Robyn Bachar's Blog, page 18

Author Thursday: Interview with Cathy Pegau

If you follow me on Twitter you've probably noticed me crazy fangirl stalking author Cathy Pegau, because I adore her sci-fi romance series. I campaigned for her novel Caught in Amber during this year's DABWAHA, and she just barely missed going on to the second round by a handful of votes. (So close!) I'm thrilled to have her as my guest today.

1.What flavor is your writing? (Spicy? Action? Space odyssey? Ninjas? All of the above?)

The books I currently have out are all science fiction romance with a bit of suspense thrown in. Two have lesbian romances at their center and the other is het. I prefer to write speculative fiction, or at least tend to lean in that direction, but not always.
2. Where do you get your story ideas? Sub-question: Do moose really wander through your backyard in Alaska?

Ideas come from all over. Conversations with my family or Twitter friends, off-shoots of other stories, life in general. I had one story idea come from a commercial with a bride tossing her veil over her shoulder while driving a convertible down a highway.

In the last town we lived in, we did, indeed, have moose roaming through the yard. There was even a pair of calves born in our neighbor’s yard. Where we are now, however, we’re more likely to have a bear wander through. They’ve been known to rifle through the freezer and snack on frozen fish and bread.

3. I love the world-building in Rulebreaker, Deep Deception, and Caught in Amber! Was Nevarro inspired by a real-world location?

Nevarro is cold. I live in Alaska. ‘Nuff said ; ) Living here really has inspired setting. Nevarro, like Alaska, is a resource-rich location and the people are apt to do things their way. Keeping the balance between harvesting those resources and allowing the people to live decent lives is a challenge in most places.

4. What are you reading now, or what books do you have in your TBR pile?

LOTS in my TBR pile. Mostly science fiction and fantasy, a bit of steampunk, some historicals. Currently, I’m reading “Eighty Days” about the 1889 race around the world between journalists Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland.

5. What are you working on now?

I just turned in a manuscript to my agent, something very different from my usual writings. It’s a historical cozy mystery set in my town in 1919. The MC is a journalist who comes to visit her brother and try to shake off her past dismal year. Within the first day or so of her arrival, a woman is killed essentially right outside her window. No speculative or paranormal bits in this one, but it’s been great fun.

You can find out more about Cathy at these links:
Website: cathypegau.comTwitter: @cathypegauFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathy-Pegau/184452628282206?ref=hl CAUGHT IN AMBER, available at Carina Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other fine ebook retailers!

Recently out of rehab, Sasha James is determined to keep her head down, complete her parole and never touch amber again. The chip in her neck controls her cravings for the highly addictive drug, but also tracks her every move. Not that she goes anywhere other than work and the halfway house she calls home—a far cry from her luxurious former life as lover of the mining colony's top drug dealer, Guy Christiansen.

Agent Nathan Sterling has no desire to see Sasha fall back into amber, but his sister has become Guy's latest conquest and the unexpectedly attractive Sasha is the key to getting her back. So in exchange for an introduction, he offers Sasha the one thing she can't refuse—her freedom. From the chip, her parole and even the planet if she wants. Though he would be sorry to see her go… Torn between her growing attraction to Nathan, fear of Guy and the allure of amber, Sasha accepts. But who will save her if Guy refuses to let her go a second time?

Lives Change at Your Library

This year National Library Week is April 13-19, and the theme is, "Lives change @ your library". (Yes, there's actually an @ in it. I'm not sure how I feel about that.)

The Berwyn Public Library played an important role in my development as a reader and a writer. I remember the glowing pride I felt when I received my first library card, and how I marveled at the responsibility of having something with my name on it. *I* was entrusted with the welfare of the books I checked out--not my parents--and I could choose what I wanted to read. It's empowering. A library card is like a TARDIS, giving the reader access to visit any time period and infinite worlds to explore.

I remember riding my pink Schwinn bike to the library on 16th Street and coming home with my basket filled with new books. The walk down the stairs to the children's section filled me with excitement. New books! To this day I'm excited by the promise of a new book. I love to wander the shelves and explore, looking for new series and new authors.

During college I worked in the main library at University of Illinois. I LOVED that job. The stacks are enormous--two buildings, ten floors each--and that's just the main library. According to the site:

The University Library holds more than thirteen million volumes and 24 million items and materials in all formats, languages, and subjects, including 9 million microforms, 120,000 serials, 148,000 audio-recordings, over 930,000 audiovisual materials, over 280,000 electronic books, 12,000 films, and 650,000 maps.

