Rose Anderson's Blog, page 71

Day 1 ~ Purrrfectly Giftastic Christmas Blog Hop

It’s day 1 of the much anticipated

Purrrfectly Giftastic Christmas Blog Hop

From today to December 17th, my blog will be linked to over 140 authors participating in the Purrrrfectly Giftastic Christmas Blog Hop**. Each of us is offering a prize so visit all the blogs and leave a comment and your contact email on that day’s post. 

**Winners are chosen from among the comments so be sure to leave your contact email and comment daily.

Purrrfectly Giftasic Hop Starts Here!

This year, in honor of my recent Victorian release Loving Leonardo, I’m offering a Love waits in Unexpected Places mug of Victorian inspired goodies — a reproduction chatelaine magnifying glass, two cards of Art Nouveau reproduction buttons, a small porcelain Victorian reproduction trinket box from the Victorian Company, and of course, chocolate!

Rose Who?
Hello, I’m Rose Anderson, the author of these scorching romances:

The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo, Loving Leonardo, Dreamscape, and Hermes Online.

You can find me just about anywhere these days. I’d love if you’d stop by. Check out my books or just say hi.

Rose Anderson – Love Waits in Unexpected Places

WEBSITE | BUY eBOOKS & PAPERBACK | TWITTER | GOOGLE+

TUMBLR | PINTEREST | FACEBOOK | YOUTUBE

All titles on sale now!
Buy Rose Anderson Books On Amazon

And I’ll even sign them just for you with Authorgraph!

Rose will autograph your ebook – click here!



Hoping Santa stuffs a Kindle in your stocking? Why wait?

Free Kindle for PC

Making gifts for the Holidays? Try this!
Lump of Coal cookies

One 16 oz package of Oreo Cookies crushed fine

5 cups large marshmallows

4 tablespoons butter

Directions:

This works best on parchment but a well-buttered (bottom and sides) 8X8 inch baking pan should do the trick too

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse Oreos until ground. An alternative would be a Ziploc bag, a rolling pin, and some frustration to vent. In a large, microwave safe bowl, melt butter and marshmallows in the microwave until puffy, about 1½ – 2 minutes in my microwave. (Watch carefully…remember that Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters? Well, there’s a chance you’ll have him in your microwave if you let them puff too much)

With a buttered spoon, stir in ground Oreo Cookies until combined. Dump into your buttered pan and using a piece of wax paper or foil on top, press mixture flat and even. Let sit for at least 10 minutes. Cut into chunks of “coal” and serve.

Tomorrow – Day 2 of the hop

Visit all the blogs & comment daily for more chances to win.

Don’t forget to leave your email address!


And…The Romance Reviews party is still going on until tomorrow.

Check them out, you still may win something fabulous!

An excerpt from my latest

I’m currently working on my posts for the upcoming blog hops, and I’m involved in a Cyber Launch of my newest release The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo. The following is an excerpt to tempt you.

The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo

Retaining the body of a wolf in Livie’s house, Ash, with his unique gift of rapid comprehension, is exposed to TV and quickly absorbs the details of the modern world. A morning alone watching Sesame Street gives him a rudimentary grasp of the written word. 

Ash looked up at the sign, the ditty playing in his head — take an H, that’s a Hah and an OT ot, put them all together and they spell hot. Take a D that’s a Duh and an OG og, put them all together and that spells dog. Hot Dog. He’d only eaten dog once, at a wedding feast in the Goose clan’s camp. He found it too stringy. But even if the meat had been better, he liked dogs far too much to enjoy eating them.

Her eyes on the menu board, Olivia asked, “So what are you going to get?”

There were so many words up there and very few pictures and these were of foods he didn’t recognize. He said, “I’ll eat what you eat.”

She told the young man behind the counter, “We’ll have two hot dogs and fries, with mustard, relish, and celery salt. And two chocolate shakes.”

Ash hid his disappointment. After all, he did tell her he’d eat whatever she was eating. They took a seat at a table and he watched Livie squeeze a thick red something out of a bottle, one she placed before him as if she expected him to want it. He dabbed some on his finger and tried it for himself. It was both sweet and sour, but very good. He’d seen this on the TV. Ketchup, that’s what it was.

“They make the best fries here.” She dipped the white stick into the ketchup. He did the same. These were fries. Flavored by salt, he found them similar in texture and taste to baked arrowroot. They too were very good, especially with ketchup.

When Livie unwrapped the package, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Nor could he imagine her eating such a thing.

“Aren’t you going to try your hot dog?”

Unwrapping the warm bundle, Ash stared at it. He watched her take a bite. There was no doubt she enjoyed it immensely. His eyes followed as she set the unappetizing food on top of her basket of fries. Seeing the insideof the hot dog, he suddenly burst out laughing. This was no dog cock.

Olivia looked at him, his unexpected laughter making her smile. “What’s so funny?”

He shook his head. Still chuckling, he picked up his hot dog and without hesitation took a bite. It was meat of some unidentifiable kind, and delicious. The milkshake defied description. Ash spent the better part of an hour absorbing the sweet creamy coldness of the chocolate milkshake balanced against the savory saltiness of the fries and the curious meat on a B-U-N, and listening to the story of Livie’s last man.

“Tom just didn’t understand that sometimes my work had to come first. That’s why he ended it.” She ended the sentence with a shrug. “But I was okay with that. I liked him, he was fun. But I wasn’t in love.”

“It takes a special person to understand the healer’s path, Livie.”

She nodded. Feeling more at ease now that they’d been talking a while, she said pointedly, “So tell me about you, Ash. Anyone in your life? A wife or girlfriend?”

He shook his head. “My wife died many years ago. I’ve been alone a long time.”

Liv hadn’t considered he’d be a widower. He couldn’t be much older than she was. It happened, though. Accident, crime, or disease can catch anyone. Not about to pry for details, she said sincerely, “I’m so sorry.”

He gave her a small smile.

Expecting he’d say more, she asked, “You rather not talk about her?”

“I’d rather talk of you. If we did, I’d tell you your beautiful eyes are the color of the sky.”

Olivia knew she was blushing by the tell-tale rush of warmth all over. After all, they’d only met three days ago. Averting her gaze, she thanked him for the compliment.

Ash had seen women blush before, but never a white-skinned woman. It was lovely. “You look away again, why is this?”

His words made her feel unaccountably shy and deepened her blush. In the awkward silence that followed, she poked at her thick shake with her straw. Maybe it was just that she found him an extremely attractive and very compelling man or perhaps it was his bearing. He carried himself like he stepped out of one those ethnographic portrait photos taken of Native American men in the 1800s. Like many of those images, Ash too, had a regal quality about him.

She absently closed her lips around the straw, lost in her musing. Ash had amazingly intense eyes and the rest of him was gorgeous — gorgeous skin, gorgeous hair, and gorgeous smile. Her gaze rose from her milkshake, landed on that smile, and stayed there. A moment passed before she realized she was staring dumbly at his lips. When she met his eyes, she found them dancing with mirth. His handsome smiled widened engagingly.

Ignoring another rush of warmth, she cleared her throat. Then in a move completely out of character for her, she responded coquettishly, “You think I’m refusing to look at you? Well, I’m looking now.”

“Yes, you are. And what your eyes show me makes me want to kiss you right here and right now.”

Oh my god. This had to be the most direct man she’d ever met. The funny thing was, she wouldn’t mind being kissed by him, right here and right now. The thought took the blush that warmed her face and turned it into a full-body flush. Thank God she wore clothing.

Ash found her even lovelier. He wanted this woman. He wanted to hold her in his arms and kiss her. He wanted to feel her body wrapped around him while his lips chased the blush over her skin. And above all, he wanted her to love him.

Laughing to defuse the moment, she pushed her fries in front of him. “Here, how fast can you finish these? I need to get home to my dog.”

