Carly Fall's Blog, page 13
November 26, 2012
Redemption – Elise Marion
Today I’m very excited to be hosting Elise Marion and her book, Redemption. She’s got some fantastic giveaways, and I also had the pleasure of reviewing the book, but more on that in a moment. Let’s take a look at the book my review, and then get to the goodies….
Description: In a world full of the sick and dying, the hurting and desperate, and those lost in darkness, angels dwell.
Once a Warrior Angel, Nathaniel has now become one of the Fallen, after losing sight of his purpose. Fallen angels are cursed to wander the depths for all of eternity, a fate that Nathan has avoided every day for the past seven years. As the demon within him grows, he knows that it is only a matter of time until he becomes a monster. His love of a human woman is what caused him to lose his wings, yet Nathan cannot bring himself to regret it, or the child that came of their love. It is that child’s identity as a Naphil—half angel, half human—that threatens the existence of everyone he loves and Nathan finds himself having to face his past in order to secure his son’s future.
Carmen Rodriguez lives her life in constant fear. The power of her son grows every day, leaving him vulnerable to the plans of the Evil One. When a demon’s bold abduction puts Carmen in a desperate position, she turns to the only one who can bring him back. Nathan warns her that the road to rescuing their son will be a treacherous one … one that leads them straight into lair of the Prince of Darkness.
The third and final installment of the Angels Among Us series goes where it never has before.
Even in the very pits of hell, can an angel find salvation? Will the love that Nathan has for Carmen and his son be enough, or will Nathan finally have to face the consequences of his actions.
Is there redemption for the Fallen?
Excerpt
“I can’t believe you’ve never been salsa dancing! You’re a natural. Are you sure one of your parents isn’t Puerto Rican?”
Nathan laughed as he looped one arm around her waist, sending small shivers travelling up and down her spine. He pulled her against his side as they walked, leaving La Riviera salsa club behind.
“No,” he said with a devastatingly beautiful smile. “No Puerto Rican parents. I don’t know, it just seemed easy to fall into the rhythm with you there.”
Carmen didn’t miss the way his eyes traveled over her crimson halter top, flowing black skirt, and three-inch heels. The heat that passed between them was undeniable, now and on the dance floor. What Carmen could not understand was why Nathan had not yet kissed her. As they walked, Carmen felt the tension thrumming through his body. She’d seen his eyes lingering on her lips countless times; in the hospital, at the park where they’d picnicked and even tonight at the club. Why then, after the weeks they’d spent together, was he holding back?
“I’m glad you had a good time,” she said softly, watching the concrete sidewalk pass under her feet as they walked. Nathan’s hand tightened at her hip and he pulled her to a stop just a few blocks away from her apartment building.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, bringing one hand up to cup her face.
She sighed and leaned into his hand, moaning low in her throat as he caressed her jaw with his thumb. Her eyes traveled over his face; dark skin, full lips, chiseled jaw and chin, and warm whiskey brown eyes that probed hers with raw intensity. It was as if he could see right into her soul. No man had ever looked at her that way. Sure, they’d all admired her body. Her blatantly sensual curves begged for attention. They noticed her pretty face and ample hips, but not one of them looked at her. Not the way Nathan did.
“I don’t want you to get the wrong idea,” she said reluctantly as she brought one hand up to his chest.
He smiled and slid his hand from her face to place it over her hand where it rested against his heart. She felt the heat of him emanating through his shirt. “What is it, beautiful?”
Her stomach clenched and the back of her neck tingled. How was it that this man made her so weak with just his words? She was already melting into a puddle at his feet and he had barely even touched her.
“Why won’t you kiss me?” she blurted before she had a chance to think about what she was saying.
Nathan frowned, his eyes lowering as he clenched her hand against his chest.
“Carmen,” he began, his voice serious.
Her eyes grew wide as she pulled her hand away. A step separated them and then another. Carmen’s heart stung from rejection.
“I understand,” she said. “You don’t have to say it. I thought you were attracted to me, but if you’re not—”
He closed the distance between them in an instant, bringing both hands up to her face this time. His body seared hers as their hips and thighs met and his forehead rested against hers.
“Dear God, Carmen, how could you think that? I’m so attracted to you that it hurts. It keeps me up at night. I am tortured with thoughts of you, every day and every night. I want to touch you and hold you and caress your skin. I want to kiss you and know what your lips feel like. I want to taste your tongue, your skin, your…” he trailed off, dragging in a ragged breath and releasing it with a frustrated groan.
“Can’t you feel it? I know you can.”
She nodded, their lips brushing as she did. He gasped, his lips trembling against hers. “Yes,” she whispered. Yes, she felt it, her skin was on fire.
“Carmen, please,” he pleaded, his hands shaking as they lowered to her waist. “I can’t…”
Even as he said the words, his open mouth was roaming over her face, caressing her eyelid and her temple before trailing down to her cheek. The fire blazing through her veins was now a raging inferno as his warm breath tickled her skin.
“I can’t,” he moaned against her lips, his breath coming in ragged gasps. As his fingers flexed against her skin, the small space separating their bodies closed and Carmen stifled a gasp at the feel of her sensitized breasts coming to rest against his hard, heaving chest.
“I can’t.”
His mouth hovered over hers, achingly, a sweet and terrible torture strong enough to reduce her to begging.
“Nathan,” she murmured. She wanted to say more. She wanted to ask all of the questions that bounced around in her head. Why can’t you? Why are you holding yourself back from me? Why won’t you just carry me up to my apartment and take me like we both know you want to?
But his name lingered between them, a plea, a prayer. Her hands clutched his lapel tightly as she closed the distance between them, sealing their lips together with a sigh. Nathan gasped into her mouth, his hands sweeping up from her hips to her back. His fingers dug into her skin as he pressed her against him, as tightly as possible, mating his mouth to hers.
They trembled, lost in their own seductive haze as they kissed beneath the yellow light of a glowing street lamp. His lips were unbelievably soft, pliant but moving with sureness as he drank from her lips as if she held his last breath. The kiss became wilder, more frenzied as their tongues touched, sparking a desire than ran deeper than ever and exploded into possessive need.
She felt the tightness of his muscles beneath her hands as she ran them over him; his chest, his shoulders, his back. She shuddered against him as his hands explored as well, roaming over her breasts and ribs before settling on her generous bottom, pressing her fully up against the hardening ridge between his hips.
When he finally tore his mouth away from her, they were both gasping for air. With every second that she stood in his arms, desire grew and swelled within her until she felt as if one touch from him would send her spiraling over the edge. He released her from his tight hold and reached for her hand, his eyes still wide and frantic as she placed her palm in his.
“Let’s get you home,” he said, his voice a raspy whisper. Tension coiled between them the entire walk home.