And I believe it, because I was a shelver. I also searched for books marked "not on shelf" for whatever reason. It's easy to lose a book in a library that enormous. I'd crawl all over looking for books that had fallen behind shelves, or that didn't fit on the shelf and were stacked on the floor. I loved that too. Me, rescuing knowledge and restoring it to the masses (you'd think I'd discovered the One Ring instead of a missing volume on crop production).

Libraries are so important to our communities. They offer not only books, but movies, music, Internet access, adult education programs, activities for kids and teens, tutoring, book clubs, writers groups, and more. Libraries are life changing.

What are your favorite library memories? Do you have a favorite local library?

Author Thursday: Interview with Maddy Barone

My guest today is fellow Romance Diva Maddy Barone. I met Maddy at the Lori Foster Reader and Author Get-Together a few years ago. I'm bummed that I won't be able to see her and my other RAGT friends this year, but I hope to next year.

If you like werewolves, you should give Maddy's After the Crash series a try. It's fast-paced mix of time travel, paranormal, and post-apocalypse romance with an Old West feel.

1. What flavor is your writing? (Spicy? Action? Space odyssey? Ninjas? All of the above?)

I think of my After the Crash novels as “Vanilla Erotic”. It’s hard to pin a single genre label on them, though. The heroines jump forward in time to a post-apocalyptic world that has few women, and where there are werewolves looking for mates. So is it a time-travel, post-apocalyptic, werewolf paranormal series? Or just paranormal romance?
2. Where do you get your inspiration?

My friends. Really. I wrote the first book, Sleeping With the Wolf , for a co-worker as a gag gift. She is the heroine and she wanted a western romance with cowboys and Indians, but she wanted werewolves and modern day women. She told me what she wanted her hero to be like. She wanted him to be native American, and a werewolf, and she wanted him to worship women without being a pansy. It was quite a challenge to come up with a setting and story that featured all those things. Voila, Taye Wolfe was born. In fact, the whole futuristic dystopian world was born.

3. I’m enjoying the After the Crash series (and your covers are gorgeous). Do you have a favorite character in the series?

Thank you! The cover artist for nearly all of the books is Lyn Taylor and I love the colors and layout she came up with.

It’s hard to pick an absolute favorite character, isn’t it? I think Tracker, from Wolf Tracker is my favorite. I just love those tall, silent and deadly heroes! But I suspect Sky, hero of the last book, will take the top spot.

4. What are you reading now or what books do you have in your TBR pile?

I just finished Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop. I loved it. I loved the first book in that series too. It’s a completely different take on werewolves and vampires. It has a bare hint of romance in it, but this is primarily a fantasy series. I’m in the middle of Night Broken, the newest Mercy Thompson book by Patricia Briggs right now.

5. What are you working on now?

My editor at Liquid Silver and I are going through Wolf’s Vengeance right now. It is expected to release on May 26, 2014. After that I plan on a smoking hot ménage story for a Halloween boxed set. After that I can finally work full time on Wolf’s Princess, the last book in the After the Crash series.

You can find out more about Maddy here:
Website: www.MaddyBarone.comFacebook: www.Facebook.com/authorMaddyBaroneMaddy’s newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/nn9qyes Sleeping With the Wolf

Carla is an up and coming country music star when she boards a plane for Denver in the year 2014. After the plane crashes in the year 2064 she learns that nuclear war destroyed technology and unleashed a plague that devastated the female population. Even now, decades after the plague has dwindled to isolated outbreaks, women are precious commodities to be fought for, and Carla finds herself offered as the prize in a Bride Fight. Alpha wolf Taye knows Carla is his mate. Losing her is unacceptable. He wins the Bride Fight, but can he win her heart?

Poetry and Poison in the Blood

April is National Poetry Month. As an English major, I have read a lot of poetry. Perhaps all the poetry... Okay, not all the poetry, but a sample of poems from Western poets from Old English onward. (Have you ever read Old English? It's like Klingon. Middle English is not much better.) I enjoy Shakespearean sonnets, Emily Dickinson, pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

As an author I've been inspired by poetry, and the second Emily book Poison in the Blood was inspired by "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti. (Also, my advance copies of Poison in the Blood are here! Yay! Yes, there will be giveaways, and also a blog tour during June when the print version officially releases.)
Super simplified poem summary (I totally wrote a paper on this poem in college, so don't ask for the long version unless you want me to go all English Major on y'all): "Goblin Market" tells the tale of two sisters, Lizzie and Laura. They're innocent and wholesome, until Laura begins to fall for the temptation offered by the goblin fruitsellers. Lizzie is all, "Dude, no."

