TBR welcomes Taryn Kincaid

TBR: Welcome to TBR, Taryn. Will you share a little bit about yourself?
Taryn: Let’s see…hmm…I write romance! D’oh! You knew that already right? My first release was a steamy and sensual Regency, Healing Hearts. My other releases have been erotic paranormals and they’re all set in Sleepy Hollow. I live and work not too far away from the real Sleepy Hollow, NY. It’s not that much like what I portray, but Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown are both amazing in the fall, especially around Halloween time!  My stories are pretty HOT, but the sex is more or less spiced up vanilla. Like vanilla with ginger bits or cinnamon. Maybe like the steamy foam on your peppermint latte!

TBR: Tell us about THUNDER and where it's available.
Taryn: THUNDER is my second 1Night Stand story for Decadent Publishing. It’s available all over! (It’s $1 cheaper if you buy it at Decadent’s site!)

Decadent Publishing | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | All Romance | Smashwords | Book Strand

The hero of THUNDER, a hunky developer and contractor named Sean Jones, is the younger brother of Campbell Jones, the awesome architect hero (with superpowers) of my first 1Night Stand story, LIGHTNING. They are standalones and you don’t need to read one to read the other, but Camp does put in a brief appearance in THUNDER. In fact, Campbell arranges Sean’s 1Night Stand…the same way Sean talked Campbell into engaging the Madame Eve’s exclusive, high-end dating service. Turn about is fair play, after all!

TBR: Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Taryn:

BLURB:

Lonely young witch, Veronica Hardwicke, has struggled to get on with her life after the death of the elderly husband who’d left her a fortune and a sprawling estate in mystical Sleepy Hollow. When frightening things go bump in the night on a stormy Fourth of July, who better to call than the sexy developer and contractor, Sean Jones, who's been renovating her mansion for months?

Sean may grace the tabloid pages with a different supermodel on his arm every night, but it's Veronica who drives him nuts. Ignoring his instinct to stay away, he answers her summons.

Will the thundering passion of their 1Night Stand tear down the barriers between them?

EXCERPT:

Veronica paced back and forth in the grand entry foyer of the Belmont mansion, the kitten heels of her Prada mules clacking on the marble floors.

The rest of the place might not be finished, but she’d insisted on having a few rooms completed, so at least she felt like she was living in a home, rather than a massive, never-ending construction project. Well, her contractor had insisted, even though working around the main entrance and central hallway created more work for him and his crew. But she was forced to admit he was right.

Her cell phone chimed on top of the antique credenza shoved flush against one wall. She leaped for it. Probably Geneviève, to regale her with all the fun she was having in Paris. Or Sean, to advise her he couldn’t make it after all. She sighed and read the text message on the small screen.

Congratulations, Veronica. 1Night Stand has found your date. Have a good time.

With both anxiety and mounting excitement, she stared at the screen and waited. No other info. Outside in the night, thunder boomed. She jumped then laughed at herself.

Ghosts are one thing, but freaking out at the weather now? Cripes, you really do need this date!

She let her imagination run wild, then texted back for more details:

When? Where? Who?

An insistent pounding at the front door jarred her out of her fantasy. She swung the door open on another explosive crack of thunder.

Sean stood on her doorstep, his soaked T-shirt molding sculpted pecs and abs, his drenched hair flattened over his brow. Rain poured down as he fiddled with his iPhone, a bemused expression on his face. Behind him, jagged arrows of lightning tore the dark sky. He glared at the screen, glanced at her in confusion, then back at the screen.

Veronica’s own phone pinged again. Thunder roared. She read the message in disbelief.

    You’re looking at him.

TBR: What inspired you to write about the theme?
Taryn: I love writing the 1Night Stand stories and this seemed a natural. Sean is a cocky devil in LIGHTNING and screamed for his own story. Veronica is mentioned in LIGHTNING, too, but she didn’t have a name then and I didn’t know anything about her, except that she was the wealthy woman whose mansion the Campbell brothers’ company, By Jones was renovating … and that Sean was having difficulties with her…even then!

TBR: Are you a plotter or pantser?
Taryn: I am a pantser all the way. I don’t even know where I’m going from sentence to sentence, much as I might wish it otherwise. If I could plot, I’d probably write mysteries!  Even if I get a plot bunny, it seems to go off and nibble story carrots somewhere else. On the rare occasions when I’ve tried to outline, either I gave up on the story, or the story ended up taking a major detour and ending up in a different county altogether.

TBR: How do you develop your characters?
Taryn:  I don’t know. It is a factor of many things. They’re backstory, of course. Whether they’ve been hurt or damaged, psychologically or otherwise in the past. What they do for a living.

