Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 154

Hmmm…which one isn't right?

Time to have fun…

One is wrong.  Which one.  (Yes, she's going to kill me for this… *G*)

I'm outta here…

Sticky post-newer posts below. Okay guys… I'm going to be seriously absent, most likely, for a short bit.  

I have to check into the hospital in the morning-it's a pain in the tail, necessary procedure that will hopefully be the last time I have see this doc of mine for a while.

Again, for those who've emailed and stuff, please don't worry.  It's nothing scary bad, just painful bad and we have to fix things.  I'll be feeling pretty blah for a few days and I doubt I'll be around on the forum, the blog, twitter, email, etc until I emerge from the pain haze.  I've loaded myself up with books, we've got netflix, and I'm going to try to just relax for a few days and heal up.

The blog has some posted preloaded but I'm not going to be around to answer much or chat.  Nicole will be, though.

I'll be back when I can.

Image via Dreamstime free

Some awesome books…

I love these series…

I'd rather face a dozen lethal assassins any night than deal with something as tricky, convoluted, and fragile as my feelings.

But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assassin known as the Spider. Hovering outside sexy businessman Owen Grayson's front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn't shy away from my past—or my present. And right now I have a bull's-eye on my forehead. Cold-blooded Fire elemental Mab Monroe has hired one of the smartest assassins in the business to trap me. Elektra LaFleur is skilled and efficient, with deadly electrical elemental magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone powers. Which means there's a fifty-fifty chance one of us won't survive this battle. I intend to kill LaFleur—or die trying—because Mab wants the assassin to take out my baby sister, Detective Bria Coolidge, too. The only problem is, Bria has no idea I'm her long-lost sibling . . . or that I'm the murderer she's been chasing through Ashland for weeks. And what Bria doesn't know just might get us both dead. . . .

It came out last week. You can read more about this series at Jennifer's site.

Another awesome book from an awesome series…due out the end of the month.

Plagued by a war between magic and technology, Atlanta has never been so deadly. Good thing Kate Daniels is on the job.

Kate Daniels may have quit the Order of Merciful Aid, but she's still knee-deep in paranormal problems. Or she would be if she could get someone to hire her. Starting her own business has been more challenging than she thought it would be—now that the Order is disparaging her good name, and many potential clients are afraid of getting on the bad side of the Beast Lord, who just happens to be Kate's mate.

So when Atlanta's premier Master of the Dead calls to ask for help with a vampire on the loose, Kate leaps at the chance of some paying work. Turns out this is not an isolated incident, and Kate needs to get to the bottom of it—fast, or the city and everyone dear to her might pay the ultimate price . . .

Info at Ilona's site!

Quick note…spambots argh!

Okay, spam bots are driving me crazy…ever since the blog got messed up, they've been hitting this blog bad. Akismet, my usual spam blocker, had always done a great job blocking them, but there seems to be a problem with the current version of WordPress I'm running and Akismet-a number of people who use the same hosting service are apparently having similar problems.

I've got bad behavior installed to help with the spam, but either the spam has ramped up or it's just not catching the spam as well. And I'm tired of dealing with the spam crap. I've had to delete almost 70 comments, I think, in the past 12 hours alone.

So I've changed the comments setting so that comments from new people won't appear on the blog until they are approved-once you've had a comment approved by me or Nicole, your comments go through without any trouble (or they should). This will stop the spam that's getting through (hopefully) and although it will slow things down a bit on this end for a few days, it won't take long.

Hunter's Fall…the fun begins

So it's May now.  Which means it's time to start talking Hunter's Fall…

Some fun.

FYI-all month long, there will be random snippets and trivia type stuff.  If you comment/participate, it could win you a prize.  I'm not saying when I'll decide to do a prize or what the prizes will be.

It's all about participation.

However, just to lay the ground rules…this goes for the entire month! Again, prizes will be awarded randomly!  You can also hop over to the forum-there are random prizes being given away there, as well.

standard contest rules apply…open across the globe,  by entering, you agree NOT to scan/reproduce/upload, etc, etc…winner must check back at the blog to see if they've won-the name will be posted, you must enter AT my blog, not via FB, goodreads, etc…for the rest of my rules, see the disclaimer.  FYI-entering means you've READ the disclaimer.  If you haven't and don't know the rules…well, um…maybe you should read them.  ;)

Hunter's Fall ARC anyone??

Hey all…Nicole here. Soooo, who wants an ARC of Hunter's Fall?

With the release just over a month away, thought it would be a good time for a contest. Shiloh has graciously agreed to let me giveaway an ARC. It will be personalized by Shiloh, as well.

Ready for the rules? Here we go

Contest will run from tomorrow, May 2, 2011 through May 9, 2011 at 7pm EST.

RULES:

Must either follow me on twitter or friend me on Facebook.  @admn_swalker on twitter or Nicole S-Walker on FB.

1 entry for either @ replying me with hashtag #HuntersFall telling me fave character in Hunter's series or commenting same answer on FB.

**NOTE: Comments here on the blog WILL NOT count.

Up to 3 additional entries for:

Spreading word of release date (June 7) on twitter, FB or your blog. Must tag me on twitter/FB or send me link to blog.

Unless otherwise specified, the usual rules for Shiloh's contest apply. They can be found here.