She’d thought that a kiss would satisfy her. She’d wanted it for weeks, wishing that he would sweep her against him and press his mouth to hers as he just had. But it just hadn’t been enough. As he kissed her goodnight—on the cheek—and left her apartment that night, Carmen knew that just one kiss would never be enough.
REVIEW: 5 Stars
Wow. What a way to end the series!
Nathaniel is a Fallen angel, battling the demon that resides in him the one that he became when he allowed himself to fall in love with Carmen.
Carmen and her son have the Guardians (Sarah and Jackson from book 2) looking after them as her son is wanted by the demons. When the demons open a portal and get her son, it is up to Nathaniel to come back to Carmen and retrieve their son from Hell.
This book really tugged at my heartstrings as one of my biggest fears is having my son taken from me. I can’t imagine him being taken by a demon, but the emotion the author gave Carmen is real, and you can tell she dug deep to put it on paper.
Written in true Elise Marion form, the book is descriptive, well-written, emotional and a great read. She also leaves open room for a spin-off series, which is awesome.
If you haven’t picked up this series yet, you are missing out.
This book was provided to me by the author for an honest review
About the Author
Elise Marion is a lover books and has a special place in her heart for sweet and sensual romance. Writing about love across all walks of life is her passion, as is reaching people through the written word. The Army wife and stay-at-home mother of two spends most of her time taking care of her children. Her second job includes writing stories about characters that people can fall in love with. When the Texas native isn’t caring for her family or writing, you can usually find her with her nose in a book, singing loudly, or cooking up something new in the kitchen.
For the Giveaway:
1 Angels Among Us Coffee Mug (wrap around with all three covers from the series)
1 Angel-wing Charm Bracelet
10 autographed ‘Angels Among Us’ Bookmarks
3 ebook copies of Fallen (Book 1 of the series)
November 22, 2012
Black Friday Blog Hop
Thanks for stopping by for the Black Friday Blog Hop, and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This is for ONE DAY ONLY, so make sure you visit everyone you can.
The grand prizes for the blog hop are as follows:
1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet (INT)
2nd Grand Prize: A $75 Amazon or B&N Gift Card (INT)
3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more! (US only)
To win any of these prizes, you must comment with your email address!
I’m giving away two signed paperback books of my first book in the Six Savior Series, The Light Within Me (US only – sorry!) To read an excerpt and reviews, click on the pretty picture:
Thanks again for stopping by, and fill out the Rafflecopter to enter to enter for the paperbacks, and comment with your email address for the big prizes.
November 19, 2012
Books on the Nook
Wow. Here is the Grand Buddha of giveaways, people. Not only do you get a Nook, you get it filled with 45 books from Decadent Publishing (the Nook is available only to US residents, but the books can be emailed anywhere).
Unfortunately, my book with them hasn’t been released yet, but please check it out by clicking the beautiful cover below.
And now on to the prize. Like I said, it doesn’t get much better than this! And all you need to do is leave fill out the rafflecopter and leave a comment telling me your favorite holiday!
November 16, 2012
KD Grace – Lakeland Heatwave Book 2: Riding the Ether
Cassandra Larkin keeps her ravenous and dangerous sexual appetite secret until she seduces Anderson in the mysterious void of the Ether. Anderson is the sexy, insatiable ghost who can give her exactly what she needs.
But sex is dangerous in a place like the Ether…
When the treacherous demon, Deacon, discovers the truth about the origin of Cassandra’s powerful lust, he plots to use her sex magic for revenge on Tara Stone and the Elemental Coven, who practice their own brand of sex magic.
Cassandra must embrace the lust and sexuality she fears and learn to use its power. Will she stand with Anderson, Tara, and the Elemental Coven against Deacon’s wrath or suffer the loss of friendship, magic and love?
~~~~~
Is this book part of a series? If so, can you give a general description of the series?
KD: Riding the Ether is book two of my Lakeland Heatwave paranormal erotic romance trilogy. The story is set in the English Lake District, the perfect place for witches, ghosts and magic. It’s the story of a powerful coven of witches fighting an on-going battle with a demon who is hell-bent on revenge against the Elemental Coven and its high priestess, Tara Stone. The Elemental Coven practices a rare form of sex magic that allows them to give temporary bodies to ghosts so they can enjoy the pleasures of the flesh, and it’s the sexual bond they share that makes all the magic they do so powerful.
Do your characters talk to you? If so, what do they say?
KD: They don’t talk to me. It’s more like I’m the fly on the wall in the room with them, watching and listening. Either that or I’m inside their heads, like I am them, but I’ve never had a conversation with any of my characters … yetJ
What was your inspiration for this story?
KD: I love the Lake District, and I could always imagine romantic stories with magical twists set in those lovely high places. My husband and I do a lot of walking there, and we especially love to walk the high fells. The views are incredible … until the mist comes down, then the place can turn quite dangerous. The inspiration for the Lakeland Trilogy, and for Riding the Ether in particular, was my one and only experience of being caught up on the high fells when the mist descended and having to feel the way off with a map and compass. It a matter of minutes we went from exquisite views to not being able to see our hands in front of our faces. It was as though we were suddenly somewhere else, somewhere really alien and frightening. That sense of emptiness, of otherness, inspired the opening scenes of book one of the Trilogy, Body Temperature and Rising, but even more it inspired my version of the Ether, that magical void where dangerous magic takes place.
What do you think makes a good romantic hero?
KD: I think it’s flaws that make a good romantic hero. I find heroes that are larger-than-life-perfect to be really boring. I want to see my heroes angst, I want to see them suffer, I want to see them ‘rescued’ by the heroine’s love as much as I want them to rescue. Yes, they have to be strong and rise to the occasion, but everyone is a complex mix of hero and coward and everything in between, why should a hero in a novel be any different? And I love novels that allow us into the hero’s head. I like a view to the angst. I like a hero who has to prove himself worthy of the heroine.
Which character of this book was the easiest to write?
KD: The heroine, Cassandra Larkin, surprisingly. I thought she’d be more difficult because I’d never written a succubus before, and I didn’t really want her to be a succubus in the beginning, but she really left me no choice, and wow! What a succubus! She was easy to write because all I had to do was tap into my own self-doubt – something all writers have in abundance, and let it rip. She surprised me at every turn, as she revealed herself to me, and it was like a veil dance, watching her unfold.
Which was the most difficult?
KD: Surprisingly, it was Anderson who was hardest to write. Anderson is a main character in all three books. He is the high priest of the coven, second in command only to Tara Stone, but he’s a 150 year old ghost. Much of Riding the Ether is told from his point of view, meaning I had the challenge of thinking like a 150 year old ghost, who has seen so much, but who is a romantic at heart and speaks very much like a man outside time. He was great fun to write, but way more challenging when nearly half the book is from his point of view.