**

The previous scene made me laugh when I wrote it. It’s based on a true story from the Reservation. An Anishinabe (Ojibwe) friend lived with us for the better part of a summer teaching me useful things like brain-tanning leather, quilling in birchbark, and traditional dance (don’t laugh, they’re useful skills.) One day he told me a story he’d heard from an old uncle on the Reservation. Apparently this was a very real impression of a hotdog by an elder the man knew long ago.  

~~~About Rose ~~~

Have you ever fallen so deeply in love with the characters in a romance novel that thoughts of them linger long after the last page is turned? Have you ever been so completely immersed in a love scene that you’d swear you’ve just been kissed or more?

Meet Rose Anderson’s strong, confident heroines and compelling heroes. Come see how their lives entwine and through their stories discover love profound. From her current novels, to the passionate stories that follow, Rose will sweep you away on a sensual tide of memorable story-telling.

Rose Anderson – Love Waits in Unexpected Places

WEBSITE | BUY eBOOKS & PAPERBACK | TWITTER | GOOGLE+

TUMBLR | PINTEREST | FACEBOOK

And…

Join me and more than 300 authors and publishers for a month of goodies at The Romance Reviews’ big Year End Splash Party. Discover new authors and read hundreds of excerpts and grab your chance at over 300 prize! Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m there the week of December 9th. To see my part in the whole thing, I need to send you to my satellite blog.

Rose Anderson’s Satellite blog on blogspot.com There you’ll find an excerpt of my recent release — Loving Leonardo.

The week of December 9th my question will be posted on The Romance Reviews site. Simply find my name on the participant list. Follow the link given to my excerpt posted on my satellite blog, read it, then go back to answer my multiple choice question on The Romance Reviews site. Play the other games and amass more points and you’ll have a pretty good chance to win an ebook copy for yourself!

After the Hop & what comes next!

Well that was fun.   Fours days of The Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop = a slew of nice comments, an increase in subscribers, a surprising number of swag requests in my inbox, and 311 total guests. May they each buy four books for some hot winter night’s reading…I’d be tickled if they bought just one!    Sometime this week, I’ll look through the comments and pick Dreamscape’s winner and send it on. The winner of the larger $100 prize of gift cards and ebook bundle will hear about the win in email but might also be announced here:

Hot-Winter-Nights-Giveaway-Blog-Hop

I have guest appearances all through December and two more blog hops. This one first -

Coming next week –

More than 300 authors and publishers are participating in a month of goodies at The Romance Reviews’ big Year End Splash Party. Stop by to discover new authors and read hundreds of excerpts and grab your chance at over 300 prizes! To see my part in the whole thing, you’ll need to visit my satellite blog. Rose Anderson’s Satellite blog on blogspot.com There you’ll find an excerpt of my recent release — Loving Leonardo.

That week of December 9th my question will be posted on The Romance Reviews site. Simply find my name on the participant list. Follow the link given to my excerpt posted on my satellite blog, read it, then go back to answer my multiple choice question on The Romance Reviews site. Play the other games and amass more points and you’ll have a pretty good chance to win an ebook copy for yourself!

And…I’m not done hopping through December!

Last Day…Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop!

Whew, so busy!

It’s the last day of The Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop

If it’s your first time here, you still have a chance to win prizes at all the blogs. Just visit them, scroll back to the posts of the last three days and comment on each one. We’re giving away an ebook package and $60 in eGift Certificates ($50 Amazon gift card and $10 Bookstrand Bucks) in a grand prize drawing and it’s valued at over $100! Winners are chosen from among the comments so be sure to leave your contact email.

Here’s the link:

Hot-Winter-Nights-Giveaway-Blog-Hop

And here’s the Grand Prize

Recap: About those ebook prizes ~

If you don’t own a Kindle but still want those ebooks, no worries. Here’s a download for a computer version: Free Kindle for PC

How better to show your love than to spend imagination,  creativity, and precious time on the people you love by giving something you’ve made yourself. Whether it’s a delicious baked or canned goodie, or something cute or practical, it all says I appreciate you. As stated before, I love to repurpose things — that is — to make nice useful things out of discarded things just because I love the challenge. It not only gives someone something unique and cool, it keeps junk from filling our landfills and cuts back, albeit slightly, on pollution caused by the mass production of stuff that society considers gift-worthy but often ends up in the landfill ridiculously fast. It doesn’t have to look like trash either. The following are two such handmade gifts with instructions. Again, I’m sorry I don’t have pictures. The steps should be easy to follow though.

Repurposed Stationary Set ~

I started this project by buying a sustainably grown bamboo pen for my daughter (off ebay). Then, using two sizes of opened and flattened envelopes as templates, I made crazy envelopes out of full page magazine ads and catalog pages. A fine bead of regular old Elmers glue sealed the sides of my new envelopes. I could have used a glue stick but having had glue stick projects come unglued before, I opted for the sure thing.  I bought a 100% recycled paper writing tablet and made a custom cover for it from a very nice picture I found online depicting the recycle symbol as the top of a stylized tree. I also found a Save a Tree/ Reuse Paper self-inking stamp. I bundled the envelopes in two stacks and put it all into a cigar box that I covered with cancellation marks from all over the world.  These were found by doing simple image searches online. Cancellation marks are not necessary, but quite cute. It was one of my more fun projects that looked like it came from one of those fancy and pricey catalogs. Come to think, all four of the gifts I’ve given how-to’s for in the past few days looked snazzy and were well-received. 

Ransom Note Refrigerator Magnets ~

Picture one of those TV crime show ransom notes where the words are glued together from newspapers and magazines. Now picture these individual letters sticking to the front of your refrigerator. Cool huh? Being a Scrabble fan I was confident words could be made if I followed the number and ABC count of Scrabble letters. I also added questions marks and exclamation points for emphasis. After cutting large alphabet letters from cereal boxes, glossy sales papers and magazines, I stuck them on peel and stick magnet sheets. I bought those, but it’s also a great way to use up those freebie ad magnets and out of date magnetic calendars. Just carefully peel away the text or picture to get to the sticky base underneath.  Tip: arrange them this way and that to save space. I then used a matte finish Modpodge coating. After they dried, I cut them out.  They came out just great and got a lot of laughs. You could also make your own Poetry Magnets this way.

Last chance to win, comment below

Try for your own ebook copy of Dreamscape . And I’ll even sign it for you using Authorgraph!

Rose will autograph your ebook – click here!

Rose Who?
You can find me just about anywhere these days. I’d love if you’d stop by. Check out my books or just say hi.

Rose Anderson – Love Waits in Unexpected Places

WEBSITE | BUY eBOOKS & PAPERBACK | TWITTER | GOOGLE

PINTEREST| FACEBOOK

Books by Rose

Hermes Online –   A CataNetwork Sensual Reads Reviewer’s Choice Winner 2011

Imagine if you will a story begun in the halls of Mount Olympus long before this modern tale was conceived. It was a time when the god Hermes flew on his winged sandals and carried messages from the gods to the mortals below. And between that time and this, couriers became postmen and handwritten letters became bytes. It is said the gods still speak to those who listen…

Left bruised and brokenhearted after a cruel breakup, Vivienne Bennet finds herself mired in a world of self-doubt. To her surprise, she receives an email that challenges her to rediscover the sensual woman she once was. Together Vivienne and the enigmatic man known only as S embark upon the world of anonymous Internet communication where suggestive emails lead to erotic chat, where cybersex leads to Skype, and C2C sends both into the arms of a love they’d believed lost forever.

Best Quote:

Allow me to pay homage to the goddess you are. Let me begin at your little feet. Feel me lightly kiss, and yes, you will feel me bite ever so slightly, for the need to devour you is great.

Reply lover.

I await.

S

Dreamscape – A haunting, a murder, a mystery, a reader’s puzzle, and a love story that transcends time.

Unable to deny his own translucence, Dr. Jason Bowen determines his lack of physical substance could only mean one thing — he’s a ghost. Murdered more than a century before, Jason haunts his house and ponders the treachery that took his life. When Lanie O’Keefe arrives with plans to renovate her newly purchased Victorian mansion, Jason learns, ghost or not, he’s still very much a man. Jason soon discovers he can travel through Lanie’s dreams and finds himself reliving the days before his murder with Lanie by his side. It took one hundred and twenty years for love to find them, but there’s that insurmountable little matter of Jason being dead.

Best Ah Ha Moment:

Resisting the overpowering urge to touch her again, he closed his eyes instead and whispered, “Dream, sweetheart. Show me where you go each night.” And, just as he projected himself from room to room, the energy of his spirit plied her synapses…and to his complete and utter surprise, he fell into her dream.

Loving Leonardo – An unusual polyamorous, Victorian love story with a touch of interactive art history

Bound by limits dictated by society, Art Historian Nicolas Halstead lived a guarded life until a tempest in the form of Elenora Schwaab blew into his world. At first Nicolas can’t decide if the audacious American is simply mad or plotting blackmail for not only does she declare knowledge of his homosexuality, she offers him a marriage proposal.

After Ellie tells him of a previously unknown work of Leonardo da Vinci, a book of erotic love poems and sketches dedicated to the artist’s long-time lover Salai, Nicolas joins her in a race to save the book from destruction. Along the way they encounter Historian Luca Franco and discover a comfortable compatibility that comes to redefine their long-held notions of love. The trio embarks on an adventure of sensual discovery, intrigue, and danger. Little do they know Leonardo da Vinci’s book is far more than meets the eye.

Best Love at First Sight:

When in the presence of true beauty, my mind often imagines the person unclothed as the artists of the ages might have seen him. Sitting at my table was a statue carved in marble by Gian Lorenzo Bernini; an artist known for his remarkable ability to capture the essence of a narrative moment. And I found Luca Franco to be exactly that — a moment indelibly captured in time — a moment of meeting the mind could revisit in its entirety.

