Christine Rains's Blog, page 100

Day 4 of The Alpha blog tour

I can't wait to show you what's in store for today!

Come on over to Kyra Lennon's blog.
I'll be chatting about Stefanie and James,
my Alpha female and her geeky love interest.
Romance where the woman is the aggressive one.

Next I have a guest post on worldbuilding at Elizabeth Arroyo's site.
Find out how I came up with my ideas for the fictional city of Carmine and the building the 13th floor is located.

Today tidbit: The city of Carmine has become a character herself like the 13th Floor. I consider both the city and floor female. The first books in the series will show more of the city while the final two books will be more about the 13th floor.

Day 3 of The Alpha blog tour

Do you have your copy of The Alpha yet?
Amazon * B&N * Smashwords * Kobo

Two stops on the blog tour today.
First, I'm over at TF Walsh's site with a guest post continuing on with the supernatural creatures theme. Can you guess what I'll be talking about?

Then I'm popping over to Nick Wilford's blog.
I'll be telling you about the bad guys from my book. They're a different sort than Vetis from The Marquis.

Today's tidbit: I didn't intend to include werewolves in my 13th Floor series. Yet Stefanie came to me and told me she lives in 1302, so I better get typing! I considered not listening, but it was the twist on the paranormal romance trope of the Alpha that won me over.

Day 2 of The Alpha blog tour

Today I'm visiting with two of my fellow
W4WS co-hosts.

I'm talking about finding your character's
voice on M. Pax's blog.
Sometimes it can be tricky, but I have a few exercises that will draw out even the most stubbornly silent of characters.

I have a tantalizing excerpt over at
C.M. Brown's site.
It'll wet your appetite for more!

Today's tidbit: Finding Stefanie's voice in The Alpha was much easier than getting Marc to talk in The Marquis. With Xan in The Dragonslayer, I'm finding he's not chatty, but he has interesting inner dialogue. He's a bit like me in that aspect. I don't say much, but I'm constantly talking to myself in my head.

Day 1 of The Alpha blog tour

Today's the big day!
The Alpha is now available!
Amazon
B&N
Smashwords
Kobo

The first stop on The Alpha blog tour
is at Reading, Writing and Everything In Between.
I'm sitting down with the wonderful
Heather Musk for an interview.
Come on over and say hi. 

Today's tidbit: The cover for The Alpha was a quick and easy choice for me. I saw the image on Dreamstime, and I knew it was Stefanie. She has an intense gaze. A bit wolfish too!

The Next Big Thing and other reminders

The talented Cher Green has tagged me in The Next Big Thing.Thank you, Cher, and here we go with 10 questions about my current work in progress!
1) What's the working title of your book? 1303 - The Dragonslayer.
2) Where did the idea come from for your book? I've had the idea of a modern day dragonslayer in my head for a while now. Taking a traditional epic fantasy character and putting him into an urban fantasy tale. I don't quite remember where I came up with it.
3) What genre does your book fall under? Paranormal romance.
4) What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Xan the dragonslayer is easy for me to cast: Alexander Skarsgard. No question in my mind. For Lois, maybe Jennifer Connelly. I'm flexible on this. A spunky brunette just over 30 years of age. And for the villain, the big bad dragon, Gary Oldman.
5) What is the one sentence synopsis for the book? A modern day dragonslayer misses his target and acquires an unwanted companion as he tries to flee the scene.
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Self-published.
7) How long did it take to write the first draft of your manuscript? I'm still writing! I'm about halfway done. Maybe. It's a little longer than I expected. I need to cut out some of the chatter when I revise.
8) What other books would you compare this story to in your genre? A bit like Katie MacAlister's dragon series with having dragons in a modern day setting. I'm finding it hard to think of anything else it's like.
9) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest? Dragons! And a hot dragonslayer.
10) Hey, there was only nine questions. Is the tenth suppose to be where I tag other people? I'm not going to tag anyone. If you want to do The Next Big Thing, be my guest. It's a great way to share with readers what you're working on.

If you'd like to participate in the cover reveal for The Dragonslayer on January 18th, please send me an email at christinerains [dot] writer @ gmail [dot] com. Also, if you'd like to host me on The Dragonslayer blog tour during February 13th - 17th, send me a message. Check out the 13th Floor series page for all future tour dates and cover reveals.

Don't forget to enter my 400 Followers Giveaway! You can win the first two ebooks in the 13th Floor series.

The date for the next Writers4Writers Group event is set! Mark Monday, February 18th on your calendars. We'll be featuring two authors this time around. Sign up on the linky list and help your fellow writers.

You may notice a new badge on my sidebar. Untethered Realms is a group of seven authors that write speculative fiction. I'm honored to be a part of this amazing group of writers. Click the badge to "like" us on Facebook. We're just getting organized, but we're getting some great ideas.

Last but not least, tomorrow is the official release of 1302 - The Alpha and the start of my blog tour. Sunday is an odd day, but I have a fantastic interview lined up with Heather Musk. Yesterday she wrote a wonderful review for Fearless. Check it out and hopefully we'll see you tomorrow.

