Christina Bauer's Blog, page 81
October 18, 2014
Scala and Armageddon Coming in Paperback — get your FREE signed bookplate!
Huzzah!
The guy in the white shirt, front row, far right, sells the shit out of this happy flashmob.
Now…Get your free signed bookplate!
As a thank-you to all the readers who’ve been waiting for paperback, we’re offering free signed bookplates to up to 25 readers who request one by November 30th, 2014. Yeah, we’ll send them internationally, too! This offer is limited to the first 25 requests or November 30th, whichever comes first. One bookplate per household.
To request your free bookplate, please email inky@inkmonster.net today!
A sample signed bookplate!
Isn’t about time you got something free? Well, we think it is!
The post Scala and Armageddon Coming in Paperback — get your FREE signed bookplate! appeared first on Ink Monster.
October 14, 2014
Ink Monster Launches 3 New Books Ranked in Retailer’s Top 25!
# # #
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ink Monster Launches 3 New Books Ranked in Retailer’s Top 25!
NEWTON, Mass. – October 14, 2014 - Ink Monster LLC, publisher of new adult romance books in genres of sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance, today announced the release of three new titles:
Alpha Divided, Book 3 in the Alpha Girls series at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Armageddon, Book 3 in the Angelbound series at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Cipher, Prequel 1 in the Shadow Ravens series at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
“We’re thrilled with the reader response to these titles,” says Aileen Latcham, Editorial Monster. “As of release day, Alpha Divided is already second on Amazon’s Dark Fantasy ranking, while Armageddon is 18th on the same list. Cipher ranks 25th on Amazon’s Science Fiction list. In addition, all three books are top 25 sellers at iBooks as well. We couldn’t be happier!”
At Ink Monster, each book series includes a minimum of three titles across a regular schedule of release dates. The next installments of the Angelbound and Alpha Girls series are due for release on May 12, 2015. For Angelbound, the next book in the series will be Maxon while the next Alpha Girls release is Bruja. Also scheduled for release on October 13, 2015 is Quanta, the second installment of Ink Monster’s new super heroine series called the Shadow Ravens. More details on Ink Monster’s unique publishing approach may be found in the company’s manifesto. Additional information on each title is listed below.
To find out more, visit www.InkMonster.net. To sign up for the company’s newsletter, please complete the form here.
About Alpha Divided by Aileen Erin
Life has been crazy since Tessa McCaide moved to Texas. She’s gone from being a normal-ish girl with visions to a super-powered werewolf. She’s fought off vampires and broken a nearly unbreakable curse. And she’s got a hot mate, Dastien Laurent, to keep her busy.
Things are looking up until the full moon ceremony rolls around. Before Tessa can strengthen her bond with Dastien, the local coven crashes the gates, demanding that Tessa—their heir apparent—be returned. If the pack wants to avoid a war with the witches, handing Tessa over is the only option.
Tessa doesn’t want to cause an all-out fight, but joining a dark-magic coven isn’t on her to-do list, especially if embracing her magic side means parting with Dastien. When the coven leader tries to control Tessa with dark-magic, Tessa realizes she has to dismantle the coven or prepare the pack for war. Either choice will change her life—and her world—forever.
About Armageddon by Christina Bauer
Five years have passed since Myla Lewis last fought gladiator-style in Purgatory’s Arena. Now, she’s fighting again, only this time in Hell. And the stakes have never been higher. The King of Hell, Armageddon, has kidnapped Myla and Lincoln’s young son, Maxon.
In the wake of Maxon’s abduction, all the after-realms calling for war, and no one shouts louder than Lincoln. Myla knows that a war against Hell will cost millions of lives, so she devises her own plan, involving a small attack team and a secret entrance to Hell. Will Myla save Maxon, or will her child and all the after-realms fall to Armageddon?
About Cipher by Aileen Erin
In the not-too-distant future, the color of your helix tattoo shows exactly how your DNA was modified—green for super-smart scientists, black for pumped-up warriors, white for the immortal Seligo—but Cipher’s red helix is a death sentence. It’s a sign of unstable DNA, which is probably the reason she can manipulate electricity.
When she was eight years old, Cipher made the mistake of showing her uncle the tattoo. In return, he killed her parents and tried to kidnap her. She’s been on the run ever since, and twelve long years later, Cipher is tired of hiding. Survival isn’t enough anymore. She wants her life back.
Hacking into the Citadel mainframe is a huge risk, but it pays off when she finds a database on red helixes. Before she can copy it, she loses control of her power, charring her last processor, and the only person in the Arizona Voids that can get her back online is her oldest friend, Knightly. She hasn’t seen him in person since she started running, and Knightly 2.0 is fully upgraded with a six-pack and knee-melting smile.
