Meredith Allard's Blog, page 41

Do I Have to Choose Between Being a Best-Selling or a Best-Writing Author?

The Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon has sparked some interesting conversations about writing quality and how well an author needs to write in order to produce a best-seller. This is hardly a news-worthy debate. I remember the same questions when Bridges of Madison County was selling like crazy. I remember it again when The DaVinci Code was on the best-seller lists. I heard it again when Twilight-Mania overtook girls and women all around the world.

A few weeks ago, as I was reading Joanna Penn’s wonderful The Creative Penn blog, I saw this interesting post about deciding whether she wanted to be a best-selling or a best-writing author. In her post, Joanna talks about the difference between books that are lauded as literary masterpieces but don’t make waves with readers and therefore don’t sell well and the books that aren’t considered literature or even particularly well-written but sold millions of copies. She has a point. There are authors whose cerebral style makes their stories and their characters detached and inaccessible. More than anything, people want to feel connected to the stories they read and the characters who inhabit them. Joanna’s conclusion? She’d rather be a best-selling author.

Best-selling certainly sounds cool, especially since I’m writing this in the glow of some good Amazon news: Amazon set Her Dear & Loving Husband to free, and as of my last check, it was #5 on the historical fiction list, #12 for literary fiction, and #190 overall. If you have a Kindle, by all means, enjoy a free copy. I even took a screen shot because I was so excited. After all, writers write because we want our stories read, and being a best-selling author means a lot of people have read your story—or at least bought it—or downloaded it—or whatever. It means a lot of people, okay?

But what do I want to achieve as a writer? What do I really want to achieve? I have a more literary style than other writers, which can work for or against me, I know, but it’s who I am. It’s my uniqueness. My fingerprint. I’ve had it, apparently, since college when professors and other students would comment on my literary style. The truth is I’m a frustrated poet, and while I’m not wise enough to write poetry, I can use the elements of poetry I love to create my own style of prose. John Forster, Charles Dickens’ good friend, biographer, and beta reader (yes, they had beta readers in the 19th century, they just didn’t have the name), used to point out to Dickens his tendency to fall into blank verse during the more emotional moments of his stories. I have the same tendency, though I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It gives a certain flow to the prose.

Language matters to me. How words string together into sentences, paragraphs, pages, and chapters matters to me. I will spend a half hour on a single sentence trying it with the comma here, the comma there, the comma in another sentence, no commas anywhere ee cummings-style. And being a teacher who often reads out loud to my students, I’m keenly aware of the flow of words, and I want my writing to sound as good read aloud as it does in the reader’s mind. That’s not easy, and it takes a lot of fine-tuning. My main challenge writing poetry-inspired prose is to keep my characters and their stories accessible to my reader. It’s okay for the language to be pretty as long as the reader can follow along, and, more importantly, care about what’s happening.

When I had Her Dear & Loving Husband critiqued in 2010, the critiquer, a romance novelist, suggested I leave out the more literary flights of fancy. She wanted me to leave out “The hunt, the hunter, the hunted…” passage, and she thought the scene between James and his father, where the father’s unconditional love shines through, could go. She wasn’t sure about Geoffrey, but then again no one’s sure about Geoffrey. She wanted me to turn my English professor James into an alpha-male, and she wanted more explicit sex scenes. In other words, she wanted me to turn it into a traditional romance. She pointed out that romance readers expect their books to be a certain way, and since she’s the award-winning romance writer I have no doubt she’s right. I took a lot of her advice, but the literary passages stayed. The poetry stayed. James, his tender, loving nature, stayed. Geoffrey…well, you know Geoffrey. He wouldn’t go away even if I asked him to. I knew I was taking a chance by not adhering to conventions, but I had to write my book the way I had to write it. My style, for its strengths and weakneses, is mine, and I wouldn’t change it to conform to the expectations for a romance novel. I knew I might lose readers because of it, so I had to decide that that was okay with me. I didn’t feel right making changes I didn’t believe in because “this is the way these types of books are written.”

Whenever I skim my own book reviews at Amazon or BN and see the ones that say, “This wasn’t what I expected, and I was surprised by how much I liked it,” I smile. I know my style isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I don’t mind. There are readers out there who do like it, and I’ve received the most lovely e-mails any author can hope for from people who get my stories, crazy-style and all.

