Giveawy & Interview with THE RELUCTANT VAMPIRE By New York Times Bestselling Author, Lynsay Sands

Title: THE RELUCTANT VAMPIRE

Series:  Book 15 ~
An Argeneau Novel

By Lynsay Sands

Publisher: Harper Collins
Imprint: Avon Books
Genre: Paranormal Romance

In Stores May 31, 2011

Format: Mass-market

& eBook

Pages: 365

Book Heat: SCORCHER
Read OTE Review

Read an Excerpt

Order Now

Harper lost his lifemate, Jenny, during her turn and has blamed himself for her death ever since, so he's rather happy for the distraction when Tiny and Mirabeau arrive with a young immortal in tow. Stephanie McGill is a young newly turned, immortal who is being hunted by a mad no-fanger named Leonius. When Anders and Drina Argenis (Argeneau) arrive to help, Harper finds himself working with the beautiful young Spanish woman. But things get interesting when Stephanie decides to take on the role of cupid and bring Drina and a reluctant Harper together. How much trouble could a newly turned teenage vamp be?


Argeneau Family Tree
Notte Family Tree

~ About Lynsay Sands~

I was born in 1142 which is why my first love is historicals. I’ll let you guess why I love stories of immortals…er…well, vampires to you people. When I first started writing the family history, everyone was up in arms, afraid I was revealing too much, but I explained they were being published as fiction and I wouldn’t use real names. Of course, that was before I found I just couldn’t write the stories with other names…


Just kidding! I couldn’t resist. Of course, I’m not a vampire. I wouldn’t mind being one. It would be a heck of a diet and I’m always looking for a successful diet, but despite not being a vampire…well…a gal can dream can’t she? And that’s what books are; waking dreams or stories, tales to amuse, entertain and distract us from everyday life.


I love books. Reading books takes me away to other worlds and on grand adventures I just couldn’t have otherwise. Writing them does the same, but also lets me play God for a bit. I know that sounds weird, but when writing my stories, I decide who lives and dies, who succeeds or fails and so on. I can give the good guys the happy endings they deserve and be sure the bad guys lose and get their comeuppance. Unfortunately, that’s something that doesn’t always happen in real life.


Perhaps that’s why writers write. Maybe we writers are all secret control freaks, wanting to control the world. Or maybe we’re just dreamers lucky enough to be able to make a living at dreaming. Either way I love writing and would do it whether I was paid for it or not. But I’m very very grateful to be able to share these stories with you. I hope they help you escape your troubles and trials if only for a little bit, and I hope they make you smile…You can be certain I’m often chuckling myself silly while writing them. Enjoy!

Over the Edge Reviews

Interview with

New York Times

Bestselling

Author

Lynsay Sands

About Her

Upcoming Release

THE RELUCTANT VAMPIRE

Please help me in welcoming another of my ultimate favorite authors and who I have on auto-buy at Barnes & Nobles, New York Times Bestseller, Lynsay Sands.

Lynsay I see you are going to be having a busy summer with a few of your previous releases being re-issued by Avon Books. You’re kicking it off with your sixteenth an Argeneau Novel, “THE RELUCTANT VAMPIRE”, releasing today May 31, 2011. For those readers who are not familiar with this incredibly provacative paranormal romance series please tell us about it.

This is the fifteenth book in the Argeneau series set in the little town of Port Henry and involves one of Elvi's potential suitors from The Accidental Vampire, Harpernus Stoyan. He remained in Port Henry after losing his lifemate upon the insistence of Elvi, Victor, Mabel, DJ, Teddy and the rest of Port Henry..


I have been looking forward to getting my hands on THE RELUCTANT VAMPIRE for a while. Now that it is here, I would love for you to share with Over the Edge Reviews readers more about it.

Harper lost his lifemate, Jenny, during her turn and has blamed himself for her death ever since, so he's rather happy for the distraction when Tiny and Mirabeau arrive with a young immortal in tow. Stephanie McGill is a young newly turned, immortal who is being hunted by a mad no-fanger named Leonius. When Anders and Drina Argenis (Argeneau) arrive to help, Harper finds himself working with the beautiful young Spanish woman. But things get interesting when Stephanie decides to take on the role of cupid and bring Drina and a reluctant Harper together. How much trouble could a newly turned teenage vamp be?


Why Vampires?

The truth is that I never intended to write about vamps and hadn’t even read them, but one night two writer friends and I were chatting on MSN, one of them was Christine Feehan who writes the Dark series, the other is Melanie Jackson who didn't write vamps, but suggested the three of us should write an anthology together for Halloween. CF could do a dark story, I could do humorous and Melanie would do her own version. I was known for humorous historicals at that time and I laughed and said if we did that you know my vamp would have to faint at the sight of blood or something. I threw out a couple more ideas we laughed over then we changed the subject. We never did the anthology, but the ideas stuck with me and I finally had to write them down. The minute my editor heard I was writing it, he asked to see it and then contracted for the first three books. It really was just a strange turn of events.


Why paranormal romance?

Hmm… I sort of stumbled upon my own immortal series by accident as I described above. The only difference I find with writing a paranormal as compared to a historical is the background. My writing style is the same, but the scenery, technology and how much trouble they can get themselves into is different. My vamps always seem to get into a whole lot-o-trouble. LOL


As a writer, when you get some down time and sit to read a book what do you like to pick up? Is it the author, the voice or the story that hooks you and keeps you reading?

