Thanks so much for all of the entries! This contest has ended (and the prize has been awarded), but stay tuned for more contest goodness soon.
To celebrate the ANGEL OF DARKNESS release, I’m giving away a Kindle. It’s the holiday season, and it just seems fitting that someone gets a Kindle as a gift this year. So I’m running this contest–from now until noon on December 17th. To enter, just complete the WHICH ANGEL ARE YOU? quiz. At the end of the quiz, you will be asked to enter your email address so that you can register for the giveaway. That’s it–you take the quiz, find out which angel you’d be (so many angels…so little time…), then you enter your email address. The winner will be randomly selected from all the entries that I receive.
Good luck!!
Now for some rules and regulations:
Open to all readers, 18 years or older, in US or Canada, who are legally allowed to participate in such a contest as allowed by their local laws. All federal, state, local, and municipal laws and regulations apply. Void where prohibited. No purchase necessary. Grand prize winner drawn randomly by random.org. By participating in the contest, participants agree to be bound by the decisions of the contest sponsor. Winner will be notified via email and posted on the blog. Limit one entry per person.
1) The copy of Cynthia’s new release: DEADLY HEAT: #3, Theresa N.
2) The Dead Guy sticky notes: #8, Viki
Congratulations and thanks for playing everyone!
Hi, everyone! I am very excited to have debut Kensington Brava author Joan Swan as my guest today. Her upcoming Phoenix Rising series promises to be a perfect blend of the two genres I love the most: dark romantic suspense and sexy paranormal romance. Can’t wait to read them! Joan, thanks for blogging with me today!
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“I don’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.” ~Unknown
That quote is for Cynthia in relation to the tweet she posted yesterday about her son. You’ll have to check your tweets if you don’t know what I’m talking about. <VBG>
What do you think of when you hear Deadly Valentine? Cynthia’s topic had me envisioning complex posts of serial killers, stalkers or Valentine’s Day murders. Anyone else have that reaction?
As you can see…that didn’t quite work out. After searching and searching for an angle, I just couldn’t find any new, cool information to share with you in any unique way. And worse, the more I searched, the more I saw how Valentine’s Day was linked to Domestic Abuse. It seems to be the holiday of choice to gain followers in their fight against domestic and/or teen violence.
Don’t get me wrong — those are both issues worthy of exposure. My daughter experienced the darker side of a high school relationship that ended in a restraining order against the young man. Horrible, stressful, fearful situation for her and for us as a family. But, I just haven’t been in the mood to get all dark and intimate with the serial killer psyche lately. Go figure.
So, this post is much lighter, yet still interesting–at least I hope you’ll find it so. You might even get a chuckle or two.
I’ve left out many, many tidbits of Valentine’s Day trivia. Everyone who can add a trivia tidbit in the comments (hint–Google or something you already know)will be entered to win one of these two gifts:
1) A copy of Cynthia’s new release: DEADLY HEAT (either print or eReader)
2) The ceeeeutest little note pad I’ve ever seen: Dead Man Sticky Notes.
Valentine’s Day Trivia
The condom company Durex reports that condom sales are 20-30% higher around Valentine’s Day
On Valentine’s Day 2010, 39,897 people in Mexico City broke the record for the world’s largest group kiss.
There is no one accepted explanation for the connection between St. Valentine and love.
According to Welsh tradition, a child born on Valentine’s Day would have many lovers.
The saying “wearing your heart on your sleeve” is from the Middle Ages. Boys at this time would draw names of girls to see who would be their “Valentine” and then wear the name pinned on their sleeve for a week.
A kiss on Valentine’s Day is considered to bring good luck all year.
Studies have shown that people are twice as likely to tilt their head to the right while kissing.
Famous couples married on February 14th: Elton John-Renate Blauel, Meg Ryan-Dennis Quaid, Pamela Anderson-Tommy Lee and Sharon Stone-Phil Bronstein.
Forty percent of the world’s almonds and 20% of the world’s peanuts are used by chocolate manufacturers for Valentine’s Day Candy.
Men claim to prefer to received chocolates as a Valentine’s gift; women prefer dinner.
Since the Aztec empire, chocolate has been considered an aphrodisiac used in the pursuit of love.
Casanova, who enjoyed the title of “The World’s Greatest Lover,” ate chocolate to make him virile.