In the end, did I decide I wanted to be a best-selling or a best-writing author?  I’d like to be both, please. I still think it’s possible to write a story that readers will enjoy while taking care with the style of the language. That’s what writing is, isn’t it?

Addendum: I’m trying not to be OCD about checking my Amazon stats, but I have to admit it’s a tough battle because it’s so much fun. I just peeked again, and Her Dear & Loving Husband is now #9 in literary fiction, #94 overall, and #4 in historical fiction. What’s number 3 in historical fiction? Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Those of you who know how much I love Dickens can guess what it means to me to see my book next to his on the best-seller list.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: Amazon, BN, Her Dear & Loving Husband, writing

Midsummer’s Eve Giveaway

Seems like we were just here, doesn’t it? Since I have more time during the summer, I have more time for giveaways!

Welcome to the Midsummer’s Eve Giveaway. Thanks to I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and  Uniquely Moi Books for hosting. This hop runs from June 20 to June 26, 2012.

For this giveaway I’ll be giving away five e-books (either Her Dear & Loving Husband or Her Loving Husband’s Curse–your choice). I also have three paperback copies of either HDLH or HLHC–your choice.  If you’re not familiar with the stories, check here. There’s also a $10 gift certificate to either Amazon.com or BN.com (your choice) for one lucky winner.

You must be a follower of this blog to enter. You can gain extra entries with the following:

Following this blog +1

Follow me on Twitter +1

Like The Copperfield Review on Facebook +1

Friend me on Goodreads +1

The extra entry options are available on the right sidebar of this page. Then fill out the form below and you’re entered.

[contact-form]

There are 200 great blogs participating in this giveaway. Check here to visit the other sites and see what else you can win.

Filed under: Giveaways Tagged: Giveaways, I am a Reader Not a Writer, Midsummer's Eve Giveaway, Uniquely Moi Books

Indie Author Giveaway Winners

Thanks as always to everyone who entered. Here are the winners:

E-Books:

Denise Z.

Jennifer I.

Shauna B.

Laura S.

Ryan A.

Paperbacks:

Karen W.

Sophia Rose

Nicole P.

Never fear, the Midsummer’s Eve Giveaway starts…oh, I’d say in about fifteen minutes. Whew! But it’s all good. I love doing these giveaways.

Filed under: Giveaways Tagged: Indie Author Giveaway

Indie Author Giveaway

Welcome to the Indie Author Giveaway! This hop runs from June 13 to June 19. Thanks to I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Krazy Book Lady for hosting.

Since this giveaway is about featuring indie authors, it’s all about the books this time. I’m giving away five e-books (either Her Dear & Loving Husband or Her Loving Husband’s Curse–your choice). I also have three paperback copies of either HDLH or HLHC–your choice.  If you’re not familiar with the stories, check here.

You must be a follower of this blog to enter. You can gain extra entries with the following:

Following this blog +1

Follow me on Twitter +1

Like The Copperfield Review on Facebook +1

Friend me on Goodreads +1

The extra entry options are available on the right sidebar of this page. Then fill out the form below and you’re entered.

[contact-form]

There are over 200 great websites involved in this hop. Check here to see what other wonderful items you can win.

Filed under: Giveaways Tagged: Giveaways, I am a Reader Not a Writer, Indie Author Giveaway, Indie Authors, Krazy Book Lady

Writing Historical Fiction: The Trail of Tears

My interest in the Trail of Tears began four years ago. At the time, I was teaching U.S. history and I taught the Trail of Tears in some depth to my students. One day, not long after the 2008 presidential election, I was flipping the television channels and stopped long enough to listen to a news show host as she talked about the injustices at Guantanamo Bay and proclaimed, “This is America. We do not torture.” While I love the thought behind the sentiment and wished it were true, I knew it wasn’t. My thoughts immediately turned to what I had taught my students about the Trail of Tears, and that was America, and that was torture. There’s no other word for forcing hundreds of people to walk a thousand miles in the elements, hot and cold, with barely enough food to eat or water to drink. The Trail of Tears wasn’t merely an unfortunate incident in American history. It was U.S. government sanctioned.