TBR: Any tips or tricks for world building you’d care to share?
Taryn: The sky’s the limit, as they say. You can make up anything at all…and don’t worry about legend and lore …but you must be consistent in your own world.  In LIGHTNING and my not-yet released 1Night Stand story, FROST, the heroines are succubi. In LIGHTNING, the heroine had, in the past, problems with lightning during sex. One reviewer said she thought lightning was for Valkyrie. Well, yes. In Kelsey Cole’s series! Vampires are very much different in J. R. Ward’s world than in the world of Twilight and both are very much different from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. So feel free…but stay true to yourself.

TBR: Do you have a favorite quote you’d like to share?
Taryn: I’ll give you a threefer:

 “I’m not that good a witch.”

“Maybe you need a familiar.”

“You’re my familiar, Mr. Jones.”

TBR: Did any music inspire your book? Do you have a playlist?
Taryn:  Thunder Road, of course!

No, seriously, though. I cannot write with music on. I’m too easily distracted. I start singing or humming along. Not that I can carry a tune. I don’t mind if the TV’s on in another room because that’s just background noise. But music is too immediate. Like someone talking to you.

TBR: Which of your characters would you most/least like to invite to dinner, and why?
Taryn: I have one succubi sister left who needs a story, and Campbell and Sean have their By Jones partners and Sean’s squeeze, Veronica, has a friend who’s a will-o’the-wisp…so I sometimes envision what Thanksgiving would be like at one of their homes…hmm.

TBR: What's next for you?
Taryn:  Next up is FROST, my third 1Night Stand story for decadent. I LOVE this one! It was so HOT and fun to write. The heroine is succubus Dagney Night, the sister of Lily Night from LIGHTNING. The hero is a reclusive fire-sex demon and phenomenal artist, Maxwell Raines. It’s a Valentine’s story.

TBR: Any other published works?
Taryn: HEALING HEARTS, my Regency romance for Carina Press; SLEEPY HOLLOW DREAMS, my first Sleepy Hollow-set erotic paranormal for The Wild Rose Press; and LIGHTNING, my 1^st 1Night Stand story for Decadent Publishing.

TBR: Who are some of your favorite authors and books? What are you reading now?
Taryn:  I recently discovered and got hooked on J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I devoured all of them like M&Ms, one after another. Right now I’m reading Team of Rivals, a nonfiction book by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. It’s the book that inspired the movie, Lincoln. It’s fascinating.

TBR: Where can readers find you on the web?
Taryn:  I have a website at tarynkincaid.com, a blog at http://dreamvoyagers.blogspot.com, where you can find me. I LOVE comments and emails! You can also find me on Facebook, where I have a profile as well as a Facebook Author page. And I’m on Twitter and Goodreads. You can also find my author pages on Amazon, Manic Readers and The Romance Reviews. 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

TBR: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Taryn: If you’ve already read LIGHTNING or THUNDER, what would YOU like to see next from me?

TBR: Readers, Taryn will give away swag and a copy of THUNDER to one lucky commenter. She'll pick a winner and announce the winner here. Be sure to leave your email address so she can contact you.

Thanks for visiting TBR, Taryn! All the best to you, and Happy New Year’s!

Light week this week

TBR has one guest this week, but you won't want to miss her!

Taryn Kincaid will be here tomorrow.

And tomorrow's the last day to visit with the TBR Featured Author for December, Laurie J. Edwards. After December ends, so does that page. But look for more book spotlights, blurb and book blitzes in 2013.

And as the new year begins on Tuesday, TBR celebrates its first birthday! It's been exciting to watch this blog grow, and to be able to feature such a wide variety of talented authors. I'm looking forward to finding more ways for readers to find authors they'll love.

Thanks, as always, for your support,
Cate

TBR welcomes Zenobia Renquist

TBR: Welcome to TBR, Zenobia Renquist. Will you share a little bit about yourself?
Zenobia: I’m a Paranormal/Fantasy Romance author and my books involve interracial and multicultural characters. My husband is Air Force and we are currently stationed in Hawaii with our two cats. And yes, Hawaii is very pretty. It doesn’t rain as much as Hawaii 5-0 would lead you to believe, but pretty much everything is about right, including Liliha Bakery, which is fantastic.

TBR: Tell us about Pet’s Pleasure and where it's available.
Zenobia: Pet’s Pleasure is a SciFi Alien Abduction Romance (MF) published with Ellora’s Cave. Starling has been kidnapped from Earth and sold to the king of an alien planet as his pet. Her new life consists of dealing with people’s low opinion of humans, dodging the king’s sadistic younger brother, and hiding her growing love for the king.