“We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?”

Lizzie understands what any modern paranormal heroine knows: If you get involved with the supernatural, bad things will happen to you. (Related for fans of the poem: the seventh October Daye book, Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire, deals with goblin fruit. I loved that book like OMGYES. You want to read it.) Laura is all, "Pfft, what's the worst that can happen? #YOLO"

The answer is, of course, a whole damn lot. Laura nearly dies of goblin fruit withdrawal, but is saved just in time by a heroic act by her sister. And they lived happily ever after with their adorable children, who they entertain with stories about their experience. ("Hey, remember that time you almost died from withdrawal? Awesome.")

Would talk about the haunted glen,
The wicked, quaint fruit-merchant men,
Their fruits like honey to the throat
But poison in the blood;
(Men sell not such in any town):

And tada! Book title inspiration! Poison in the Blood deals with several of the themes brought up in "Goblin Market", like the dangers of dealing with goblin men (or in my book's case, faerie men)(Faust makes a cameo) and the awesomeness of female friendship (Justine and Emily fight crime!).

Poison in the Blood is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance eBooks, and the Samhain store. You can get 30% off if you purchase the ebook from the Samhain store and enter the coupon code POISON14 at checkout.

She is honey to his throat…but one sweet taste could part them forever…

Banished from home while her husband adjusts to life as an immortal, blood-drinking chronicler, Emily Black is homesick, heartsick and struggling under the constant sensory barrage of a city drenched in ancient magic. When an old friend asks for her aid in solving a string of murders, she welcomes the distraction, despite the danger.

Justine Dubois is grateful for a seer’s help, and more understanding than anyone of Emily’s plight. As a guardian, Justine commands respect; as a woman, her magic is considered inferior. Together, they are determined to prove their worth to London’s magicians, starting with solving these murders—with maybe a bit of matchmaking on the side.

Long before he met his soul mate, Michael Black made a commitment to join the Order of St. Jerome. He will live forever, forced to watch the woman he loves age and die. As Emily hunts the murderer, Michael struggles to protect her. But if he loses control of his hunger, the greatest threat to her safety could be Michael himself.

Warning: Contains tortured soul mates, scheming faeries, vampire debauchery, deadly parasols, illicit blood-drinker relations, and adorable plot moppets.

Author Thursday: Interview with Lissa Matthews

I've had the pleasure of hanging out with author Lissa Matthews at a few Lori Foster Reader and Author Get-Togethers. Lissa is awesome and always fun to talk to, and I'm thrilled to have her as my guest today. :)

1. What flavor is your writing? (Spicy? Action? Space odyssey? Ninjas? All of the above?)

Sexy, sassy, emotional, real...

2. Where do you get your inspiration?
Can be a line in a song, a phrase in a movie or television show, a place, a picture, a situation... For instance, I started on a thought for a continuation of an older series of mine today. I am the one in my house who usually takes care of household tasks, most maintenance and minor repairs (or sometimes major repairs). As I was decluttering and fixing a few small things and making a list of things I need to work on this week around the house, I realized that I should write the handywomen side of my Blue Jeans and Hard Hats series. Strong yet vulnerable women and strong yet vulnerable men are awesome in my eyes.

3. You have many eye-catching book covers. (Oh my. Is it warm in here?) Do you have a favorite cover?

Is it fair to say that each new one is my favorite? Laughs… Honestly, I love the cover from my latest Ellora’s Cave release, Slide Down On Me, but at the same time, the new cover for The Cupcake Cowboy is wonderful too. I can’t pick just one. Maybe I should have a cover contest sometime and let my readers decide…

4. What are you reading now or what books do you have in your TBR pile?

I have a huge TBR pile as we all seem to have. But what’s next for me is Fashionably Dead by Robyn Peterman, Talk This Way by Dakota Cassidy. I’m waiting on the next Brooklyn Sinners by Avril Ashton and Sharp Love by Ava March.

5. What are you working on now?

Several things. But then, I’m always working on several things: The Sticky Cowgirl (book 2, Lone Star Sweets), Shifting Currents (bear shifter), Exposed (M/M BDSM).