Flash forward to the summer of 2011. Her Dear & Loving Husband was out and about in the world, and it was time to write Book Two in the trilogy. I wanted to keep everything readers love about the first book (mainly the love story between James and Sarah as well as the historical background), but I also needed to challenge my characters (and myself) by pushing us all past our comfort zone. I had already used the Salem Witch Trials as the historical background in Book One, and while it’s impossible to write about Sarah without touching on the 1692 witch hunts, I needed something new to introduce in the sequel. Very quickly I settled on The Trail of Tears as the background for Book Two.

I spent most of last summer researching the Trail of Tears. I started with my obligatory Internet search (no Wikipedia allowed—I don’t care how often it pops up as the first listed website), but I also hit my local university library and took hours of notes. I looked up details of the trail itself because I was already visualizing how the experience would involve my characters, but I also wanted to know how the people lived before they were forced away. I thought through the plot enough to know how I wanted to incorporate the history into the story as a whole; as a result, I was able to work my way through the research in a few weeks instead of a few months.

The Cherokee weren’t the only tribe forced to walk west, but I chose to use the Cherokee experience since that gave me a lens through which to focus the story.  That’s one of the calls you have to make when you’re writing historical fiction: the more you can whittle down and narrow your topic, the better. Especially in a story like Her Loving Husband’s Curse, which weaves back and forth between the past and the present. I didn’t have time in that narrative to explain about the other tribes since for each of the tribes they had their own unique stories. In order to keep my plot focused, I chose to see the Trail of Tears through James’s experience with the Cherokee before and during the expulsion, and it’s through James’s eyes we see this travesty in American history.

My main goal when I write historical fiction is to inspire readers with enough curiosity about the period that they seek out nonfiction historical accounts of the era. I can’t give a thoroughly detailed account of the westward expulsion of the native tribes within the limitations of my story structure, but I can hope readers become interested enough in the history that they want to know more. There are many lessons we can learn from the Trail of Tears. As a society we still suffer from intolerance, ignorance, and greed, the traits that allowed the westward expulsion in the first place. If readers can see an echo of the past in the present in my stories, then I’ll feel I’ve done my job well.

Filed under: Her Loving Husband's Curse, Writing Tagged: Cherokee, Her Loving Husband's Curse, Trail of Tears, writing, writing historical fiction

Book Blitz–Hope’s Betrayal

One wild, winter’s night two worlds collide.

Known for his ruthless efficiency, Captain George Huntley is sent to stamp out smuggling on the south coast of England. On a night raid, the Captain captures a lanky lad, but finds his troubles are just beginning when the lad turns out to be a lass, Hope Tyler.

With Hope as bait, the Captain sets a trap to catch the rest of the gang. But in a battle of wills, with his reputation at stake, George Huntley starts to respect feisty, independent Hope. Challenged by her sea-green eyes and stubborn loyalty Huntley now faces a new threat – his growing attraction to a sworn enemy. And a love where either Hope betrays her own kind, or Captain Huntley is court-marshalled, is not an easy destiny to follow.

Available from:

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Smashwords

Read an Excerpt:

Injured on a smuggling run, Hope wakes to face the naval officer who captured her. 

Hope kept her eyes closed as she became conscious of a man’s heavy tread pacing the room. She waited until he was at the window and opened her eyelids a fraction. With the light behind him she saw an athletic man with wide shoulders, tall enough to have to stoop under the sloping eaves. Her stomach felt hollow with foreboding, for without doubt, this was the same man who’d pursued her over the dunes.

He must have sensed a change in her breathing, for suddenly he turned. He stared, with piercing blue eyes that penetrated her soul. Dressed in a naval uniform, the jacket cuffs ringed with gold braid, the man exuded authority. He continued to stare, his face unreadable; wilful, she decided, and yet uncommonly handsome. She blushed and reached for the covers, pulling them up to her chin.

“So, enough pretending. You are awake at last.” His voice, deep and melodic, brooked no argument.

“Please, sir, where am I?”

“Under house arrest.” He growled, obviously no friend. And yet, she touched her bandaged head, someone had taken care of her.

“You are in pain?” His consideration was surprising.

“Not so much now.”

The answer pleased him. “Good, then you have some explaining to do.”

