Lily Bishop's Blog, page 11

July 25, 2013

Blogger Book Fair: Meet Victoria Pinder Writing as Greta Buckle

Mything You, by Greta Buckle


Victoria Pinder writes as Greta Buckle, and she joins us today to talk about her book, Mything You. For something different, she decided to have her main character, Ari write this post.


“I heard you talked to Theseus, yesterday, Greta.” Ari sat serenely holding a glass with a jasmine flower and hot steaming water. She motioned for her to sit, and Greta pulled her laptop tight on her legs. Ari shrugged, put her feet on the chair opposite her. “I’ve had an achy back all morning, and can’t shake it. What is it that you want to ask me?”


Greta remembered she always liked how direct Ari could be. “I’m doing a book blog for people to want to read your story, Mything You.”


“My story with Theseus?” Ari leaned across the table. “Tell them it was an adventure of a lifetime, and I’d be dead if he hadn’t saved me.”


“You saved him from Medea and shot a few arrows in there yourself, Ari.”


“A threw a rocks at precise male targets in order to help Theseus. Until that day on the cliff, I never knew heroes were real.”


“Do you ever think I left something out in your story, Ari?” Greta decided to ask.


“Did you have to be so graphic on my flaws?” Ari relaxed backwards in her chair. “I’d have liked to sound…err…stately.”


Greta’s head rolled back onto her chair in laughter. “Ari, we both know you decided on your life, and dictated to me, how you wanted.”


“True.” Ari quirked a smile. “What shall we talk about then Greta? You know I’m wanting to find my friends and sister true love?”


“Phaedra’s not speaking to me, not yet. Give me time. She might never talk to me.” Greta stated, holding back that someone Ari spoke about is speaking. “Anyhow, I’m here to talk to you about something in your life that happened before you met Theseus?”


“In the women’s quarters of my father’s royal palace, I had every luxury, except parents who care. My future children will have both a loving mother and father.”


The thumbs up sign went up, though Ari thought the writer strange. Greta refocused, “Any adventure, at all?”


“When Daedaleus came to my father’s home for a few months to do some construction, he had this flying contraption.”


“The one his son died from?” Ari flying cannot be true.


“No, it was a rectangular fabric material tied to a string, but it flew to where the birds live.”


“Life wasn’t that thrilling before now?”


“I had no one to talk to, no friends, no real family and most important, no Theseus. Life began the day I followed him.” Ari bite into an apple, confirming her love.


Greta understood that a red apple given to a woman by a man meant in Ari’s world, a declaration of love. Assuming Theseus left Ari the apple, again, like he did in Mything You, Greta backed up and closed her laptop.


_____________________________________


Mything You is an Indie release through CreateSpace.  It’s considered a Fantasy Romance, and it contains elements of action, adventure, and comedy. The heat level is steamy, and the length is 258 pages.


Available at:


Amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/Mything-You-Heroes-Greta-Buckle/dp/1479156671/


Blurb:MythingYou_200x300


He wasn’t looking for love. He only wanted to prove he was worthy of being a king’s son.


Adventurer Theseus had dreamed of meeting his father, King Aegeus. As Theseus journeys to Athens, he meets his match in strength along the way. But is it the will of a beautiful young princess that puts this strong young man finally at his mercy? Or will he be able to conquer the princess’s heart?


She had settled for a life of unhappiness and believed a man who would love her for herself was only in her dreams.


Princess Ari has followed her father’s dictates all her life. On her way to meet her bridegroom, she is attacked. Saved by a handsome adventurer, Theseus, she tempts fate and follows him on his journey to Athens. Being with Theseus opens up a whole new world of opportunity for her. But will she allow her heart or loyal duty choose her life for her?


 Excerpt:


Theseus’ entire body must have been made in the nectar of desire because she wished to bury herself in his arms. And he didn’t stop her from running to him. She jumped when a crash cracked through the air. Blinking, unsure of what happened, her body became rigid. Theseus pulled her into his arms and onto the ground seconds before the giant flew over the pair of them.


He took his hand off her head. He had protected her. Again.


Staring up at him stirred something unique inside her that she never believed could happen to her. She’d seen the plays and the tragedy that love caused, but never understood temptation. The fire in her belly burned into every part of her body from his smoldering eyes. He looked down at her as he cradled her in his arms. “That was Sinus. I don’t think he’ll kill anyone else ever again.”