If a plotter, how long does it take you to plot out a book?
KD: I’m a bit of both, plotter and panster. My plotting involves a long walk during which I scheme a very rough, very lose chapter by chapter synopsis and an even rougher blurb. When I get home, I write it all down. It usually takes me three to four hours of walking and an afternoon of getting down the rough chapter by chapter synopsis, which serves as a very sketchy road-map from point A to point Z, with lots of leeway in the middle for detours and scenic routes. When that’s done, I start the novel.
If you had to sum up advice to a new writer in two sentences, what would you say?
KD: Write lots, write often, and keep writing! Don’t give up, you’ll get there!
Fun Stuff:
What do you prefer – chocolate or vanilla – and why?
KD: Definitely vanilla because I’m a purist, and because vanilla is often the base of everything else. Yum! Give me a vanilla crème filling any day!
Day or Night? Why?
KD: Day. It’s a body thing. When it gets dark, my body wants to sleep. I can pull the night owl routine for a couple of nights, but then I get so grouchy that my husband runs away screaming. As much as I wish I could be a little more of a night person, I’m up with the sun.
Favorite season? Why?
KD: Spring. I love all the new beginnings. I love the longer days and I love waking up to the Dawn Chorus of birdsong. Plus it’s the beginning of veg gardening season, and the possibilities are always endless.
Where to Buy:
eBook:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/riding-the-ether-k-d-grace/1112024218?ean=9781908262196
Print:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/riding-the-ether-k-d-grace/1112024218?ean=9781908262189
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Riding-Ether-Grace/9781908262189?a_aid=creativewriter1985
http://www.xcitebooks.co.uk/Book/6619/Riding-the-Ether.html
*****
About the Author
K D Grace believes Freud was right. In the end, it really IS all about sex, well sex and love. And nobody’s happier about that than she, cuz otherwise, what would she write about?
When she’s not writing, K D is veg gardening or walking. She walks her stories, and she’s serious about it. She and her husband recently walked the Coast to Coast route across England. For her, inspiration is directly proportionate to how quickly she wears out a pair of walking boots.
K D has erotica published with Xcite Books, Mammoth, Cleis Press, Black Lace, Erotic Review, Ravenous Romance, Scarlet Magazine, Sweetmeats Press and others.
K D’s critically acclaimed erotic romance novels include, The Initiation of Ms Holly, The Pet Shop, and her paranormal erotic novel, Body Temperature and Rising, the first book of her Lakeland Heatwave trilogy, was listed as honorable mention on Violet Blue’s Top 12 Sex Books for 2011.
Find K D Here:
Website: http://kdgrace.co.uk/
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/KDGraceAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
November 15, 2012
Over the Cliff’s Edge by B. Jane Lawson
I’m happy to have B. Jane Lawson here today with her book, Over the Cliff’s Edge. She is giving away one ebook to a commenter on this blog, so please leave a comment with your email address if you are interested in winning the book.
Over the Cliff’s Edge
Book 2 of the Morganna Cork Series
B. Jane Lawson
Genre: Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 978-1479295210
ASIN: B0099AWZLO
Number of pages: 186
Word Count: 42,326
Amazon Print Smashwords Amazon Digital
Book Description:
Morganna Cork has survived her first month in Puesta Del Sol. A month in which she discovers she’s part of the Magick community filled with shifters, psychics, werewolves and individuals with myriad other powers.
Her estranged aunt, Aiofe, has returned to take control of the Magick Council, the Cliffside Inn, and the sacred stones that her cousin Maeve and she hold in their possession.
With the help of a mysterious magical historian, Morganna learns that she is at the center of this Magick battle and that Aiofe will stop at nothing to get her hands on an ancient family heirloom and Morganna.
The romantic tension between Morganna Stone and werewolf pack leader, Callupo Stone, reaches its breaking point as the Cliffside Inn is under siege and they navigate their way through the betrayals and dangers of this war.
Excerpt
Earlier that evening, an abrasive pounding on my bedroom door jarred me from my slumber. I was so tired my eyeballs burned. Since being flayed like a fish, I’d been avoiding sleep; I was afraid I’d wake back up in that cave. I was nearly delirious with exhaustion.
Not wanting to leave the comfort of my sleep-warmed bed, I called out, “Come in already,” because, really, who else would knock on my door like that?
All six-feet and four inches of Callupo Stone bounded into my bedroom. He was clad in a black leather jacket, jeans and boots. What could be said about Callupo that couldn’t be summed up with a meaningful gulp?
Shadows concealed his face and expression. “Get dressed. We’ve got some work to do.” The words were ground out purposefully, every syllable calculated to deliver a moderated tone. I still knew he was pissed.
Since arriving in Puesta del Sol to work for my cousin Maeve at The Cliffside Inn, he’d been this grumpy, sexy, pain in my behind. Then, after an attack on the Inn by Aiofe Cork and her cronies (Aiofe being Maeve’s estranged mother) he’d been appointed my around-the-clock bodyguard. I’d made the mistake of going down to the beach alone, albeit to look for Callupo who I thought was injured, and been kidnapped by Aiofe. How were Anya and I to know that she had cursed some of the magical objects Uncle Brendan had left behind? Phantasmagoria was another one of her brands of trickery. After being held hostage for nearly a week, Callupo and his pack rescued me. Suffice it to say that I was devoid of independent decision making privileges when he was on bodyguard duty.
Also, Callupo was a werewolf. This meant he was stronger, hotter (I mean literally, his temperature was always feverish) and more ferocious than your average man. He was also strangely territorial, but I wasn’t going to consider the ramifications of that at this moment in time.
“What? Why? Where are we going?”
“This is not question and answer time. This is do as I say and let’s get the hell out of here time.” Yep, super pissed.
Since he’d demanded that I leave him be just this morning, I could be assured that this little excursion was not of his own volition. Instead of waiting for my reply, he started to pull drawers out and rifle through them.
“Do you have anything black in here?”
“Hey!” I shouted as he started tossing items onto the floor. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.”
I slammed the drawer he palmed shut and threw my body across the dresser. Arms flung wide, I demanded with more courage than I felt, “You are not going through my clothes.”
Callupo took a step closer, crowding me as per usual, “Two minutes. Then I’m picking you up and hauling you out of here in whatever level of dress you reach.” He was much too controlled to let the door slam behind him, though.
I ran a hand through the lustrous, red hair that now fell in a thick tumble down my back. The spell Maeve had cast to make my hair grow back had caused it to return thicker and longer than before it was burned off. I tied it back in a braid before throwing on black leggings and a sweater. I chanced dashing to the bathroom to run a toothbrush along my teeth. When Callupo came back in, I was zipping up my leather motorcycle jacket.
