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Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts
Monday, February 16, 2015
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Spellbound - #EroticParanormal #Contest
Are you as hooked on paranormal stories as I am, especially romances?
I used to drool over Cole in Charmed. I absolutely loved when Superman made the earth rotate backwards in order to save Lois Lane's life. And don't get me started on all those sexy vampire tales. *sigh*
One of the things that has always captivated me about paranormal tales is the inherent problem in having supernatural powers. Take Superman for example. Kryptonite really screws up his day. Most vamps can't take even a hint of sunlight (Edward Cullen being the exception).
With that in mind, and wanting to explore the more humorous and romantic side of paranormals, I created Freeing the Beast, book one in my Taming the Beast series.
In Freeing the Beast, Becca Salt is the half-witch proprietress of From Crud to Stud, a makeover service for supernatural beings. Poor Becca is a crappy witch, can't make a decent potion to save her life. She ain't having too much fun in her bedroom either. Guys have always let her down, until Eric Diletto, a god (in all ways) comes into her life.
Freeing the Beast was a blast to write - scorching hot and humorous too - in fact, the tagline for it is Magic was never as sexy or as much fun...
The book's on pre-order - at a discount!
I'm running a Rafflecopter contest to celebrate the upcoming release - your chance to WIN THREE EROTIC ROMANCES - choice of 19 titles - contemporary, paranormal, menage, suspense.
Here's the blurb for Freeing the Beast, along with the cover and teasers. Enjoy!
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Blurb:
No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Magic is Becca Salt’s business, but it ain’t happening in her bedroom. The half-witch proprietress of From Crud to Stud performs miracle makeovers for paranormal creatures. Once she’s done with them, they’re out the door hunting for hot babes, not hanging around for a too-curvy, plain Jane like her.
Her newest client is hot, hung, mouthwatering perfection. What could she possibly improve upon?
Eric Diletto. Descendant of Cupid, bred for courtship, courtesy, and all that other gentlemanly junk. What has it gotten him? Dumped time and again for bad boys. He needs Becca’s help for an entirely different reason—regression therapy to release his inner beast. Grrrr.
Two potions later, they’re crawling all over each other. Becca aches for a man who loves her as she is, not because he’s under the influence. But Eric isn’t as impaired as she thinks. And he intends to take Becca here, there, and everywhere—anything to convince her his desire isn’t just the potions talking.
Product Warnings
A witchdoctor’s nightmare. Contains potions with weird side effects, a sorceress with limited magical skills and a yearning heart, plus a minor god who wants to get down and dirty. Bad, bad boy!
About Me (You know you want to know!):
I’m an award-winning, bestselling novelist in erotic, paranormal, contemporary and historical romance for Samhain Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Siren Publishing, Booktrope, and Kensington. Yay! Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised my work, and trust me, I’m forever grateful for that. I’ve had my books reach finals in the EPIC competition, one title was named Book of the Year at a review site, and others have won awards in RWA-sponsored contests. I’m actually featured in the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Talk about feeling like a freaking star. Before my writing career, I was the editor of an award–winning Midwestern newspaper and worked in Story Direction for a Hollywood production company. Outside of being an admitted and unrepentant chocoholic, I’ve flown a single-engine plane (scary stuff), rewired an old house using an electricity for dummies book, and have been known to moan like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally whenever I’m eating anything Mexican or Italian. Yeah, I like to eat (burp).
You can check me out here – yes, I am everywhere! J
FB Fanpage: http://on.fb.me/1ChWdD7
Website: http://bit.ly/15Xy6LI
Blog: http://bit.ly/1yRB9k9
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1wFmIu6
Twitter: http://bit.ly/1ziy4IU
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1Dl8DHy
Triberr: http://bit.ly/1CE2ec7
Pinterest: http://bit.ly/1yFLeMx
Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/1ChWFkO
My page at TRR: http://bit.ly/1vb7eEc
EC Author Page: http://bit.ly/1Dh9wor
Samhain Author Page: http://bit.ly/1Bvw6mL
Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas: http://bit.ly/1ChWN3K
Romance Books 4 US: http://bit.ly/1JPtfeS
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Paranormal Fascination
Why the fascination with Paranormal Romance?
Long before Bram Stoker's Dracula, there were legends and myths of vampires and other supernatural creatures. Humans have been fascinated with what is unusual and unique.
Paranormal Romance gives escapism from the every day life. And the heroes are pretty hot too.
I think because of the freedom it gives both readers and writers. Also, it correlates feelings of not fitting in with finding a soul mate. A vampire, shifter, or angel won't fit in with normal society--at least not completely.
There is the romance and the unusual that draws me into reading and writing paranormal romance.
My hero or heroine can be a dragon shifter or an Incubus - and have problems both common to humans and not.
It's the paranormal aspect wrapped up in a character(s) that breaths freshness into a story or romance. And I for one, can't get enough.
Son of Dragons Book 2 Legends of Oblivion
Blurb: Shunned by her own people and weary-hearted from centuries of lost loves, Elvin warrior Mirhana scours the land to silence the undead. Her heart has turned as cold as the sword she wields, until a prince seeks her aid.Never has Prince Landon met a woman like Mirhana. Both beautiful and deadly, she haunts his dreams. The battle at hand becomes more enchanting than fighting to remain true to his unseen betrothed.