400 Followers Giveaway

400 Followers!Wow.Thank you so very, very much.Recently I passed my 500th blog post. I hadn't even been paying attention until I prepared my post for the Beginnings Blogfest. That was a happy surprise, and through that blogfest, I gained my 400th follower. What a fantastic way to start off the new year!It is all of you who make writing worthwhile. I hope to give more back this year to our awesome blogging community. I'll be doing more reviews and hosting more giveaways. Let's have one right now!I'll be giving away five prizes. Each winner will receive a digital copy of The Marquis AND The Alpha . a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oracle review

Blurb:
As the countdown begins, the body count rises.

With London gearing up to host the Olympics, the city doesn’t need a serial killer stalking the streets. They’ve got one anyway.

Leaving a trail of brutal and bizarre murders, the police are no closer to finding their latest murderer than Detective Inspector Kurt Lancer is in finding a solution for his daughter’s disability.

Thrust into the pressure cooker of a high profile case, the struggling single parent is wound tight as he tries to balance care of his own family with the safety of a growing population of potential next victims.

One of whom could be his own daughter.

Fingers point in every direction as the public relations nightmare grows, and Lancer’s only answer comes in the form of a single oak leaf left at each crime scene.


My review:
Detective Kurt Lancer is on the trail of a serial killer. A killer becoming famous for the brutal and unusual ways of murdering his victims. The last thing London needs is a murderer on the loose with the Olympic Games about to start. Kurt wonders who might really be the killer when his home and daughter are targeted. As the nightmare and body count grows, he has to find who's behind it all or lose everything that matters to him.

This is an incredibly written thriller that pulled me along with every page. The tension was drawn tight at the beginning, and every time I felt it easing up, it was jerked taut again. Great pacing. What I loved most about the book was the characters. No stereotypes or cardboard cut-outs. These are real people with amazing depth. Kurt Lancer is a single father trying to raise a daughter with a growing disability. It made my heart ache to see the good and bad of the parent-child relationship. Kurt's partners, Sam and Tom, are extremely likable and the perfect complement to his rougher edges. The delinquent brother and sexy neighbor have more to their characters than originally meets the eye.

I wasn't surprised by anything that happened and I predicted where the story was going, but I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. Wonderful detail, interesting Greek mythology, and spectacular characterization. Oracle is the debut novel for J.C. Martin, and she makes it look so easy.

Visit J.C. Martin at her website. You can also find her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter.

The Beginnings Blogfest

The talented and geeky L.G. Keltner is celebrating her one year blogoversary! Head on over to her site and congratulate her. To mark this milestone, she's hosting the Beginnings Blogfest. What inspired you to start blogging? When did your passion for writing begin? Or, if you don't want to get personal, write about the origins of your favorite book or movie. No strict guidelines. She's cool like that!

This blogfest comes at an excellent time. This is my 500th blog post! Wow.

I started blogging years ago on a different network. It was mostly a personal blog. A way for me to keep my friends updated on my life and to save time by not having to write 20 different emails a day. I didn't have a big following. It was my quiet little corner of the blogosphere.

When I started to get serious about my writing and wanting to build a platform, I moved to LiveJournal. I didn't stay there very long. I didn't find many people to connect with. I had this blog linked to my LJ, and I was getting more responses here. So I made my final move to Blogger, and I met an incredible community.

I wouldn't have made it as far as I have without the advice and encouragement of other writers. The move to Blogger was a fresh beginning. The best move I could've made. I've learned how to properly network, improved my craft, and self-published. All of this because of the great community I met through this blog.

Why did you start blogging?

Teaser Tuesday with The Darkening Dream

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!This is an original YA paranormal. The Darkening Dream by Andy Gavin is a dark and detailed tale that holds nothing back. The vampires are like those of old, evil and ugly. It takes place in 1913, but it has a modern voice. It makes it easier to connect to the characters. Amazing story so far!
Here's your teaser:
Only you can stop us, Sarah scrawled in big letters that took up a quarter page of the journal - and didn't need writing down at all. The five words had burned themselves into her brain the moment she heard Charles say them. (page 70)

Solomon's Compass Cover Reveal

Blurb:
Taylor is in Rock Harbor, Texas, on a quest to unearth her uncle’s treasure—a journey far outside the realm of her real life. There’s one glitch. Taylor's certain the buried treasure was all in Uncle Randy's dementia-riddled mind. Now he’s dead.

Former SEAL Jake Solomon is in Rock Harbor under false pretenses to protect Taylor from the fate that befell her uncle and the other members of a tight circle of Coast Guardsmen called the Compass Points who served together on Point boats in Vietnam.

Jake is definitely not supposed to become involved with Taylor. That was his first mistake. Taylor is attracted to Jake as well, but she refuses to wait for him to locate the killer when she knows her plan will force her uncle’s murderer into action.

But the killer's actions are just what Jake is afraid of.


Author bio:Carol Kilgore is an award-winning author of several published short stories and many essays and articles. Solomon’s Compass is her second novel, a blend of mystery, suspense, and romance she calls Crime Fiction with a Kiss – always at least one crime; always a love story. Carol and her Coast Guard husband live in San Antonio, Texas, with two herding dogs that like nothing better than pack time on the patio.
You can find Carol here:Website * Blog * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads * Amazon