There are towns in Texas & Nebraska called Valentine.
There is a Love Valley, North Carolina, a Romeoville, Illinois & Loveland, Colorado.
Each year 300,000 letters go through Loveland, Colorado, to get a special heart stamp cancellation for Valentine’s Day.
In the United States, 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine’s Day with their sweethearts.
Venus is the Roman god of love and beauty.
The red rose was the flower of Venus.
Cupid is associated with Valentine’s Day because he is believed to be the son of Venus.
Cupid is the Roman god of love. In Greek lore, Cupid is known as Eros.
NECCO has been making heart-shaped valentine candies, with sweet sayings printed on them, since 1902.
About eight billion candy hearts are made for Valentine’s Day each year.
Nearly 10 new candy “conversation heart” sayings are introduced each year.
Valentine candy “conversation hearts” have a shelf life of five years.
In flower speak: Red means love, yellow means friendship, pink means friendship or sweetheart and lavender means love at first sight and enchantment.
Red carnations mean admiration, white carnations mean pure love, red chrysanthemums mean love, forget-me-nots mean true love, primrose means young love, and larkspur means an open heart.
Share your Valentine’s Day trivia and WIN!!
*****
Joan Swan is a triple RWA® Golden Heart finalist, and a double Kiss of Death Daphne Du Maurier finalist. She writes sexy romantic suspense with a paranormal twist, and her first novel with Kensington Brava debuts April, 2012. Currently, she works as a sonographer at a one of the top ten medical facilities in the nation, and lives in magnificent wine country on the central coast of California with her husband and two daughters. When she’s not writing or working, Joan haunts the Twitterverse, runs her youngest daughter to the ranch to ride her horse, or texts her oldest daughter off at college.
Today, I’m excited to have my Brava mentee, Dale Mayer, as my guest. I was thrilled to be paired with Dale in the Brava Writing With The Stars Contest. She’s advanced to the final four now (go Dale!). You can read the round four entries on the RT Site–voting is going on now. Congrats, Dale, and thanks for blogging today!
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Hi everyone! Dale Mayer here and I’m so happy to be back visiting with you all today. thanks so much Cynthia for the invitation. She’s been the best mentor (I’ve been lucky enough to have her as my mentor in the Brava Writing with the stars contest) I could possibly have! I’m still in the contest and we’re down to just four finalists with one round left to go and I know it’s because of the help she gave me. Now on to my blog about kick-ass heroines – a character I love to write!
The progression of sexualized and helpless female roles to the kickass curvy females of today is nothing short of miraculous. It seems that since the last forty years women have slowly infiltrated the role to today’s continuous slew of kickass female roles. I love it, don’t get me wrong.
The female heroes used to be defined by men. Then women broke the mould. Becoming much stronger in and more powerful in the real world, they also wanted to see their counterpart in the movie / book scene. Who today would want the weak simpering Barbie of yesterday as their role model?
I hadn’t considered the role reversal to this extent until I read this blog. It made me stop and think. I love strong female characters – in movies and in books. And once I started researching about the differences between male and female action heroes I couldn’t stop. There are huge differences! Male action heroes have a tendency to use brute force and heavy handed moves to make their desired end result happen. According to this article, an investigation that the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation has carried out, only 19% of female characters in films used physical force while the male did in 53% of the times.
The articles and research I studied all agreed that female action heroes use their mind to get what they wanted first – they only resorted to physical violence when everything else has failed. So women tend to use their brain first. Gotta love it. Women action heroes also show their feelings in movies and in books. Compassion is also another trait shown by women and not just to their friends but also to their enemies. It’s part of the female psyche and it works in these mediums to show that part of their nature. Not so much for the males.
Women are allowed to and do cry in movies – even action superwomen. They don’t cry like a weeping damsel in distress during the main fight scenes, instead they show tears up or cry and rage at injustices. These actions actually help to round out the character and instead of feeling like the character wimped out on us as we might if a man had been doing the crying, we applaud her for being true to herself, and we pull for her even more.
Women have held high positions in the past but more a reverent type of powerful level than on a physical level. Let’s be real our DNA is different. We aren’t as strong or as big as our male counterparts. But women of today are being trained better and we are seeing more and more women stepping into powerful roles. In our books and movies, we are almost inundated with them. The potential list is unbelievable. I’ve always been a big fan of Ripley in the Alien series, Alice in the Resident Evil series or how about Selene from Underworld and then there’s the Laura Croft movies.