“He won’t. How do you know his name?”


“He’s the reason I chose this path when I was fifteen. I had planned to prove my courage to my father, and take out the biggest villain on the road.”


“Check that off the list of goals then.” she said. “Good job.”


She continued to embrace Theseus, making her body tingle from crazy stirrings. What would he taste like? She’d die a happy death if he put his lips on hers. My, what was she thinking?


“I never believed you’d be here, or that my goal in that moment would turn to protecting you.” he said, pulling her closer.


She shook off her desires. She needed to let him go. She focused on logic instead of the male body in front of her. “I don’t know what to say. Today has been the craziest day.”


“It’s the middle of the night, little one.”


“You’re right. I don’t know what’s happening to me anymore. Theseus, this never happens to me.”


“What doesn’t happen to you?” he asked, smiling.


“I don’t know.”


He played with her hair, and straightened her clothes. “Your innocence and desire are a siren’s call to me, Ari, and you don’t have a clue, do you?”


“Who’s Ari?” She half expected to be disappointed with whatever he would say.


“You are. It fits you much better than Ariadne. Ari trembles for me.”


She licked her lips, wanting to kiss him. But she couldn’t. Theseus embodied a man out of her dreams.


She looked away thinking of what waited for her when her father’s men found her. “I don’t know my bridegroom. I’ve only ever known my duty.”


Theseus’ body tensed. “You’re betrothed?”


“I never agreed. The bride price, I’m told, paid for my father’s upgrade to the artillery. In the morning or someday soon, I’ll be found. But…can you do me one last favor?”


“What, little one?” His arms grew warm again, tightening around her. She dared for a different life, where she lived with a chance of walking next to him in life. Letting him go and going back to the life her father chose sounded cold and dreary. She couldn’t, not yet.


“Kiss me, Theseus, just once.”


Taking a step closer to him, she looked into his mesmerizing eyes. His strong hands framed her face, his fingers circled her mouth and his eyes darkened with tenderness. When he leaned into her, her eyelids fluttered shut. His light pressure sweetly opened her mouth.


Her secret wish had come true. The prison walls in Ariadne’s heart disappeared in her soul, and today Ari’s lips ached.


He bent his head close. Then, she felt his strong lips on hers, and she lost control.


About the Author:


Victoria Pinder writing as Greta Buckle grew up in Irish Catholic Boston before moving to the Miami sun. She’s worked in engineering, then became a lawyer. After realizing she hates clients, she became a high school teacher. Teaching is fun, but writing is a passion. She wrote one hundred and one fan fiction stories online before deciding to transition into writing her own stories. Never ask her to republish her fan stories from age eleven- horribly written stories of princesses. Victoria dreams of writing professionally, where her barista can make her coffee and a walk on the beach, can motivate her tales. Theseus story came to her when she was a freshman in high school as her English teacher, the nun, told her how life was hard and tragedy teaches lessons. In 2013, she stopped indy publishing because she sold four novels to small presses and she’s super happy about this. Victoria’s love of writing has kept her centered and focused. How is she crazy? The voices in her head are characters in novels and she’s not insane.


 Visit Victoria Pinder online at:


http://www.victoriapinder.com


Facebook


Twitter


As a bonus, she is giving away a paperback version of Mything You and a $5 Amazon gift card… She has reduced the price of Mything You to 99 cents. Check out the link below for the giveaway.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


______________


Victoria would love your comments below. Remember, by commenting you can enter into the drawing for one Amazon $10 gift card that I will give away at the end of the week. Maximum of one entry per day per reader. If you don’t want to comment on this entry, you can also can submit the feedback form asking you how you find books to purchase. The link to the feedback form is:


http://lilybishop.com/2013/07/22/amazon_giveaway-july-2013/



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Published on July 25, 2013 09:00

Blogger Book Fair Characters and their Careers: Lindsey Gray

Redemption by Lindsey Gray

Lindsey Gray is joining us today to talk about her novel, Redemption, to tell us about her main character, Lily Edwards.


Character: Lily Edwards Lindsey_Gray_Cover003


Education: Several bachelor’s degrees as well as a master’s degree in chemistry.


