Authorpalooza 2010 - Updated

Welcome everyone to our first annual Authorpalooza 2010!!! What's authorpalooza you say? Well.. Its in month long celebration of my first year blog anniversary! Its been a wonderful year and lots of wonderful authors have come together to make this a wonderful celebration.

March 31st 

Erin Kellison

April

Lisa Pietsch

Shirin Dubbin

Stella Price

Nichole R Bennett

Leanna Renee Hieber

Candace Havens

Leslie L. Sanders

TBA

Stephanie Draven

Mel Tescho + Anna Hackett

Samantha Hunter

Lissa Matthews

Jaye Wells

Maribeth Graham

Destiny Blaine

Sean Cummings

Donna Grant

Liz Fielding

John Locke

Leigh Ellwood

A.P. Stephens

Chris Redding

Shannon Delany

Alexandra Diaz

Luke Romyn

Chandra Ryan

Claude Bouchard

Eliza Gayle

Tracey O'Hara

May

Leslie Dicken

Be sure to stop by and comment to be enter to win each of the author's day here for Authorpalooza.

*Note not all author's giveaways will be international so please check each post.*

I am also doing giveaways throughout the month of April. Thanks to people at HarperCollins Publishing I have at least 15 sets of all three 'The Awakening Heroes' by Joss Ware to giveaway along with other surprise goodies and books purchased by me.

For my giveaways everyone is welcomed to enter including those living outside the U.S.

All you have to do is seach each of the author's sites or blogs for this little button.

Enter your links in the comment section below.

Bonus entries:

+5

Tweet a message with the hashtag #Authorpalooza2010

(and tweet as much as you want)

Post the links of your tweets below.

+4 Each
Share on facebook, blog post about Authorpalooza, Grab the blog button and at to your sidebar.

+4    New Blog Follower
+7    Old Blog Follower

+10  For each new blog follower you recruit. Be sure to include recruiter's name.

+3 For each daily comment at each of the author's day post.

+1 Add up points

If we can get #Authorpalooza2010 as a trending topic on twitter, then I will include two more books to the already huge pile of our giveaways. 

Which could be any of the following once they are released on sale:

Undead and Unfinished by MaryJanice Davidson

Bullet by Laurell K Hamilton

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

Tracy Anne Warren Giveaway

Now Closed



Just want to let you all know about this amazing giveaway I am hosting thanks the wonderful people at Avon Books.







But first let me introduce to an amazing series by the bestselling author Tracy Anne Warren

 --Bryons of the Braebourne Series.

Book 1: Tempted by His Kiss

Avon/HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN-10: 0061673404
ISBN-13: 978-0061673405
February 24, 2009
Read Online Excerpt
Buy it now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Borders!


Large Print edition
ISBN 978-1602855021
Buy it now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Borders!

London society knows the Byrons are "mad, bad, and dangerous" and every bit as fascinating as their poetic non-relation. Join the fun as New York Times bestselling author Tracy Anne Warren presents the first tale of this tempestuous family—famous for scandal and legendary at love . . .


Orphaned beauty Meg Amberley never planned to pose as Lord Cade Byron's fiancée. Caught in a snowstorm, she takes refuge at his estate. Stranded together, Meg soon finds herself falling under Cade's spell. When the roads clear, she intends to leave, but fate intervenes.


Haunted by his past, Cade Byron has buried himself in the country. Then Meg—with her lush curves—invades his house and his life. With her reputation compromised, he proposes a pretend engagement and a London season where she can find a husband.


But as their charade deepens, Cade can't let her go . . . vowing to tempt her with a kiss that just may lead to forever.

Seduced By His Touch


Avon/HarperCollins Publishers
Book Two - Byrons of Braebourne Series
ISBN-10: 0061673412
ISBN-13: 978-0061673412
Excerpt & More


Order now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders!

He Had to Marry Her…

Everyone in London agrees the Byrons are just as ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ as their famous poetic non-relation. But Lord Jack Byron is facing a predicament that is scandalous…even for him!


Marry a young woman because he lost a bet? Unreformed rake Lord Jack Byron would do anything to get out of it. But the rich merchant who holds his debt insists Jack lead his on-the-shelf daughter to the altar…and make her believe it’s a love match. With no option, Jack agrees, thinking he’ll be shackled to a closed-in spinster.


But Grace Danvers is no milk-and-water miss. When he first encounters her in a London bookstore, Jack is struck by her tempting sensuality and soon becomes determined to bed, and wed, her (in that order!). Yet though he plans to seduce her with his touch, he never dreams he’ll also want to win her with his love.