For a girl like Cipher, trust doesn’t come easily, but Knightly makes her yearn for a life she knows she can’t have, especially when every secret she reveals endangers them both.
About Ink Monster
Ink Monster LLC publishes new adult romance books in the genres of sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance. The Company follows a studio model with teams of authors developing story-worlds under the umbrella of Ink Monster intellectual property. Ink Monster’s first two books, Angelbound and Becoming Alpha, launch on December 17, 2013. For more information, visit www.InkMonster.net.
###Copyright © 2014 Ink Monster LLC. All Rights Reserved. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
Media Inquiries: PR@inkmonster.net
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October 8, 2014
My Archangel Scrapbook
To begin with, here’s some info on the archangels of the after-realms. There are nine in total. Seven of the nine personify one of the graces. What are graces, you ask? Good question. They are the opposites of the deadly sins. For example, the deadly sin of wrath is balanced by the grace of patience.
Now, that takes care of seven archangels. There is also an eighth archangel for the combined graces of wrath and lust, which are also the combined powers of the Furor. This eighth archangel offsets lust and wrath by personifying the graces of justified vengeance and abstinence…And one guess who that archangel is? Xavier. He’s also their General, leading them into war.
SPOILER ALERT: This is why Xavier had little interest in women until he met Camilla and discovered he had a little bit of the grace of love in there with abstinence. He should have expected a part-Furor woman to ignite something in him–she is his opposite after all! Here’s an inspiration pic of Xavier:
Yeah, Xavier’s a hottie.
The archangel who personifies the grace of love is Aquila. She married at least twice (once to a thrax and once to a ghoul) so she’s a lover, sure, but she’s also a strong warrior. As Aquila puts it, the opposite of love is indifference, not war. Since she spends a lot of her free time as a badass fighter, she’s a close friend to Xavier. In terms of her husbands, she founded the House of Rixa with Ryder, a thrax Prince. Her ghoul husband ELI was a genius architect and built the lands of Rixa as a love note to her (by that time Ryder was dead and she was bumming out. She got consoled right into another marriage!) Here’s an inspiration pic for her:
Aquila the badass archangel.
The final archangel is Lucifer, who was originally their King. He turned out to be nuts, so all the archangels banded together and stuck him in jail, where he’s been slowly plotting his escape ever since (oops, did I say that out loud?) When he was shut away, Verus took his place as the Queen of the Angels. She’s not an archangel, but she is an oracle, so nyah. Here’s an inspiration pic for Lucifer:
Lucifer, a prickly fellow.
The other archangels are a multi-culti lot. I keep trying to trump up reasons for them to show up in a book, but the most I’ve been able to manage is to have them walk through a scene. Ah well, there is time. Here are some of the inspiration pics for the other six archangels:
Hope you enjoyed some of the backstory for Angelbound which I haven’t (yet) found room to squeeze in. Like this stuff? There’s more…
More in this series, yeah!
Prince Lincoln
More Prince Lincoln featuring kissing
Xavier
Myla
Reperio Demons
The Furor
Ghouls
Maxon All Growed Up
Igni
You can see tons more Angelbound inspirations at my Pinterest Board. Like honestly, I have a problem.
The post My Archangel Scrapbook appeared first on Ink Monster.
September 30, 2014
On Writing… Voice
1. Rhythm
Shakespeare wrote in iambic pentameter, which seems like an amazing feat until you consider that he didn’t even have cable, so what else was there to do? Still, he dropped the hidden rhythm when he was writing lower class folks. Someone with less education wouldn’t have that subtle, sweet beat to their voice. Clever move, dude.
At least he didn’t go for a comb over.
2. Vocabulary
Shakespeare made up phrases all the time. Catch a cold? That was him. Knock, knock? Also thanks to the bard. Getting into a character’s head means coming face-to-face with the fact that language is limited. To really capture how someone thinks, you often have to make up words or phrases. As a result, I love when a character has their own mini-vocabulary based on their history or lifestyle. Sure, you can pick out a cowboy in less than 50 words, but how about someone from a sorority versus a soccer team? Or both? So many things in our backstory affect our language in unexpected ways, which is fascinating stuff, IMHO.
Shakespeare loved language, and it was mutual.
3. Mood
Who was more of a depressive loser than Hamlet? Hard to think of anyone, really. I mean, dude, your dead Dad tells you to avenge him and you have to confirm it with a fake play? Most of us would pee our pants and then go do whatever the fuck our dead relative ordered. Hamlet’s sad state permeates his language. Example: “To be or not to be? That is the question.” No, the question is how soon are you going to do what your dead Dad asked you to, asshole? But when we’re depressed, it affects everything and that’s the power of voice. Here’s a great pic of Sir Laurence hugging a skull to illustrate this point:
Sad, sad, Sir Laurence.