When I get some down time… you’re funny. LOL.
On the rare occasion that I get some down time I like to read Dean Koontz (especially his older work), Terri Garey, and J.F.Lewis (author of Staked and Revamped). The reason I like these authors is that I can lose myself in their stories. I guess it’s a combination of their voice and their story lines, which are usually quick-paced and gripping. They suck me in and take me away from my life. Any worry, stress, or annoyance I have is completely forgotten while I’m wrapped up in a good story. How could you not love a pastime that gives you back so much? =)

Lynsay thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I always have a blast getting to know more about you and your books. I love the fact that I am addicted to all of your books. And whenever I’m lucky to get a sneak-peek I am flying high and over the moon with excitement. That being said, what is your hope that readers take away after reading one of your stories?

I want my readers to get so wrapped up in my stories that they can stop worrying and leave behind any stress they may have currently and just enjoy the ride. I also hope that they’re struck with irrepressible fits of laughter.


Lynsay really enjoys hearing from her readers! In fact, some days your encouragement is the only thing that keeps her slogging through the rewrites, line edits, and blocks. So please feel free to contact Lynsay
and catch-up on all the latest that she is up to.

Email: mailto:lynsay@lynsaysands.net
Website: htpp://www.lynsaysands.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/lynsay.sands

~GIVEAWAY~

Celebrating the May 31,  2011 Avon Books release from New York Times bestselling author,Lynsay Sand's "THE RELUCTANT VAMPIRE", is the lastest in her  An Angeneau Novel.  Over the Edge along with Avon Books will be giving two lucky readers their very own copy. To enter here are a few simple rules.

* +5 Leave a comment

for
Lynsay Sands 

including email.

* +5 Leave a comment about
THE RELUCTANT VAMPIRE

book cover.

* +2 Spread the Word!

* +5 Follow me on Twitter.

* +5 Add me as friend on Facebook.

*+5 Connect with OTE at NING.

* Become a follower of Over the Edge!

(+3 Already a follower--You ROCK! +2 Become a follower.)

Please check out my ROCK'N THE MUSES

new site and enter giveaway!

The giveaway is open to ALL readers and will be running until June 5, 2011. I'll be picking and contacting the winner directly on June 6, 2011.

Please make sure to include your email with your comment.

Happy Reading!

Giveaway & Interview about KISS OF SNOW with New York Times Bestselling Author, Nalini Singh

Title: KISS OF SNOW

Series:  Book #13 ~
A Psy-Changeling Novel

By Nalini Singh

Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Books

Genre: Paranormal Romance

In Stores May 2011

Format: Hardcover

& eBook

Pages: 415

Read an Excerpt

Order Now

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s exhilarating world of shapeshifters and psychics is “paranormal romance at its best” (Publishers Weekly). Now comes the story of an alpha wolf named Hawke used to getting exactly what he wants--and of the only woman who dares tangle with him.


Since the moment of her defection from the PsyNet and into the SnowDancer wolf pack, Sienna Lauren has had one weakness. Hawke. Alpha and dangerous, he compels her to madness.


Hawke is used to walking alone, having lost the woman who would’ve been his mate long ago. But Sienna fascinates the primal heart of him, even as he tells himself she is far too young to handle the wild fury of the wolf.


Then Sienna changes the rules and suddenly, there is no more distance, only the most intimate of battles between two people who were never meant to meet. Yet as they strip away each other’s secrets in a storm of raw emotion, they must also ready themselves for a far more vicious fight…


A deadly enemy is out to destroy SnowDancer, striking at everything they hold dear, but it is Sienna’s darkest secret that may yet savage the pack that is her home…and the alpha who is its heartbeat…

Over the Edge Reviews

Interviews with

New York Times

Bestselling

Author

Nalini Singh

1. What is the best part of being a writer? What is the worst?

I love pretty much everything about being a writer – from writing the first draft, to working on edits, to seeing the finished book on the shelves.

2. Why do you write?

It’s my passion.

3. Do you have a favorite motto?

This isn’t a motto, but a quote that I find so much fun:


“Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and they are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and do pretty much the same.” – Meg Chittenden

4. Do you have a favorite fictional hero? Favorite fictional heroine?

I’ve always been a voracious reader so trying to pick just one hero and heroine is impossible. In general, I tend to fall in love with characters who are intelligent, intriguing, and have a sense of honor.

5. What is one of your favorite book covers, your own or someone else’s?

One of my recent favorites is the U.S. cover for Archangel’s Consort, which is just beautiful.

6. What would readers be surprised to learn about you?

I’ve ridden a camel but not a horse.

7. If you could go backward or forward in time which would you chose? Why?

I think I’d go forward to a time of space-exploration – it would be amazing to travel through the stars.

8. Nalini, congrats on the upcoming release of “KISS OF SNOW” which will be released by Berkley in June 2011. Please tell us more about it.

Kiss of Snow is the tenth book in the Psy/Changeling series. The hero is Hawke, the alpha of the SnowDancer wolf pack, and the heroine is Sienna, a powerful Psy who defected to the SnowDancers several years ago.