“Please, sir, who are you?”

The man threw her a sideways glance and started to pace.

“Captain Huntley, RN. And you are?”

She decided against lying, her name alone couldn’t incriminate her family.

“Hope Tyler.”

“Well Miss Tyler, have you the slightest idea how much trouble you’re in?”

“Yes.”

The Captain stared at the ceiling. “A man died because of your felony. A Revenue man. He leaves a wife and three children.”

“I’m so sorry.” She whispered in distress.

“His fellow officers are baying for blood.”

Hope trembled, things were worse than she imagined.

“Someone must hang for his death.”

Her throat closed over.

“Be it you…or the man who pulled the trigger….my men don’t care.” Captain Huntley stepped closer, his presence dominating the room. She couldn’t breathe, he seemed made of granite, his eyes like flints, sparking with anger. “But I’m different.” His expression softened imperceptibly. “I like to think of myself as a fair man.”

Hope nodded, to encourage him.

“Any fool can see you are just a bit-player, a lackey. The men I want are the leaders, those who finance the contraband and organise the landings. Tell me who they are, and I shall intercede on your behalf with the authorities.”

“What if I don’t know their names?”

His wide mouth twitched downward. “Then I cannot help you.”

She would have shaken her head had it not been too painful. “The men you speak of aren’t stupid. They will know I am taken, and know if I betray them. If I do… they will come for my family.”

“Then put them behind bars.”

“It’s too risky. This way, it’s only me.”

He tried to hide it, but he looked surprised. She saw him drinking in the logic of her words and a shadow darkened his face. Clasping his hands behind his back, he turned to stare through the window.

“Tell me,” he said benignly, “what does it feel like to be abandoned? Because that’s what the smugglers did. Sailed away without a backward glance and left you to your fate.”

About the Author:

Grace Elliot leads a double life as a veterinarian by day and an author of historical romance by night. Grace is an avid reader and believes intelligent people need to read romance – as an antidote to the modern world. She works in a companion animal practice near London and is housekeeping staff to five demanding felines.

“Hope’s Betrayal” is Grace’s third historical romance novel.To find out more please visit: https://www.amazon.com/author/graceelliot

Blog: “Fall in Love With History”

Twitter: @Grace_Elliot

Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: Book Blitz, Grace Elliot, Hope's Betrayal

Shifting Mental Gears While Shifting Story Gears

It’s not easy for me to leave behind one story idea to work on another. For the first time in three years I’m working on a story that doesn’t include James and Sarah Wentworth, and I have to admit it feels a little strange.

I began writing Her Dear & Loving Husband in April 2009. I worked on that, obsessively, for two years until it was published in April 2011. Then I spent the following year researching and writing Her Loving Husband’s Curse, which came out in April 2012, and I’ve also been plotting the course of Book 3, which will be out in 2013.

The story I’m working on now, Victory Garden, predates Her Dear & Loving Husband by four years. I began writing it in 2005 and I finished it (or I thought I finished it) in 2007. Now, with Copperfield Press going strong and Books One and Two of the Loving Husband Trilogy selling well, I thought it was time to get Victory Garden ready for its close-up. I’ll have more to say about the revising and editing process for Victory Garden in a future post, but for now I’ll say it needed more work than I thought it would. When I began the revisions I felt…odd somehow. How strange, after three years of living and breathing the Wentworths and Salem, to be back in New York City in 1917 during World War I and the Woman Suffrage Movement.

I’m not in mourning exactly since I’m not done with the Wentworths. I expect to write the first draft of Book Three this summer so I can have the final draft ready by next spring. But it’s not easy for me, going from one imaginary world to the next. I had to switch my mental gears so I could revise Victory Garden to its best potential. First, I had to admit the problem—that I didn’t feel comfortable back in this world I had created in 2005. Then I had to settle myself enough to make the shift. I kept stalling, avoiding the work because I felt so peculiar about it. Maybe other writers have an easier time moving from project to project, but my fictional worlds are so real to me that it’s a shock to my system to spend my free time with anyone other than the Wentworths. After a few false starts, I finally opened my copy of Victory Garden and started reading. Once I read through the novel again (I hadn’t looked at it in a while), I rediscovered the connection I made with Rose Scofield seven years ago and I was able to go forward from there.