From every angle, he was beautifully made: black-haired, of medium build, and physically fit. He possessed a warm hue to his skin, his lineage no doubt stamped centuries past by the darker Moors or Turks. In startling contrast, and quite handsomely framed by black lashes, he had striking eyes the color one might see in a shadow falling across snow — not quite sky blue nor exactly steel gray, but a blending of the two in gradated rings.

I rose to shake his hand and felt the unmistakable current of compatibility. If this man weren’t forward in his mutual attraction, it was there nonetheless.

The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo - Based upon a very real modern day sighting of the Wisconsin Wolf Man

What does an immortal Native American shaman do when the grave he’s sworn to watch over for all eternity disappears under urban development? His purpose of guarding his wife’s burial mound gone, Ashkewheteasu seeks to end his immortal existence. In his despair, he assumes the form of a wolf and steps in front of a moving car and into the life of Dr. Olivia “Livie” Rosalini. The veterinarian saves the animal’s life, and in the process saves the man within. Unbeknownst to Livie, the dog she’s taken into her home and grows to love is a magical being seeking to win her heart as a man. While Ash is learning a new world filled with new love, friendship, and happiness, an old menace makes plans to steal it all away; just as he had 3000 years before.

Best Slapstick by an Ancient Shaman:

Knowing he had to resume his wolf form at Livie’s home, he took a deep breath and shifted, but his inebriated mind was not concentrating and he ended up with a raven’s head atop his man’s body. He tried again. Forgetting that he still wore clothes, he found himself a small bird, pinned and struggling under the heavy garments that had fallen to the ground in a heap. He shifted into a feathered snake before taking the form of a mouse and working his way out of a sleeve.

The movement caught the attention of an owl on its nightly hunting foray. Just as it was about to swoop low on silent wings, intent on nabbing the large field mouse, a naked man with a mouse tail and whiskers appeared. The owl, clearly startled, flew off into the night. Laughing, Ash raised his arms and yelled after it, “This is not your night, my brotherrrr!”

Tail and whiskers absorbed into his changing form and once again bare skin grew feathers. He shifted into a raven — a six-foot-tall raven. Laughing at himself, he made his body small and flew fast to Livie’s home, albeit not in a straight line.

All titles on sale now!
Buy Rose Anderson Books On Amazon
Collectors of Romance Memorabilia,

Would you like some soon-to-be-famous author swag? *grin*

Scroll back to the first blog hop post to choose,

send me an email with your address, and I’ll mail your choice.

(sorry, the bumper stickers went fast)

roseanderson4858(at)yahoo(dot)com

And…

Join me and more than 300 authors and publishers for a month of goodies at The Romance Reviews’ big Year End Splash Party. Discover new authors and read hundreds of excerpts and grab your chance at over 300 prize! Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m there the week of December 9th. To see my part in the whole thing, I need to send you to my satellite blog.

Rose Anderson’s Satellite blog on blogspot.com There you’ll find an excerpt of my recent release — Loving Leonardo.

The week of December 9th my question will be posted on The Romance Reviews site. Simply find my name on the participant list. Follow the link given to my excerpt posted on my satellite blog, read it, then go back to answer my multiple choice question on The Romance Reviews site. Play the other games and amass more points and you’ll have a pretty good chance to win an ebook copy for yourself!

Thanks for joining me in this fun little event.

The Dreamscape winner will be hearing from me this week.

My best wishes for the happiest of happy holidays to you and yours.

And…I’m hopping through December!

Day 3…Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop!

Hello again!

It’s day 3 of The Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop

Follow the Hop! We’re giving away prizes valued over $100 (an ebook package and $60 in eGift Certificates: $50 Amazon gift card and $10 Bookstrand Bucks) And every author is in on the fun and offering more prizes on their blogs too. Stop by each and comment on that day’s post — more comments = more chances to win goodies. Winners are chosen from among the comments so be sure to leave your contact email when you do. Ask questions, be chatty. We authors just love reader participation!

Here’s the link:

Hot-Winter-Nights-Giveaway-Blog-Hop

Scroll back to see what’s been offered here in the past two days.  The following how-to is one of the many gifts I’ve made over the years. Sorry I don’t have pictures, but I’ve made the steps as detailed as possible so you should be able to follow along. You’ll see. Cute and easy.

Snowmen vs. Santas Checker Set ~

A friend of mine drinks different types of beer and saves bottle caps of all colors and brands for me. A few years ago I thought up a twist on an old standard game – checkers.

You’ll need:

24 bottle caps. Be sure they’re not bent or sharp.
1 bottle of clear Diamond Glaze (check your craft store) or two or three bottles of cheap dollar store clear nail polish
12 pictures of Santas and 12 pictures of Snowmen thought really it could be anything as long as there are 12 of one and 12 of the other. I cut mine from a catalog with vintage pictures but you could also check the dollar store for inexpensive holiday greeting cards. It’s possible to cut the small circles (bottle cap size) by hand by tracing a quarter. Or buy yourself a nice quarter-sized hole punch. I eventually did that. Much easier and super fast.
Glue

Once you’ve assembled your supplies, dab a dot of glue inside the bottle cap and carefully center the picture inside. Smooth out any bubbles and lumps. Allow to dry then slowly fill the bottle cap with Diamond Glaze or nail polish. I found simple checkerboards at my local dollar store and used those to go with my games. You can easily make your own. A search online will show you the exact count of squares needed. The completed project really is adorable. You could even mix is up for other holidays or themes — jack-o-lanterns vs. skulls, bunnies vs. chicks, moons vs. stars, cats vs. dogs, Edward vs Jacob…ok now I know I’m out of ideas. lol

About those ebook prizes ~

Need a Kindle to read your ebook prizes on? Here’s a freebie to use right on your computer. And all the books you accumulate there are transferable to your future hand-held Kindle.  Free Kindle for PC

I’ve giving away an ebook copy of Dreamscape as my prize in the Hot Winter Nights Giveaway. Written in homage to Agatha Christie, Dreamscape is a haunting, a murder, a mystery, and a love story that transcends time. Above all, this sensual tale is a reader’s Easter egg hunt in the truest sense. Peppered throughout are hints suggesting a story behind the scenes. Will you find them all before it ends? It’s not necessary to the telling of the tale, I put them there just for fun.   I’m a sneaky author that way.

Here’s what readers say about Dreamscape:

5-Stars ~

“I wondered as I read this how the lovers were ever going to solve that problem, but was totally surprised at how Anderson arrived at the HEA ending I was hoping for, as I read far into the night. Great read with a surprising twist ending.”

5-Stars ~

“There is no doubt in my mind that this is one heck of a novel, one that had me introspective and thoughtful when I finished, a kind of wonder that someone could have crafted such a wonderful book.” “So readers who love erotic romance wrapped in the mists of dream and fantasy and time-travel will find this to be a delightful reading experience, an entertaining way to spend some time, and an exercise of the mind and imagination. This novel is already on my favorites list as well as my “to read again” list.” “This is not a story that should be missed. I feel it has been a true delight and privilege to read this tale.”

5- Stars ~

“Dreamscape is phenomenal! I will rant and rave about this novel’s amazingness because it is rocks in all aspects of writing style, character development, plot, and story line. Rose combines history, mystery, romance, intrigue, and sensuality seamlessly and beautifully in Dreamscape.”

5- Stars ~

“Every once in a while you read a book that is so well written and the story so real that when you finished reading it, you almost want to cry because the story is over. This book is one of those. It seamlessly combines it all, history, romance, mystery and sensuality. Without a doubt, this was one of the BEST books I’ve ever read.”

Scroll back two posts to read the blurb and see the book trailer and leave your comments — you just might win!

And I’ll even sign it for you using Authorgraph!

Rose will autograph your ebook – click here!

 

Rose Who?
Hello, I’m Rose Anderson, the author of these scorching romances:

The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo, Loving Leonardo, Dreamscape, and Hermes Online.

You can find me just about anywhere these days. I’d love if you’d stop by my various social media sites listed below. Check out my books or just say hi.

Rose Anderson – Love Waits in Unexpected Places

WEBSITE | BUY eBOOKS & PAPERBACK | TWITTER | GOOGLE

PINTEREST| FACEBOOK

All titles on sale now!
Buy Rose Anderson Books On Amazon
Just Released — The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFFFESI
Take a peek inside the book for the entire first chapter on Amazon!

After the burial mound is excavated.

Excerpt:

Cora called to the others, “See you in the morning guys. We’re starting at six to beat the heat. Don’t forget to drink water tonight to rehydrate, and eat a pretzel or something like that. You’ll need the salt.” Her words were met with nods and good byes. Alone now, Cora crouched beside the opened mound and carefully unrolled the last sheet of plastic canvas. Before she turned and walked away she spoke softly, as if the bones could hear. “I’m so sorry we’re disturbing your peace. I wish I could have stopped all this, but I’m powerless.” With that, she left.

A large curious field mouse scurried over the top of the burial mound. He watched the people, his gaze pulling time and again first to the fire-haired young woman leaving with the others, then to the slightly older woman who’d stayed behind to spread a blue covering over the soil with obvious care.

Sensing the people were gone, the mouse drew a deep breath. Suddenly his form changed from mouse to rabbit, from rabbit to fox, and then from fox into a wolf with unusual black markings on its face. This higher vantage allowed him to check the area before continuing. Confident he was alone, his legs lengthened as he slowly shifted from wolf on four legs to a wolf on two. His muzzle shortened, as did his ears. A moment later he stood as a man.

His throat tightened as he walked amongst the tables and pails. A small bone caught his eye and he bent to pick it up. He stared a long while, seeing but not seeing the hand it belonged to so long ago. It was his task to watch over this resting place, and his task alone. Coming here later than usual today, there was nothing he could do to stop the white man’s destruction. His eyes filled with tears as his fist closed around the finger bone. Slumping to the ground, he sobbed in anguished sorrow.

