Frances Pauli's Blog, page 23

Free Audio Story - Science Fiction

Well I've been mucking about for awhile now trying to sort out podcasting. You'll remember after I did that romance radio interview, I had a bit of the bug for it. I am happy to say that I finally put together something productive. :)
I bribed (fed) a voice actor, wrangled an account on podbean (they're free) and downloaded (also free) a bunch of software to record, convert, rip and tear into the audio world.
It was a blast, let me tell ya.

So here is my first audio story offering. It's a freebie (there's a theme here) and introduces one of my favorite no good, lazy, next to worthless characters. I hope y'all enjoy: Sector Seven.

Dylan, meet the world. World, meet Dylan Lowwater.









Podcast Powered By Podbean



I've also added a new podcasts page to my website. It features this story, the romance radio interview, and will host new audio tales in the future.

Signing out
~ Frances

Honey Bee tour with Rachel Leigh

Today we are joined by our second Honey Bee blog tour guest, Rachel Leigh.
Welcome Rachel!



Who would you think of if someone asked you to name your favorite screen orliterary couple? Would it be Rhett & Scarlett, Elizabeth Bennett & Mr. Darcy,Lancelot & Guinevere? My favorite is none of the above as much as I love all theirstories and have read and re-read, watched and re-watched the adaptations ofGone With The Wind, Pride & Prejudice and The Legend of King Arthur over andover again.

As much as I love them, and it's interesting that all my favorites are set in thepast, they don't quite hit the romantic spot that puts my absolute favorite does.This is a couple I wish I'd created, a couple whose story I wish had come into myimagination fully-formed and ready to tell. It has everything.

My favorite on screen couple were the hero and heroine from a movie releasedin 1997. A movie that earned the actress and director an Oscar and at the time, Ithink topped all previous box office ticket sales for a single movie. Any guesses?

No? Drum roll please…

My favorite onscreen couple are Jack and Rose from Titanic. Played to perfectionby the beautiful Kate Winslet and gorgeously handsome Leonardo DiCaprio.

These two are the perfect romantic couple from their entirely differentbackgrounds, to the passion they can't contain, the internal demons that hauntthem and their ultimate fight to be together. Titanic is an epic film in every sensebecause it has something for everyone, male or female, young or old.

As well-known as the setting for this romantic tale is, it is Jack and Rose whomake the movie. We are routing for them from the very first scenes, even beforethey come together and when the do meet…woo-hoo, sexual fireworks abound!

Great movie, great couple, great story – in fact, I'm going to put the DVD on rightnow, lol!
Rachel Leigh's latest release is "Coming Back" which is available right now fromThe Wild Rose Press. Here is the blurb:



Kelly Hampton loved once...and lost. After two years of looking for Sean MacKenziein other men--and failing miserably--she takes a vow of celibacy. No sex until shefinds love. Then Sean strolls back into her bar, reigniting old flames. No one hascome close to understanding or satisfying her like he did. Her body burns for thepassion they once shared, but her heart still remembers the pain.

Sean escaped Jessop Hill and his father's fists in the middle of the night without aword--even to his love, Kelly--to protect his battered mother, but he never forgot theexplosively erotic relationship he left behind. Now his father is dead and Sean is backfor the only woman he's ever wanted. Their reunion is full of fire – but can sexualattraction and noble intentions overcome years of heartache or will Kelly walk awayto protect her heart this time.

http://www.wilderroses.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=86&products_id=837
She loves hearing from readers!

http://www.rachelleigh.co.uk/
http://www.rachelleighromance.blogspot.com/
http://www.twitter.com/rachelwriter [image error] r.com/rachelwriter

Trick or Treat

Okay, so I promise I won't torture you with too many puzzles, but this is really fun. I couldn't resist one more. Just one.

I have a short vampire romance coming out for Halloween, and it really does make a nice puzzle. :) I used bigger pieces, so it should be a snap, and I've thrown in the blurb as well.

Trick or Treat,
~ Frances

Jane Johnston has always nursed her crush on the boss in silence. Then a rare invitation to the company conference drops a golden opportunity in her lap. She's got the dress, she's got a plan, but when she gets lost along the way, a roadside attraction leads her to a sexy Vampire who thinks Jane is the answer to his prayers. When he shows up at the conference hotel, all her plans go right out the window. Will Jane choose the man she's always wanted, or the one who claims to own her soul?



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provided by flash-gear.com

Guest Author: Iris Deorre

Please give a big welcome to today's guest, author, Iris Deorre. She is here participating in the Honey Bee blog Trick or Treat tour, and will be followed later this month by a second Honey Bee author. So, without further ado...