To continue my immersion back into Rose’s world, I used one of my own tips for writing historical fiction, and I listened to music and watched movies from that time. The music is upbeat and ragtime, and some of our most famous patriotic American songs came from World War I. The moving pictures were flickering, silent, and amusing in a unique way, so different from the CGI we’re used to today. When you watch a silent movie, you have to use your imagination to fill in the blanks since there’s no dialogue to guide you. Even the dialogue tags that flash occasionally across the bottom of the screen are brief and far between. Fortunately, Turner Classic Movies shows a number of silent movies, usually in the nighttime hours, and it was easy for me to find a few to watch to put myself back into this era that in many ways was the beginning of modern times. The recent Academy Award winner The Artist is a wonderful homage to silent films.

I’m comfortable again in 1917 New York City. While I see some bits in Victory Garden that need fixing, I also see the backbone of a story that I think is as timely in 2012 as it would have been in 1917. Really, it was only a few days of discomfort, this strangeness that comes from shifting mental gears so I could work on different story, but I had to work past it so I could give this different story, one without any vampires even, the chance to be the very best it can be. And now that I’ve had some time away from James and Sarah, I think the brief distance was a good thing. When I buckle down to write Book Three, I’ll be ready to go.

Filed under: Victory Garden, Writing Tagged: silent movies, The Artist, Victory Garden, writing

An Interview With Author Denise Verrico

What books did you love as a child? Why?

I loved The Island of the Blue Dolphins, a story of a girl surviving on her own on an abandoned Pacific island.  I also loved Marguerite Henry’s books King of the Wind and Come on Seabiscuit.  I’m attracted to stories where characters overcome great adversity.

Who are your favorite authors? How did they influence your writing?

I have many.  Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles were a big influence.  I love the sensuous, Gothic feel, although my style is much sparer than hers.  Robert Graves’ Claudius books and Mary Renault’s Alexander the Great novels are favorites of mine for their chatty, first-person narratives.  I read Marian Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, over and over, for the strong female characters, but my favorite book of all time is To Kill a Mockingbird.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer? Why did you decide to write?

As a child, I wanted to be a marine biologist or veterinarian.  Later, I was bitten by the theater bug and became an actress.  In college, one of my acting professors used to say I was destined to become a writer because I was so into theater literature and used to write humor pieces to entertain my friends.  Eventually, I turned to writing plays and fiction.  Blame it on Anne Rice.  She killed off one of my favorite characters and made me want to write my own vampire world.

When do you find time to write?

I like to write in the morning before I go to work, but sometimes write in the evening.  When I’m not busy promoting a new book, I write 2-4 hours a day.

What are the joys of writing for you?

Free therapy!  You can work out your anxieties through your characters.  I love writing speculative fiction for the world building.  Research is fun for me.  Creating characters is my favorite part of writing.

What are the obstacles of writing? How do you overcome them?

I love the creative process, when I’m inspired and really in the zone, but I’m not fond of the final revisions and editing.  However, these are important, and I put my novels through a year of revisions and re-writes now.  Having great critique partners eases the strain.  Taking time to walk in the woods or spending time with my husband and son recharges my batteries when I’m stressing over things.

What is your favorite genre to read in? Write in? Why?

I love historical fiction and fantasy for reading, but I prefer to write fantasy, although I write a little sci fi and horror.  I like immersing myself in another world.

How would you describe your writing style? How did you develop it?

Less is more.  I write a lot of dialogue, and I’m not heavy on description.  My stories are character driven.  My background is in the theatre, and I’ve written plays.  I’m used to dialogue and action telling the story.  I draw a lot on my theatre training in writing.  An actor learns how to flesh out characters from the skeleton the playwright has given.  He or she learns about conflict and action.  Fiction, like drama, depends on active characters making choices and the obstacles they confront and must overcome.

What was the inspiration for your book?

The entire Immortyl Revolution series is driven by the characters.  Mia, heroine of books one, two and four, came to me in a dream, and I was compelled to write a story of the vampire experience from a female perspective.  I became interested in biotechnology and thought up this race for immortality idea.  Then Mia met Kurt, and he took the series into yet another direction, the revolution.  This led him to India, where the Immortyl culture was born, and I needed a character to observe things from within the chief elder’s court there.  Enter the irreverent Mr. Cedric MacKinnon, a former rent boy turned Immortyl courtesan and devotee of the Goddess Kali.  Cedric’s struggle leads him to New York, where he meets Mia and sees in her the earthly manifestation of his Goddess.