There was no sense to this. What kind of people disturb the dead? Couldn’t they see this was sacred ground, a resting place? Composing himself, he wiped the tears from his eyes before reverently setting the small bone back in the opened mound.

Twilight fast approaching, he faced the setting sun, his palms held up to the sky. He hadn’t spoken for a very long time and doing so now, his voice sounded dry and strange to his ears. “Sky Father I have failed, I beg your forgiveness!”

Kneeling, he pressed his hands to the ground. “Earth Mother, I beg forgiveness. I have failed in my task…”

Rising, he turned his back to the sun and held his arms out wide. “Wind Spirits of the East, I beg forgiveness for this failure.” Turning, he croaked, “Wind Spirits of the South, I beg…”

He rasped his plea to the remaining directions and the spirits who dwelled there, and then addressed the mound and the body that lay within, “Aiyanna my love, my heart. I have watched over you through time but I can watch no longer. Please forgive me, I have failed you….” His throat choked close. Swallowing hard, he whispered to the earth that half-covered his wife, “Again.”

Kneeling beside the dirt-encrusted bones, he pulled the cover away to expose them fully. The small bones of the baby he knew laid with its mother had dissolved in the acids of the soil. Gently digging through the loam between the exposed rib bones, his fingers found the bird stone, its cord long since returned to the earth. Holding it now, he remembered…

As a reader, I enjoy unusual love stories. As a writer I get a kick out of stretching my creativity to come up with a story that will please the reader I am. My recent release, Loving Leonardo, began this past summer in response to hateful topics in media news.  The thing is, they were OLD topics — whom we could love, women’s rights to control their destiny, prejudices and hatred. Before I knew it I’d crafted a Victorian love story and wouldn’t you know, the same issues fit right in. The average person can’t control everything in our world and make it right, but writers can! I find I enjoy shaking the snowglobe. Muahahahahaaaaa!

Here’s the book trailer for part one of Loving Leonardo.

Collectors of Romance Memorabilia,

I have Rose Anderson Goodies for you!

Would you like some soon-to-be-famous author swag? *grin*

Scroll back to yesterday’s post to see what I have,

then send me an email with your address and I’ll mail your choice.

roseanderson4858(at)yahoo(dot)com

And…

Join me and more than 300 authors and publishers for a month of goodies at The Romance Reviews’ big Year End Splash Party. Discover new authors and read hundreds of excerpts and grab your chance at over 300 prize! Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m there the week of December 9th. To see my part in the whole thing, I need to send you to my satellite blog.

Rose Anderson’s Satellite blog on blogspot.com There you’ll find an excerpt of my recent release — Loving Leonardo.

The week of December 9th my question will be posted on The Romance Reviews site. Simply find my name on the participant list. Follow the link given to my excerpt posted on my satellite blog, read it, then go back to answer my multiple choice question on The Romance Reviews site. Play the other games and amass more points and you’ll have a pretty good chance to win an ebook copy for yourself!

See you tomorrow for Day 4 of the Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop!

Day 2…Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop!

It’s day 2 of The Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop

Welcome back. It’s day 2 of the hop. if you haven’t been here before, scroll back to yesterday’s post to learn what’s going on. We’re giving away prizes — a grand prize valued at over $100 that’s loaded with steamy ebooks and $60 in eGift Certificates ($50 Amazon gift card and $10 Bookstrand Bucks) And there are more prizes. Every author is adding to the fun. If you stop by each participating author’s blog and leave a comment on that day’s post, you could win even more goodies. Winners are chosen from among the comments so be sure to leave your contact email and comment daily. Strike up a conversation. Authors love to chat!

If you don’t have a Kindle, Nook, Kobo etc, don’t let our ebook prizes deter you from getting in on the fun. Here’s a free one for your computer: Free Kindle for PC

Here’s the link to the Hop:

Hot-Winter-Nights-Giveaway-Blog-Hop

In the spirit of the season, I give handmade gifts to my loved ones be they family or friend. I’ve always made gifts. Each handcrafted piece is done intentionally – that is –  with intent. My imagination, my affection, my creativity, and my time on earth, all align in focus to create interesting or lovely things for the people I care about.

Another thing about me. I care for the earth and love to repurpose things. To make nice useful or pretty things out of discarded stuff just tickles me. It also keeps junk out of the waste stream that’s clogging our landfills and polluting every corner of the planet. The following is the first of several gift how-to’s I’m sharing on the Hop.  Alas, I don’t have pictures, but I’ve tried to be as detailed as possible so anyone making them should be able to follow along without any trouble.

The Secret Book ~

This book innocently sits on the shelf with the rest of your library, but when you turn a few pages, you’ll discover this crumby old book is actually a secret compartment. It’s a box made out of a book and the cover is the lid. Sneaky

You’ll need a thick and boring looking book. Try a thrift store or the library book sale a free or an inexpensive discard.
Modpodge and applicator (foam or bristle brush)
An Exacto knife or box cutter blade.
A sheet of foil or waxed paper

Flip open the book and go at least ten pages in. Mark that spot by tucking your sheet of foil or waxed paper inside like a bookmark and close the book. This is what you should see – ten loose pages and a protective sheet of foil or waxed paper. The rest of the pages will be made into the secret compartment. Now, with your front cover and ten pages protected by waxed paper or foil, apply a liberal coating of *Modpodge to the three sides of the closed pages.  (*Modpodge can be found in crafts stores and in places like Walmart. It looks like white glue but it’s more than glue.  It’s decoupage paste. White glue is NOT a good alternative). Put something heavy on top, smooth any blobs with the brush or foam applicator and wait about an hour for it to dry. Except for those few pages you’ve protected with foil/waxed paper, all the rest of the pages in your book will be stiff and stuck together.

Determine the size of the compartment your book will have within its pages. Trace out a smaller rectangle, square, or circle and carefully use the Exacto blade or box cutter to cut out as many pages as you’re able to at one time to make the hole deeper and deeper. Keep on going until you almost reach the back cover. Once you have a nice deep center cut away, paint on the Modpodge to seal the raw edges just like you did to the outside. Using the scrap pages you’ve cut out, paste these over the raw edges inside with more Modpodge for a nice finished look. Leave your book open to dry. And there you go — a very cool looking, infinitely useful, gift.

My Hot Winter Nights Giveaway is an ebook copy of Dreamscape. Written in homage to Agatha Christie, Dreamscape is a haunting, a murder, a mystery, and a love story that transcends time. Above all, this sensual tale is a reader’s Easter egg hunt in the truest sense. Peppered throughout are hints suggesting a story behind the scenes. Will you find them all before it ends?

And I’ll even sign it for you using Authorgraph!

Rose will autograph your ebook – click here!

Here’s a bit and the trailer:

Seeing her disbelief as he disappeared from the end of her bed the night of the storm, he had the distinct impression she dismissed what she’d seen. Perhaps she thought him a fragment of a dream or a trick of flashing lightning.

He wanted her to know he was real and not a figment of her imagination. But you never knew how one might react to the dead haunting a place. She might leave never to return, and he didn’t want that to happen. No, not at all.

Just Released — The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFFFESI
Take a peek inside the book on Amazon!

What does an immortal Native American shaman do when the grave he’s sworn to watch over for all eternity disappears under urban development?

His purpose of guarding his wife’s burial mound is gone, Ashkewheteasu seeks to end his immortal existence. In his despair, Ash assumes the form of a wolf and steps in front of a moving car and into the life of Dr. Olivia “Livie” Rosalini. The veterinarian saves the animal’s life, and in the process saves the man within. Livie has no idea the wolfish dog she’s taken into her home and grows to love is a magical being seeking to win her heart as a man.

While Ash is learning a new world filled with new love, friendship, and happiness, an old menace makes plans to steal it all away; just as he had 3000 years before.

All titles on sale now!
Buy Rose Anderson Books On Amazon

I’ll even sign your ebooks just for you – click here!


Collectors of Romance Memorabilia,

I have Rose Anderson Goodies for you!

Would you like some soon-to-be-famous author swag? *grin*

Just send me an email with your address and I’ll mail your choice.

roseanderson4858(at)yahoo(dot)com

~ My Bookmarks ~

~ My Cool Bumper Sticker ~

Other drivers will wonder!

~ Autographed Book Covers ~

Soon to be Famous!

~ Quotes by sexy, sensual, smooth talking, S from Hermes Online~

mmm mmm mmm that S can sure turn a phrase

On refrigerator magnets!

~ Free Downloadable Bookplates ~

Print on adhesive-back paper at home

Rose Who?
Hello, I’m Rose Anderson, the author of these scorching romances:

The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo, Loving Leonardo, Dreamscape, and Hermes Online.

You can find me just about anywhere these days. I’d love if you’d stop by to chat. Check out the latest about my books or just say hi.

Rose Anderson – Love Waits in Unexpected Places

WEBSITE | BUY eBOOKS & PAPERBACK | TWITTER | GOOGLE

PINTEREST| FACEBOOK

And…

Join me and more than 300 authors and publishers for a month of goodies at The Romance Reviews’ big Year End Splash Party.  Discover new authors and read hundreds of excerpts and grab your chance at over 300 prize! Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m there the week of December 9th. To see my part in the whole thing, I need to send you to my satellite blog.

Rose Anderson’s Satellite blog on blogspot.com There you’ll find an excerpt of my recent release — Loving Leonardo.

The week of December 9th my question will be posted on The Romance Reviews site. Simply find my name on the participant list. Follow the link given to my excerpt posted on my satellite blog, read it, then go back to answer my multiple choice question on The Romance Reviews site. Play the other games and amass more points and you’ll have a pretty good chance to win an ebook copy for yourself!

See you tomorrow for Day 3 of the Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop!

Day 1…Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop!