When a traitor emerges, new alliances are tested and the only remaining hope is to follow the prophecy and find the . . . Son of Dragons.
Excerpt:Still, he couldn’t stop thinking about those piercing emerald eyes. They’d belonged to a woman; he could tell. There was intelligence and cunning in them. Her stare felt as though she saw through the façade he often wore as prince and to please others, and into his kajh. A woman who was not afraid, but used to being feared. It unnerved him, yet excited him. Better get some sleep before the night was gone. Tomorrow, he’d tell Gillespie about what he saw. He doubted he could explain those captivating green eyes that continued to haunt him even now.
Pickup your copy today: http://amzn.com/B00JX12L1I
Andrea R. Cooper's favorite childhood memories revolved around creating vibrant characters for her friends, and then acting out their adventures. Inside her fantasy worlds of darkened forests, dragon-filled glades, and iced islands, nothing was banned. From the ethereal Elvin to the most maligned Vampires, all were welcome in her fictional realities, a stark contrast to her home, where the magical and mythical was forbidden.Divorced and disillusioned of love and believing all the love songs and books exaggerated, she put aside her creativity for life. Many years past before characters, from the familiar to the freshly conceived, came to her again, but this time teasing at a new passion, the written word.
Gradually, her real life hero brought love and magic back into existence. During the time when her characters were getting reacquainted, the love of her life was showing her that true love never gives up and rekindles no matter how many times others attempt to extinguish it. Today, she is happily married with three children.
Andrea believes in the power of change and delighting in each moment. But most fervently, she believes in the magic of love and imagination again.
website: http://www.andreacooperbooks.com
twitter: @andreaRcooper
newsletter: http://www.andreaRcooper.com
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Welcome to the First Paranormal Love Feature ~ PNR, Urban Fantasy, and More
Hi, everyone, and welcome to the first post of the new Paranormal Love Feature blog, a collaborative project showcasing authors and their work!
Before we get into today's post, I want to remind you to be sure to check out the Paranormal Love Wednesday Blog Hop going on today--check out all of the great writers on this week's hop!
When I first found out about the opportunity to contribute to this blog on a regular basis, I hesitated (well, okay. Only for a minute. But still, it was a hesitation). Although I write romance, and I write paranormal fiction, and I write paranormal fiction that has love, sex, and romance in it, I haven't yet published anything that could be labeled strictly paranormal romance. Most of my paranormal fiction is categorized as Urban Fantasy, not PNR.
So of course, that made me think about what, exactly, constitutes paranormal romance, particularly as opposed to urban fantasy. I think it's interesting how often writers and editors of urban fantasy attempt to distance themselves from paranormal romance (though I'm not sure the reverse is true). In the introduction to Tachyon Press's The Urban Fantasy Anthology (2011), for example, three different section editors attempt to make it clear that their version of urban fantasy isn't actually paranormal romance.
Although none of the authors of the section introductions are entirely at ease with the term “urban fantasy,” Lansdale is the most outspoken: “It’s not my purpose here to round up these stories and brand them. They can be tagged to some degree, but they are not confined by the tag” (275). Lansdale also notes that “this section of stories owes less to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more to noir and writers who tripped the dark fantastic with gleeful enthusiasm” (276) such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, and Flannery O’Connor (among others). (Notice the distinct lack of romance writers.)
Charles de Lint writes that he “found the terms ‘urban fantasy’ and ‘contemporary fantasy’ unsatisfactory . . . partly because not all the works we were looking at were urban, or set in the present day” (18).
Like the other section editors, Paula Guran is uncomfortable with the term “urban fantasy”—but unlike de Lint and Lansdale, she also takes exception to the term “paranormal romance,” noting that many of the works categorized as paranormal romance are as likely to trace their origins to other genres. As she points out, Charlain Harris’s initial Southern Vampire Mysteries novel (the basis for the HBO series True Blood) “won an Anthony Award as Best Paperback Mystery of 2001” (139, emphasis Guran’s).
What all this seems to add up to is a shared conviction that paranormal romance is something to be disavowed--the dirty secret, the unwanted love-child, the unsophisticated and inappropriate family member who insists on remaining part of the family no matter what.
Ultimately, though, there's no getting away from it--part of why we love the paranormal is the paranormal lovin'. And even the most hard-boiled detective novel--if it has, say, a vampire or a werewolf--is going to hint at its deep-rooted connection to paranormal romance. It's simply impossible to read about those characters without understanding, on some level, that eroticism is at play, even if only subliminally.
So here, we'll be featuring and celebrating all kinds of paranormal love in our fiction.
We'd love it if you came to celebrate it with us.
~Margo
______________________________
Sometimes the monsters in the dark are real...
As a child, Lili Banta ignored her grandmother's cryptic warnings to avoid children outside their Filipino community in Houston. When many of those other children fell ill, Lili ignored the whispers in her community that a vampiric aswang walked among them.
