Cate Masters's Blog, page 94

Casting Call: Rock Bottom

The hero and heroine of Rock Bottom are both flawed characters, my favorite kind. I love creating such characters. Their flaws provide a realistic touch, and make them more complex. 

Billie Prescott's real first name is Willamina. She hates it! Writing as a rock journalist, her byline appears more professional skewed toward male, so she goes by Billie. Writing for a rock magazine in Philadelphia gives her the perfect opportunity to combine her love of music with her career. She's savvy, snarky, and just a tad snobbish about what she considers great music. In her teens, she idolized Jet Trently, whose love ballads made her heart pound faster, and whose rock anthems made her feet pound on the dance floor. A seasoned reorter, she's been around enough rock stars to have built up an immunity. So she thinks!
Rachel Weisz has all of Billie's qualities - from sweet to snarky, savvy to soft when the circumstances warrant. Plus she's gorgeous! But not in a way that suggests she spent all day in front of the mirror.

Jet Trently's a true rock star who can go from raunchy to sweet in a chord change. He's had a rough road and sometimes it shows, either in his bittersweet songs or in his reluctance to trust. Being the star of his own reality dating show, Rock Bottom, it's difficult for Jet to know where to draw the line. He trusts Stu, his manager, too often. But does Stu have Jet's best interests at heart? Hmm...

This old pic of Brad Pitt fit the image of Jet in my head pretty well. The model on the book cover's a close match too. 


When Billie first leaves Philly for Malibu, she's distraught that she has to leave Everett behind. She's been after her editor for nearly two years, and has just spent a great weekend with him. In her heart of hearts, Billie can't quite see them as a longterm couple, and her hopes dwindle when he assigns her this story, forcing her to leave.
Everett's another flawed character. He doesn't know what he wants, so he doesn't rule anything - or anyone - out. Distance from Billie, he thinks, will help provide perspective, and yes, freedom.
Billie thinks Everett looks like Chris Cornell. I think he looks like Dermot Mulroney! lol


Zinta is Billie's best friend and lifeline to sanity. She's gorgeous and witty, caring and wise. 
Elisha Cuthbert fits the role as perfectly as she fits that red dress. :)

Justin's tall and lanky, a bit of a nerd when it comes to his work as cameraman for the Rock Bottom show. He takes his work seriously but likes the perks it brings - mostly that he gets to film beautiful girls all day. 
Joel David Moore was always Justin, in my head, right down to his somewhat whiny voice.

Cindy, the assistant on the Rock Bottom set, has to keep the peace plus keep things running smoothly, both on and off the set. She's a workaholic who doesn't have time for friendship, but she's friendly enough to all. Except when things get a little rough. As gatekeeper, Cindy can either be Billie's worst obstacle to Jet, or a fount of information. 
Melissa McCarthy would be great as Cindy.

Thanks for checking out this Casting Call! As always, it's been fun to show you who played these roles in my head as I wrote the story.

You can find other Casting Calls either through the Blog Series tab above, or through the books themselves. 






 

At Heroines with Hearts today

Today I'm visiting the wonderful blog Heroines with Hearts. I hope you'll pop over and say hi! I'm sharing a little background about The Magic of Lavender, my newly released paranormal romance novel. I'm giving away a PDF to a commenter, so come on over!

Two more re-releases

Yay, I received the rights back for my paranormal novella, One Soul for Sale, which I've republished. It's now available from Amazon and Smashwords titled Soul for Sale. For just $1.99!
As soon as I saw this image, I snapped it up. If you're familiar with the story, you know Madelyn's grey cat plays a pivotal part. If you're not familiar with the story, I hope you read it! Did I mention it's just $1.99?  And that it was a 2011 EPIC finalist? :)
I revised it a bit, rewriting it in past tense instead of present. 
Reviews described the story as "outstanding," a "riveting read… I couldn't stop until I hit the last page."
You can view theCasting Call, Story Elements, read more wonderful reviews and more here.


Next, my short contemporary chick lit, Liberation via Pen, is now re-released on Smashwords  and Amazon Kindle as Writing Off the Past.
This is a very fun story, and a quick read. A reviewer said it 
"is a great story... The empowerment displayed towards the end was uplifting. Any woman who has been in Krista's shoes will enjoy this read..."
Thanks! :)  
I hope you'll check out more about Writing Off the Past

Guest post at LASR today

I hope you'll pop over to Long and Short Reviews, where I'm plying my wares... I mean, blogging today about Rock Bottom, my upcoming contemporary release. :)
Only five more days till release day! Woo hoo!

Ashes for Teaser Tuesday, and visiting Emma Lai's blog today

For Teaser Tuesday: the paranormal romance thriller, Ashes by Arlene Webb, available from MuseItHot Publishing 

His daydream with denial began to weaken as his thoughts hardened from despair into anger. Lyle pressed against his brother's stiffening body, but no amount of friction created a response.
Check out the other Teaser Tuesday participants! 
And I hope you'll pop over to Emma Lai's blog today, where I'm sharing some background on San Francisco Dreams, my historical novella set during the 1906 earthquake. Pretty cool stuff! :)

Only one week till Rock Bottom releases!