 At the Duke's Pleasure

Book 3 in the Byrons of Braebourne series
ISBN-10: 0061673420
ISBN-13: 978-0061673429
My Online Review here
January 12, 2010


Order now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders or Books-A-Million!


Excerpt & More






All the Byrons are just as “mad, bad and dangerous to know” as their famous non-relation…but now the time has come for the eldest son to marry…


Edward Byron, Duke of Clybourne, has everything a man in Society needs…except a wife. Duty requires he wed, so he decides that a long-standing arranged marriage will do nicely. He knows his bride is beautiful, biddable and bright enough to run the his household and nursery. He expects his betrothed, Lady Claire Marsden, will be thrilled with his decision—unfortunately, she’s not!


Claire has longed for Edward since she was sixteen, but how can he expect her to agree to his proposal when he barely knows her and doesn’t love her? Nothing will convince her to accept a loveless marriage. And so she begins a battle of outrageous resistance, forcing Edward to learn that he must lose his heart in order to win his bride.

Coming September 2010

Mallory’s Story

Book Four

in

Tracy Anne Warren’s

scandalously entertaining

Byrons of Braebourne Series

For your chance for two winners to win either a gift set of these three books:

 






OR.....The chance to win the newest Bryons novel, At The Duke's Pleasure.

To be entered you must leave a comment below with:

+5 Follower of my blog

+3 Follow me here on twitter

+5 On any other blog or social networks.

Post links to each post and/or tweets.

Residents of U.S. and Canada at this time only.

Contest ends Wednesday January 13th 2010.

Author Spotlight Jocelynn Drake and Givewaway

Worldbuilding

 

When it comes to writing novels in the urban fantasy genre, one of the most exciting and interesting parts is the chance to create my own world for my characters to inhabit. Here I can let my imagination run wild as I make up new rules and break old traditions. It is when you’re designing your world that you get to decide how close your novel’s world will resemble reality. It is here that you decide what is normal. It is when you are building your world that you get to play god.


But don’t let the power go to your head because there are a few tricks to successfully building a working world.






1. The devil is in the details






It may be hard to believe but you need to know more about your world than you will ever appear on the written page. If your world wildly diverges from reality, or is not even set on planet Earth, it is important that you know the history of your people. Have they suffered through many years of war or is their world a peaceful place? Is magic commonplace or is it taboo? Does religion have a major impact on their daily lives? What type(s) of government rule the lands? Are the vampires in the coffin or out of the coffin? While the answers to these questions might not have an impact on the plot of the story, details such as these spread throughout the novel can add more depth to your world. Also, details such as these can give you a deeper understanding of the motivations of your characters. The more details you know about your world, the lusher your description will be.

2. Are you even human?






A major part of worldbuilding is deciding what species and races will inhabit your world. Furthermore, you have to decide the limitations and gifts of each creature that walks, flies, or swims through your world. When I created my vampires, I had to decide which of the dozen or so old myths I would adhere to and which I would throw out. I needed several limitations to balance out all the gifts I was going to give them. For me, one of the key concepts with the vampires was finding balance. If they were going to be fast and strong and nearly immortal, then they also had to be vulnerable to the sun, dependent upon human blood, and completely unconscious when the sun rose.






When I created the naturi, I had to give them a natural enemy or they would too easily dominate the world. So, the bori were born in order to maintain a balance. Another key factor with the naturi was establishing a hierarchy within the various clans. Among the naturi are five clans: light, wind, earth, water, and animal. The light clan is viewed as the cream of the crop because their queen is from the light clan. The next highest is the wind clan because her Consort is of the wind clan. Meanwhile, the lowest of the clans is the animal clan because they are viewed as the foot soldier of the various clans. Knowing this dynamic makes fights scenes easier to design as well as sets up for potential subplot structures as the various clans fight amongst themselves for power and control.

3. Rules, rules, rules










Finally, one of the key things to building a believable world is establishing and abiding by various rules. Just like the real world has basic rules such as gravity and Newton’s laws, as well as laws of morality such as the 10 Commandments, your world needs to have rules in which the people must abide by. That’s not to say that rules aren’t made to be broken, but you have to be very sure that if you break one of your rules that you have a very good reason, which you present to your readers. It is particularly important that you set up a series of rules regarding your magic system. If characters are casting spells willy-nilly without consequences, then it becomes too easy for them to get out of dangerous situations, thereby eliminating any tension from the scene. Forcing your characters to play within the rules of a world not only makes the world more believable, but it also makes the story more interesting.