So, there you have it. Three lessons on voice from the dead bard himself. Now, I’ll close with my two cents on one of the classic Shakespeare questions of all time: was this guy really a royal masquerading as a nobody in his spare time?
Ah, no.
I think Shakespeare was someone obsessed with royalty, sure, but to get this close to language and voice means you really aren’t doing a whole hell of a lot of anything else in your spare time. You pretty much have to be a nobody. Again, my two cents.
Now, do you like how I blah-blah-blah about writing? Be sure to check out…
My ultimate enemy
Why it’s OK to suck
Kickass worldbuilding articles
Writing action scenes
Writing softer scenes
Best freaking writing set-up
Everything I know about writing I learned from Liz Lemon
On bad reviews
The post On Writing… Voice appeared first on Ink Monster.
September 22, 2014
Book Review: DOMINIC by L.A. Casey
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September 16, 2014
Romance Novel Dudes: Are you doomed to the friend zone?
This week, I’d like to share some insights on the so-called friend zone. Suppose you’re a character in a romance novel. You’re interested in the spunky-n-hot heroine, but there’s another dude vying for her affection. Unfortunately, at this point, you’re only her buddy. Bad news, dude. If you fit the following profile, you are going to stay in that friend zone forever…
In a romance novel, the Friend Zone tends to be populated with guys who are:
Blonde and nice…kiss of DEATH, amigo!
On the football team (Exception: if you are a dick and on the football team, you get a free pass out of the zone.)
When you kiss your chick, she’s planning her grocery shopping list versus crawling all over you
It doesn’t occur to you to tuck strands of hair behind your lady’s ear. For some reason, the dudes who get some lovin’ also have an unavoidable hair-tucking habit.
You don’t press your woman against walls and frame her with your arms. Again, this is classic love interest behavior that doesn’t occur to you for some reason. Big miss!
You don’t have a strong smell. True love interests have a yummy, strong scent, like musk or spices. Maybe you shower too much? Something to consider.
So, there you have it: the classic warning signs for the romance novel friend zone. Sound too familiar? If so, time to develop those hair-tucking and wall-framing skills!
Like my fake advice to imaginary novel characters? Check out these posts below:
5 Signs You’re an Alpha Male
4 Signs You’re a Beta Male
My Favorite Romantic Hero: The Gamma Guy
3 Signs Your Paranormal Girlfriend Will Dump You
3 Ways to Tell That You’re a Paranormal Heroine
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September 9, 2014
September 4, 2014
Thoughts on…The First Chakra, The Base
BACKGROUND: Most of my knowledge of chakras comes from a series of lectures on the Tibetan chakra system by Joseph Campbell, mythology expect and author of a Hero with a Thousand Faces. In my early twenties, I obsessively listened to everything he had on this topic. As in, until the cassette tapes warped because I listened so much. The recordings went out of circulation for a while, and are now available again for audio streaming on Amazon. Yay!
CAVEAT: Campbell was a brilliant scholar, but you couldn’t exactly call him a trailblazer in terms of feminism or Judeo-Christian relations. It doesn’t feel right to celebrate the positive sides of his work without acknowledging his less-attractive attributes. So, consider them acknowledged.
Okay, back to Chakras. The first Chakra is called the Base, and its energy comes from the base of your spine. The base is an animal level of spirituality, and there’s nothing wrong with that. At any chakra, you can find enlightenment (which to me is defined as a profound sense of peace.) There’s also a whole school of thought about activating your chakra through physical movement (yoga), but I know dick about that, so I’m not going to talk about it.
At a Base level, spirituality is a relationship with your Almighty in exchange for survival, or as Campbell put it, for ‘health, wealth and progeny.’ Learning about the first Chakra freaked me out. I realized that (for me anyway) I’d seen the spiritual plane as a kind of cosmic catalog where I stored up credits in form of good deeds and then cashed them in for health, wealth and progeny. I was stumped. Was there anything more to the whole spiritual journey thing than giving and getting? I couldn’t even imagine what it could be.
Well, fortunately for me, there were a shit-ton more chakras that I could learn about. Go me! Next up: the sexuality chakra, woo hoo!
Coming Soon: Chakra Two
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September 3, 2014
Angelbound is FREE for a limited time! Woo hoo!
Here’s everything you need to know:
WHAT: Angelbound is absolutely free on ebook versions
WHEN: The offer expires September 20, 2014
WHY: To celebrate the upcoming releases of Books three in the series, namely Angelbound: Armageddon
WHERE: Angelbound is free on Amazon, B&N, iTunes and Kobo
Please help me share the great news! Free is awesome!
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