What were the challenges of writing your story? The joys?

I wrote about how the events of 9-11 affect my characters.   It was my favorite part and the most difficult.  Writing about 9-11 was tough.  I’d jotted down some thoughts and feelings I had that day, never intending them to come into play in a fantasy novel.  We lived in Northern NJ, less than ten miles from Manhattan.  I saw the smoke plume from my house and workplace.  My husband worked in Times Square for Reuters.  Everything about that day came back to me when I was writing the chapters about 9-11.  I didn’t lose anyone that day.  Everyone I knew who worked there either didn’t make it to work or got out safely.  But like most people I know, I felt a mixture of sadness, fear and anger.  In the book, I wanted to deal with the event itself with taste and sensitivity.  I focused on the effect it has on my main characters and the difficulty it poses for a group that lives off the grid.

Do you do research for your writing? If so, how do you go about it (Internet, travel, etc.)?

I love doing research.  I use books and the internet a lot.  I wish I could travel to a lot of the places I research, but I try to get back to NYC once a year to refresh my memories of life there.

Tell us about your book.

Mia Disantini is the consort of Kurt Eisen, the Immortyl revolutionary leader.  As such, she’s technically second in command, but she has a tendency to say unpopular things that rile up some of the “boys” among Kurt’s inner council.  In Servant of the Goddess, she’s trying to open some businesses to make their “pack” self-supporting.  One of these is a nightclub.  But Mia isn’t content to sit on the sidelines; she’s a leader and realizes that, although Kurt has his strong points, he’s too diplomatic at times.  She’s a woman of action.

Cedric MacKinnon has run away from the chief elder’s court, where he was an adept of the ancient arts, a scared courtesan in service to the Goddess, Kali.  When Mia first sees him, taking on a gang of Immortyl bullies, he makes a profound impression.  He’s just turned twenty, is extraordinarily beautiful and hell-bent on revenge against his former master, Raj.  Cedric becomes Mia’s driver and bodyguard.  They have some humorous clashes.  Cedric adores playing David Bowie very loud in the car, and Mia abhors rock music.  Cedric is a randy lad, who will sleep with anyone he fancies, female or male, and he’s made it clear to her that he’s ready, willing and able to employ the erotic arts he learned in India to satisfy her every whim.  With Kurt immersed in Immortyl politics, she finds it hard to resist—ahem– (chuckle) Cedric’s abundant charms.

However, Cedric is the anointed servant of Kali and he insists the Goddess’ power resides in Mia and that Mia is destined to lead, kick some major butt and avenge the wrongs the Immortyl masters have done in the Goddess’ name.  They develop a unique relationship, but it would be a spoiler if I tell the nature of it.

I will say, however, they do kick some major butt together.

What did you learn about yourself from writing this book?

Sometimes you have to step back from writing and deal with life.  I had to move from my former home and get my son graduated from high school during the time I was putting this one through critique and rewriting.  It took me longer than I wanted.

What advice do you have for other writers?

To thine ownself be true–write what is in your heart, with passion.  Learn all you can about the craft and find good, honest, but supportive critique partners.  Write and read every day.

What do you wish someone had told you about writing that you learned the hard way?

Don’t be afraid to show your work to others.  I found this less painful and more instructive than I thought I would.  I learned so much in the three years since I sold my first novel.  My critique groups are tough, but fair.  Any criticism is offered in the spirit of improving the writer’s craft.

What is your next project?

I’m writing a fantasy set in an eighteenth century technology.  I’d call it picaresque in tone.  The world is somewhat inspired by the geography of New Zealand and Maori mythology.

What are you reading now?

The Song of the Lioness fantasy series by Tamora Pierce.

Anything else you’d like your readers to know?

I’m kicking off my blog tour today, and I’m actually signing at Roundabout Books in Troy, OH.  I’ll be at Confluence in Pittsburgh, PA in July and Context in Columbus, OH in September, but there are lots more events to come.  Please follow me on Twitter, Facebook or at my blog for details of upcoming events and giveaways.