Buy Links:

Ellora’s Cave – http://www.ellorascave.com/pet-s-pleasure.html

All Romance eBooks – http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-pet039spleasure-771462-143.html

Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007RXA3FU/

Kobo - http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Pets-Pleasure/book-elO_LJak4E2hdFM1ytsMVg/page1.html?s=btHaXh0YUUKQ_0hzMYkcaA&r=1

Nook – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1110186509?ean=9781419936524

Sony eReader - http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/zenobia-renquist/pet-s-pleasure/_/R-400000000000000672545

TBR: Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Zenobia:

The love of a good owner is hard to find.

Starling envied the easy life of pets…until she became one. Kidnapped from Earth and sold to the highest bidder, she now belongs to an alien king. But she doesn’t want to be his pampered possession. She wants Bekion to see her as an independent woman with needs and desires of her own.

Only deviants break the laws barring sexual relations between owners and their pets, and King Bekion has no intention of succumbing to simple lust. But the long nights with Starling’s lush body pressed tight against his take a toll. Her strength and intelligence make it difficult for Bekion to remember Starling is human—and forbidden. He knows it isn’t right but he can’t stop thinking of his pet and all the pleasure he could give her, even if it costs him his crown.

Read the full first chapter online at http://drb1stchp.com/2012/04/pets-pleasure-by-zenobia-renquist/

TBR: Are you a plotter or pantser?
Zenobia: I am most definitely a pantser. I write scenes as they come to me and then put them in order to make the story flow. Most of the time I don’t know where the story will go or how it will end until I’m finished writing.

TBR: How do you develop your characters?
Zenobia: My characters develop much like the story. I learn new things about them as I’m writing the story. Sometimes I start with a general idea of how I want my characters to be and then they evolve as different parts of the story are revealed. From time to time, new tidbits about the characters means I have to go back and tweak my writing, but that’s all part of the way I tell my stories.

TBR: Do you have a favorite quote you’d like to share?
Zenobia: My favorite quote is from E.L. Doctorow – “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”

TBR: What's next for you?
Zenobia: My next title with Ellora’s Cave is a Vampire Romance in their bounty hunter theme called CREAM. It’s due out May 2013 and is about a necromancer who gets swept up in love and trouble by her new vampire partner.

TBR: What’s the most challenging aspect of writing? Most rewarding?
Zenobia: The most challenging aspect of writing is finishing. Sometimes that takes more effort than anything else. I have some books that flow and others that fight me for every single word. The most rewarding is to hear from readers who enjoyed my books.

TBR: What’s the most interesting comment you have received about your books?
Zenobia: The most interesting comment about my books came from a former coworker (when I had a day job). After finding out that I’m an author, she read one of my books. The next day she came to work, pulled me close and said, “I would have never expected something so twisted from someone as happy as you.” Since I smile all the time, my coworkers thought I wrote children’s books. I dissuaded at least one of them from that wrong notion.

TBR: Who are some of your favorite authors and books? What are you reading now?
Zenobia: I have so many favorite authors. My must buy list consists of (but isn’t limited to) Pamela Palmer, Alexandra Ivy, Kresley Cole, Monica Burns and Bianca D’Arc. I’m not reading anything now, but I do have plans to devour books from all the women listed above once I tame my to-be-written list.

TBR: Where can readers find you on the web?
Zenobia: 

Website – http://zenobiarenquist.com

Blog – http://blog.dreneebagby.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Author.DRBagby.ZRenquist

Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/ZenobiaRenquist

TBR: Thanks for visiting TBR, Zenobia. All the best to you.

Book Spotlight: Medicine Man by S.R. Howen

 

Title: Medicine Man 1

Author:  S.R. Howen

Publisher: Wild Child Publishing    .

Length:   Novel (332 pages)

Sub-Genres:  Horror/Spirtiual/Romance

BLURB

Shannon Running Deer is American Indian by blood, he has forsaken his people's ancient ways to embrace the "modern" world as a wealthy, highly successful trauma surgeon.

His comfortable existence begins to unravel when, seemingly by chance, Shannon finds himself gradually drawn into the past. Pursued by an ancient evil, he knows he can change the future, if he can survive the past.

In the tradition of Diana Gabaldon, S.R. Howen's MEDICINE MAN is a distinctive and atmospheric novel full of spirituality, mystical time travel, romance, passion, and suspense.