There is a considerable age gap between Hawke and Sienna, but it’s just one of the things keeping them apart. Sienna’s deadly power, Hawke’s conviction that he lost his chance to mate when the girl who would’ve been his mate died as a child, the looming war, it all combines to make their story rawly emotional and intense.


If your readers would like to read an excerpt, there’s one available on my website: www.nalinisingh.com/snow.php

9. Which do you find is most important to you as a writer, voice or story? Why?

Voice is integral to how a writer writes, but a great voice needs to tell a story as great, so both are critical.

10. Nalini , please share with desperate readers where they can connect with you in cyber world. =)

My website is: http://www.nalinisingh.com/


I blog several times every week on my personal blog: http://www.nalinisingh.blogspot.com/


I also have a very active Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AuthorNaliniSingh


And while I don’t tweet a lot, I check and respond to @replies every day: http://www.blogger.com/goog_930552662

11. I know this is a difficult question with there being so many amazing authors out there to choose from but who are some of the GOT-TO-HAVE authors in your TBR pile?

I’m a huge fan of JD Robb and inhale each In Death book as it releases. I also love books by Patricia Briggs, Meljean Brook, Ilona Andrews, Julie James, Joss Ware and Thea Harrison, to name a few!

12. What’s next in the works for you? When can readers expect to see it out on shelves in their local bookstores?

My next release is Archangel’s Blade, the fourth book in the Guild Hunter series, featuring the dark, dangerous and sinfully sexy, Dmitri. It hits shelves September 6th.

Nalini, thanks so much for stopping by and chatting with Over the Edge readers and myself; it has really been a blast getting to know more about you and your books,

Thanks for the great interview.

~GIVEAWAY~

Celebrating the June  2011 Berkley Books release from New York Times bestselling author, Nalini Singh's "KISS OF SNOW",  in her  A Psy-Changeling Novel.  Over the Edge along with Berkley Books will be giving two lucky readers their very own copy. To enter here are a few simple rules.

* +5 Leave a comment

for
Nalani Sing 

including email.

* +5 Leave a comment about

KISS OF SNOW

book cover.

* +2 Spread the Word!

* +5 Follow me on Twitter.

* +5 Add me as friend on Facebook.

*+5 Connect with OTE at NING.

* Become a follower of Over the Edge!

(+3 Already a follower--You ROCK! +2 Become a follower.)

Please check out my ROCK'N THE MUSES

new site and enter giveaway!

The giveaway is open to ALL readers and will be running until June 5, 2011. I'll be picking and contacting the winner directly on June 6, 2011.

Please make sure to include your email with your comment.

Happy Reading!

Giveaway & Interview with "BLOOD OF THE WICKED" Paranormal Romance Author, Karina Cooper

Title: BLOOD OF THE WICKED

Series:  Book One ~
A Dark Mission Novel

By Karina Cooper

Publisher: Harper Collins
Imprint: Avon Books

Genre: Paranormal Romance

In Stores May 2011

Format: Mass-market

& eBook

Pages: 372

Read an Excerpt

Order Now

When the world went straight to hell, humanity needed a scapegoat to judge, to blame . . . to burn.


As an independent witch living off the grid, Jessie Leigh has spent her life running, trying to blend in among the faceless drudges in the rebuilt city. She thought she was finally safe, but now she's been found in a New Seattle strip club—by a hard-eyed man on a mission to destroy her kind.


A soldier of the Holy Order, Silas Smith believes in the cause: trawling the fringes of society for the murderous witches who threaten what's left of the world. Forced into a twisting web of half-truths and lies, he has to stay close to the most sensuous and electrifying woman he has ever seen and manipulate her into leading him to the witch he has to kill: her brother. Silas doesn't know that Jessie's his enemy, only that he wants her, needs her, even as he lies to her . . . and must protect her until his final breath.

Over the Edge Reviews

Interview with

Urban Fantasy

Author

Of

A DARK MISSION NOVEL

Karina Cooper

• What is the best part of being a writer? What is the worst?

The best part of being a writer absolutely has to be the glamour. I mean, let’s face it: when you can spend all day long in your PJs, forget to wash your hair for days because you’re trying to get that last… bit… of scene… done and still manage to clean up nice for those days when the public does see you in person, you’ve got it made. Which, of course, I’m joking. My glamorous life aside, the absolute best part of writing is the ability to make something from sheer imagination. I love it. I’m a builder personality, I love to make things of nothing (in both the good and bad ways), so as a writer, I get to craft entire worlds, histories, plots, adventures, and it never, ever runs out.

The worst part of being a writer? Synopses. No, seriously. I hate, loathe and abominate writing a synopsis, so much so that I will do absolutely every last thing I possibly can before I finally sit down to write one. And then I check Facebook, Twitter, catch up on my favorite TV shows, paint my nails, dye my hair… I’ll even clean the kitchen before I write one. Usually, one synopsis due turns into two, and my own procrastination comes back to bite me. Eventually, I have to buckle down. Of all the ups and downs of being a writer, all the good and the bad, I really have to put “writing a synopsis” underneath everything else.


• Why do you write?

