Shirin Dubbin's Blog, page 3
October 31, 2011
Sweet, Sweet Vengeance
There's something about a tale of revenge that's so sweet…especially when it's Halloween. Check out my A Dish Best Served on Halloween post over at the Romance Author Hotspot and comment to win a copy of Chaos Tryst.
"There's something about tales of revenge that makes them sweet. You know the feeling at the end of a movie when the long-suffering hero finally gets the better of the villain? If you're like me you cheer or clap your hands at the wicked sense of justice…"
Read the full post here. Also, you can download Whipstitch my tale of Halloween vengeance from ARe! It's FREE!
In celebration Halloween, and her new release, Chaos Tryst, Shirin Dubbin and All Romance bring you an exclusive free read of Whipstitch – In which a pair of Faebled nemeses come together for an All Hallows sewing bee.Whipstitch is a "love gone horribly wrong" companion to the "rollicking romantic action" and modern adventures of Goldilocks in Chaos Tryst.
October 30, 2011
Lynda Barry Will Make You Believe In Yourself
"It's like me saying, 'I'm beautiful.' Compared to other women, I'm not. But who does it hurt for me to say so?" - Lynda Barry (from the linked New York Times Magazine article)
October 20, 2011
Black Market Porridge and Returner Magic
I'm over on Harlequin Tumblr today talking about the trouble with Goldilocks, "black market porridge" and "returner magic"…
October 18, 2011
Kick Back with Debra Kayn and her Sexy Cowboys
It's a big week for fabulous author and friend Debra Kayn. The second book in her Sister of McDougal Ranch series, Val's Rancher, releases today. I describe the series as cuddling up to watch a romantic movie with a sexy cowboy! You can't beat that and Deb writes wonderful contemporary romance set in the back country where strong women and rugged men reign. Be sure to check her out this week!
On Monday, Val's Rancher, the 2nd book in the Sisters of McDougal Ranch series was released at Carina Press, and I'm riding around visiting blogs. Go ahead and pick out your horse, saddle up, and join me for some cowboy fun and giveaways.
Tuesday – Swing by Modokker Book Picks, read the review for Val's Rancher, comment, and be entered to win your choice of either Chantilly's Cowboy (book 1) or Val's Rancher.
Tuesday – I'll be guest blogging at the Carina Press blog and talking about birth orders. Come on over and tell me what you like about being the youngest, the middle child, or the oldest. I'll be giving away a book to one lucky person.
Thursday – Swing by Manga Maniac Café before October 22nd. They put me to the test during their Cowboy Crush. Find out what makes cowboys special to me, and get your name in the drawing for a free copy of Chantilly's Cowboy.
Saturday – Do you read what's familiar or read to escape? That's the question I'm throwing out to readers at Manic Reader's Blog.
October 11, 2011
Godmothers and Monsters
She kidnapped me one dark Friday night in Salem. My parents were powerless to stop her. They seemed charmed or perhaps my father was angry that I'd sat at the table for two full hours without eating my sweet potatoes and this made it easy to give me up. In the car she offered me treats. I didn't refuse them but the absence of my sister made me wary. When we reached her home she wrapped me up in a blanket and set me on the couch in front of the television. This is when the true terror began because she made me watch Salem's Lot with her. Yes, Stephen King's Salem's Lot—the one featuring the Nosferatu vampire with the fire eyes.
Why? Whhyyy?
Of course, the Salem we lived in was Winston-Salem, NC not King's Jerusalem, Maine—but you can see how a child could confuse the two. The wicked "she" I'm speaking of is my beloved godmother, Peggy. The woman absolutely loves horror movies but can't stand to watch them alone. Thus, my torture. And torture it was to be sure…
October 7, 2011
Remixing Macabre and Grimm + Bonus Free Read
The true tales of an aspiring Buffy’s love of fairytales, her flirtation with horror and how she finally found satisfaction in the arms of UF.
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The way I hear it, there’s nothing new. There are only thirty-six dramatic structures. That’s it. So there’s only one-way to create something original: the mash-up.
And oh, how we love a good mash-up.
Somewhere online there’s a musical magician who mixed Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spiritand Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean into a spellbinder called Billie Jean the Teen . Blast this song in your car, roll down your windows, and watch spontaneous dancing breakout in the streets. (I’ve done it and it’s magical.)
In literature, Science Fiction met Victorian Historical and birthed Steampunk. Science Fiction, that sly dog, also mixed it up with Westerns to create Space Opera. In the land of love, Romance and Thrillers went midnight dancing and came back with Romantic Suspense. Romance, that saucy wench, also snuck off with Urban Fantasy to bring us Paranormal Romance.
Urban Fantasy. That’s the origin I’m most interested in. Which brings me to bedtime stories and the darkly twisted tales of Halloween versus the darkly romantic adventure of fairytales...
Read the full post and get recommendations here.
BONUS FREE READ
In celebration of the mash-up of fairytales and Halloween, and her new release, Chaos Tryst, Shirin Dubbin and All Romance bring you an exclusive free read of Whipstitch – In which a pair of Faebled nemeses come together for an All Hallows sewing bee.Whipstitch is a “love gone horribly wrong” companion to the “rollicking romantic action” and modern adventures of Goldilocks in Chaos Tryst.
October 6, 2011
October Schedule + Giveaways
My October blog schedule is a fun one. From bad dates, to monsters, to how I fell in love with UF/PNR/FR, to returners. There are a lot of laughs to be had, books to be won and several recommendations to keep you entertained.