It’s day 1 of the much anticipated

Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop!

From today to December 4th, my blog will be linked to  author blogs participating in the Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop. And giveaway is exactly what we’re doing! There are many prizes up for grabs including a grand prize valued at over $100 consisting of an ebook package and $60 in eGift Certificates ($50 Amazon gift card and $10 Bookstrand Bucks)

Visit the participating blogs and leave a comment and your contact email on that day’s post. Be sure to visit every blog on the list and comment each day to increase your chances of winning the grand prize. What’s more, every author is offering additional prizes on their blogs. It’s a win win! or maybe even a win win win win….

Winners are chosen from among the comments so be sure to leave your contact email and comment daily. Ask questions. We authors are wordy creatures! 

Here’s the link:

Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Blog Hop

If you don’t have a Kindle, Nook, Kobo etc to read all those ebook prizes on, did you know you can get a free Kindle for PC and read those prize ebooks right on your computer? And the good news is all the books you accumulate there can be transferred to a hand-held Kindle should you get one. Free Kindle for PC

It just so happens, my Hot Winter Nights Giveaway is an ebook copy of Dreamscape.

Here’s the scoop:

Unable to deny his own translucence, Dr. Jason Bowen determines his lack of physical substance could only mean one thing-he’s a ghost. Murdered more than a century before, Jason haunts his house and ponders the treachery that took his life. When Lanie O’Keefe arrives with plans to renovate her newly purchased Victorian mansion, Jason discovers, ghost or not, he’s still very much a man.

Despite its derelict condition and haunted reputation, Lanie couldn’t be happier with her new home, but then she has no idea a spirit follows her every move throughout the day and shares her captivating warmth at night. Jason soon discovers he can travel through Lanie’s dreams and finds himself reliving the days before his murder with Lanie by his side. It took one hundred and twenty years for love to find them, but there’s that insurmountable little matter of Jason being dead.

Written in homage to Agatha Christie, Dreamscape is a haunting, a murder, a mystery, and a love story that transcends time. Above all, this sensual tale is a reader’s Easter egg hunt in the truest sense. Peppered throughout are hints suggesting a story behind the scenes. Will you find them all before it ends?

And I’ll even sign it for you using Authorgraph!

Rose will autograph your ebook – click here!

So imagine snowflakes falling. Curl up on the sofa under a quilt or one of those silly sleeved blankets you got as a gift last year. Grab a hot toddy and a copy of Dreamscape and lose yourself in a very unusual ghost story. Hmm…snowflakes, warm quilt, terrific book, hot toddy. It all sounds good to me!

How often do we crave a hot drink on a cold winter’s night? While children go for hot cocoa topped with whipped cream or marshmallows, and teetotalers content themselves with steaming cups of herb tea or a glass of warmed milk, nothing warms the belly so much as a hot toddy. Warm alcoholic beverages, like toddies, rum punch, flips, and hot buttered rum trace their origin to Europe where liquors, wines, and ciders were mulled with spices such as cloves, nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon and enjoyed hot to take the chill off the ol’ bones. Just as toddies are synonymous with cold nights, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is synonymous with the holiday season, and wouldn’t you know, Dickens enjoyed a good toddy too. As an author, I find it interesting that he often used hot drinks to add a human quality to his characters. In his novel David Copperfield, David has this to say about his friend Wilkins Micawber:

David Copperfield’s friend Wilkins Micawber

I informed Mr. Micawber that I relied upon him for a bowl of punch, and led him to the lemons. His recent despondency, not to say despair, was gone in a moment. I never saw a man so thoroughly enjoy himself amid the fragrance of lemon-peel and sugar, the odour of burning rum, and the steam of boiling water, as Mr. Micawber did that afternoon. It was wonderful to see his face shining at us out of a thin cloud of these delicate fumes, as he stirred, and mixed, and tasted, and looked as if he were making, instead of punch, a fortune for his family down to the latest posterity.

Then in A Christmas Carol after Ebenezer Scrooge finds his heart among his spirit-led flashbacks and flash forwards, he shows up at Bob Cratchit’s  home and says:

“A merry Christmas, Bob!” Said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken…”I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!…”

Smoking what?? A little research on my part discovered people enjoyed a whole range of clerical drinks back in Dickens’ day, and Smoking Bishop was among them. I have no idea why they named their drinks as they did, but I suppose it’s not much different than our Harvey Wallbangers or Black Russians. Apparently, the range of clerical drinks goes from high to low down the church hierarchy – Pope = burgundy, Cardinal = rye, Archbishop = claret, and Bishop = port. I never did find out if there’s a Deacon’s drink back then, but I suspect so. 

I stumbled upon a book written by Charles Dickens’ great-grandson entitled Drinking with Dickens and found a traditional recipe for the Smoking Bishop:

Take six Seville oranges and bake them in a moderate oven until pale brown. If you cannot procure any bitter Seville oranges, use four regular oranges and one large grapefruit.
Prick each of the oranges with five whole cloves, put them into a warmed ceramic or glass vessel with one-quarter pound of sugar and a bottle of red wine, cover the vessel, and leave it in a warm place for 24 hours.
Take the oranges out of the mixture, cut in half and squeeze the juice, then pour the juice back into the wine.
Pour the mixture into a saucepan through a sieve, add a bottle of port, heat (without boiling), and serve in warmed glasses.
Drink the mixture, and keep Christmas well!

I don’t know…that just isn’t catching my fancy. Further scouring the web turns up some tastier-looking historical alternatives:

Hot Buttered Rum or Hot Toddy Batter

Ingredients:

1 cup dark brown sugar
4 oz unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg or mace
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Refrigerate in an air-tight container for up to two months. This mixture can also be frozen for up to one year before using. Makes eight servings.

Preparing your Hot Buttered Rum

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp refrigerated hot buttered rum batter
6 oz boiling water
1 1/2 oz dark rum
1 Tbsp light cream (optional)
nutmeg for garnish

In a hot beverage mug, combine hot buttered rum batter with boiling water, stirring well until dissolved. Add in rum and cream. Garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg. Serves one.

Or you can do it up without the rum!

Non-Alcoholic Hot Buttered Rum

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp refrigerated hot buttered rum batter
2/3 cup boiling water
1/3 cup vanilla ice cream
whipped cream (optional)
nutmeg for garnish

In a hot beverage mug, combine hot buttered rum batter with boiling water, stirring until well dissolved. Stir in ice-cream and mix until incorporated. Top with whipped cream and garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Serves one and sounds delicious.

Rose Who?
Hello, I’m Rose Anderson, the author of these scorching romances:

The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo, Loving Leonardo, Dreamscape, and Hermes Online.

You can find me just about anywhere these days. I’d love if you’d stop by. Check out my books or just say hi.

Rose Anderson – Love Waits in Unexpected Places

WEBSITE | BUY eBOOKS & PAPERBACK | TWITTER | GOOGLE

PINTEREST| FACEBOOK

All titles on sale now!
Buy Rose Anderson Books On Amazon
Collectors of Romance Memorabilia,

I have Rose Anderson Goodies for you!

Would you like some soon-to-be-famous author swag? *grin*

Just send me an email with your address and I’ll mail your choice.

roseanderson4858(at)yahoo(dot)com

~ My Bookmarks ~

~ My Cool Bumper Sticker ~

Other drivers will wonder!

~ Autographed Book Covers ~

Soon to be Famous!

~ Quotes by that sexy, sensual, smooth talking, man from my novel Hermes Online~

Ooh that S can sure turn a phrase

On refrigerator magnets!

~ Free Downloadable Bookplates ~

Print on adhesive-back paper at home

Tomorrow – Day 2 of the hop

Visit all the blogs & comment daily for more chances to win.

Don’t forget to leave your email address!


And…

During the week of December 9th, I’m participating in The Romance Reviews’ big Year End Splash Party! Join me and more than 300 authors and publishers for a month of goodies. There are hundreds of excerpts (you just might find that perfect read for a cold winter’s night) And there are over 300 prizes too! Like I said, I’m there the week of December 9th. To see my part in the whole thing, I need to send you to my satellite blog. Rose Anderson’s Satellite blog on blogspot.com There you’ll find an excerpt of my recent release Loving Leonardo.

The week of December 9th my question will be posted on The Romance Reviews site. Simply find my name on the participant list. Follow the link given to my excerpt posted on my satellite blog, read it, then go back to answer my multiple choice question on The Romance Reviews site. Play the other games and amass more points and you’ll have a pretty good chance to win an ebook copy for yourself!

And another blog hop follows this! Busy busy… As good ol’ Wilkins Micawber said as he lifted his glass to his pal David Copperfield:

“Punch, my dear Copperfield,’ said Mr. Micawber, tasting it, ‘like time and tide, waits for no man. Ah! it is at the present moment in high flavour.”

The Witchy Wolf & the Wendigo – release day!

If you like shape-shifting shaman, Native American legends, real eye-witness urban legends, burial mounds and dangerous Wendigos, then have I got a story for you! Today is release day for my latest novel. Soon to be in paperback, it’s available now in Kindle and free to borrow on Kindle Prime.

The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo on sale now on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFFFESI

 

Don’t have a Kindle but you can’t wait to read it?

Get the free Kindle for PC download and read ebooks on your computer.

Free Kindle for PC download

Here’s the blurb:

What does an immortal Native American shaman do when the grave he’s sworn to watch over for all eternity disappears under urban development?

His purpose of guarding his wife’s burial mound is gone, Ashkewheteasu seeks to end his immortal existence. In his despair, Ash assumes the form of a wolf and steps in front of a moving car and into the life of Dr. Olivia “Livie” Rosalini. The veterinarian saves the animal’s life, and in the process saves the man within. Livie has no idea the wolfish dog she’s taken into her home and grows to love is a magical being seeking to win her heart as a man. While Ash is learning a new world filled with new love, friendship, and happiness, an old menace makes plans to steal it all away; just as he had 3000 years before.

Intrigued?