Winner will be announced on Shiloh's blog on May 12. You MUST check the blog to see if you've won. Winner will have 1 week to contact me.  Open internationally.

Happy commenting!

Hunters Declan and Tori

Since I'm going through my old EC and posting snippets, and since my next Hunter book is due out soon…maybe I should start posting snippets from it.  :-)

The older Hunter books are hotter than the later ones-shorter, more focused on the hero and the heroine.  As the world evolved, the books got more complicated. But it started here…

Declan Reilly was trying desperately to get drunk.

He'd been brooding in front of the fire, drinking slowly and steadily from the bottle of good Irish whiskey, while he stared into the dancing flames. He wasn't getting drunk quickly enough.

Tori was gone.

Dead.

Tori McAdams, the sexy P.I. he had been trying to get close to for months. Everything about her drove him insane, from her tightly curled, long chestnut- brown hair to her big blue eyes. From her high rounded breasts and slim waist to her full hips and curvy ass, to the way she smelled like peaches and sex. But most of all, that stubborn, feisty spirit, and that soft heart she tried so hard to hide.

She was gone.

His eyes seemed to burn as his head fell back and he tried to block the images from his mind. Her neat, spartan little office had been destroyed, splattered with blood, human and not. He knew the scent. It had been faint and decaying, but he knew the scent. The blood of a vampire was hard to mistake, once you knew it.

There had been a good deal of it.

But even more of Tori's. Oh, God. Tori.

His hands clenched and the glass tumbler in his hand shattered. He closed his fist over the shards of glass buried in his hand, welcoming the pain.

He had failed her.

She had called, finally. She had called him, had needed him.

And he hadn't been here.

A weak, scrambling sound tickled his ears.

He almost ignored it, too caught up in his own grief.

But he got up, blood trickling down his fingers to fall on the floor as he walked to the front door and opened it.

She almost fell at his feet.

Declan stumbled and caught the lean brunette who tumbled into his arms, out of the pouring rain, dead white and half unconscious.

It was Tori, who had been missing for a good week, and presumed dead after police discovered her office in a bloody mess, literally, blood and gore staining the walls, furniture smashed, filing cabinets overturned.

He hadn't been in town last weekend. And he had cursed himself. If he had been around, he would have found her, maybe before it was too late. He would have been with her when it happened, and he could have stopped it. And he had suffered through night after sleepless night, suffered through a rage more terrible than any he had ever known.

Tori, who had a left a terse, "Call me," on his machine the night she was last seen by anybody. Followed by another, more urgent message. This is Tori. As soon as you get this, call me. Declan, I need you.

He had started lusting for flesh and blood, to find that bastard who had done this, and rip his guts out.

But by the time he had gotten back to town and been informed of what had happened, it was too late. The trail nearly cold, and all the clues he could have used were demolished under the heels of his fellow officers.

But she was here now.

It was Tori, who had rebuffed him in every way imaginable. And now she was on his doorstep, lying listless in his arms. Listless, pale and still. Humans had more movement than that, made more sounds.

Sharp hearing detected something.

Or rather, a lack of something.

Declan hissed, his eyes narrowing as he carried her to the couch and jerked her shirt open. Laying his head on her chest between her breasts, he listened.

Lub -dub.

Thirty seconds passed before he heard it again.

Lub -dub.

He leaned over, pushed her wet ringlets away from her neck.

Lub -dub.

He took a deep breath, forced himself to open his eyes and saw it.

The ragged wound, gaping and huge when fresh, now closing, remnants of bruising. She had fought.

Had she been drained?

Or changed?

Just a reminder… EC cut prices on some ebooks at 3rd party etailers…(my titles included…)

Nook | Kindle | Kobo | Borders

Okay…so I have a surprise

It's here.

And…there's a contest.  You can find out more about the contest under the contest thread.  Multiple prizes will be given away and it's as easy can be to win.  Also, since I want the conversation there for this particular thing…no comments today!

Friday Reads/Friday 56

Hey all, Nicole again

This released this past Tuesday (4/26), so of course I'm already devouring it . My Friday 56 comes from Dark Descendant by Jenna Black.

I might have been able to talk myself out of believing the things I'd seen the cultists do last night.

What's your Friday read/Friday 56? Haven't done the Friday 56 before? No worries, it's easy peasy…grab the closest book (doesn't have to be what you're in the midst of reading, just whatever is closest to you at the moment), flip over to page 56, give us the 5th sentence.  You can do one or two others from around that line, if you'd like. Happy reading!

Helping out… #Birmingham, AL

Although a lot of the national news hasn't mentioned it much -hello, MSN, the first thing I saw when I got online?  Crap about NFL draft prospects and superstar kids. Um, tornadoes-killed 170.  Maybe that should be the headline?

Anyway, yesterday massive storms hit the south. A tornado nearly a mile wide was reported to tear through Birmingham.

I read somewhere that one entire town was wiped off the map.

As always, in times of tragedy, there are going to be cretins out there who try to profit from it.  Make sure if you're from the area, you only use reliable, vetted services.  If you're donating money, make sure it's a reliable charity-I always check through Charity Navigator.

Because I want to do something to help, I'm going to make you help me do it. For every comment I get up to 100, I'm donating a buck to the United Way of Central Alabama. Comments must be made here at my blog, though, not via FB-just makes it easier to keep up.

Ready…GO!