You can find out more about Lissa here:
Website: http://lissamatthews.comTwitter: @lissamatthews Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lissamatthewsfanpage Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/authorlissa (Lissa's note: I LOVE Pinterest. I’m a Pin-aholic)
Slide Down On Me

Small-town mechanic and tattooed bad boy Travis keeps his profile low, his needs satisfied outside the city limits, and his business running smoothly. He doesn’t cause trouble and he certainly doesn’t want any. Trouble finds him one scorching afternoon, however, in the form of the equally scorching Arabella Drake. The former heiress owes Travis for car repairs, money she can’t readily pay.

Their situation requires a creative solution, and while most of the town rejects Bella, Travis wants to ravish her. He offers a proposal, one that will soften the repair costs—and satisfy Travis’ longstanding wish to have Bella Drake naked, writhing and sliding down on every inch of him.

The Cupcake Cowboy

Raised to be a rancher and filled from boots to hat with stubborn determination, Jackson Dawson has chosen a career path no one saw coming. Cupcake baker.

The hitch in his plan? His equally stubborn, former pastry instructor Cass, who cautioned him even as she stole his heart.

Cass is willing to yield, but will Jackson bend, in this battle of wills where sugar and spice make everything naughty and oh so nice?

Author Thursday: Interview with Sheryl Nantus

Today I'm super excited to interview Sheryl Nantus. I've professed my love for her books before, particularly her Blood of the Pride series. She's sharing a bit about her upcoming sci-fi romance series In the Black, and I'm so looking forward to it!

1. What flavor is your writing? (Spicy? Action? Space odyssey? Ninjas? All of the above?)

I like to think of it as sweet with a dash of spicy – sort of your hot sauce sneaking in atop your steak! Women and men finding love in the strangest of places… whether you're a cat shifter or a captain aboard a space brothel – everyone needs love and love conquers all!
2. Where do you get your inspiration?

I have no idea. Seriously. I read fiction, nonfiction, books on mythology and serial killers, watch documentaries on PBS and love comic books and gaming. I like to think it all sort of sloshes around in me widdle head until it comes together to burp out something.

3. I’ve often professed my love for your Blood of the Pride and Blaze of Glory series. A little birdie told me you have a sci-fi romance in the works. What can you tell us about that?

Ah! Well I've started a new series with Carina Press – Tales from the Edge.

Book 1, "In the Black", comes out May 14th but is available right now for preordering from all the usual ebookstores. Here's the official blurb:

When Sam Keller left the military, she ran to the far end of the galaxy. Now she captains the Bonnie Belle, a spaceship full of courtesans who bring a little pleasure to hard-up men on mining colonies. When one of her girls turns up dead, it's Sam's job to find out who killed her, fast.

Marshal Daniel LeClair is as tough as steel and quick on the draw. But when his vacation gets replaced by an assignment to help find the killer, he can't help angling for a little action with the saucy, hard-charging Sam. She's got brains, attitude and a body he wouldn't mind investigating.

Sam, six months lonely, might just indulge him. But the Guild that owns the Belle wants the case closed yesterday. With pressure coming from all quadrants, Sam and her marshal clash over false leads and who's on top. But when the killer threatens the Belle again, romance will have to wait. It's a captain's job to save her crew, no matter the cost.

The next book, "In the Void", comes out in October and focuses in on one of the courtesans, Sean Harrison and his story. I'm hoping to do more in the series and hope the readers will enjoy what I like to call a mishmash of "Firefly" and "Best Little Whorehouse"… :-)

4. What are you reading now, or what books do you have in your TBR pile?

Just started "Death in the city of Light", about a WW2 serial killer in Paris. I've also got Lovecraft short stories on my Nook and just finished the most recent "In Death". I so *heart* Dallas…

(warned you I read lots of odd stuff!)

5. What are you working on now?

Book 3 in the "Tales from the Edge" series – focusing in on one of the courtesans and setting up a crisis… but we'll see where that goes.

You can find Sheryl and her books at these links:

Blood of the Pride series from Carina PressBlaze of Glory trilogy and Wild Cards and Iron Horses from Samhain PublishingWebsite: http://www.sherylnantus.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/SherylNantusFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSherylNantus
In the Black

Book 1 of Tales from the Edge, coming from Carina Press in May 2014

When Sam Keller left the military, she ran to the far end of the galaxy. Now she captains the Bonnie Belle, a spaceship full of courtesans who bring a little pleasure to hard-up men on mining colonies. When one of her girls turns up dead, it's Sam's job to find out who killed her, fast.