Woo hoo! I'm so excited release day's almost here. I love this story!
Okay, I love all my stories but this one's especially special to me. The heroine, Billie Prescott, is smart and snarky. Her passion is music, and as a rock journalist, she combines her personal passion with her professional life. I wish I were her! 
Jet Trently is every rock star I loved growing up, but more heroic. Also smart and snarky, he makes music that touches every woman's heart and soul. *sigh* lol
Here's the blurb: For rocker Jet Trently, success means playing the same platinum-selling hits over and over. Philly rock journalist Billie Prescott thrives on covering the latest releases. When her editor sends her to Malibu to cover Jet's reality dating show, Rock Bottom, her blog's success keeps her trapped there. Her life's at Rock Bottom too, until she hears Jet's new songs. They touch her heart as his music did when she was 15. When Jet touches her heart as well, will the reality show ruin the real thing?

Here's a mini-excerpt, just after Billie arrives in Malibu to meet the producers of Rock Bottom, Jet Trently's reality dating show:

Billie affected a sharp business tone. "Already did. I'm Billie Prescott from Strung Out. My editor spoke with Mr. Gilbert about covering the show?"Jet's eyes widened. "You're Billie Prescott?"Billie had a feeling she'd just made Jet's Lust Have list, though she had no doubt the list, if printed, would require reams of paper. If he licked his lips, she'd be out of there before he could retract his tongue. "You're expecting me, aren't you?""Billie Prescott, yes. You--no." His appreciative gaze wandered the length of her.The trio chuckled in unison.Like she didn't get that same response every freakin' time. Biting back a snide reply, she forced out, "Do you have an information packet for me? Something that will help me catch up on where season one ended?"Stu glanced at Jet. "Cindy can put something together."Jet tilted his head. "Not a fan, eh?"If she didn't know better, she'd think he appeared pleased.Wrinkling her nose, she grinned. Let that be answer enough."Pity you weren't a contestant." He arched a brow and turned to the third man. "Now there's an idea."

A bit of magic for Six Sentence Sunday

Thanks so much to everyone who visits each week! I love reading your comments, and truly appreciate it.
For the next few weeks, I'll give you a little taste of magic - The Magic of Lavender, that is. :) Available now from Amazon and Smashwords! yay! It's book one of the Goddess Connection series, which  says: Every woman should embrace her inner goddess. What's your connection?
You can find more here, if you'd like. To set up the scene, Jocelyn Gibson's just bought an old B&B to fix up, and is throwing a Halloween open house when her neighbor, vet Eric Hendricks, arrives. Both are widowed, and both will find themselves in danger before too long (watch the trailer below to learn more!).
Through the black eye mask, Eric's steely glance pierced Joss's, his brow furrowed beneath a tangle of dark hair. His intense assessment shocked her to a halt, electrifying as a Taser to her nervous system. He walked toward Joss in what seemed like altered time. Capturing her gaze, his gait slowed. Heat twined through her like a wisp of smoke above smoldering embers crackling to life.
She wasn't ready for that type of burn yet.
Check out all the fantastic Six Sentence Sunday authors here.
And if you'd like to check out the book trailer for The Magic of Lavender, here it is. :)

Congrats to the winners!

Thanks to everyone for joining the New Release Party this week! And thanks especially to LASR for hosting it.
Now, for the goodies! For each release, I've enlisted the assistance of my daughter to select a name at random from a bowl.
For The Magic of Lavender, my paranormal romance novel, the winner is.... (drum roll please....)Jen B! 
For Just the Right Amount of Wrong, my interracial contemporary romance novella, the winner is.... Stacie!
For San Francisco Dreams, my historical romance novella, the winner is....Maria!
And finally, for Rock Bottom, my contemporary romance novel, the winner is....Rina!
Congrats to all! With the exception of Rina, who will receive the PDF on Rock Bottom's release day of June 20, I will email PDFs to the rest of you today.
Thanks again! Happy reading! 

Still time to enter for the giveaways!

Though the New Release Party has come and gone at LASR's Party Pavilion, you still have time to enter the giveaways - just leave a comment on the following posts before Saturday:

The Magic of Lavender, my paranormal romance novel
San Francisco Dreams, my historical romance novella
Just the Right Amount of Wrong, my interracial contemporary erotic romance novella and
the upcoming release of Rock Bottom, my contemporary romance novel.
I'll be giving away an ebook of each to one commenter, so I hope you'll pop over and join me there!

HEA Reviews will choose a winner TODAY for The Magic of Lavender, which it featured in its Spotlight Giveaway. You have a second chance to win an ebook there by leaving a comment before 3:00 p.m. (not sure what time zone).


Hope to see you there!

Author Blog Hop: Cliffhangers

QUESTION: Writing scenes(Part two): Define a cliffhanger in your own words and tell what it means to your writing?  Question provided by affiliate author L. P Robinson

Great question, L.P.  To me, a cliffhanger is a scene that creates a conflict requiring resolution, one that puts the protagonist in the hot seat and makes readers want to keep turning pages to learn what happens next. The conflict can be emotional or physical or psychological, depending on the genre.  Good writers provide enough of a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter to keep readers interested. Really good writers ratchet up the tension throughout the story.


---------------------------------------------------------- How to play: Your host: Sassy Brit of Alternative-Read.com invites all writers (published and unpublished) to:

1. Grab the above AUTHOR BLOG HOP logo
2. Write your blog post in answer to the weekly "writing related" question and publish on your own blog
3. Go back to the CURRENT blog hop  and leave your link in the Linky Tools (or comments if you have trouble)
4. Hop from blog to blog meeting and greeting the other participants on the list.


The Linky Tools wouldn't allow me to complete the task of hopping onto the Blog Hop, but I'll try again later!