Years later, Lili returns to Houston to work for the Quarantine Station of the Center for Disease Control—but she is plagued by dark, bloody dreams that consume her nights and haunt her days. When a strange illness attacks the city's children, Lili is called in to find its source, and maybe even a cure.
But in order to save the city, she must first acknowledge the sinister truth: A monster stalks the night—closer than she ever expected. . .
Before we get into today's post, I want to remind you to be sure to check out the Paranormal Love Wednesday Blog Hop going on today--check out all of the great writers on this week's hop!
When I first found out about the opportunity to contribute to this blog on a regular basis, I hesitated (well, okay. Only for a minute. But still, it was a hesitation). Although I write romance, and I write paranormal fiction, and I write paranormal fiction that has love, sex, and romance in it, I haven't yet published anything that could be labeled strictly paranormal romance. Most of my paranormal fiction is categorized as Urban Fantasy, not PNR.
So of course, that made me think about what, exactly, constitutes paranormal romance, particularly as opposed to urban fantasy. I think it's interesting how often writers and editors of urban fantasy attempt to distance themselves from paranormal romance (though I'm not sure the reverse is true). In the introduction to Tachyon Press's The Urban Fantasy Anthology (2011), for example, three different section editors attempt to make it clear that their version of urban fantasy isn't actually paranormal romance.
Although none of the authors of the section introductions are entirely at ease with the term “urban fantasy,” Lansdale is the most outspoken: “It’s not my purpose here to round up these stories and brand them. They can be tagged to some degree, but they are not confined by the tag” (275). Lansdale also notes that “this section of stories owes less to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more to noir and writers who tripped the dark fantastic with gleeful enthusiasm” (276) such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, and Flannery O’Connor (among others). (Notice the distinct lack of romance writers.)
Charles de Lint writes that he “found the terms ‘urban fantasy’ and ‘contemporary fantasy’ unsatisfactory . . . partly because not all the works we were looking at were urban, or set in the present day” (18).
Like the other section editors, Paula Guran is uncomfortable with the term “urban fantasy”—but unlike de Lint and Lansdale, she also takes exception to the term “paranormal romance,” noting that many of the works categorized as paranormal romance are as likely to trace their origins to other genres. As she points out, Charlain Harris’s initial Southern Vampire Mysteries novel (the basis for the HBO series True Blood) “won an Anthony Award as Best Paperback Mystery of 2001” (139, emphasis Guran’s).
What all this seems to add up to is a shared conviction that paranormal romance is something to be disavowed--the dirty secret, the unwanted love-child, the unsophisticated and inappropriate family member who insists on remaining part of the family no matter what.
Ultimately, though, there's no getting away from it--part of why we love the paranormal is the paranormal lovin'. And even the most hard-boiled detective novel--if it has, say, a vampire or a werewolf--is going to hint at its deep-rooted connection to paranormal romance. It's simply impossible to read about those characters without understanding, on some level, that eroticism is at play, even if only subliminally.
So here, we'll be featuring and celebrating all kinds of paranormal love in our fiction.
We'd love it if you came to celebrate it with us.
~Margo
______________________________
Join
Margo Bond Collins' Night Shift for a SALE!
Through February 4, get Sanguinary for $.99
and Bound
by Blood FREE from Amazon!
Night
Shift Novel 1
Only
fifty years left before vampires rule the world.
When
Dallas police detective Cami Davis joined the city's vampire unit, she planned
to use the job as a stepping-stone to a better position in the department.
But
she didn't know then what she knows now: there's a silent war raging between
humans and vampires, and the vampires are winning.
So
with the help of a disaffected vampire and an ex-cop addict, Cami is going
undercover, determined to solve a series of recent murders, discover a way to
overthrow the local Sanguinary government, and, in the process, help win the
war for the human race.
But
can she maintain her own humanity in the process? Or will Cami find herself,
along with the rest of the world, pulled under a darkness she cannot oppose?
_____________________________________________
Night
Shift #2 ~ A Novella
Sometimes the monsters in the dark are real...
As a child, Lili Banta ignored her grandmother's cryptic warnings to avoid children outside their Filipino community in Houston. When many of those other children fell ill, Lili ignored the whispers in her community that a vampiric aswang walked among them.
Years later, Lili returns to Houston to work for the Quarantine Station of the Center for Disease Control—but she is plagued by dark, bloody dreams that consume her nights and haunt her days. When a strange illness attacks the city's children, Lili is called in to find its source, and maybe even a cure.
But in order to save the city, she must first acknowledge the sinister truth: A monster stalks the night—closer than she ever expected. . .
_____________________________________________
About the Author
Margo Bond Collins is the author of
urban fantasy, contemporary romance, and paranormal mysteries. She has
published a number of novels, including Sanguinary,
Taming the Country Star, Legally Undead,
Waking Up Dead, and Fairy, Texas.
She lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets.
Although writing fiction is her first love, she also teaches college-level
English courses online. She enjoys reading romance and paranormal fiction of
any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about heroes,
monsters, cowboys, and villains, and the strong women who love them—and
sometimes fight them.
_____________________________________________
Connect with Margo
_____________________________________________
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
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