My brain won’t shut up long enough for me to do anything else. In this, I sometimes wish I were kidding. Unfortunately – or, really, fortunately for me – it’s all true. I probably have some form of ADHD, given my dad has it and I’m exactly like him in so many ways, but that’s just a flimsy scientific excuse for a rambling brain. Writing is truly brilliant for someone like me, because while it requires focus, it also requires multitasking. Not only do I get to jump from mind to mind and develop a lot of different characters and points of view, I also get to balance writing pages with the business side of the industry. Blog posts, emails, plotting future events, working on other details that goes into the process. I’m not stuck doing the same thing over and over, and even if the cycle repeats itself continuously with each book, all the books are different. In the end, I write because I love doing it, I absolutely adore the way it keeps me engaged and focused and is changeable enough to suit me, and I really can’t see myself doing anything else.

• Name one eye-opening thing you learned from your book research.

Did you know that there is not just one supervolcano (the one we know is broiling under Yellowstone), but at least six? And three of these are in the United States alone. I always knew about the one in Yellowstone (thanks, Discovery!), but I had no idea there were two more in the US. To say nothing of three more massive, monstrous, world-ending, extinction-threatening supervolcanoes out there! It really puts a perspective on the world. And of how much of a powder keg nature really can be.

• Do you have a favorite motto?

One, and it comes from Sir Terry Pratchett. Once upon a time, he said, “Too many people want to have written.” I stumbled on this quote years ago, and it holds as true for me now as it did then. What I took it to mean was this: a lot of people want to already have books out. They want to be enjoying the fruits of being published, they want to say, “Why, yes, I am the author of this book.” What it really comes down to is that they want the reward without having to go through the effort. And, really, who can blame them? But me, I want to write. I want to go through the agonies of plotting, the joy and effort of the first draft, the frustration of revisions. I want to stay up late hours because I have too many deadlines and not enough time. I want to be frustrated, I want to be overworked, I want to be a ranting, raving, muss-haired lunatic. And at the end of the day, I want to look at my book – or, rather, my collection of books – and remember every last curse word I flung out into the world and smile. Knowing not only that I have written, but that I’ve still got more to write.

• Do you have a favorite fictional hero? Favorite fictional heroine?

Much like my obsessions with shoes, bras and glasses, my favorite heroes and heroines will change depending on the day, my mood, the season, my hair color… You name it. But so far, I have yet to find a man who tops my current favorite hero: Jericho Barrons, from Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series. That man is probably the sexiest thing I’ve seen written on paper in, well… ever. He’s intense, aggressive, sensual without being feminine, infuriatingly know-it-all, and smug as hell, and I still love him.

My favorite fictional heroine has changed so much, I’m not sure I can say with certainty that I like any of them over the others. I always fall a little bit in love with every heroine in the books I read, and that’s the way I like it. If I had to choose off the top of my head, I’d pick Sophie from Jenny Crusie’s Welcome to Temptation. She’s sassy, adult without being staid, twisted without being a lost cause, and her quirks and foibles made her as real to me as if she were my next door neighbor. I loved her, and that book remains a go-to favorite of mine.

• Which fictional character would you hang out with?

I would kill to spend a day with Sir Terry Pratchett’s Sam Vimes. That said, if I killed, I’d probably have to spend longer than the day with him, what with him being a copper and all. As a man of the law, and whose motto actually isn’t “fabricati diem, pvnc” (but totally should be), Sam Vimes has been and remains my all-time favorite character in the history of all characters. I watched him rise from an alcoholic gutter rat to a pragmatic Duke wobbling on the wagon, and to this day, I’ll never love another textual man the way I do Mr. Vimes. I think we’d be great friends, him and I. Mind, he’d probably see me as some kind of upstart fiction writer (insert lip-twitch here), but his lack of tact is part of his charm.

• What is one of your favorite book covers, your own or someone else’s?

Once upon a time – say, a few months ago – I was minding my own business (that is, everyone else’s) on Twitter and I found an announcement by Lauren Dane. Nodding and smiling, I obligingly clicked on the link she posted to her new cover… and promptly forgot how to form words. Holy mother of all things made of cheese, that man on the cover of Mesmerized did exactly that to me. I even showed it to the mancandy, and his eyes got real wide. It’s not just the body (although, hey, haha, let’s be serious… it helps!), but there’s something about all that caged charisma. Lauren’s cover is the bar when it comes to the covers I really love, and it’s a high one. All that said, in direct opposite to that hunk of manflesh on Mesmerized, I’m really very much in love with the cover for Lure of the Wicked, book 2 in the Dark Mission sequence and out June 28th. I think that the all the softness and lines are just lovely, and the picture inside (oh, no, not ruining that surprise!), really sells Phin just the way I imagined him.

• What would readers be surprised to learn about you?

 Surprised? I’m kind of an open book, really… My Twitter is generally filled with all sorts of irreverent (and irrelevant!) tidbits of information. I’m terribly fascinated by serial killers, which is definitely not something a girl brings up on a first date (unless, um, you’re me…), I often think on great detail what it’s like to kiss members of both sexes, and, oh! Here we go: for all my blood and gore and murder and mayhem, I am absolutely, unequivocally terrified of zombies. I have yet to sit through a single zombie flick, and when House aired a scene in which zombies were featured, I almost cried. However, because I have zombie plots in my head, I have invited all of my friends over for drunk zombie night in a bid to overpower the soul-deep fear. Will it work? I’ll keep you posted.