In order to keep all your worldbuilding straight and your rules in order, be sure to take excellent notes. Some authors fall back on spreadsheets, while others write essays and elaborate case studies. These notes will of great value when you are searching for that bit of history or odd rule that you thought up. It could also assist in your plotting of a book.


Now for the bonus giveaway. Just me a comment below on which has been your favorite Jocelynn Drake novel so far?

Contest ends this Sunday, November 1st, 2009

Only those in the U.S and Canada can participate this time to win this book.

Thanks!

13 Nights of Horror - Something Wicked This Way Comes. . .

Welcome to the first annual 13 Nights Of Horror.



On this first night of Horror..



We are going to have a special guest author blog!



Lynsay Sands

Something
 Wicked
This
Way
Comes 

I was asked to write something about Halloween and although many things came to mind, I dismissed a lot of them thinking they weren't scary enough, or not interesting enough, or. . . well you get the picture. Then it came to me. . . Please keep in mind that I like Halloween and in the spirit of this particular holiday, I have even gone so far as to get the latest crazy Halloween decorations. For example, I have a witch on a broomstick that cackles if you get near it, a skeleton that dances to one of the latest hits, hanging bats, screeching black cats and even black hairy spiders that drop on you if you walk below them. These artifacts of horror are fun and funny because they’re so unreal. I mean, you would never actually see a hand crawling along the floor after you. . . that’s absurd, right?! Well, let me enlighten you; some of these things aren't so unreal, and they are not so funny in real life.

Last Christmas, just a couple of days before that lovely holiday, Mr Sands and I needed to go shopping. We lived in an old century home and the interior trim, doors, stairs and bookshelves were all this dark, cherry-stained wood. This house was a fine example of ornate woodworking at its best but on an overcast day, it was dark! So as I was saying, we needed to go shopping. It seemed like all we had been doing in the last few weeks approaching Christmas was fight the holiday crowds for more Christmas stuff that I’m sure we didn’t need. So my purse, which also happened to be a very dark colour, was on top of my bookcase in a corner. It had been there since the afternoon before and when Mr. Sands began tapping his shoe impatiently, I quickly threw on my shoes and grabbed my purse to leave. Ouch! I felt a sharp pain on the fleshy part between my thumb and forefinger. Letting go of the purse, I shouted and shook my hand frantically, probably resembling someone having a seizure, but that seizure ended abruptly when a small black object hit the floor a few feet away. I stood there for a good three seconds as my brain calculated what I was looking at and what had just happened.






 

- There was a small, stunned black mass on the floor that looked like a mouse with wings.


- It was a bat, I deduced with surprise. A bat had been perched on my purse and I'd picked it up with the purse. . . and it had bit or scratched me in retaliation


- I looked at my hand and sure enough, there were puncture marks between my thumb and forefinger. He bit me.


- And everyone knows that Bat bites mean Rabies shots!
















 

I began to screech, not in terror at the bat who was really rather cute, but in outraged horror at the possibility that I might need rabies shots. I DETEST shots of any kind. There, now you know, I'm a big wussy girl when it comes to needles. I howled and shrieked and the bat began to flap its little wings weakly (no doubt in panic at my panic) and Mr Sands came running to see what all the commotion was about.






Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. Me, being a writer who happens to write about vampires . . . well, gees, of course I'd be bitten by a bat. But really, I don't have batty vamps. I have nano vamps. Shouldn't the damned bat have bit someone else, someone who actually incorporates bats in their vamp stories? I thought this was highly unfair, myself. And while it's a good laugh now to think about it, it certainly wasn't at the time as we waited in the ER with my bite and the bat in a box to see someone. (By the way, hospital workers are rather strange. They all wanted to see the poor little thing until they found out it was alive in the box. Like I'd kill a poor defenseless bat! Sheesh. I was hoping they could take a blood test on it and let it go. He really was cute.)

Anyway, the bat was sent for testing and I was sent home to spend the entire Christmas holidays fretting over whether I’d have to get rabies shots. You know the really painful shots that they give you in the deltoid muscle of your arm on four separate occasions. . . shudder. It may be a funny story to tell after the fact but I don’t want to ever go through anything like that again. I’d much rather stick to the cheesy, fake Halloween decorations that need batteries cause reality is just. . . too real!

And NO, I am not a vampire. . . LOL.

Sincerely,

Lynsay Sands

Now you guys are going to love this:



For your chance to win a copy of Lynsay Sands' latest
release of The Renegade Hunter!

To enter just post below your favorite vampire character of The Argeneau Series.

This contest will begin at 3 pm Central Time.

Only for residents of the U.S and Canada.

Winner will be announced on Friday, October 23rd,2009.