~~~~~oOo~~~~~

Coming to my blog this weekend -

The Hot Winter Nights Giveaway Hop!

Rose Anderson – Love Waits in Unexpected Places

WEBSITE | BUY eBOOKS & PAPERBACK | TWITTER | GOOGLE | PINTEREST| FACEBOOK

 

Another Next Big Thing? You bet!

The Next Big Thing!

If you’re here, chances are you’ve come from author J.D. Favor’s blog where she gave you juicy details on her works in progress. She’s one busy lady! http://www.jdfaver.com/1/post/2012/11/the-next-big-thing.html If you’ve stopped here by chance or because you’ve subscribed to my blog, then please check out J. D.’s link and the links at the end. I’ll add more as the week goes on. There are some really great books in the making.

How this all started…I’ve mentioned before how much I love words. I Collect them. My book shelves are filled with dictionaries, thesauri, and word origin books. I once had this fabulous 1880′s set of Cyclopedic Dictionaries with every word known to the English language, and I do mean every word. The local library was throwing it away. Can you imagine? True, it was missing half of all the G words. Really though, how many G words does one need to know? The other volumes, with their ratty and haphazardly taped bindings were still there. Homely as it was, this set made Miriam and Noah’s dictionaries look incomplete. I took them home and loved them.

One day my husband found bookworms on our bookshelf, honest-to-god bookworms! My precious old Cyclopedias were the source. It broke my heart to get rid of them but their parasites were attacking other books as well. I thought about putting them in the oven but they were so old and brittle I was sure I’d burn the house down. I wonder if another set is out there waiting for a Wordie like me.

This fascination with words all started with the Reader’s Digest. As a very early reader growing up in a house with few books, I read the strangest things as a child. I could tell you the recipe for the Quaker Oatmeal meatloaf because it was on the box. I could tell you what the Surgeon General said about smoking from my parent’s cigarette packs, I could list the songs on the back of the Beatles’ first album, I could literally Sing Along with Mitch, and yes the cans of Alpo dog food really did have horse meat in them. As far as books went, we had an ancient set of encyclopedias that had these fascinating transparencies of both human and frog bodies, a partial set of Childcraft books from the 1950′s, an old Webster’s Dictionary, as well as a partial 1930′s set of My Book House books with their imaginative lithographs. My brother had comic books. I read them all. Most more than once.