• What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever learned by Googling your name?

I’m not nearly cool enough to get stalked by paparazzi, so the strangest thing I’ve ever found is actually more cool than strange. Apparently, there is an Australian photographer who takes amazing pictures of everything named Karina Cooper. The funny part is that I am a photographer’s apprentice, and I want the very same camera she’s using, but I’m certainly not Australian. That Karina Cooper is a totally different person, and she really does have beautiful pictures. I can only hope to be that good one day.

• If you could go backward or forward in time which would you chose? Why?

Backward! I’m actually quite frightened for our future. If you’ve ever read Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis, I’m rather convinced that we’re going to end up too much like that. But I’m also fascinated by history, and I’d love to experience elements of it in pieces. But only pieces. I’m afraid that I’m too much of a gadget girl to go without my cell phone and computer for long.

• Karina, please tell us about “BLOOD OF THE WICKED”:A Dark Mission Novel released by Avon books.

Blood of the Wicked explores what’s left of a world after a series of natural disasters forces civilizations to huddle together in large, walled-off cities for protection. It’s a world where witches have been blamed and hunted down with religious fervor, and now struggle to live in a civilization that hates and fears them. Would you turn to a life of shady morals if you had no other choice? Or would you be among those who hunt the wicked down and bring them to justice for their crimes?

Silas Smith is among the latter, a child raised in a Church orphanage and molded into the perfect soldier for the witch-hunting Mission. Jessie Leigh is his only lead to her brother, a witch topping the Mission’s most-wanted. What he doesn’t know is that she is also his enemy, a witch desperate to find the very same brother he’s accusing of heresy.

• Which do you find is most important to you as a writer, voice or story? Why?

When it comes to a book, there’s no way to choose between the two. A good voice and a good story are both essential to a good book. But, if I had to choose one, I’d say that it’s more important as a writer to have a good voice. Story can be crafted. It can be taught, trained, learned. But a voice is something that is part of your make-up. Much like a gift for math, or the ability to spot cheap shoes from a mile away, it’s something that is inherently a “knack”. If a writer lacks voice, no amount of good story will save it. (I say this knowing that I lack entirely math skills and the ability to spot cheap shoes… I’m well aware of my pecking order in the fashion and scientific worlds!)

• Karina for desperate readers like me where can we connect with you in cyber worls? =)

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/karinacooper
 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/romanceauthor
Website: http://www.karinacooper.com
These are the main three, with links to others at my website. I look forward to being your friend!


• I know this is a difficult question with there being so many amazing authors out there to choose from but who are some of the GOT-TO-HAVE authors in your TBR pile?

Ouch! This is a hard one. I think, if I had to choose only a few, I’d say Cherry Adair is a must-have, as is Karen Marie Moning. I also really get a kick out of Amanda Quick, I’m currently obsessed with Merrie Destefano’s Afterlife, and I absolutely love Nalini Singh. But my authors change up as often as my fickle love for characters, because there really are so many great ones out there. I read everything!

• What’s next in the works for you? When can readers expect to see it out on shelves in their local bookstores?

Next up, is Lure of the Wicked, the second book in the Dark Mission world. This comes out on June 28th, which is really amazing to have a back to back like that. The third in the series, All Things Wicked, of which I shall say absolutely nothing about, is due to be released sometime late 2011 or early 2012. I’ll be sure and keep everyone posted!

Karina, thank you so much for stopping by today to share with Over the Edge readers and myself about BLOOD OF THE WICKED. It was great getting to know more about you and your work. =)

Thanks for having me. I can’t wait to share Blood of the Wicked with you and all of the fabulous readers. You all rock my face!

~GIVEAWAY~

Celebrating the May 2011 Avon Books release from paranormal romance author,Karina Cooper's "BLOOD OF THE WICKED", first release in A Dark Mission Novel.  Over the Edge along with Avon Books will be giving two lucky readers their very own copy. To enter here are a few simple rules.

* +5 Leave a comment

for
Karina Cooper 

including email.

* +5 Leave a comment about

BLOOD OF THE WICKED

book cover.

* +2 Spread the Word!

* +5 Follow me on Twitter.

* +5 Add me as friend on Facebook.

*+5 Connect with OTE at NING.

* Become a follower of Over the Edge!

(+3 Already a follower--You ROCK! +2 Become a follower.)

Please check out my ROCK'N THE MUSES

new site and enter giveaway!

The giveaway is open to ALL readers and will be running until May 29, 2011. I'll be picking and contacting the winner directly on May 30, 2011.

Please make sure to include your email with your comment.

Happy Reading!

Giveaway & Interview with "THE COLD KISS OF DEATH" Urban Fantasy Author, Suzanne McLeod

Title: The Cold Kiss of Death

Series: Spellcrackers.com - Book 2

By Suzanne McLeod

US Edition published by Ace

Genre: Urban Fantasy

In Stores May 2011

Format: Mass-market

& eBook

Pages: 334

Read an Excerpt

Order Now

Genny Taylor works for Spellcrackers.com ±


Making Magic Safe. But her own life is anything but safe!




‘The ghost grasped her shift and ripped it open. The three interlacing crescents carved red-raw and bleeding into her thin chest didn’t look any better than the last dozen times I’d seen them. The wounds weren’t lethal – they weren’t even recent; she’d been dead for at least a hundred and fifty years – but my gut still twisted with anger that someone would do that to a child.’