Marshal Daniel LeClair is as tough as steel and quick on the draw. But when his vacation gets replaced by an assignment to help find the killer, he can't help angling for a little action with the saucy, hard-charging Sam. She's got brains, attitude and a body he wouldn't mind investigating.

Sam, six months lonely, might just indulge him. But the Guild that owns the Belle wants the case closed yesterday. With pressure coming from all quadrants, Sam and her marshal clash over false leads and who's on top. But when the killer threatens the Belle again, romance will have to wait. It's a captain's job to save her crew, no matter the cost.

Sharing Good News

Cool things that have happened recently:
The second Cy'ren book, Morningstar, has a cover! It's a gorgeous cover, and I think it does a great job of embodying Bryn, Sabine and Jace. I hope to have the blurb soon. I'll keep you posted. ;)I contracted with Samhain for Bite Me, a new, stand-alone title that will be out in 2015. It's a M/F/F ménage set in a post-zombie-apocalypse Chicago. It has spicy romance, a super snarky heroine, vampires, werewolves and gratuitous violence against zombies.The third Cy'ren book, Sunsinger, is with my editor. Fingers crossed that Kanaxa gets to do the cover for the third book too. ;)So what cool things are going on with you?

SFR Brigade Presents: Morningstar Cover Reveal

Today as part of the SFR Brigade Presents I'm revealing the cover for Morningstar! Morningstar is the second book in my spicy space opera trilogy, Cy'ren Rising. Morningstar will be available from Samhain Publishing in fall, followed by the third book, Sunsinger, just in time for the holidays. (It's the gift that keeps on giving.)
Here is a quick snippet from Morningstar:

The way was clear to the lifeboats, but as they entered the final corridor Bryn spotted two armed men guarding the hatches. The corridor was littered with the bodies scored by laser burns, and the men turned and raised their weapons. Bryn dodged in front of Sabine and took a blast that clipped her hip.

“Get down,” Bryn said.

Bryn charged her attackers with a battle cry. They were humans, and Bryn was a still a Cy’ren shadow sword. Even wounded she was faster, and her newfound blade fit her hand as well as if it had been her own weapon. The men fell as she slashed through the weak spots in their armor. Though she wished she had enough time to steal said armor, she looked for an open lifeboat hatch.

All the boats were gone.

She snarled a string of Cy’reni curses that made the girls shrink back—all except for Sabine, who stepped forward and caressed her face.

“You’re hurt.”

“It’s just a graze. It’s the least of our problems.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“They kicked all the lifeboats. We can’t get off the station.”

And now..the cover!


It's so pretty! I love this cover. :)

The first book in the Cy'ren Rising trilogy, Nightfall , is currently available in print and ebook from Samhain Publishing.

When a wounded runner stumbles into her workshop, sculptor Talena Spenser’s comfortable, quiet life is shattered. Aiding the escaped slave risks losing more than just her freedom. She is in phase, when Cy’ren females are overwhelmed by the drive to mate.

Mordacki Loren, shadow sword of House Nightfall, knows the pain of losing a mate. He never intended to take another. But Talena, raised by humans with little knowledge of Cy’ren ways, leaves him no choice. As the mating lust consumes them, Dack promises to honor her wishes—even if that means letting her go.

Scarred and hardened by a munitions accident that sent her Alliance career up in flames, Carmen Hawke joined the Cy’ren resistance as captain of the flagship Talon. When old flame Dack returns from a mission with Carmen’s childhood friend and first love, Talena, in tow, the temptation to allow someone—or two someones—close to her again cracks her emotional armor.

Pursued by an unknown enemy, the trio works together to discover the secrets of Talena’s past, and to uncover a threat that could destroy the fragile peace of the Cy’ren homeworld.

Author Thursday: Interview with Chandra Ryan

Today's guest is Chandra Ryan, who is one of my favorite people. :) She's sharing a bit about her sexy sci-fi Universal Defiance series. Enjoy!

1. What flavor is your writing? (Spicy? Action? Space odyssey? Ninjas? All of the above?)

I’d say my most current series is spicy-action, with a side of space odyssey. No ninjas, though. And that makes me kind of sad. Maybe I can work some ninjas into a future work, though...

The Universal Defiance series follows a man, Jasper Lee, through his rise to power in universal politics. Though he’s not featured in all of them the books, each book shows the affect one man can have in the big picture.
2. Where do you get your inspiration?