He jerked his head and then I followed him silently as we glided through the quiet halls of the Inn. Down in the sitting room, the crackle of fire blazing in the hearth was the only sound. Two heads swiveled in our direction simultaneously. Ralph Stone, Callupo’s adorable younger brother, and my best friend Anya Demidov.
Including their dark hair, Ralph and Anya were all in black, as well. I gave her a questioning stare, but she shrugged her shoulders, apparently no more informed than me.
“Let’s go.” Ralph stood up and lumbered through the front door. We all followed suit.
It was early December and not quite forty degrees out. A thick fog coated the atmosphere from the ground up, and if the moon was still high in the sky, I wouldn’t know it. I shivered, partially from the cold and partially from the eerie cast to the landscape. How were we going to drive if the fog was so dense it obscured Ralph standing next to me?
Callupo slid effortlessly into the driver seat and started the engine. Ralph first helped Anya in then hopped in next to her in the back of a never before seen black Range Rover. I debated climbing in the back, as well, but Ralph’s cocksure grin stopped me, a silent dare. I glared back and slammed the door behind me once I was settled in the front seat.
At the click of my seatbelt Callupo squealed out of the drive, the force of the acceleration throwing me against the seat. The way we cut through the fog gave the impression that the clouds were rolling past us at a hundred miles per hour instead of the other way around. I envisioned what we must look like, a motorcade of one, headed to our destination on a top-secret mission.
I tried for bravery, but my white knuckles clutching the armrests gave me away. How could he see anything? We were like an airplane flying through a cloud. What if an animal decided to cross the highway? Or a person for that matter?
We were at the interchange of Seacliff and Main in less than five minutes, I cringed as we turned the corner, surprised that we hadn’t ended up on two wheels. We passed where Bar None, Maude’s and Gael’s would have been in a blink of an eye.
“You, uh, want to slow down?” I managed to squeak out.
Ralph responded instead, “Relax Morganna, our night vision is impeccable. We can probably see better in this than you can during the day.”
“Oh,” I replied dumbly. I wasn’t able to make my hands unclench so I closed my eyes instead.
This was likely a good opportunity to get some information from Callupo about our destination, but he didn’t seem in the chatty mood. Frankly, I wasn’t going to do anything to distract him from driving. Once we settled onto the highway the consistent rhythm of the car lulled me back to sleep. It was the most comfortably I’d napped so far. I was hoping it was the car and not the proximity.
Given my preference, I could have slept slumped against the window, my seat heater cranked all the way up, for hours. This mission’s director was Callupo, though. He shook my shoulder gently, as we switched lanes to exit the highway. When I opened my eyes, the first signs of dawn were showing.
~~~~~~~~~~
Below is the second short excerpt from Ralph Stone’s point of view. The Ralph Stone POV Series will be a continuous one until the third and final Morganna Cork novel is released.
The minute Callupo scents something with his hyper-olfactory glands he becomes ruthless in its pursuit. How the heck he scented her on me, when I’d never been closer than thirty feet to her, is beyond me. He’s always been like that. Eerie predator senses, even better than mine. They say when you lose a sense the others compensate for it by improving. Callupo’s other senses – like emotional awareness – may be lacking because of his more primordial capabilities.
I lied through my teeth, treated him like he was nuts. Dude – I said – you’ve really got it bad if you’re imagining that I smell like her. If you’d like I can take this T-shirt off and let you sleep with it.
I got punched right in the gut for that one. Wasn’t surprised. I suppose I had it coming.
What did surprise me was that Ilana kept her mouth shut. Pretended to not even notice my absence. Even had Niko running circles to keep her happy when I returned. For just a fraction of a second, I caught her eye. The blush that tinged her pale neck and throat didn’t hurt the ego.
I digress. That’s why I waited a week to come back down to the City. Every random check-in Callupo sprung on me was a wasted effort. I know him much better than he thinks.
I’ve been following her for a half mile now. I have no idea what she’s doing. We’ve been up Grant, through Union Square and she kept on with that brisk little trot of hers. Like someone might stop her. She’s wearing a navy pea coat and her hair looks like flames licking across the wool.
I smack my forehead. Chinatown. Of all the places to try and keep tabs on her. The smattering of shops, boutiques, carts and tourists ambling around make it a very difficult not to get too close in order to stay with her. The aromas wafting in the area makes me salivate and lose focus. I home in on the shock of color that is her hair.
I watch her pop in and out of shops, haggle with some women over a pair of jade bracelets and then slide into a restaurant. I’m so engrossed in what she’s doing I lose track of where I’m at, my surroundings. That’s why I nearly shift on the spot when a mason-like fist grabs me by the throat and begins to crush my windpipe.
No idea where she’s at – Callupo says to me – I must be paranoid, you said. The irises of his eyes have changed to wolf, but his body remains human.
Crap.
About the Author:
B. Jane Lawson lives in Los Angeles where she is a business woman by day, 
writer by night and cyclist on the weekends. Her obsessions include Starbucks soy chai lattes, fashion, and music.
She has had a life long love affair with novels of all kinds. B. Jane’s favorite genres include paranormal romance, historical fiction and true crime. Her favorite authors include Amy Tan, Karen Marie Moning, Pat Conroy, Jane Austen and J.K. Rowling. She loves to travel and her dream vacation is a safari in Africa.
Web: www.bjanelawson.posterous.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bjanelawson
Twitter: @bjanelawson
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/bjanelawson
November 10, 2012
Tasting Fire – Shelly Holt
I’m happy to be hosting Shelly Holt today and her book Tasting Fire. She’s got a blog post for us, and then we’ll find out about the book.
~~~~~~
What is in a name? If your a new author with a romance novel to title, for you a great deal!
As a self published author, out of all of the different tasks I was presented, from the writing of the book to editing and now publicizing it. The one I struggled with the most was titling. Sure I didn’t enjoy copy proofing, but it was pretty cut and dried, read until it’s perfect.
Tilting isn’t always as easy as that. You don’t have a cheat sheet where you can look to see if your really done and you got the right answer. Tasting Fire wasn’t always Tasting Fire. It was first called Leopard’s Embrace, in fact on my hard drive are still the first 44 chapters and epilogue labeled as Leopard’s Embrace. (I’m not very good about cleaning up my hard drive.) I think I went with Dharma’s Daughters and then Sacred Daughter and a few others that are so putrid, I’m too embarrassed to even tell you about them.
In the end, I had to basically summarize the book in the title and without giving away the ending (no spoilers here) the basic theme of the book is about enlightenment, (don’t worry, it is a romance and there is lots of sex in the book.) The book is about spiritual, social and ecological enlightment, the term Tasting Fire is referring to the fire of spiritual enlightment.