All of these women used their wits, their skills and their fighting skills when in a corner. They also took care of those that needed them. Ripley protected the child Newt in the second movie. Alice cared for Angie. A distinctly female trait. Have you ever seen an action heroine drag a child around the world saving others? No. Not likely because that wouldn’t be true to form for women. Look at the cartoon move the Incredible. Before Mrs. Incredible has a family, she gives up on being a superhero. She doesn’t willingly drag her kids into the action – they hide away and get into all their own.
If you haven’t seen Salt yet – do. I loved it. Angelina plays another strong kick-ass female role that offers twists and surprises along the way. However, Salt is smart, in control, and has no problem getting down and dirty to get what she wants. Apparently the original character was supposed to be male until Angelina Jolie showed an interest in the role. The character was also supposed to have a child. However, that was changed as Jolie couldn’t see a woman having a child in that position. The audience still has certain expectations that must be met!
In whatever we write, it’s important to have the audience relate. If we need them to suspend belief in one area then we have to make it easy for them by making the actions believable and true to the character.
What about you? What female action heroines do you like? Males? Do you prefer to read (or write) about kick ass characters? Or kick ass heroes?
Thanks to Cindy for inviting me here, and to everyone for stopping by!
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Hi, everyone! Carrie Lofty here. Thanks so much to Cynthia for inviting me to stop by today! Her holiday celebrations are almost as much fun as her books are to read.
I’m also in good company. Like Lisa Renee Jones from yesterday’s post, I also have five books coming out in 2011. Hard to believe! The Regency-era Portrait of Seduction will be released in May from Carina Press, and in November I begin a new Victorian series from Pocket, which kicks off with His Vows to Keep. All very lovely and historical.
But not very deadly. I think only one villain bites in between the two books.
With Ellen Connor however…that’s where the deadly fun really starts.
Ellen Connor is the pseudonym I share with my friend Ann Aguirre. In late 2008 we decided to give co-writing a try, when Ann had an idea for an apocalyptic romance. Vicious monster dogs. Shapeshifters. End-of-the-world horrors. Oh, and amazingly hot sex between our tough chick, Jenna, and her ex-military partner, Mason. Thus Nightfall was born, the first of our “Dark Age Dawning” trilogy from Berkley.
Writing it was a blast. We wrote for ourselves, just enjoying the freedom of tackling a project without any expectations. We didn’t even know if we could work together long-term! But the deeper we climbed into our apocalyptic world, the more fun we had. And the more bodies piled up.
It was quite the change for me. My medieval romances had a slightly higher body count–you know, all those random guards that have to be fought when escaping a castle–but this was entirely different. We had to figure out how to kill evil monsters using WD-40. We had to decide how people would go about eating while trapped in a bunker with no electricity. And as a bonus, we even managed a way to make having sex in a Home Depot ultra hot. Doubters! Fear not! It is very possible!
What I learned is that there are just as many difficulties in writing a fictional world as there are in recreating an historical setting. (I’d never done this before, so the process was surprising.) When we had a question about what was happening, I couldn’t consult a book or find a primary source. Nope. Just…make it up? Really? The answers to all of our deadly, nasty, drooling, shapeshifting problems were all in our brains. Sometimes two brains gave us a problem-solving edge. Sometimes we had two very different ideas about how the story should proceed.
So needless to say, it was unlike any writing experience either of us had ever had. We successfully recreated the magic formula when we tackled Midnight this past summer, and we’re hip-deep in Daybreak right this moment. The trio hits the shelves in June, September and December. Here’s a little taste of Nightfall:
From out of the enveloping darkness, Jenna caught the faint baying of distant hounds. Only they didn’t sound like any dogs she’d ever heard. Their howls echoed with an unwholesome wetness, as if they keened through blood. Her heart skipped a beat, and the cold cut through her jacket like icy knives.
The second scariest part? Mason was about the most harmless thing in the woods.
“We have to get back to the cabin.” He tugged her hand. “You’re not ready for a fight.”
“Will I be?”
He leveled a steady look on her, his confidence and secrets almost hidden in the near dark. “Yes.”