Usually it’s something I see or read in the real world. I see a story on the news about eminent domain abuse and suddenly Ulterior Motives is born. Or I see a man walking out of the grocery store covered in ink and I start to wonder if there’s a story there. That’s how Isaac from Bond Betrayed came to be. Life is full of fascinating little quirks if you look for them.

3. You’ve written fantasy romance, paranormal romance, and sci-fi romance. Which is your favorite to write?

I’d have to say that fantasy romance is still my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the genres and plan on writing more in each. But I read so much fantasy growing up that the genre is very comforting to me. It has that added nostalgia factor to it. It feels like home.

4. What are you reading now or what books do you have in your TBR pile?

I always tease that I write so I can afford to read. Only, it’s not really a joke. I read so much that it’s actually a line item in our monthly budget. Right now I’ve got a lot of Ann Mayburn, Lissa Matthews, Gena Showalter, Carrie Ann Ryan, and Rebecca Royce sitting in my Kindle waiting for me.

5. What are you working on now?

I’m currently writing Covert Desires. The sixth and final book in the Universal Defiance series. This story follows Rowe, who we are introduced to in Subservience (book five). She’s a prophet who seems like a bit of a flake. But she’s actually one of the most interesting heroines I’ve written. Her motivations and actions might seem spacey from the outside, but her abilities have given her a rare level of wisdom and acceptance that most people never experience. Getting to delve into her psyche has been really fun. Challenging, to be sure. But fun as well.

You can learn more about Chandra here:
Website: www.ChandraRyan.comTwitter: @ChandraRyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author.ChandraRyan
Hostile Intent

Universal Defiance, Book Four

A few hours of passionate, meaningless sex is all Renee needs to take the edge off before her next reconnaissance mission. And the dangerously handsome stranger she meets on the space station docks is more than happy to give it to her.

But her quickie turns out to be a Coalition soldier who’s been ordered to kidnap her. Adam has no idea how tempting his new mission will be or how quickly his intended victim will work her way under his skin. And when someone tries to kill her, he must decide where his loyalties lie.

If they’re going to survive, they’ll need help from Renee’s longtime lover. As an investigative reporter, Michael has the contacts and access to information they need. He also has a raw sexual chemistry with women and men alike, and Adam can’t resist.

Inside Scoop: This ménage features some scorching male-male action.

DABWAHA 2014: First Round Voting Approaches

It's March, so that means it's DABWAHA time! (Bet you thought I was going so say something about basketball. Nope. I leave that entirely to my brother and sister-in-law.)

The DABWAHA is SBTB and DA's annual NCAA-style tournament of books. 64 books, 8 categories, and readers pick brackets of which books they think will win each round. I really suck at picking DABWAHA brackets, but I did win an awesome swag bag of signed Larissa Ione Demonica books in 2010. (I love the books, and I still have the coffee mug.)

This year two of the books in the running were two of my favorite books from last year, so I'm campaigning for them. Because you should vote for them when voting opens on the 20th. Or, at the very least, you really need to read them. Seriously.

Caught in Amber by Cathy Pegau shares the same sci-fi setting as Rulebreaker and Deep Deception, which I also loved. I really hope that she writes more in this setting (I occasionally harass her on Twitter and beg for more books). Pegau does a great job of describing Nevarro and its inhabitants--she has the world-building down pat. This was my short Goodreads review:

Caught in Amber by Cathy Pegau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story has teeth, and once it bites, you can't put it down. It's dark, gritty and compelling. I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to reading more by Cathy Pegau.

I loved Codex Born SO MUCH for a lot of reasons, but many of them have to do with Lena. I have a lot of feels about that character. I could probably write an essay on the many ways that she is awesome, and how I wanted to thank Jim C. Hines for writing her. Instead, this is my short Goodreads review:

Codex Born by Jim C. Hines
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm really enjoying this series. It continues to weave established geekery with the author's own world-building in fun, awesome ways. Though I fully expected that when Isaac reached into a copy of Scalzi's Old Man's War that a hole would be ripped into the Internet, or at least summon a Twitter fail whale, but no. (Aside, in a future story, I hope Bookmaster G unlocks the D&D manuals, so someone can kill a bad guy by summoning a dire shark onto its head, like a one-man sharknado.)

Now I will do my attempt to Jedi mind-trick you all into voting for these books. Or at least I will ask you very nicely to please vote for them on March 20, when voting opens here at the DABWAHA site: http://dabwaha.com/