I used many different theologies to help guide the spiritual aspects of the plot. Hopefully I did a good enough job of weaving them into the plot that they don’t come off as too preachy or identifiable. The beautiful cover art I licensed from talented photographer Michael Tilton Williams is a representation of the Buddhist deity Yamantaka. He is known as a protector of dharma and slayer of death. I found the imagery quite appropriate after I researched Buddhist deities and was inspired by the cover when I decided on my title.
I wonder if all writers have as difficult a time as I did on deciding the title. Even now it still feels like a temporary title to me. I often wonder if that’s normal for a writer.
I’m really proud of the book and believe it will stand out as a strong, positive, and sexy (did I mention there’s lots of sex in it) original tale that will delight and provoke those who read it.
Many thanks to Carly Fall for inviting me to visit Where Fantasy Meets Romance today and share my experience of writing Tasting Fire with you.
**Carly’s note: Yes, I got through the same thing with titling. Ugh! Actually, I’m going through it right now!***
Blurb
Shape-shifters have always walked the earth. Shrouded in myth and folklore, hiding in the shadows, watching and waiting. Advances in modern science are now about to reveal them to the world. Kai Tenzin is the self appointed leader of the Pari people. He and his kind evolved from the most reclusive predators on earth, the Asian Snow Leopard. They live and hunt in the most fearsome and rugged terrain known to man, the Himalayas. As a young man, Kai left his small village where the mountain touches the heavens, determined to do anything to protect his people. When he is forced to enlist the aid of the beautiful American scientist Dr. Rae Hales, the last thing he expects to find is a woman who will ensnare his heart and endanger them all. Their action-packed adventure will take them around the world to discover the truth behind the legends and reveal the future of humanity.
Excerpt
Rae took an admiring look at the vista below as she dropped her heavy pack on the ground. The mountains in the distance looked purple and the desert brush spread out below them like a master oil painting. It was awe inspiring to human eyes. Rae wondered what would it look like to a snow leopard. She suddenly realized many a biologist would sell their very soul for the opportunity she had at that moment. Rae turned to Kai who had been sitting on the ground with his pack and fishing around for lunch and asked him “what is it like when you’re in your Shan form out in country like this?” Kai rewarded Rae with the most brilliant smile she had yet seen to grace the handsome shape-shifter’s face. He seemed truly delighted to discuss the subject with her. Kai stood up to answer Rae’s question. He addressed the human scientist. “It’s like nothing you can imagine Rae. Every sense is in tune with the planet. See that tree over there” he pointed a few yards away at an ancient gnarled pinyon. “Yes” Rae replied. Kai walked up behind Rae and put his hands on her shoulders and directed her to look even closer at the tree. He whispered intimately in her ear as if they were in a church or another sacred space “when you look at that tree with your limited human vision, the average person can certainly appreciate its form and color. A biologist like yourself would ask what type of tree is it and how old it is. A philosopher might ask who may have sat underneath it in the past or who might sit underneath it in the future. All of you might even wonder when will it die. That’s the limit of your human perception. When you’re in Shan form every single leaf will bid you a glorious greeting as you walk up to the tree for the first time. Every drop of sap tells you the history of the tree’s life like an intimate biography written in the utterly sensual language of scent. The tree itself will tell you if it’s healthy or sick. You can smell if the water that nourishes it is bitter or sweet. If you deeply pay attention you can smell every animal that has ever been there.” Kai looked to Rae like he was experiencing a spiritual moment and Rae suddenly realized he was. The enthralled shape-shifter continued to explain to Rae the nuances of the animal world “when you are ready to move on to another place you reach up with your powerful claws and dig deep into the bark to mark the tree with your scent. It’s added harmoniously to the scent of hundreds of other animals. You do this not just to mark your hunting territory, but to tell every animal after you have left this world that you lived and breathed here at one time in the great mystery that is life. That is your only immortality in the animal world. There are no monuments to mark a man’s ego, or family albums for a mother to remember her children by, but neither is there hate, nor fear of the future or regret of the past. You are fully alive in each and every moment. It’s a wonderfully free existence. I wish I could truly share it with you… words, words pale in comparison.” Kai looked so happy at that moment. Rae was so moved by what he had just shared with her that all she could do was reach out and touch his wrist. “Thank you!” she whispered. Kai nodded at her in acknowledgment, but he was too emotional to even speak.
BIO [image error]
My name is Shelly Holt and I live in the middle of the harsh and unforgiving Mojave desert. I write my stories looking out of a window that shows sweeping desert views. Outside is a barren and severe landscape, yet inside my head lives a world filled with exotic shape-shifters come to life, pulled from the pages of myth and legend, ready to entice and seduce any reader brave enough to take them on.
November 8, 2012
Men of the Military Giveaway Hop Nov 9-15
Welcome to the Men of the Military Hop, and a big thank you to The Jeep Diva for hosting and organizing.First, let me say that I LOVE our military. I live by an Air Force Base. Everyday I hear the jets flying overhead, and every night I hear TAPS playing. Seeing the men and women in uniform drop their kids off at my son’s school, at the grocery store, at restaurants…I love being part of a strong military community.My dad is also a vet.So to those of you in the military, or with family in the military, I thank you for all of your sacrifices and the work that you do.A blog hop wouldn’t be fun without a prize up for grabs, so I’m offering 2- $5 gift card to Amazon or B&N (winners choice). I hope you will check out one of my books in the Six Savior Series, which is about a group of Warriors, men of the military in their own way.
For more information on the books:The Light Within Me is free at all major ebook outletsFinding My FaithREBORNBut to me, this hop is all about the military and giving back to them. What I have decided to do is that for every comment that is posted, I will donate $1 to the Wounded Warrior Project, up to $50.If you haven’t checked out what this great organization does, please do and consider donating yourself if you can. Every little bit helps.
Thanks again for stopping by, and make sure you check out the others participating in the hop!
November 5, 2012
Blood Lust by Jessica Degarmo
I’m happy to have Jessica Degarmo here today to talk about her book, Blood Lust. First, let’s 
find out a little about Jessica, and then about the book. She’s giving away 15 ebook copies, so make sure to enter below.
Welcome, Jessica!
Is this book part of a series? If so, can you give a general description of the series?
Yes, Blood Lust is the first in the Lust Trilogy. Blood Lust is about Nexess, a vampire who serves as assassin and sex slave to Italian gang leader Antonio Bianchi. She owes him her very existence and does his bidding and fulfills his every whim. But when she meets the vampire who plays for the other team, so to speak, she is confronted with some nasty truths about herself and how she was created. She’ll be forced to choose between lust and loyalty.
Do your characters talk to you? If so, what do they say?
I think it depends on the character. Some of them stay with me, almost like they’re haunting me, long after I write their stories. Others don’t leave much of an impression. But Nexess did speak with me while I was writing her story. She reminded me to write her the correct way or she’d come and kick my butt!