Fresh Fiction – October 2 – A Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Date + Giveaway
Carina Press – October 4 – Piping Hot Embarrassment Coming Right Up
Kelsey's Book Blog – October 6 – Interview on Chaos Tryst + Giveaway
AllRomance.com Newsletter – October 7 – Halloween Celebration (link TBD) + Bonus Free Read
Remixing Macabre and Grimm: The true tales of an aspiring Buffy's love of fairytales, her flirtation with horror and how she finally found satisfaction in the arms of UF.
I'm sending a big thank you to ARe's Lori James—she's fantastic!
Katie Reus's Monster Mash-up – October 11 – Godmothers and Monsters (link TBD)
Harlequin Tumblr – date TBD – A post about the returners from Chaos Tryst
There you have it. I hope to see you at a few of these places. Also there's a post by my buddy and fellow Carina Press author, Shawn Kupfer, wrote called Buying On Faith. It features me and Chaos Tryst. So very cool! If you haven't read Shawn's helluva-good-time military SF 47 Echo you've got to fix that situation right now.
October 4, 2011
Quote-u-copia
With each new release Carina Press authors put together fun and/or interesting facts and favorite lines from their books—you can find mine on Twitter and Facebook today. This time around I had a tough time whittling down my favorite quotes so I thought I'd share my and my editor, Andrea's, top picks in a blog post. Without further yammer, here's the Chaos Tryst Quote-u-copia. Let me know which ones you like best.
What amazing eyes he had. What was she missing? Realization crystallized. This wasn't strictly an animal, but a Faeble who also happened to be a bear—likely one of the descendants of Nikolai, Snow White's second husband. Snow's first husband, Charming, was a dic—
Dmitri suddenly sat up, clapped his hands over his ears and said, "I hear banjos. Do you not hear them? There is a bluegrass band playing in my head," then promptly curled back into a ball and groaned.
It was him. The source of her twitchy nose. The beat her heart skipped. The purple prose in her diary.
Who could've foreseen the arrival of the bone witch? Only the babe sleeping in a basket by the tree stump their mother sat upon. And he could not yet speak.
Couples on the verge finally came together in crashing passion; unspoken devotion poured from throats. Long-time lovers sparked anew while relationships hanging by the barest clinch of a fingernail lost their holds as new ones, true loves, cemented. The entire building blossomed into an anarchy of lovemaking.
Legalese sounded a lot like ensorcelling. A serious no-no in public. Humans should be more careful.
Ari figured the punch was a necessary precaution. Legalese sounded a lot like ensorcelling. A serious no-no in public. Humans should be more careful. All Faeble establishments had bouncers. The concept of behaving properly was as ludicrous to the storied folk as dying of old age. The human woman clearly didn't understand the bouncer had only done her duty. Resistance ensued in the form of more legalese, which earned the woman a black eye to go with her fat lip.
A fun fact: The inspirations for the Chaos World came largely from Japanese animation (Fooly Cooly, Naruto, Tenchi Muyo) but include HBO's Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child, Fables by Bill Willingham, Neil Gaimen's poem Instructions and So You Think You Can Dance. (Shirin Dubbin is a perpetual kid.)
On sale | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Carina Press | OmniLit |
Keeper of the Way (Aftermath Cleaners 1) on sale at 40% off in celebration of Chaos Tryst release day
| Amazon | Barnes and Noble | All Romance |
October 3, 2011
Scoring Chaos Tryst Release Day Music
I can't live, write, work, or make pancakes without music. While I walk down the street I hear my own personal soundtrack playing. (Yup, I know I'm weird—it's a fun place to be.) If Chaos Tryst were a movie the following would be the score and the descriptions would be the point in the movie you'd hear them. I'll be dancing to this soundtrack all day and celebrating the release of my [deep breath] comedic, urban fantasy, romantic fairytale-retelling, [exhale] featuring a cat-burglar Goldilocks and her shape-shifting Russian bear woo, can that man tango!.
Chaos Tryst Soundtrack
Created by Shirin Dubbin on Spotify
(Note: Click the "Chaos Tryst Soundtrack" to go to FB and play the entire soundtrack for free)
[image error] Ari is definitely in "Trouble" when it comes to the surly but sexy Maks.
Does Maks secretly want more from the maddening Ari? It's hard to tell…
Maks might be confused but Ari knows what she wants and she's not afraid to go for it.
And now for the theme song—every good hero and/or soundtrack should have one.
She's Always In My Hair - Prince
Maks and Ari have never been closer…or further apart.
Set The Fire To The Third Bar - Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright
Unconvential battles to be fought and hopefully won.
Violet Hill (Album Version) - Coldplay
The indomitable Ari will never give up on Maks…
[image error] The "Book of Love" has instructions for dancing (the tango).
The Book Of Love - The Magnetic Fields (prefer Peter Gabriel's version)
On sale | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Carina Press | OmniLit |
October 2, 2011
Bad Dates and Free eBooks
Every time I tell this story jaws drop. I've been accused of making it up but my imagination runs closer to hot guys with swords, life sucking nightmares or fairytales in the modern world. I'm not good with covert perverts.
I met him in Whole Foods—I now realize I'd confused organic food with wholesome men. He seemed lovely, though, a little pudgier than I like but with mocha skin and dark curly hair. Newly single and thinking of my safety I– Okay, the truth is since I was newly single and thinking of the television show Criminal Minds we chatted on the phone several times before I felt comfortable enough to meet him for a date.
The first half of our outing went swimmingly. Although, I should have known I was in trouble when I told him I write urban fantasy/paranormal romance and he said, "Really? Mm, tell me your fantasies."
"Huh? Oh, no, no. Urban fantasy like Buffy the Vampire Slayer not Emmanuelle."
Um…not everyone is as well versed in literary genres as you or I, right? (If this were an audio post you'd hear me sigh.)
The real turning point came when… Read the full post and comment to win a copy of Chaos Tryst today on FreshFiction!
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