Meet author Iris Deorre, as she tells us about one of her favourite books.
Dracula is one of my favourite books. I loved that when Dracula first
sets foot on English soil it's in Whitby, a place I can relate to, a place
I know and have visited myself even though the story does start with
Jonathan Harker visiting Count Dracula in Transylvania.

Every time I visit Whitby this story always comes to mind,
Dracula is like some sort of urban legend, did he or didn't he exist and
this for me made the story exciting; a story that's fictional but is full of
history and lovely use of the English language. I guess I'm drawn to
books that carry a story from a different time. Literature has always
been my favourite subject, the use of similes, metaphors and irony,
excites me. Even though I could never write so beautifully, I've always
loved the use of imagery used in this book, one example early in the
book when Jonathan Harker is on his way to count Dracula's home, 'All
at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had some
peculiar effect on them.' Love that! It just can't be copied or said in
just any way, can it? It has to work and Bram Stoker has made it
work. I love to find the meaning behind the words, the emotions. How
people dealt with things in that time compared to how we deal things
now, one example is when Lucy gets the blood transfusion. Was there
blood type testing then? Or was it – roll up your sleeve and let's do
this –like it was done with Lucy. This is how my mind works, crazy
hah, but I always wonder.

Bio
Iris Deorre started to write when she was seventeen. At the time it was a form
of escapism. By the time she hit her twenties she was writing short stories and
got one published in a women's magazine. She went on to write short plays but
after meeting a well-known author who taught a writers class her focus changed
to Erotica. Her love for paranormal is what makes her combine the two.

She resides in the UK with her little girl.

The Whitby Ghost is the latest story from Iris Deorre.



Blurb
Roy has a past he'd rather forget. To overcome it he takes his girlfriend Melisa
to Whitby, the very place of his past that he is trying to forget. Roy believes it's
the only way to move on and to forget it by moving on with his future, Melisa.

But something is lurking in Whitby, something that Melisa becomes sensitive
to the minute they arrive. What she discovers is hard to swallow. What follows
is a journey to the other side. Something she'd rather forget.

Will Melisa marry her boyfriend who refuses to talk about his past? Or will his
past bring them closer?

Buy links
The Whitby Ghost Amazon UK

The Whitby Ghost Amazon US

The Whitby Ghost DE

New Release Scramble

SO, I have three new releases coming before the end of the year, and a couple of them have been a real scramble to get to the presses on time. :D So, while I have covers already, I also found this really cool flash ap. And of course, figured I'd share it. Here is the first one, Divine Intervention, a short Sword & Sorcery story that will be out exclusively at Trapezium ebooks...any day now.

Have fun.


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provided by flash-gear.com

The Best Things in Life are Free

Well, it's true.
Case in point: I just finished up the week-long Muse Online Writer's Convention, and like every year, I am floored by how much effort goes into making this an awesome, and yes, free event for authors in any genre.

If you've never been, never heard of, or never had any interest in this conference, let me tell you what you're missing. Seven days full of classes, chats, forums, networking, pitch sessions, give-aways and camaraderie with like-minded folks who really know how to put on a good event.
There is so much information to be had, that it's impossible to see or do it all in one week. Good news, they do this every year. So stake out next year's date and your slot at the con by clicking on the link below.

http://themuseonlinewritersconference.com/

follow the site links to the forum and at the bottom of the page you'll see a thread marked: Register for 2012. Jump on that chance folks. Then bookmark the site and visit often because all year long, the folks at Muse It Up! schedule events, chats and pitches for the aspiring author.

They do this why? Because they pretty much rock.

I'll be there next year with bells on.
See you then,

~Frances

Yes! A Party

I'm going to be participating in this event, which is loaded with fun and freebies! Put it on your calendar. The parties at TRR are always great.

Out of This World GUEST

It's time for us to host the day's author, and I am tickled to death to have Great van der Rol here today on the blog! Please give her a warm welcome and read on for a change to win some great SFR. Welcome, Greta!









Thanks so much for giving me room on your blog. I'm really excited to announce the imminent publication of the second, and concluding, "Iron Admiral" book.In the first novel, "The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy", hostility is growing between the vast Ptorix Empire and the Human Confederacy. Admiral Chaka Saahren, hero of the Confederacy, is dismissed from his post after he is blamed for the massacre of ptorix miners on an obscure planet.On a search for the real culprits he accepts a job as a security guard on the mysterious planet Tisyphor. There, he meets brilliant systems engineer Allysha Marten. Saahren never had much time for women but he falls head over heels in love with this one. Allysha has taken one last job to rid her of debts and her cheating husband and despite her misgivings soon finds herself falling for the man she knows as Brad Stone. When she learns that Brad Stone is really Chaka Saahren her world falls apart – she believes he is responsible for the deaths of millions of civilians, among them, her father.



Here's a brief excerpt from the book, when Saahren meets Allysha after he has saved her from an assault by a drunken miner.