Cedric also has a Twitter and Facebook page of his own.  He loves to chat and flirt with readers.

Every commenter who leaves a contact email at this blog will receive a link and free coupon code for an Epub and Mobi Pocket ebook bundle of my new trio of short stories, Annals of the Immortyls. 

Blog Blitz Day grand prize:  By going to my blog today, following and leaving a comment and email there, you’ll be entered in my gift basket drawing to win a signed paperback copy of Servant of the Goddess, a Cara Mia t-shirt, posters, a pen, a key chain and other vampire-themed goodies.

Servant of the Goddess 

Book Four of the Immortyl Revolution

From the ashes of the first battle of the Immortyl Revolution, vampires Mia Disantini and Kurt Eisen set out to build a new Immortyl society.

Trouble arrives in the person of Cedric MacKinnon, a runaway adept of the ancient arts, who brings tidings of upheaval at the chief elder’s court that threatens everything Mia and Kurt have accomplished.

Mia finds it hard to resist when Cedric pledges his service and tempts her with the legendary skills he learned as an Immortyl courtesan. Facing opposition from both within and out, Mia begins to doubt Kurt is up to the task of leading their followers to his vision of an Immortyl Utopia.

Torn between her loyalty to Kurt and Cedric’s insistence that she is the earthly manifestation of the Goddess Durga and destined to lead, Mia confronts the greatest challenge of her life.

For excerpts of the Immortyl Revolution Series, character profiles, and the Immortyl Lexicon visit www.deniseverricowriter.webs.com

For insider information on the series visit www.ImmortylRevolution.blogspot.com

About the Author:

Denise Verrico is a New Jersey native who grew up in Pennsylvania. She is the author of the Immortyl Revolution urban fantasy series published by L&L Dreamspell. Denise was chosen as a presenter at Ohioana Book Fair in 2011 and 2012, and her books are part of the collection at the State Library of Ohio.

Currently, she’s a member of Broad Universe and two writing groups. She attended Point Park College in Pittsburgh, where she majored in theatre arts, and was a member of The Oberon Theatre Ensemble in NYC with whom she acted, directed and wrote plays. Denise is a roller coaster fanatic and lives in Ohio with her husband, son and flock of six spoiled parrots.

Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: Bewitching Book Tours, Denise Verrico, interviews, Servant of the Goddess

Seeking Reviewers for Her Loving Husband’s Curse

And review copies are FREE!

The blog tour for Her Dear & Loving Husband and Her Loving Husband’s Curse starts this July—more details on that as they become available. I’d love to get as many reviews of both books as possible before the tour starts. If you’d like a free digital copy in order to review either Her Dear & Loving Husband or Her Loving Husband’s Curse, drop me a line through my Contact Me page. Let me know which format you’d like: PDF, EPUB, or Mobi for Kindle. You can post your reviews on Amazon, BN, Goodreads, Smashwords, or any site of your choosing. If you’re not familiar with the stories and might like to review (hey, who can argue with free copies?) check here.

Thank you so much to those of you who have already posted reviews for Her Dear & Loving Husband on the various sites. And thank you, thank you to Sylvianne Simmons for posting Her Loving Husband’s Curse’s first review on Amazon—five stars! I appreciate your time (and your kind words). What a surprise when I was checking out the Amazon site and I saw it there. You made my day! Thank you also to Ms. (or Mr.) Anonymous on BN.com for the second five star review. You guys are the best.

Filed under: Her Dear & Loving Husband, Her Loving Husband's Curse Tagged: Amazon, BN, Her Dear & Loving Husband, Her Loving Husband's Curse, Reviews

Winners of the Love in Bloom Giveaway

First, the winner of the giveaway of Helens of Troy by Janine McCaw:

Stacie Keegan

And the winners of the Love in Bloom Giveaway are:

E-Books:

Froggy

G Bailey

Emma

Jodi L.

Bobby Mac

Paperbacks:

Bethany T.

Jordin B.

Marisol Gonzales

$10 Gift Certificate for BN:

Amy Trenton

Thanks to everyone who participated. There will be another giveaway soon!

Filed under: Giveaways