, a fact she learns to keep to herself after alienating friends and coworkers. She sees some of the ghosts so often, she considers some as friends, but it makes for a lonely existence. She doesn't quite know where she fits in the world until she signs up as a ghost tour guide in Gettysburg. After that, things begin to click into place, though some things, not for the better.


Before I began a first draft, Pauley Perrette was Josie, from her Goth look to her scratchy voice to her tattoos.


Eddie is Josie's roommate - with benefits. In the beginning, she felt sorry for him, so took him in. But he hasn't gone job hunting in months, and while Josie's working two jobs, he does nothing but play video games. Josie's ready to move on, and out, without Eddie. He's not so ready.

Matt Dillon's played down-and-out characters convincingly before, and would be perfect as Eddie.

Nicholas Whitby tags along during Josie's ghost tours. He's adorable but a bit odd, something Josie can relate to. At first, because he wears a Union soldier's uniform, she thinks he's a Civil War reenactor. Later, she finds out he's no actor.


James McAvoy was always Nick in my movie version.


Garrett signed on as a ghost tour guide after Josie. Somewhat of a mystery, he doesn't give much away about himself, but Josie senses his attraction to her. She keeps him at arm's length until she realizes he, too, can see ghosts. It's not often she runs into someone to whom she can speak openly about spirits, but Garrett's easy to talk to. Until he says Nick's a threat to Josie. Garrett has secrets of his own.


Christian Kane was always Garrett in my head.


Bonus! Turns out Garrett's one of triplets.


His brother Theo is more business-like, so this pic fits him.


Zane is much more easy-going, with shorter hair.


I'll take three of Christian Kane anyday. :)




Sue is another ghost tour guide, and another good friend who takes Josie in when she abandons Eddie.


Mena Suvari would be perfect as Sue.

You can view the book video, read the blurb, excerpt and more here.

Or purchase In The Midnight Hour here. :)

1NS Blog Hop!

Thanks to Jessica E. Subject for organizing this fantastic blog hop! The grand prize is a Kindle Touch, and a second-place giveaway of a gift certificate. Coffee Time Romance is contributing a third prize for U.S. visitors - books, swag and other goodies!

I'm holding my own giveaway too. Winner's choice of either my fantasy 1NS, A Hard Day's Knight, or my contemporary, Tonight You Belong to Me.

Both are very fun, fast reads, but you can watch the book videos below to decide which catches your fancy more. :)



 To enter my giveaway, just "like" my Facebook page and comment below - easy peasey!

If the codes below doesn't show (it didn't in preview), then visit the 1NS Blog Hop site to hop to all the 32 blogs of participating authors. The more you comment, the better your chances at winning some great prizes!

                document.write('http://www.inlinkz.com/cs.php?id=150089&' new Date().getTime() '">');
cs.php?id=150089

Insecure Writers: When to type "The End"

I should start another support group for writers like me, who can't stop revising. I go through multiple revisions before sending work to crit partners, and afterward, at least another two or three rounds. But I never feel like a story's completely finished. Even after subbing it, I can't help revising again.

I have so many other projects I want to work on, but constant revisions slow me down.

I actually just pulled a sub - one I was invited to submit - because the story didn't feel complete, and the sub call limited the word count to 15k. In the end, I don't think I'll regret it, though I had the feeling it was a slam dunk. *sigh*

Does anyone else have this problem? Or am I taking perfectionism too far?

Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh for launching the Insecure Writers Support Group! Hop on over to the other authors' posts. It's wonderful to lend support to fellow authors.

New release - In the Midnight Hour, dark paranormal ghost story

Little by little, I'm learning tricks in Photoshop. My secret to technology? Just keep clicking on different things until it works! :)


I found these two images on Dreamstime and both were perfect for my ghost story set in Gettysburg, In the Midnight Hour. With a lot of determination and some luck, I combined them into this cover. Whew!

Isn't this cover cool? I actually love it. What do you think?


So here it is - In The Midnight Hour! Excitement! I have been working on this story for more than a year! It feels great to loose it upon the world. I would really appreciate any shares, and am happy to return the favor - just let me know.

Sizzling Summer Reads - all month!

The Romance Reviews is heating up July with its Sizzling Summer Reads giveaways. More than 400 prizes are up for grabs, including a grand prize of  a $100 gift card!

Check out all the offerings, and on July 13th, look for mine - an ebook of Just the Right Amount of Wrong, my interracial erotic romance.

Here's a little something to wet your whistle. :)

So, I started a new blog

Yep, another blog. But this one's a bare bones blog under my other pen name, C.A. Masterson.  It has only pages for the few books I have out under that name, and a Coming Soon because I'll have more mainstream/literary stories at some point. At least one, Wild Life, will be sooner rather than later.

It seemed necessary. I know readers have certain expectations from authors, and it's probably time to separate my two very different writing identities.

Do you have multiple pen names? If so, how do you handle it?

Review blew me away!

With so many authors out there vying for reviews, I am always grateful when a reviewer takes the time to read my work. But when the reviewer uses descriptions like those quoted below, it's a feeling beyond description.
Here's what Desere at Bitten by Love Book Reviews had to say about Dead to Rights in her 5-star review:
Imagine waking up in a mental asylum with no memory of how you got there or any part of your life for that matter !  Yes I have heard about body snatching and also identity theft but imagine not only your life being stolen but your body too and you have no memory what so ever of what you were where you came from.
Dead to rights tells a beautifully written story of rediscovery, really gorgeous heavenly angels and one woman determined to get her life back. But to do so she will have to fight off a kind of evil unlike you have ever read before.
The author totally blew my mind on this one. After reading it I actually had to sit back and just take a moment to come back down to earth.  I was completely entranced and could not put the book down,I simply had to know what happens next.
The author at all times kept me on a fast pace action packed rollercoaster and never once could I guess what was coming or who to look out for next. Each and every character was a mystery waiting to be read and discovered.
If you’re not a Cate Masters fan yet you have no idea what you’re missing. Go out and get it immediately I can guarantee you will not be sorry! I admit - I, too, had to take a moment to gather my wits. And then, of course, I happy danced everywhere! You can read it here, but I quoted it in full because I love it so much. :) Thank you, Desere, from the bottom of my heart. This came at a perfect time, when I most needed to hear it.