EXCERPT

  

She stood up, undid her jeans, and started lowering them as if I were not staring at her like some lusty teenager. I fled the room and shut the door on her seductive form. I stood in the hallway, leaned against the wall with my eyes shut, and tried to still the passion she invoked in me. I knew she didn’t wear a bra; the absent top buttons on her shirt made it obvious. She also didn’t wear any underwear. Not unless they were much lower on her hips than her partly lowered jeans. In all my adult life, I had never felt like this before.

“You could have her. Take her,” the elk-man’s voice echoed.

“You’ve been too long without a wife,” my grandfather said.

“Leave me alone,” I said, as much to the elk-man voice as to my grandfather.

“You have been too long without a wife,” my grandfather repeated. “Even I remember what it was like to be that ready for a woman.”

I tried to yank my shirt down further before I opened my eyes to tell him to mind his own business. I got a good view of his back as he went into the guest room. The door shut with a firm thump. The sound of the lock turning made me shake my head.

My grandfather was at his exasperating best. Later, he would wander out of there to raid the refrigerator for whatever he could find. I went into the kitchen and put the tea kettle on the stove. The burner lit with a faint whoosh, and I experienced a flash of the medicine dances I’d attended in my youth. The tribal medicine man would throw fine sulfur dust into the fire to make it do the same thing. A grand show, as was everything medicine men did. None of their tricks had worked for my father.

My father, being a firm believer in the old ways, wouldn't seek out modern medicine past the point of being told he had terminal cancer. He wouldn’t even consider modern healing mixed with the old beliefs. My own mother turned her back on me after he died.

The teapot shrilled, and Morning Dove’s voice came from the doorway. “I am very tired.”

I took a mug from the shelf above the sink. From a different cupboard, I took down the box of nighttime tea I kept there. I added water and tea to the mug and watched the steam for a moment, before I held it out to her.

“It will help you sleep,” I said when she just looked at the cup.

“I have had enough white-man’s medicines put into me already.” Her eyes flashed with what I took for humor.

“This is a mixture of natural herbs, no preservatives, no artificial colorings, no caffeine. . . ”

With a smile, she took the cup. Her fingers brushed against mine, sending an electric chill along my nerves. I led the way to my study and turned on the gas fireplace. Morning Dove went to the thick sheepskin rug in front of it and sat down. While she sipped the tea, I went to the closet and retrieved a pillow and some blankets. I paused with them in hand to watch her. She sat in the terry robe and held the mug in both hands. She took a small sip and stared into the fire.

Her hair hung down over the robes back in a glimmering wet curtain. One corner of the robe slipped down to reveal her shoulder. I wanted to sink to the floor and wrap myself around her. With a grunt, I pulled myself away from thoughts of intimacy with her. I covered the couch with a sheet and punched the pillow a few times--to fluff it.

The gate buzzer sounded loudly in the silent room. What nut would be out on a night like this unless they had to be? I pulled the door to the study shut and went to answer the gate intercom.

No one answered. When I turned away from it, thinking the storm had made it go off, it buzzed again. Loud and insistent. I jabbed the button.

“Who’s there?”

I heard nothing in return except the thunder rumbling overhead. I pulled open the front door. Down the drive, through the sheets of rain, it looked like a set of round headlights on the other side of the gate. My brother’s Jeep?

I reached back inside and pushed the button to open the gate.

Lightening cracked so bright I couldn’t see for a moment. I blinked back the brightness, tried to blink it away again.

It didn’t help. The deer filling my driveway didn’t go away. They ran past the house in a steady stream, an entire herd. Where had they come from? The drums sounded behind me.

BUY LINK

Wild Child: 

http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=106&products_id=404&zenid=93affe84656f57e4ae4556fb740ad330

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I currently work as an editor at Wild Child Publishing (since 1998) and also mentor several beginning writers. My publications include, THE FORGE: DISCOVERIES(Erotica with four star and above reviews)(Freya's Bower) under the pen name Shaunna Wolf, and upcoming from WCP; TALES OF THE ZINGARI:THE WIZARD’S HEART (Romance), and MEDICINE MAN: THE CHIEF OF ALL TIME (Supernatural suspense) as S.R.Howen.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRHowen

Author Web Site: http://srhowen.wix.com/srhowen-1#!home/mainPage

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/srhowen?ref=tn_tnmn

Facebook Author's Page: http://www.facebook.com/srhowen1?ref=hl

Blog: http://srhowen1.blogspot.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3119305.Shaunna_Wolf

Book Blogs: http://bookblogs.ning.com/profile/SRHowen

Authors Den:http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?id=166698

Amazon Author's Page: http://www.amazon.com/Shaunna-Wolf/e/B008HT798M/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/shawn-rh/54/1a7/9b6

Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/114253011914334775653/about

TBR welcomes Candy Ann Little

Arguing With Your Character?

by Candy Ann Little

In my first novel, Unforgiving Ghosts, I didn’t have characters arguing with me. I wrote a rough outline, named the characters and knew their personalities. I had no conflict except the ones I wrote. Maybe, because this story was based on my real life experiences and the two main characters were loosely based on me and my husband, there wasn’t much to argue about. 