Being haunted by a ghost is the least of Genny’s problems: she’s also trying to deal with the witch neighbour who wants her evicted. Finn, her sort-of-Ex – and now her new boss – can’t quite decide whether he wants their relationship to be business or pleasure. And then there’s the queue of vamps inviting her to paint the town red; how long before they stop taking no for an answer?


Just when it seems things can’t get any worse a human friend is murdered using sidhe magic. Determined to hunt down the killer and needing help, she turns to one of London’s most capricious wylde fae and the seductive vampire Malik al-Khan.


But all too soon she realises she doesn’t know who she can trust – and now Genny’s the one being hunted, not just by the police, but by some of London’s most powerful and dangerous supernaturals.

Over the Edge Reviews

Interview with

Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Author

Of the

SPELLCRACKERS SERIES

Suzanne McLeod

1. What is the best part of being a writer? What is the worst?

Hey, thanks to Over the Edge for inviting me over to chat to y’all, it’s lovely to be here! Oh, and first question’s an easy one! The best bit is getting to do a job I love. The worst bit – The Dreaded Deadline!

2. Why do you write?

I love creating worlds and the characters in them. It’s fascinating to find out what makes my characters tick, and then throw them into difficult, dangerous situations. Then I can have a lot of fun working out what cool and surprising things they’re going to do, to get out alive and, relatively, all in one piece. I really am an evil author at times!

3. Name one eye-opening thing you learned from your book research.

Well, when my first male naiad appeared on the page, he came with double the usual male appendages. Now I could have left it at that, after all I write fantasy *g*, but I wanted to know if there were any real life creatures who have more than one ‘lovestick’ . . . and I discovered that some species of sharks do! And as naiads are water fae it seemed apt. Plus, now I know my character’s ‘extra’ comes with added verisimilitude *g*


4. Do you have a favorite motto?

I don’t. But I probably should have something like ‘Get Organised’ or ‘Stop Procrastinating’, or ‘Remember to set the timer when writing so I don’t get lost in the story and forget to do stuff, like eat.’ *sigh*

5. Do you have a favorite fictional hero? Favorite fictional heroine?

I do, and he’s the Phouka from Emma Bull’s wonderful War for the Oaks. He’s actually never named in the book, though he does say at one point to call him ‘Robin’.


As for favourite fictional heroine? Oh, this is harder, so I’m going for three of the ones I love right now: Kate Daniels (Ilona Andrews), Sookie Stackhouse (Charlaine Harris) and Sirantha Jax (Ann Aguirre).

6. Which fictional character would you hang out with?

Ah, well it would have to be my favourite hero: the phouka from War for the Oaks. He could take me on a tour of fairyland! :-D

7. What is one of your favorite book covers, your own or someone else’s?

My third book – The Bitter Seed of Magic – the German edition, has a gorgeous cover which I adore, but I think the most recent cover I’ve seen which made me want to read the book is ‘Kindling the Moon’ by Jenn Bennett: What’s not to love about a demon friendly Tiki lounge? *g*.

8. What would readers be surprised to learn about you?

Ah, my latest writing preparation ritual: I take five minutes to commune with nature under our rhododendron hedge, while listening to the rousing theme tune to The Godfather on my iPod, and munching on pickled ginger (it gets the blood heated up!) . . . Okay, you caught me out; I’m lying about the pickled ginger. *looks innocent*

9. What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever learned by Googling your name?

Not so much my name, but on Googling my books, I did find a Russian author called Tatjana Stepanowa who writes crime, whose first two books have the same titles as my own first two, which was a really weird discovery.

10. If you could go backward or forward in time which would you chose? Why?

This answer’s down to curiosity: I think it would be cool to see what the world would be like in the future, say maybe a couple of hundred years time. I bet it would be amazing – though I’d want to know I could get back home, just in case it wasn’t :-D

11. Suzanne, please share with us more about the second installment in your urban fantasy Spellcrackers Novel series, “THE COLD KISS OF DEATH” released by ACE an imprint of Berkley Publishing group in April 2011.

Genny’s got a lot of problems: she’s being haunted by a ghost, she’s about to be evicted, Finn (her sort-of-Ex – and now her new boss) is acting all cool and remote, and London’s vamps keep asking her out. Then things really go to hell when one of her friends is killed and Genny’s framed for the murder. She ends up on the run, determined to find the real killer, with all of London’s supernaturals, including the killer, on the hunt for her!

12. Which do you find is most important to you as a writer, voice or story? Why?

Ah, that’s a difficult question. I think it comes down to story. It has to be believable for me (yep, I know, fantasy!) in the way the story pans out. The world has to have rules, and the story has to follow them, if not, then I tend to lose interest. Though if I don’t connect with the author’s voice, then sometimes even a great story I’ll think I’ll like, doesn’t always work for me.

13. Suzanne, please share with desperate readers where they can connect with you in cyber world. =)

My website: http://www.spellcrackers.com/
My Blog: http://suzannemcleod.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Suzanne_McLeod
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/suzanne.mcleod


14. I know this is a difficult question with there being so many amazing authors out there to choose from but who are some of the GOT-TO-HAVE authors in your TBR pile?