What was your inspiration for this story?
I had been talking to my publisher about genre, and vamp lit came up. I said, jokingly, “I should write a vampire novel,” and she said, “Yes, you should!” I thought we were kidding. I was wrong. She kept pestering me, and since the idea had really grown on me as well (I found myself daydreaming for a while thinking about how to make a book about vampires fresh and unique), I started it and it took right off. It was fun!
How long did it take you to write this book?
It only took a month, I think. And that included edits. It just flew out of my brain via my fingers and wouldn’t let me focus on much else until it was all done. And it morphed a few times along the way, which was great.
What do you think makes a good romantic hero?
A romantic hero is a person, first and foremost. He has to be human, with flaws and foibles and emotions like everyone else. I think that’s a big part of it. He has to be someone we believe could actually exist. And there has to be more than looks. Looks are great, but a romantic hero has a soulful connection with his heroine that transcends sex.
What do you prefer – chocolate or vanilla – and why?
If you can believe it, I really don’t like chocolate all that much. I know, gasp! But I love vanilla and to me it’s comfort food. Yummy, fattening comfort food.
If you were one of the five people left after the zombie apocalypse, who would you want the other four to be?
My husband, of course, as he’s been preparing for the zombie apocalypse for a while now, and my three kids, because without them, there’s just no point.
Which character of this book was the easiest to write?
Nexess was pretty fun to write, and I liked letting my sassy side show. I’m normally such a non-meanie that it was awesome to let my self-imposed limitations slide and just write the character the way she should be, and not worry about what people would think about me. It wasn’t about me, if you know what I mean. It was all about my character.
Which was the most difficult?
Antonio, as I don’t speak Italian. But it was fun to learn a bunch of curse words! I have really bad road rage, and I speak a bit of Spanish, French, and Russian, so my kids tell me to have road rage in a foreign language. So now I can add some Italian in the mix!
If you had to sum up advice to a new writer in two sentences, what would you say?
Keep going. It’s going to be hard, and not everyone can do it, but if you really, really want it, don’t give up.
Who is your favorite character of this book, and why?
Nexess, all the way. She’s one tough girl, and I like her edge, the hint of danger inside her. She was fun to write.
What is the one thing you wish an interview would ask you? And what is the answer?
Why do you do it? I guess the answer would be because I have to. I do it for my kids, for my husband, for a chance at a better life. I also do it because it almost feels like breathing. I think it’s who I am, and it feels good to actually discover a truth about myself that was dormant for a long time. I have to do it and I love it, which makes me pretty lucky, I think.
Blood Lust
The Lust Trilogy Book One
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Taylor Street Books
ISBN I1480101567
978-1480101562
Book Description:
The beauty is the beast.
Meet Nexess. She is a vampire and gang leader Antonio’s assassin and slave, whom he keeps in chains for everyone’s protection, and his pleasure, until he needs her to go out and kill for him.
And if she disobeys him, he locks her cold, hungry and alone in a cage to face her demons until she once again bows to his brute force and craves his touch.
Then she meets Jace, a vampire from the rival gang, another killer and, as her body tells her, one she has an irrepressible urge to devour, maybe in love, maybe in war.
It’s going to be a bloodbath. Then again, it already is.
About the Author:
Jessica Degarmo grew up in Upstate New York and now lives with her husband, 
children and dog in rural Pennsylvania. When she is not writing, she is an insurance agent, the lead singer in a classic rock band, and an avid collector of gemstones.
Her publishing credits include:
How to Meet a Guy at the Supermarket (Taylor Street Publishing, November 2010)
Hooking Up (Taylor Street Publishing, May 2011)
Decisions (Silver Publishing, July 2011)
The Storm Within, A Johns Creek Second Chances Novel #1(Taylor Street Publishing, September 2011)
Six Weeks (Taylor Street Publishing, October 2011)
Historically Yours, A Johns Creek Second Chances Novel #2(Taylor Street Publishing, August 2012)
She is currently working on several other projects. Visit Jessica’s website for more information at www.jessicadegarmo.com
http://www.jessicadegarmo.com/p/blood-lust.html
http://www.facebook.com/booksbyjessicadegarmo
November 2, 2012
Mark of the Witch – Jessica Gibson
I’m glad to have Jessica here today. She’s giving away a Kindle 6 inch with wifi retail $69 or Amazon gift card in equivalent amount (winner’s choice).
She’s also written down a playlist that she listens to while writing. Let’s take a look at the list, and then the book. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter below.
Thanks for having me today Carly! Here are some of the songs I listen to a ton while writing. Some are from writing Mark of the Witch, some are from current projects….this is me in playlist form.
Michael Bublé – Haven’t Met You Yet ~ This was my anthem for Jilly and William
Paramore – Misguided Ghosts~ Loved this one
Maroon 5 – Out Of Goodbyes with Lady Antebellum~ Such a good song
Glee Cast – Turning Tables (Glee Cast Version featuring Gwyneth Paltrow) ~The only time I like her lol. This was on repeat while I wrote.
Falling In Reverse – Raised By Wolves~Some good fight scene music
Lady Gaga – You And I~ Love this song about reclaiming past love. Was on heavy rotation.
Michael Bublé – End Of May~ This one I loved for emotional scenes
Paramore – Misery Business – Acoustic Version~ Such a good anthem
Phil Collins – In The Air Tonight~ This one lately has been a good one for me
Ron Pope – One Grain Of Sand~ I just discovered Ron Pope like a month ago…..how have I survived without his music for so long. This song I love.
Andrew Belle – Make It Without You~ This is such an amazing moody song. I like mellow while I write…..especially lately.
The Strange Familiar – Run Away Heart~ Just a beautiful song, think I’ve listened to it like 20 times in a row while writing.
Norah Jones – All A Dream~ This for me is a Norah Jones I had never heard. It’s strangely sexy and definitely moody and broody.
Apocalyptica – Nothing Else Matters – Instrumental Version~ Love this…..listened to it so much while I wrote Mark of the Witch.
Apocalyptica – Fade To Black – Instrumental Version~ This one as well.
Billy Talent – Voices Of Violence~ This I listened to a lot while writing climactic scenes
Blindside – Cute Boring Love~ Another good song for a fight scene or leading up to one….totally what I listen to.
Carrie Underwood – Blown Away~ This is a recent song for me….so bad ass and full of emotion. I have written a few amazing scenes listening to this.
Kelly Clarkson – Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)~ This is Caroline’s anthem!!!
Maroon 5 – Come Away To The Water~ This is so charged with emotion, I couldn’t help but be inspired.