I started my second, Shattered, and found the same thing. The characters acted and behaved as I, the author, directed them. However, half way through this story I got a writing assignment from my writers’ group that put this book on hold. The assignment was to write 500 – 1,000 words in the style of my favorite author. Of course I picked Kathleen E, Woodiwiss. 

She always began her novels with the time and place of the setting. So I started researching just to see where I wanted it, and what year it would take place in. As the pieces clicked into place, I put my setting in America but Caitlin was from Ireland. Dillon had moved to the States from England. The time was 1798 and the Irish revolt against England was in full swing. 

I now had a full set of characters, a setting and an interesting plot. Needless to say, my 1,000 word assignment turned into a complete novel. I had an overall view of where I wanted this plot go but not a full outline as the previous two books. That wasn’t the only difference either. I was now dealing with a headstrong character that wanted to tell ME how the story should end. Really? I’m the author, I argued back to Caitlin. Your brother is dead and that is that!

One thing that always annoys me in books and movies is how everything always works out perfectly. The dead aren’t really dead, the husband sees the errors of his way and returns to his wife, the parents suddenly see how much their teenager is in love and stops fighting so they can be together.

Sometimes life just doesn’t work out this way. People die, even young ones, with no explanations. Husbands and wives split up and love doesn’t always work out. That is the real world. I wanted my novel to have more real life experience in it. I explained that to Caitlin a hundred times during the two years I wrote my story. “Your brother is dead and is going to stay that way.” I was firm with her. Death is part of war and it needed to be in my novel. 

However, two years later as I wrote the final scene where she was waiting to welcome her family back, who walked off the ship? Her dead brother, Dwayne. I thought about hitting the delete button about hundred times. However, each time I heard Caitlin saying “No, it’ll work. Wait and see.”

I don’t know why but I finally gave in to her and allowed Dwayne to live. I still felt it was too much like a fairytale ending. But, a year later another author reviewed my book and sent me a private message asking me to write a sequel. My response, “I don’t have one.” This was a standalone book. He argued that Sarah, who got engaged to Brogan, Caitlin’s other brother, could start having feelings for Dwayne. 

I knew that would never work because Sarah was too much in love with Brogan, and had waited years for him to propose. A few days later another reviewer made a comment that she’d like to see a redemption story for, Henrietta. She was one of the villainesses in the story, but I wasn’t sure I could turn her from a bad girl to a likeable heroin. However, the more I thought about it the sequel started unfolding in my head. I could see Caitlin’s face turning red with anger when she finds out that Dwayne is in love with her enemy. I emailed the author who first wanted to sequel and asked him what he thought about the plot of Dwayne falling in love with Henrietta. He loved the idea and said that was the second book. 

As I’ve been researching, I can see Caitlin smiling and saying, “See I told you it would work out.” The point to this article is that as authors we can have a dashboard view. We only see what is in front of us. These are the characters and this is the plot. The characters can have a helicopter view. Caitlin saw beyond her own story and saw the making of a sequel, even though I never had that in mind. Sometimes it’s best to just listen to your characters!!

But that doesn’t mean I can’t extract a little revenge by having Caitlin deal with Henrietta in her family when Dwayne wants to marry her in the sequel, The Unwanted Bride. Who’s laughing last?!

Candy Ann Little grew up in a small town in Ohio. She moved to Michigan with her family when her husband got a job there. She began writing in the aftermath of tragedy - her third child was stillborn. The nurse suggested keeping a journal to cope with the grief. Although she thought it a dumb idea at the time, she soon found a freedom and healing that writing brought.

Eventually that pain and sorrow turned into her first Inspirational romance. Candy Ann finds it therapeutic putting her thoughts into the words and action of her characters. She also finds that discipline is the biggest lesson learned in her writing life. Since then she has finished 3 novels and one novella.

When she isn't busy with her husband of twenty-two years and her two kids, you can find her subbing in the public school system, or helping with church activities. Her favorite things to do besides writing is reading, cooking and baking.