Lol! I have too many autobuy authors to list here (well, I’m a serial inhaler of books, and y’all want to get to the end of the interview, don’t you? *g*), so here’s a few I love (along with those mentioned above): Rachel Caine, Devon Monk, Jim Butcher, Jaye Wells (my awesome critique partner!), Tanya Huff, Faith Hunter, Karen Chance, Richelle Mede, oh, and loads more!

15. What’s next in the works for you? When can readers expect to see it out on shelves in their local bookstores?

My next new release is in August; there’s a prequel store to the first Spellcrackers book, in ‘Home Improvement: Undead Edition’ edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner. I’m really excited about being in the book, as my little story gets to keep company with lot of truly awesome stories from some of the best writers around. After that – The Bitter Seed of Magic (# 3) – comes out in the US in December (already out in the UK & Aus). And as for writing, I’m currently working on Spellcrackers # 4 – The Shifting Price of Prey – which comes out in the UK early 2012.

Suzanne, thanks so much for stopping by and chatting with Over the Edge readers and myself; it has really been a blast getting to know more about you and your books.

Thanks so much for having me! It’s been a lot of fun!

~GIVEAWAY~

Celebrating the May 2011 ACE release from urban fantasy/paranormal romance author, Suzanne McLeod's "THE COLD KISS OF DEATH", second release in A Spellcrackers Novel.  Over the Edge along with ACE will be giving two lucky readers their very own copy. To enter here are a few simple rules.

* +5 Leave a comment

for

Suzanne McLeod

including email.

* +5 Leave a comment about

THE COLD KISS OF DEATH

book cover.

* +2 Spread the Word!

* +5 Follow me on Twitter.

* +5 Add me as friend on Facebook.

*+5 Connect with OTE at NING.

* Become a follower of Over the Edge!

(+3 Already a follower--You ROCK! +2 Become a follower.)

Please check out my ROCK'N THE MUSES

new site and enter giveaway!

The giveaway is open to ALL readers and will be running until May 29, 2011. I'll be picking and contacting the winner directly on May 30, 2011.

Please make sure to include your email with your comment.

Happy Reading!

Giveaway & Interview with Science Fiction Author, Marcella Burnard

Title:ENEMY GAMES

By Marcella Burnard
Publisher: Penguin Groups, Ltd.

Imprint: Berkley Trade

Genre: SCI/FI

 In Stores May, 2011

Format: Mass-market

& eBook

Pages: 352
Read an Excerpt

Order Now!

Product Description

Fantastic futuristic romance from the author of Enemy Within


Kidnapped while combating a plague, Jayleia Durante fights to resist the attractive Major Damen Sindrivik, an officer from a rival government's spy corps. But with her father missing, and mercenaries on her trail, Jayleia must join forces with the magnetic major-for the good of the empire.

Over the Edge Reviews

Interview with

Paranormal Romance

Author

Marcella Burnard

What is the best part of being a writer? What is the worst?

Best part: Getting to make stuff up! I get to be anyone or anything for the duration of a story. I get to try on all kinds of imaginary hats and pick whatever sounds coolest to me at the time. Then, if I do it well enough, someone actually *pays* me for it. Nothing better. The worst part of being a writer: Getting hung up on something – blocked, for want of a better term. It happens, right? I know it does. Usually, I can tell you when and where in a book it’s going to happen. What I can’t do is rush the two week stretch of time where I stare at what I’ve written so far trying to figure out where I went wrong. It happens every time that once I’m blocked, I stew for two weeks, then bang. I’ll wake up in the middle of the night with the answer to all my problems ringing in my head. I’ll rush to the computer and everything will be great until the *next* block. Fortunately, there are usually only two per book (yeah, right at the twist points). Don’t know why I can’t trust that I’ll figure it all out, but every time, the frustration level rises to ‘crippling’.

 Why do you write?

It’s cheap therapy. I suppose it’s how I learned to process the world. Wary though I am to admit this, I’ve always had too many voices chattering in my head. Putting some of that chatter on paper clears space for me inside my own mind. Please don’t call the men in the white coats. :D

Name one eye-opening thing you learned from your book research.

Just one? Hmm. I think the most timely bit of research I ever accidently ran across was in the book The Great Influenza – I was in the middle of writing Enemy Within, which has a medical sci fi aspect to it. I learned what I needed to know about how a virus infects a person, hijacks cellular replication machinery and then, very much like a cancer (this is actually one of the reasons viruses are under investigation as causal agents in cancer), shuts down the self-destruct switch so that the hijacked cell churns out millions of copies of the virus until the immune system manages to find the cell and murder it…or the patient dies. It was interesting to note that viruses select for lower mortality. If a virus kills a patient, it dies, too. That’s a Darwinian fail, right? So viruses that can infect someone without killing get to replicate and spread. From a science fiction biological warfare standpoint, that’s really important stuff. If my bad guys create a viral disease to wipe out a population, they have to keep tweaking that disease in order to maintain high mortality rates. Then you start getting into politics, my twisted imagination and research gets left in the dust. I have another book right now about the likelihood of extremophile life forms living at high pressure and temperature within the earth’s crust. Still processing that theory and seeing if it resolves into a plot point.


Do you have a favorite motto?