Current Occupation: Executive with The Manchester Group


The Manchester Group is a global corporation that on the surface looks to be a successful financial conglomerate. Once inside the buildings of glass and steel, the outside interpretations are extinguished. Established in the early 1900’s, The Manchester Group is a collective of fallen angels, reformed demons, and vampires.


Lily Edwards, the only female vampire in existence, has been a high level executive for The Manchester Group since the early 1920’s. On any given day, she would comb the streets of Boston for demons and creatures that were consumed by evil. At least she did, until recently.


After a glimpse of romance with a human, Lily has left Boston for life in Iceland. That decision sent the people who love her on a collision course with evil. Along with Lily, members of The Manchester Group ban together to fight the mysterious man who holds her loved ones lives in his hands. Lily’s existence hangs in the balance as the steps she takes could end it all.


Sound like a place you’d like to work? No? Maybe you can just read about Lily and her journey in Redemption.


Summary


Lily is one of only three vampires in known existence. After falling in love with a human, sexy and talented musician Ian, she realizes their love is putting him in mortal danger. She flees from her life in Boston to the solace of her frozen wasteland.


As her past continues to haunt her, Ian seeks out the only family Lily has ever known. Becca introduces Ian to a world he never thought possible as they embark on a search for Lily, starting in the bowels of a mysterious company called The Manchester Group.


Will Ian and Becca find her? Or will the reemergence of a long lost love take a hold of their future?


Revisited (The Redemption Series, Book 2) is also available.


Purchase Links:


Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Redemption-ebook/dp/B0052TT1DG/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1373563659&sr=1-1


Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Redemption-ebook/dp/B0052TT1DG/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1373564156&sr=1-2


Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/redemption-lindsey-gray/1106018896?ean=9781612130385&itm=1&usri=lindsey+gray


iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/redemption/id440627495?mt=11


Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Redemption/book-sHWSJriJ8kyyPzSMCuKNSw/page1.html?s=spl-USzEZUGj1qwJ259RvA&r=4


The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House: http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/books/detail/24


Author Bio:  Lindsey_Gray_Small


Lindsey Gray dreamed of being several different things as a child such as a doctor, an actress, and a chef, but none held her attention like putting pen to paper and creating her own world through words. She has written three full-length novels and one short story for The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House and has taken the self-publishing leap with her novella, “Fireworks”.


A mid-west native, Lindsey enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, reading almost anything she can get her hands on, and making life interesting at each and every turn.


 Author Links:


Blog: http://lindsey-gray.blogspot.com/


Facebook: https://facebook.com/LindseyGray11


Twitter: https://twitter.com/LindseyGray11


Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Lindsey-Gray/e/B004MSX224/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1


The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House: http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/authors/detail/9


_____________


Lindsey, thank you for stopping by.


Follow our other career posts in this series: Here is the schedule.


Lindsey was also visiting us earlier in the week. Check out her post on Lies Inside here.


Lindsey would love your comments below. Remember, by commenting you can enter into the drawing for one Amazon $10 gift card that I will give away at the end of the week. Maximum of one entry per day per reader. If you don’t want to comment on this entry, you can also can submit the feedback form asking you how you find books to purchase. The link to the feedback form is:


http://lilybishop.com/2013/07/22/amazon_giveaway-july-2013/



Filed under: Blogger Book fair, Blogger Career Fair, Guest Authors Tagged: Blogger Book Fair
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Published on July 25, 2013 09:00

Blogger Book Fair Characters and their Careers: Dawn Chandler

Dark Lady, by Dawn Chandler

Dawn Chandler is joining us today to talk about her novel, Dark Lady, published by Black Opal Books.


Dawn’s book is historical fiction, and we often don’t think about historical novels in those terms. Let’s hear what she has to say.


Q.  Describe your female lead’s career and experience.Chandler_Front Cover


Van is a housewife in 12th century England. It is not a position that she asked for and the change does not sit well with her. She is in charge of running the castle and the grounds, but it is supposed to be more of an honorary title, like most women have in medieval England at that era. She decided to take over the management in a more active capacity than her husband expects and it causes strife within the household.