"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." He glanced over his shoulder at his fallen opponent. "Let me see you to your quarters."

The alarm faded from her face as she sized him up. "I'm Allysha Marten."

"I know. I'm Brad Stone." He'd very nearly said Chaka Saahren. He'd better keep that fact to himself until he could find out what her objection was.

She smiled and his heart fluttered. "Thank you, Brad Stone." "Where do you live?"

"The mine.In the old ptorix mine manager's quarters."

He walked beside her, not too close, not too fast, through the tunnel of jungle that led to the mine. "You're comfortable with the ptorix?"

"Yes. Very. Where I come from—Carnessa—we live together peaceably. Well… mostly. I grew up with Tors."

Tors. That must be her word for ptorix. "And that's how you understand their computer systems?"

"I suppose. I can speak their language and that always helps."

He almost stopped. "Their language? But that's very difficult."

She laughed, a low, musical chuckle. "Not too bad if you learn as a child."

The mine's metal doors gleamed in the lights around the entrance. Saahren pressed the lock and the personnel door slid open. He stood aside to let her go first, along the wide central tunnel that led to the control room.

She turned off into a side tunnel. A few more steps and she stopped in front of a stairway. "I live up there. Thanks again."

Those wonderful eyes held him for just a moment and then she was gone. He stared after her. He should have asked her to dinner or a drink or … or… Idiot. Fool. Standing there like a tongue-tied teenager. She smiles at me and I melt. She speaks and I just listen to the lilt in her words. He sighed. I'm in love.


If you'd like an idea of what I think Saahren might look like, you might enjoy this post from my blog. Or just enjoy
perving at him.


Things (of course) get worse before they get better. At the end of the book, Saahren has been re-instated and he and Allysha have averted a cataclysmic viral attack on her home planet. She is certainly not open to Saahren's suggestion of marriage, but things are much too volatile for her to go home, so she accepts his offer of a half-year contract with the Star Fleet.That's where book two - "The Iron Admiral: Deception" - begins. Allysha is working for the Star Fleet in the Confederacy's capital city. Everybody still wants a piece of her. Saahren has been promoted to Grand Admiral but that doesn't bring him any closer to winning Allysha. Allysha's husband has been dragooned once again to deliver his wife so she can complete a job for the shadowy Galactic People's Republic. If he fails, he dies. We follow Saahren and Allysha as he learns he can't order her around or keep her in a cocoon, while she learns that truth is so very often a matter of perception. Eventually, she must confront the issues of the past and deal with them on her own. Before it's over both Allysha and Saahren will be confronted with excruciating decisions. I'm proud of the book. I'm sure you'll find it's a worthy successor to Book One and all your questions will be answered. To celebrate, I'd like to offer your readers a chance to win one of two e-books as soon as the novel is published.



(Comment below for an entry, and Greta will tell us all how her give-away will work)


Greta van der Rol loves writing science fiction with a large dollop of good old, healthy romance.She lives not far from the coast in Queensland, Australia and enjoys photography and cooking when she isn't bent over the computer. She has a degree in history and a background in building information systems, both of which go a long way toward helping her in her writing endeavours.


Buy "The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy" from
Smashwords for Kindle, ePub and more as well as print
Amazon US for Kindle and print
Omnilit
Barnes & Noble for your Nook
Website: http://gretavanderrol.com/

Facebook: Author – Greta van der Rol

Twitter: @GretavdR

Out of This World

Coming to a blog tour near you...

I'm going to be participating in the Out of this World blog tour this year along with some fantastic SFR authors with a bevy of awesome books to promote and topics to prattle on about. The event should be a lot of fun and full of great info. I'm posting the schedule below. I'll be guesting afield as well as hosting an author on our site here.

I hope you all will follow along, there should be some give-aways in the works as well.

~ Frances

SCHEDULE:

September 17Diane Dooley at Amber Norris' bloghttp://sci-fiadventures.blogspot.com/
September 18Gary Starta at Melisse Aires' bloghttp://melisseaires.blogspot.com
September 19Frances Pauli at Diane Dooley's bloghttp://dianedooley.wordpress.com/
September 20Amber Norris at Greta van der Rol'sbloghttp://gretavanderrol.com/
September 21 Lilly Cain at Anne Kane's bloghttp://www.annekane.wordpress.com/
September 22Greta van der Rol at Frances Pauli's bloghttp://francespauli.blogspot.com/
September 23 Lisa Lane at Gary Starta's bloghttp://praisegods.blogspot.com/
September 24 Melisse Aires at Lilly Cain's bloghttp://www.annekane.wordpress.com/
September 25Anne Kane at Lisa Lane's bloghttp://newsensuality.blogspot.com

New Trailer

New Canterbury Affair
from Devine Destinies