Mark of the Witch
Jessica Gibson
Genre: Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 10: 1475119836
ASIN: B0087GFJ9Q
Number of pages: 192
Word Count: 51,520
Cover Artist: Russ Turner Photography
Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Paperback
Book Description:
Magic flows through Jillian Proctor’s veins as surely as blood, but so far her life outside Boston has been peaceful. William Morgan blows into Jilly’s life like a hurricane, unleashing her magic and sending her out of control.
Unknowingly, William brings an enemy who only wants to posses the power of the witch. Jilly must learn to harness her magic before she loses it – and everything in her life is destroyed.
Excerpt:
William watched her fingers move smoothly through her hair, with an odd expression on his face. Looking up, she found him staring at her, and smiled shyly. She had been so absorbed in telling him the dream that she had forgotten he wasn’t wearing a shirt; now that was all she could think about. She could almost feel the heat coming off of him, and she shifted a little on the bed. The look in his eyes was unmistakable now, and she got up quickly. She had stayed in his room far too long and he was wearing too little clothing for her comfort.
He got up as well and pulled her into his arms, kissing her so fiercely it took her breath away. Her head got a little foggy, and she was enjoying the feeling of his bare skin under her hands and the tiny jolts of electricity running all over her body. The voice in the back of her head telling her to get out was quickly being drowned out by the much louder voice shouting at her to stay.
As though he could hear her mental argument with herself, he pulled away and stepped back a few steps. “You should probably go,” he said in a husky voice. “If you don’t we’ll end up doing something we’ll both regret in the morning, and I don’t want us to end this before it’s even started.” He stepped closer, brushed his thumb across her swollen lips, and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning, Jilly. Sleep well.”
She hadn’t spoken at all; she just nodded her head to whatever he had been saying. She stumbled back to her room and collapsed back into bed, her body melting into the mattress as though all of her bones had gone missing. She slept like the dead until morning.
About the Author:
Jessica lives in California with her husband and young son. She loves to read, and 
that love helped her to branch out into writing. Aside from writing, she runs an online event planning business called the Release Day Diva. In addition to novels, Jessica writes and maintains the blog Book on the Bright Side. Keep up with Jessica and her latest releases and events on her blog.
Impossible Realities – Maureen Caudhill
We’re switching gears here, and I’m happy to welcome Maureen Caudhill and her book, Impossible Realities.
Impossible Realities: The Science Behind Energy Healing, Telepathy, Reincarnation, Precognition, and Other Black Swan Phenomena
By Maureen Caudill
Genre: Non-Fiction/New Age/Paranormal
Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
ISBN: 978-1-57174-663-4
Number of pages: 256
Word Count: 66,377
Cover Artist: Jim Warner
Book Description:
Impossible Realities is the first book to examine the science behind psychic and paranormal activity. A former Defense Department expert on artificial intelligence, Maureen Caudhill provides evidence for a wide range of paranormal phenomena.
Impossible Realities presents a wealth of anecdotal and empirical evidence to prove the existence (and power) of:
psychokinesis (most famously spoon bending)
remote viewing
energy healing
telepathy, animal telepathy
precognition
survival after death
reincarnation
Caudill presents the strongest case yet for bringing paranormal phenomena from the margins into the realm of the normal and credible. This is a book both for true believers and skeptics alike.
Introduction
Black Swans and Other Challenges to Comfortable Reality
Once upon a time . . .
There was a great kingdom that prided itself on being the smartest, the most logical, and the greatest at absolutely everything.
And indeed, the kingdom was rich and powerful and received lots of grant money donated from everyone important. The philosopher-king who ruled this magical land noticed one day that every time he saw a swan, it had white feathers. After consulting with his Truth Committee, he found that every single member agreed: No one had ever seen a swan with anything except white feathers. Thus, a theory was born:
All swans are white.
This theory was duly recorded in the Annals of All Truth for the kingdom. Once thus inscribed, it was added to every textbook in the land, so that all children were thoroughly trained in the principle—one hesitates to say “dogma”—that all swans are white.
One day, a naughty little girl listened to her teacher state that all swans are white. The little girl thought about that, then she stuck her grubby little hand into the air.
“Teacher!”
“What is it, Brunhilda?”
“What if they’re not? I mean, what if all swans aren’t white?”
Horrified by such heresy, the teacher set little Brunhilda to writing “All swans are white for sure” a thousand times. Brunhilda did as required, muttering all the while, “I still don’t believe it.”
Fast-forward decades later. Brunhilda is now out in the wilderness where she hears a swan honking from a pond nearby. Sneaking up on the pond, she peeks through the bushes . . . and sees a black swan!
At that point, she knows that she has toppled orthodoxy.
The point of this story is that if you have a theory that all swans are white, it takes only one confirmed sighting of a black swan to realize that the theory is incorrect.
This is the state of science today. Current scientific orthodoxy holds the theory that psychic phenomena are “impossible.” With this theory held as “truth,” any claims to the contrary are ascribed to hoaxes, frauds, mistakes, delusions, or hallucinations.1
As with the theory that all swans must be white, if any single psychic skill is demonstrated proven, it topples scientific orthodoxy that all psychic phenomena are impossible.
This book is an attempt to topple that scientific orthodoxy.
Please note, Brunhilda did not have to demonstrate that all swans are black, or even that black swans are particularly common. To disprove the theory that all swans are white, she only needed to find a single black swan.
Like many people, and certainly like most people trained in the hard sciences, I, too, grew up believing that all swans are white, that psychics were all jokes, hoaxes, and charlatans— fun entertainment, but with nothing real about them. I studied physics—as hard a science as there is—and spent a career in computer science, focusing primarily on artificial intelligence and neural networks. Things don’t get much more logical and down-to-earth than that.
The problem is, when I started experiencing odd, inexplicable effects, I had to choose from three alternatives. I could dismiss my experiences as self-delusion, trickery, or imagination; I could decide I had lost my mind and tipped over the edge into psychosis; or . . . just maybe . . . I could have found a Black Swan.
Since by most reports people seem to believe I’m a moderately normal, functioning adult, I do not believe I’m psychotic.2 On top of that, my Black Swan hasn’t been a single event, but a bevy of Black Swans. They’ve come one right after another. They’ve come in whole bevies, flocks, herds of Black Swans. Some have come with hard physical proof.
It’s pretty difficult to throw away the amount of data that I’ve accumulated from personal experience. In fact, the experiences are so compelling that I’ve had to completely change my perspective about almost everything I thought I understood as orthodoxy.
With that said, I also recognize that my personal experiences are compelling and convincing to only one person—me. No one else can possibly trust these experiences as meaningful evidence, because they were not generated in formal scientific protocols or under rigorous scrutiny. In fact, the only person who knows exactly what happened and what didn’t happen is me.