Q.  Describe your male lead’s career and experience.


Peter is the king’s champion. He is a swordsman and a knight. In his position he is the epitome of manhood. He believes himself in charge of Van and all his surroundings. Van though has other ideas. He also teaches pages and squires to become warriors. These students live in the barracks of Peter’s castle where he runs his school.


Q. Do either of your lead characters desire a career different than the one they want?


Van does not want to be a housewife, she wants to be a knight. Like she has always been. She has excelled in being a dangerous knight, and it is the only life she has ever known.  She is loath to let that part of her life go. As a wife she struggles to become the woman that society, and her new husband, expects her to be. She fights to fit into her new position, but her biggest obstacle is keeping one step ahead of her enemies. If they find out she is truly a woman, than she could lose everything she holds dear to her, including her life.


Q. Would you characterize your story as an office romance? Why or why not?


Yes, I suppose in a way it is an office romance. Though Peter does not know it, Van had been a page in the castle and a squire in Peter’s army. So while the story is happening it is not an office romance, but they did work together in the past.


Q. Did you use any personal experiences when building this career theme? Explain.


I had never thought about it before, but I believe I did. I have never fit into the girly role that I believe society expects me to have as a female. If I had been born in Van’s time period I would have fought as hard as I could for rights. I have never fit into the mold that society wanted, even when I was younger. I read too much, I learned to much and I loved to play football with the boys. I was more of a tomboy than I was anything else and I think to an extent I applied those feelings to this story, though I would never behead someone.


 Excerpt from The Dark Lady – Chapter One


He sucked in a breath and jerked his eyes open as pressure was put onto the wound. The boy looked over his shoulder at Richard. “Go get the doctor. If he does not want to come, and come now, you have my permission to get him here at your enjoyment.” The voice came out in a growl, an order too full of self-assurance to come from a mere page. No, he was a squire, no doubt. The kid had battle under his belt. Instinct and experience told Peter that the trick with the monster of a warrior who had almost killed him was just the beginning of his cunning.


Peter closed his eyes and his breathing became shallow. Numbness was beginning to overtake his mind. His thoughts were getting slower. He could feel it. He tried to concentrate on the boy’s voice above him, but his mind felt heavy and sluggish.


The voice that had been gravelly and deep at first had changed—softened, like a gentle breeze across his heart. He was confused at his thoughts. His mind was hazy. Delirium was obviously setting in. A groan slipped from beneath his numb lips.


The sweet, concerned voice caressed him, washing over him like a warm caress. “Are you with me? Can you focus on my face? Come on, talk to me. Open your eyes. I need to know you are going to be all right.” The gentle voice was like a melody to his war-ravaged ears, a loving voice that brought forth images of that life his father had spoken of. Of children to hold and to love, not just some faceless heir to be his future, but a child to be his life.


He opened his eyes to the young boy’s blurry face. The light from the fire pierced into him, cutting through him like a dagger. He shut his eyes again with a moan.


“Come on, focus. You are going to be all right.” There was fear in that soft voice that told him he was cared for. That he was needed. “Look me in the eye.” The worry that he heard enveloped him in warmth in a way no fire ever could. He could almost picture the mother of those children who would hold him at night when he was cold, as he was now. She would be beautiful, dark, and exotic.


When he opened his eyes once again the boy was gone and in his place was the beautiful, yet blurry, face of a girl. “Are you all right?” she asked sweetly as she leaned close to him.


“I am here with you.” Concern filled him as he spotted the large gash on her cheek, oddly in the same spot as the lad’s injury. He shook his head to clear it. Confusion swirled through his weary mind. Peter lifted his hand and ran his fingers along the uninjured cheekbone as blood dripped onto his injured shoulder. “Your face. You are hurt. You must have it looked at.”


The face swirled in and out of focus and the boy was there once again. Peter closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. “I will. You first, I can wait,” the soft voice told him.


When Peter opened his eyes once again, she was smiling down at him. Her face was still blurred, but he knew it was her from her melodious voice.


“You have such dark eyes, almost black. One could get lost in them.” Peter continued to stroke the smooth cheek above him, sliding trembling fingers down the warm and inviting skin gently cupping the soft and shapely chin before starting again. He squinted in an effort to keep the world focused as he looked deeply into those black eyes and thought of his future. “You are so beautiful.”