In the first ten years of my life, the Chicago Tribune came to my house in the morning and the Daily News arrived early afternoon. My father and I read both newspapers together on Sunday. It was a ritual of sorts. We’d divide the papers…he’d take the front page and car sections and I’d take the “funnies” and the sports page (Cubs and Sox fan). We’d read those quietly to ourselves, then we’d switch. I remember lying on my belly in the shaft of sunlight just behind the sofa and reading words that weren’t all understandable to my six-year-old or nine-year-old self.

“Dad, what is a demilitarized zone?”

“It’s a border between armies where no fighting takes place.”

“Dad, who’s Chairman Mao?”

“He is the leader of China.”

“Is Chairman his first name?”

“No, that’s his job. A chairman is the same as a president here.”

“Does he have a first name?”

“Read the article again and see if you can find it.”

“Oh, I think see it. His name is Mao Zadong. Isn’t that backwards?”

It makes me smile even remembering. When he’d had enough he say, “Come do the crossword puzzle with me.”  My smile widens here. Up until he passed away, dad would bring me a stack of old Reader’s Digests and a half-finished crossword puzzle to finish nearly every time he stopped by to visit. We’d finish that sucker too and always use a pencil just in case. 

By far the most interesting reading material in the house was  my dad’s Reader’s Digest. I cut my teeth on Build Your Word Power. Every month Reader’s Digest put out a list of words intended to build one’s vocabulary. From ages six (and on into my thirties when he’d come to visit), he’d hand me the digest with the Build Your Word Power page marked and say, “Here, these are for you.” At his suggestion, I’d try to break them down and guess their meanings before I turned the page to read their definitions. It was here, where I saw for the first time, the relationship between words. Words with Latin or Greek roots like Cardinal, Cardiac, and Cardamom — red bird, red heart, red berries –  they were all red. Unfortunately, by the time Latin class was supposed to come my way, it was cut from the public school budget. I would have kicked butt in ancient languages.  I’ve self-taught the basics but would love a go at ancient Greek and Latin classes. I might do that one day.

So what do I do with all those words stored in my head? I write of course!
Here’s another brainstorm for The Next Big Thing:

What is your working title of your book?

Loving Leonardo – The Quest    * part two in a two-part novel

Part one’s blurb:

Bound by limits dictated by society, Art Historian Nicolas Halstead lived a guarded life until a tempest in the form of Elenora Schwaab blew into his world. At first Nicolas can’t decide if the audacious American is simply mad or plotting blackmail for not only does she declare knowledge of his homosexuality, she offers him a marriage proposal.

After Ellie tells him of a previously unknown work of Leonardo da Vinci, a book of erotic love poems and sketches dedicated to the artist’s long-time lover Salai, Nicolas joins her in a race to save the book from destruction. Along the way they encounter Historian Luca Franco and discover a comfortable compatibility that comes to redefine their long-held notions of love. The trio embarks on an adventure of sensual discovery, intrigue, and danger. Little do they know Leonardo da Vinci’s book is far more than meets the eye.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Oddly enough, from today’s headlines.

What genre does your book fall under?

Romance and the sub-genres are erotic and historical

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I generally don’t put well-known faces on my characters. I think it would muddy the waters of the creative process. For example, I found James McAvoy quite the compelling fellow in the movie Atonement. If I envisioned him for one of my characters, I’m afraid that his portrayal of Robbie Turner would unwittingly put those personality traits he acted so well into my character development. My heroes and heroines need a clean slate to evolve on. In the spirit of The Next Big Thing, I’ve chosen two handsome male models for Nicolas and Luca. Luca is the darker Mediterranean man with those gorgeous eyes. And I choose Emma Watson for her general plucky attitude and waifish figure to portray Ellie.

Ellie, Nicolas, and Luca

Conte Acario Bruno, my story’s adversary, will be portrayed by handsome Indian actor Hrithik Roshan. My bad guy is Italian, but Hrithik Roshan’s fine features speak to Acario Bruno’s conceited and dangerous personality.

Conte Acario Bruno (aka one dangerously obsessed bad guy)

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Three Victorian lovers follow a book of clues written by Leonardo da Vinci, but don’t realize their every move is tracked by an obsessed man seeking vengeance.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I have two agency-represented books out now and book one of this tale is self-published. Self-publishing was surprisingly easy. I’ll be doing it again for book two.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

My books tend to write themselves. Part one took about three days. This book is going slower because the characters demand a deeper storyline here. I’d say I’m 98% done. It’s all in the wrap up now.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I’ve never read a love story with three players. I have nothing to compare it to

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My friend and fellow author Jane Leopold Quinn lit the fuse. She’d recently stepped outside the box and wrote a gay love story that was very well received. As the topic of tolerance speaks to my social conscience, I thought I’d give it a go.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

As a reader, I like to read books that feel like they were written just for me. I also enjoy books with little extras tucked here and there because I’m a life-long learner and anything that can feed this habit of mine is like winning a prize. To put it simply, I’m a picky reader who writes books that I’d personally enjoy reading.

As far as extras tucked here and there – both books in the series are filled with art references. I grew up with the Chicago Art Institute in my backyard and actually once considered a career in that direction. There are times when I look at artworks and keenly feel the emotion of the artist.  There are times when art can make me cry. In this respect, Nicolas Halstead, the main observer in this romantic tale, carries my empathy. It’s through his perspective that we see and feel his world. An art historian by profession, Nicolas can’t help but compare life to art. Because of this, he leaves many references to artists and artworks scattered throughout the pages of both books. When writing, I chose each and every artwork carefully to convey the emotion Nicolas feels in the moment. It isn’t necessary for the reader to look them up, though to see what he sees will certainly add color to the tale.

Anyone following my blog has read that I am an information hound. I research the details for my novels with a fine-toothed comb. To my surprise while researching the very surprising details of homosexuality in Britain’s Victorian era, I came across a rather startling piece of information. Startling in that you’d never know this was the case by the intolerance seen today. Liturgical documents of the early Christian church in the 10th through 12th centuries show ceremonies for same-sex unions between men. I found it curious that the doctrine based upon love and acceptance once allowed for the many faces of love. Given this information, I also found it curious that faith is now used as an instrument of hatred and bigotry by some.

In many contemporary Western cultures these days, there are those who consider homosexuality and bisexuality to be abnormal. But the truth is both natures are seen in many species throughout the natural world including the primates of which humans belong. Historically speaking, these very human affinities have been part of every race and culture, socio-economic class and educational level, and have existed since the earliest of human societies. To some cultures this duel-nature was seen as a divine gift. Possessing two spirits was a powerful and celebrated occurrence. My tale touches upon the many shades of humanity from love and friendship to obsession and prejudice.

Thank you for stopping by my blog to read The Next Big Thing.

I have high hopes Loving Leonardo – The Quest will be exactly that. 

Here’s Loving Leonardo book one on Amazon. Note: it is erotic romance and every bit a story of love.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009LS3H6Q

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following links lead to talented authors offering sneak peeks into novels that just might be The Next Big Thing. I will be switching out the authors and their blog addresses as the new ones with new posts come to me this week. In the meantime….