I’m like little Brunhilda. I’ve seen my Black Swans and I know that current orthodoxy is wrong. Unfortunately, I also know that just as Brunhilda’s word about what she has seen in that pond isn’t sufficient to convince the philosopher-king to change the Annals of All Truth, my personal experiences, no matter how ardently I protest their veracity, will convince no one else that my Black Swans exist. To accomplish that, I need harder proof. And that hard proof is what this book is about.
In the chapters that follow, I’ll guide you through a handful of the Black Swans I’ve seen. I’ll tell you why I personally believe in these Black Swans, mostly because I’ve personally experienced them. But, recognizing that you’ll need more proof than my personal stories, I’ll also show you that each one of these Black Swans is supported by an extensive array of scientific evidence. In other words, you don’t have to believe my stories. While I hope you enjoy them, and that they enliven your journey, you don’t have to believe a single word I tell you about what happened to me. Instead, I ask you to believe the many scientists who have spent years of their lives and risked their professional careers and reputations to investigate the possibility that not all swans are white.
Over the following chapters, I’m going to invite you to observe eight separate Black Swans. There are other Black Swans out there that I won’t discuss, of course, and to some degree, the ones I’ve chosen to discuss are those that have most intruded on my life. I could have included several more topics, but only at the risk of making this book excessively long and unwieldy. But here’s a sneak peek at the beautiful Black Swans you’ll meet in these pages.
The First Black Swan is psychokinesis, more specifically spoon-bending. I start there because whenever I do a workshop, I nearly always make time for a spoon-bending exercise. People love doing it. (And, yes, in my workshops they don’t watch me bend spoons. I pass out spoons and forks and have the participants do it themselves. It’s way fun.) Furthermore, it’s something people remember; it sets them up for a good time. And . . . well, you’ll read all about it in the next chapter.
The Second Black Swan is remote viewing. This is the skill that the CIA and the military spent more than twenty years developing by supporting a group of “psychic spies.” You may think you know all about that program, and you may think you know that it was “discredited.” If you believe that, I think you may find yourself quite surprised by what the evidence really shows about the effectiveness of remote viewing.
The Third Black Swan is energy healing. This is a Black Swan that surprised the heck out of me when it impinged on my life. As you’ll learn in the stories I share about this particular skill, though I had learned to respect several other psychic skills, when healing showed up in my life I was completely blown away. Happily, there’s a substantial body of evidence that supports psychic healing and, interestingly, the ability of prayer to affect the outcome of health crises.
The Fourth Black Swan is telepathy, and, as a related skill, something I call “telempathy.” The dividing line between these is subtle. I consider telepathy the ability to read another person’s thoughts. Telempathy, a word I coined, is the ability to read another person’s emotions. To me, telempathy is easier to believe in, but as it turns out, the scientific evidence is pretty clear that telepathy works, too.
The Fifth Black Swan is animal telepathy. This Black Swan is near and dear to my heart. Like many of you, I’m a pet owner. Or rather, I should say I am proud to be allowed to share my home with my cat. I grew up with dogs and love them dearly, too, but in recent years I have switched to cats as my companion animals.3 I find animal communication with my cat is both very real and amazing when it happens. In this chapter, you’ll learn that there are some surprising experiments that provide good evidence for the ability of animals to read our minds, at least some of the time. Don’t believe me? Read the chapter.
The Sixth Black Swan is precognition. If you thought it was hard to believe in animals reading your mind, when it comes to looking into the future, you may decide that is even wilder.
But as it happens, there is solid scientific data that demonstrates that we absolutely do have proof that we can look into the future. (I don’t use the word “proof” lightly, by the way.) You might be surprised by this chapter, but I hope you’ll be open-minded enough to read it.
The Seventh Black Swan is survival after death. Yes, that’s right. I’m going to address the question of whether any part of us survives after death. To put this in perspective, I used to be absolutely convinced that there was no chance that anything survived the death experience. As a good little scientific materialist, I was completely convinced that death meant the cessation of everything. No heaven, no hell, no ghosts, no nothing. Death merely meant you just . . . stopped. I tell you some part of what has changed my mind about this, and then I review the solid scientific evidence that demonstrates that some part of us—a spirit, a soul, something—survives death.
The Eighth Black Swan is reincarnation. Yes, that’s what I said. Reincarnation. By that I mean exactly what you think I mean: the whole prospect of having more than one life. In this chapter we take a look at cases where children remember lives they’ve lived before, and we consider how credible these cases may be. This again is a topic that once would have surprised me. Fifteen years ago I would never have imagined myself writing anything in support of reincarnation—that was simply far too strange for me. As it turns out, however, when I measure the outrageousness of the concept today, it’s . . . not so much.
After considering each of these eight Black Swans, I recap what we’ve learned in chapter 9. I summarize the evidence presented and offer my own generalizations for what they imply about how psychic phenomena operate. No, I don’t present a theory that attempts to explain how they work—I leave that to the professional physicists and theoreticians like Ervin Laszlo and Amit Goswami, who are working on such theories. These and other very smart men and women will no doubt eventually succeed and lead us into a better understanding of how the universe really works.
In the chapters ahead I have had to winnow through the available evidence. There are dozens and dozens of papers in each of these subjects that, for lack of room, I have had to leave out. I tried to find interesting, solid research projects, and wherever possible, I looked for experiments that maybe haven’t been publicized as much as others. A glance at the reading list will show you that there is far more research out there than I have discussed, or could discuss in less than a one-thousand-page tome. With occasional exceptions, I limited my list of papers to only those published in the past ten years or so.
Because most people don’t have access to the libraries where most of these academic papers can be found, however, I have also included a Recommended Books list. These are books that are favorites on my personal bookshelf, and all of them should be available in regular bookstores or libraries. All are well written and good reading.
Finally, experience has proved to me that many people who read a book like this will want to explore their psychic abilities for themselves. (And, yes, you do have psychic skills, even if you’ve never experienced them so far. If I can do these things, so can you.) Thus, I’ve provided some interesting resources that you can follow up on if you like.
Most of all, though, I hope you find this book fun and entertaining as well as informative. Although I take the subject seriously, the last thing in the world I want to do is bore you into submission. Instead, I hope you’ll be entertained, enlightened, and set free to go discover your very own Black Swans. Reading about other people’s experiences won’t convince you of anything.
About the Author:
Maureen Caudill spent more than twenty years as a computer scientist, fifteen of 
those as a researcher in artificial intelligence and neural networks. She was a program manager and Artificial Intelligence researcher working on such advanced projects as DARPA (“High Performance Knowledge Base” program) and ARDA (“Advanced Question Answering for Intelligence” program).
Website: http://www.maureencaudill.com/index.htm
Blog: http://scienceofpsychicphenomena.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MaureenCaudillAuthor
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/63686.Maureen_Caudill