Jenna had no time to think about that, stumbling as he pulled her back toward the cabin. She hunched into her jacket, feeling naked and undone. They sounded closer now. She smelled them too, a noxious stench that reminded her of graveyards. In her mind’s eye, she could almost see them, hideous skeletal things with flesh barely clinging to bone.
But that was crazy. They were just dogs, some strays that had gone feral.
Shadows flashed in her peripheral vision. She put on more speed, the feeling of life or death hitting her hard. The threat was intuitive, on a soul-deep level, and kicked her flight response into high gear. Dry, brittle branches whipped her face as they ran. They felt like bony fingers clawing at her skin, and she swallowed a scream.
I want to wake up now. Time to wake up. The only reply to her desperation came in the form of Mason’s warm fingers twined with hers.
Are you a fan of apocalyptic romances? Does the idea of a happy ending even at the end of the world work for you as a romance? Leave a comment or question and I’ll give one random winner a book from my backlist and one from Ann’s. Your choice. Good luck!
Thank you for being here, Dale! And good luck in the rest of the contest!
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Thanks to Cynthia for inviting me to join you here again today. It’s always a pleasure, particularly as we’re discussing one of my favourite events – NaNoWriMo!
I see the Internet is abuzz with both good and bad comments about this annual Write a Book in a Month event and although, I’m not big on controversy I am big on doing what works for you.
NaNo works for me.
Why? For many reasons. Let me explain. NaNo for me is a challenge – not against everyone else, but against the amount of work I set FOR myself. I’m a fast typist and a fast writer (no they are not the same thing) and I love to see what I can do. I’ve done NaNo for several years and I’ve won the challenge each time. That’s not the point. The point is that I set the goal and I reached the goal. Finished.
Regardless of how you view NaNo, it does create a lot of enthusiasm and ‘get up and go’ energy. What you do with that energy is up to you.
Two years ago, I finished my 50,000 words a little early and continued to add to my novel. Last year though, I blew through a barrier I hadn’t even known existed until I butted up against it. I wrote a complete first draft of 93,600 words. I was amazed at how the book went down on paper. I was an all out pantzer with only the characters’ names and occupations and a two sentence blurb in my head as to who and what was going to happen. Yes, it took several drafts this last year to pull it into shape and yes, there is one final one to go. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth doing. As a matter of fact, that manuscript has turned out phenomenally well.
My reasons for participating two years ago were to finish in decent shape at the end of the month. Done. Last year I wanted to stretch and see what I could do. Done – and now I understand the limits I had placed on my own abilities. This year, well it’s not like I can sit back and not try to repeat last year’s success – right? So I set a daily word count of 3,000 for 30 days to make 90,000 again. As of today I haven’t missed hitting that mark. If fact, I’m just over 46,000 at the halfway mark. So all’s good right?
Except for two things. This year I went into the NaNo process with some story architecture behind me, compliments of Larry Brooks and his very helpful website. I’m still learning but the adaptations had made it easier for me to hit the high points in the story and whip past them to the next major point. Is this making it easier to do NaNo – No. Will it give me a cleaner first draft when I’m done? I hope so. According to Larry it will, so I’m willing to go on a little trust here.
The second thing I have changed this year and I don’t know how successful I’m going to be with this addition to my work load, is I am printing off what I have written during the week and am redlining all of it over the weekend and inputting the changes as I move forward. This might seem unnecessary at this stage, for me however, it helps to keep the various threads running through the story. Then if I drop one, I can catch it and fix it right away and it helps me to keep my characters in…well… in character! I’m not naive enough to think this changes the story from a first draft to a finished draft because if doesn’t. What it does do is help me make as a clean and as accurate a first draft as I can.
That’s what I mean about challenging myself. The choices I make that are right for me are not the same choices that are right for you. They aren’t supposed to be.
Don’t kid yourself. Finishing your NaNo novel does not put you up on the NY Times bestsellers list! However, it does make you a winner in so many ways!
For me it works! How about you. Do you NaNo? Do you enjoy it? Hate it? Are you participating this year and if you are – how are you doing? Are you on track? Or are you so far behind you’re considering quitting? Or have you blown the competition away and have started your second book? Yeah, I’m kidding on the last one! Or do you stay as far away from us nutcases during this time as you can?
Dale Mayer www.dalemayer.com
Writing for the Stars Finalist – Round 2 and counting!