Edward Collins: http://edwardcollinsauthor.wordpress.com/

Jenny Twist: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4848320.Jenny_Twist/blog

Rachel Cray: http://www.rachelcray.com/general/the-next-big-thing/

Sam Crescent: http://samcrescent.wordpress.com/

Crystal Drake: http://www.CrystalDrakeBooks.com/

Loc Glin: http://locglin.com/

Allyson Young: http://yourdarkersideoflove.blogspot.ca/

~~~~oOo~~~~

Buy Rose Anderson Books on Amazon

All titles on sale now!



http://www.amazon.com/Rose-Anderson/e/B004XDGWL6

And…

During the week of December 9th, I’m participating in The Romance Reviews’ big Year End Splash Party! Join me and more than 300 authors and publishers for a month of goodies. There are hundreds of excerpts (you just might find that perfect read for a cold winter’s night) And there are over 300 prizes too! Like I said, I’m there the week of December 9th. To see my part in the whole thing, I need to send you to my satellite blog: Rose Anderson’s Satellite blog on blogspot.com There you’ll find an excerpt of my newest release Loving Leonardo.

The week of December 9th my question will be posted on The Romance Reviews site. Simply find my name on the participant list. Follow the link given to my excerpt posted on my satellite blog, read it, then go back to answer my multiple choice question on The Romance Reviews site. Play the other games and amass more points and you’ll have a pretty good chance to win an ebook copy for yourself!

Coming soon…

The Next Big Thing!

The Next Big Thing!

If you’re here, chances are you’ve come from author Jill Hughey’s blog where she gave you juicy details on her work in progress.

http://jillhughey.blogspot.com/   If you’ve stopped by by chance or because you’ve subscribed to my blog, then please check out Jill’s link and the links at the end. There are some really great books in the making!

Do you know I celebrate each new book in print with champagne and cheesecake?  I do. My friends come over and we pop corks and slice cheesecake and toast the newest launch.  Sipping the champagne is so much better than smashing the bottle over the prow! I love my friends and adore my family for acknowledging the work involved. It’s sort of like passing out pink or blue cigars.

Artistic manifestation is pure imagination given form and substance. Novels, paintings, sculptures, etc take form and grow in our minds and are fed on our psyche and emotions. What begins with our active participation ends when our creation takes on a life of its own. There’s nothing to do at this point except release it to the world. And that process is akin to giving birth. Believe me. I’ve done that twice. 

In that small measure of human time on earth, in that smaller measure of time I’ve been around, and in the nanosecond I’ve been writing, I’ve written twenty-one books. My brood consists of three in print, three coming to print very soon, five to be rewritten, seven to rethink, one that is forever trapped in a broken flashdrive, and the last I regretfully deleted in a writer’s hissy fit.

My good friend, author Jane Leopold Quinn said something profound to me the other day. Quote collector that I am, her words struck a chord. I’ve been thinking about them since:

To be able to write a story and publish it means we join the centuries-long family of authors.  It seems like there are a lot of us, but our percentage is so small compared with the whole of the world’s populace.  How many people do you know who say “I could write a book” but don’t?

How true. We humans have a long tradition of writing our thoughts down. Jane inadvertently put the ancient Libraries in my mind — the Library at Alexandria, The Imperial Library of Constantinople, The Library of Celsus, The Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum.  I envision the scrolls, codex’s, and parchments and realize I have twelve books to finish!

Here’s my latest brainstorm:

What is your working title of your book?

The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo    * a two-part novel

Blurb:

What does an immortal Native American shaman do when the grave he’s sworn to watch over for all eternity disappears under urban development?

His purpose of guarding his wife’s burial mound gone, Ashkewheteasu seeks to end his immortal existence. In his despair, he assumes the form of a wolf and steps in front of a moving car and into the life of Dr. Olivia “Livie” Rosalini. The veterinarian saves the animal’s life, and in the process saves the man within. Unbeknownst to Livie, the dog she’s taken into her home and grows to love is a magical being seeking to win her heart as a man. While Ash is learning a new world filled with new love, friendship, and happiness, an old menace makes plans to steal it all away; just as he had 3000 years before.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Several years ago while taking a much touted artists tour, I wandered into a barn converted into an artist studio and found a new author sitting beside a stack of books. This curious book with its B-movie cover was all about the Wisconsin werewolf. At the time, I was less fascinated by werewolves than I was by anyone who’d actually managed to get published. In the days before email submissions, eBook publishers, Indy publishers, and self-publishing, I’d spent a considerable sum printing manuscripts to mail in their entirety to the major NY Publishers, and tasted confidence-shattering disappointment as rejection letters came in.

Needless to say, I saw opportunity to learn so I talked to this author. Of course, after picking her brain as best I could, I bought the book. It seemed only right that I do. While my husband drove us from art studio to art studio, I read passages to him. The story was pretty farfetched but entertaining. Eyewitnesses claimed to have seen a wolf walking like a man. We well knew the areas mentioned in the book, and some of the sightings of this weird creature had supposedly taken place over decades. Back home, I went digging for more. Apparently the Ojibwe legends in the Great Lakes region mention a magical wolf or dog that guards burials.

That caught my attention. Legends of grave guardians around the world often take the form of wolves or dogs. There’s that jackal-headed Anubis from ancient Egypt for example. Wasn’t he the Lord of the Dead? Beyond that, Wisconsin was covered in ancient Native American burial and effigy mounds. Coincidentally, one of the accounts in that book went back to the 1930’s and took place on top of a burial mound. Needing more information, we took the Great Mound Tour across Wisconsin into Iowa. I saw these effigies and burials for myself, what was left of them. And my imagination went wild!

What genre does your book fall under?

Romance and the sub-genres are erotic and paranormal

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Oh wow, that has honestly NEVER crossed my mind. To answer this question, I went searching through images online. I couldn’t find names without too much digging on a day with too little time for digging (and if any of the people depicted here see this, please leave a message and I will amend) There aren’t many Native American actors out there, even fewer younger men. I did find a handsome Native American models though. Visually this man could play my hero Ashkewheteasu (Ash). He’s almost what I envisioned. As for Olivia (Livie) I think Bryce Dallas Howard might do well enough with her “sky eyes” and “fox-colored hair”.

John and Cora Redleaf are secondary but necessary characters. They could be portrayed by this handsome guy and this woman who might be Ashley Judd.

While I’m at it, this guy could portray Elluwilussit aka Eli. Handsome and deadly.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

An immortal Native American shaman seeks to end his life upon discovering the grave he’s sworn to watch over for all eternity has been destroyed, but instead finds a new world filled with love and happiness, unaware that an old menace makes plans to steal it all away; exactly as he had 3000 years before.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I have two agency-represented books out now as well as one recently self-published. Self-publishing was surprisingly easy. I’ll be doing it again for this novel.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

About a month and a half. My books tend to write themselves. Now if only they’d edit themselves.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I’ve never seen another like it. I have nothing to compare it to

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The Wisconsin werewolf captured my imagination. People swear it’s true — people of upstanding character, well-regarded in their communities. Now that’s something to think about!

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I live about twenty minutes away from the area where these modern sightings have been reported. The urban legend gets even more intriguing because similar sightings show up in the Native American legends from my area — and they go back who knows how far. What’s more, the early French explorer accounts of the Great Lakes in the last 300 years mention them too. They called these grave guardians Witchy Wolves (English translation for magic wolves) and Loup Garou (wolf man) respectively. Wisconsin once had over 10,000 ancient Native American burial mounds and some are in effigy. In fact, some effigy mounds are in the shape of a wolf standing upright like a man. Talk about tickling a writer’s fancy! How could I NOT write it?

Thank you for stopping by my blog to read The Next Big Thing. I have high hopes The Witchy Wolf and The Wendigo will be exactly that. 

Here are fellow authors in alphabetical order. Check out their next big things.

Edward Collins: http://edwardcollinsauthor.wordpress.com/

Rachel Cray: http://www.rachelcray.com/general/the-next-big-thing/

Sam Crescent: http://samcrescent.wordpress.com/

Crystal Drake: http://www.CrystalDrakeBooks.com/

Loc Glin: http://locglin.com/

Allyson Young: http://yourdarkersideoflove.blogspot.ca/

>>>>oOo<<<<
Buy Rose Anderson Books on Amazon

All titles on sale now!



http://www.amazon.com/Rose-Anderson/e/B004XDGWL6

And…

During the week of December 9th, I’m participating in The Romance Reviews’ big Year End Splash Party! Join me and more than 300 authors and publishers for a month of goodies. There are hundreds of excerpts (you just might find that perfect read for a cold winter’s night) And there are over 300 prizes too! Like I said, I’m there the week of December 9th. To see my part in the whole thing, I need to send you to my satellite blog:  Rose Anderson’s Satellite blog on blogspot.com  There you’ll find an excerpt of my newest release Loving Leonardo.

The week of December 9th my question will be posted on The Romance Reviews site. Simply find my name on the participant list. Follow the link given to my excerpt posted on my satellite blog, read it, then go back to answer my multiple choice question on The Romance Reviews site. Play the other games and amass more points and you’ll have a pretty good chance to win an ebook copy for yourself!

Coming soon…

Did I mention busy? lol