Full lips parted in a sweet tinkling laugh, like water rippling over stones. “I will forgive you that since you have lost so much blood. Your thoughts must be scrambled and your vision faulty.” A wide, beautiful smile took the sting from the words.


A deep trembling breath caused the world to shimmer and the image of the boy was once again before him.


Peter pulled his hand away in confusion. “Quite. I have lost a great amount.” His arm dropped as darkness swallowed him.


Meet Dawn ChandlerDawn_Chandler_Small


Dawn Chandler was born in Coffeyville, Kansas but doesn’t remember much about it. Though she recently had the opportunity to visit there with her husband, and she very much enjoyed the Dalton Museum. She always thought she should have been born in the Wild West. She moved to Idaho when she was 6 and grew up on Murtaugh Lake, where her father was the dam keeper and the ditch rider. She spent her days in the lake, swimming, catching fish and tadpoles, from sunup to sundown most days. Not hard to imagine that her first full length novel was about a mermaid. At nights she would spend her time watching football with her dad or cooking with her mom. In 8th grade she had a teacher, Mrs. Smith, who wanted her to publish one of her short stories.


Looking back on it she says she should have done so. If she had, she would have been an author before now, but she was not ready to be published back then. When she first started writing in class she hated it. She had to write their way and only their way—in the correct process, outline, rough draft, and so on. Chandler has learned in the progressing years that she is a seat-of-the-pants author, but in the beginning she just thought that writing was not for her. She could not, no matter how she tried, get the outline done. She could not sit and sketch out a whole story from beginning to end. She found quickly that if she just sat and wrote, she could get the first draft out without a problem, but the teachers didn’t want her to do it that way. She really began to love writing when she met Mrs. Smith and she told Chandler that she could write it in whichever order she wanted. She understood her as a writer and didn’t push her to be something she wasn’t. She has been writing ever since.


Dawn is grateful to have the support of her husband and children. Together they have 7, Charles, Cynthia, Kara, Mary, Tina, Pam, and Richie. She loves them all dearly and is happy to have them in her life. Now that her kids are all grown up, she likes to spend time on the semi-truck with my husband, Rod, seeing the country. She loves visiting all the small towns and is grateful to all the nice people she has met. She enjoys swimming, camping, four wheeling with her 4 X 4 group, spending time with family and friends, hiking, writing (of course), drawing, painting, reading (a vastly wide list of authors, her favorite though is Stephen King), and she loves taking pictures as she travels the countryside (if she is lucky and they are not in a big hurry and can even stop to take them). Today she is busily writing her novels. The Dark Lady, was released in 2013, through Black Opal Books, The Infamous A.H. to follow shortly (fingers crossed), and about 50 more started in the computer that will be released as time and her muse allows.


Buy Links


Amazon:


Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/The-Dark-Lady-ebook/dp/B00CYPPFV8/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1369439033&sr=8-16&keywords=dawn+chandler


Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/The-Dark-Lady-Dawn-Chandler/dp/1626940134/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1369439033&sr=8-16


Black Opal Books:

http://www.blackopalbooks.com/component/mijoshop/product/94-the-dark-lady


B&N:


Nook book: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dark-lady-dawn-chandler/1115391002?ean=2940016703268


Paperback: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dark-lady-dawn-chandler/1115391002?ean=9781626940130


ARe:

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thedarklady-1215902-161.html


KOBO:

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Dark-Lady/book- aehh5S6yNkSYlYVwIqB08g/page1.html?s=IkAM9k39o0u9noIOGbS00w&r=2


Smashwords:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/317972


Books a Million:

http://www.booksamillion.com/search?id=5695145874945&query=The+Dark+Lady+by+Dawn+Chandler&where=All&search.x=37&search.y=28


_____________


Dawn, thank you for stopping by. Dawn would love your comments below.


Follow our other career posts in this series: Here is the schedule.


Remember, by commenting you can enter into the drawing for one Amazon $10 gift card that I will give away at the end of the week. Maximum of one entry per day per reader. If you don’t want to comment on this entry, you can also can submit the feedback form asking you how you find books to purchase. The link to the feedback form is:


http://lilybishop.com/2013/07/22/amazon_giveaway-july-2013/



Filed under: Blogger Book fair, Blogger Career Fair, Guest Authors Tagged: Blogger Book Fair
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Published on July 25, 2013 05:00