 Oh yes. “I assumed the burden of the profession, which is to write even when you don't want to, don't much like what you are writing, and aren't writing particularly well." Agatha Christie


 Do you have a favorite fictional hero? Favorite fictional heroine?

Hmm. I think it depends on the day of the week…but I’m awfully fond of Sunshine AKA Rae Sedon in Robin McKinley’s book “Sunshine”. She’s way out of her depth, scared silly, but still does what’s necessary. Hero…much harder. Oh! I know. Very early in her career, Andre Norton wrote a YA called The Prince Commands. It’s a grand adventure story with two very charming heroes. My favorite is the title character, Michael Karl.

Which fictional character would you hang out with?

Any of Linnea Sinclair’s heroines. They have the best times and the best attitudes.

What is one of your favorite book covers, your own or someone else’s?

I saw a book cover at the Romantic Times convention this year that took my breath away. Slightly different here but still pretty: http://www.kristenpainter.blogspot.com// - the Blood Rights cover.

What would readers be surprised to learn about you?

Er…This was ‘surprised’ rather than ‘horrified’ right? Let me think…The fact that I think living aboard a sailboat with four cats, two of which get seasick, is a good idea? How about, I have a degree in acting, but I’ve made far more money as a singer than I ever have as an actor. =)

 What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever learned by Googling your name?

Do you know, I’ve never done that? Let’s go look! Huh. New York City has already issued some kind of alert about my showing up for the RWA conference…I’m hoping this is nothing more than a listing of all the authors attending and not some kind of warning that natural disaster follows in my wake.

If you could go backward or forward in time which would you chose? Why?

Ooo. Forward. Especially if it meant getting to travel in space and actually step on another world. That would be something just short of heart-stopping (I hope) to walk on a planet other than the one where my kind evolved. And heck. If I went far enough into the future, time travel might have been invented and then I could go *back*, too, and see the dinosaurs. From a distance.

 Marcella, congrats on your fantastic futuristic romance “ENEMY GAMES” which will be released in May 2011 by Berkley. I desperate to know more about it.

Thank you! This book follows Damen Sindravik and Jayleia Durante, both of whom, you met in the first book. Enemy Games begins nearly a year after the first book ends. The war with the Chekydran is raging. In this book, Damen is modeled in part after one of my resident felines - his predatory drive and complex social interactions are heightened. The heroine, Jayleia, is a hard-working, but low-ranking scientist living in the shadows cast by her famous and infamous friends and relations. But the moment her loved ones are threatened, she tumbles out of the shadows, leaving a trail of unconscious bodies in her wake. It’s also possible that there’s a sort of zombie homage in this story…


Which do you find is most important to you as a writer, voice or story? Why?

Easy. Voice. I’m an actor by training, so every story starts with character for me. If I can’t hear the characters’ voices, I can’t write their book.

Marcella, please share with desperate readers where they can connect with you in cyber world. =)

I’m on Twitter - though I listen more than I post. I’m @marcellaburnard. Find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/?act=128229875#!/pages/Marcella-Burnard/312302197270 - that’s the official page where I post news pertaining to the books as opposed to say, photos of the cats. ;)

I blog two places: http://www.word-whores.blogspot.com – a blog about writing and the writers life, I’m one of seven writers on that blog and I have to say, some of my sister Word Whores are brilliantly funny. I’m not. Fair warning.

The second is: http://www.marcellaburnard.blogspot.com/ – This is a little bit of everything. Writing. Cats. Boating. My husband and I are about to take off on a five month sailing trip up the Inside Passage (along the Canadian and Alaskan coasts). This blog will be full of trip notes and photos. And very likely complaints about how hard it is to write with sea sick cats. ;)

13. I know this is a difficult question with there being so many amazing authors out there to choose from but who are some of the GOT-TO-HAVE authors in your TBR pile?

 Linnea Sinclair, Nalini Singh, Robin McKinley and Charles de Lint, though while I’m actively working on a book, I read nonfiction so I don’t end up channeling my favorite authors by accident.

14. What’s next in the works for you? When can readers expect to see it out on shelves in their local bookstores?

Book three of the Enemy series is in the works. So is a dark urban fantasy that doesn’t yet have a home…

Marcella, thanks so much for stopping by and chatting with Over the Edge readers and myself; it has really been a blast getting to know more about you and your books.

Thanks for inviting me!

~GIVEAWAY~

Celebrating the May 2011 Berkley Trade release from science fiction author, Marcella burnard's "ENEMY GAMES".  Over the Edge along with Berkley Trade will be giving two lucky readers their very own copy. To enter here are a few simple rules.

* +5 Leave a comment

for

Marcella Burnard

including email.

* +5 Leave a comment about

ENEMY GAMES

book cover.

* +2 Spread the Word!

* +5 Follow me on Twitter.

* +5 Add me as friend on Facebook.

*+5 Connect with OTE at NING.

* Become a follower of Over the Edge!

(+3 Already a follower--You ROCK! +2 Become a follower.)

Please check out my ROCK'N THE MUSES

new site and enter giveaway!

The giveaway is open to ALL readers and will be running until May 22, 2011. I'll be picking and contacting the winner directly on May 23, 2011.

Please make sure to include your email with your comment.

Happy Reading!