Monday January 30, 2023
Welcome to HERE BE NEWS, where each monday we bring you all the latest from the fantasy romance authors at Here Be Magic:
Tuesday January 24, 2023: Linda Mooney treats us to a vignette from Capricorn, Beasts of the Zodiac.
Monday, January 30, 2023
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
January Vignette - Capricorn the Zodian by Linda Mooney
Capricorn
Phillip
glanced up, searching through the haze for his guide. It was almost impossible
to see her, even though her entire outfit was a glaring neon orange. He knew she
was there, maybe ten or twelve feet above him, but she might as well have been
a hundred feet away.
He tugged
on the rope, testing their connection as well as signaling to her. It was firm.
Good. That gave him some sense of security. As long as they remained connected,
there was hope of getting out of this alive.
Why, oh,
why did I have to come up here? he asked himself for the umpteenth time.
Because
you wanted to prove something to yourself, a little self-deprecating voice
taunted in reply. Because you wanted to show you’re just as virile and
strong in your fortieth year as you were in your twentieth. And your thirtieth.
And because you’re a glutton for punishment, you idiot.
The
rope jumped in his hands. Two hard, definite jerks.
Peering
upward, he tried to spot her, but the relentless storm blinded him. He thought
he heard her voice shouting down at him. It sounded like she was trying to tell
him…
“A cave!
There’s a cave!”
The rope
moved again, silently urging him to keep climbing. Using his left hand for
control, he dug into the solid sheet of ice with the pick in his right. One
inch…two inches…slow but sure.
A pair of
gloved hands reached under his arms. She pulled, he heaved, and together they
managed to bring him over the lip of the ledge she was resting on. With her
help, he crawled farther inside the depression before dropping onto his side to
rest.
“Are you
okay?” she almost yelled into his ear.
“Yeah.
Thanks. Where the hell did this storm come from?”
“It does
that this time of year. Totally unpredictable.” She pointed behind her. “Let’s
move inside. We can weather the worst of it in there.”
He followed
her on hands and knees, sometimes having to resort to sliding on his belly like
a penguin, before they entered a larger, cave-like structure. Except it was
another ledge that ended about a meter away from the far wall. Daylight barely
filtered inside, but by this time their eyes had adjusted to the dimness.
“Be careful
you don’t roll over,” his guide half-teased.
He watched
her reach inside one of her coat pockets and pull out a small bag. She opened
it, extracting what looked like a piece of jerky. She noticed him eyeing her
and held out the bag.
“Jerky?”
“Thanks.”
He plucked a piece. Lifting his face mask, he popped it into his mouth. It was
dry and tough, but it tasted wonderful once his spittle softened it. They ate
in silence until he asked the obvious question. “How long will we have to
remain here?”
“Maybe
you’d be better off asking how long that storm’s going to last,” she countered.
“That long,
eh?”
She
answered with a snort. “Maybe we’ll get lucky, and this thing will blow over
soon.”
“No pun
intended?” he tossed in.
Another
snort.
“Okay. What
happens if this doesn’t end anytime soon, and we get trapped up here?”
She
shrugged. “It’s been known to happen.” Her dark eyes slanted over at him.
“That’s why you signed the release.”
Phillip
studied her as she shrugged off the backpack and gear she carried, and set it
next to her. Beneath her heavy jacket and layers of insulated wear was a
twenty-something woman with jet black hair and eyes almost the same color.
Initially, he’d been reluctant to have her sign on to be his guide up to the
summit of this mountain, but he’d relented once he’d checked with several of
the other sherpas and discovered she was as capable, if not more capable, than
they were.
That, plus
she was the only one left to hire.
“Jaylianna,
right?”
She smiled.
“You have a very good memory, Mr. Case.”
“Phillip,”
he gently corrected.
She smiled
again. “And how does Mrs. Phillip feel about you traipsing about the world on
your own?”
“I’ve never
been married.” At her astonished look, he continued. “I’ve been so involved in
my work and trying to build my business from the ground up, I never found the
time to fall in love, much less have a family.”
“I read
your resume.” Jaylianna waved a hand at their surroundings. “This doesn’t look
like something that has anything to do with your business.”
“No. It
doesn’t.” He also divested himself of the forty-plus pounds he carried, laid it
beside him, and leaned his back against the rocky wall. “When I was in college,
a group of friends and I decided to hike through Europe one summer. I was
twenty. It was such an exhilarating and life-changing experience, I decided to
do something similar when I hit thirty.”
“And that
was?”
“I traveled
the complete length of the Amazon by boat.”
She nodded
her head. “Impressive. So for your fortieth birthday, you chose to climb to the
summit of the Himalayas?”
“It seemed
safer than to try for Everest,” he halfway jested. “I have to admit, it was
quite a surprise to find someone like you hiring herself out as a guide.”
“Girl’s
gotta eat,” she quipped.
“You’re not
afraid of some client…” He let the rest slide. Somehow he knew she’d understand
what he meant.
A hardness
came over her features. “I’m not as weak as some people believe.”
“I know.”
From what he’d observed over the past few days, he had no doubts she could hold
her own.
“And,
because I know you’re going to ask me sooner or later what’s a girl like me
doing on a slope like this, let’s just say I come from a family of mountain
climbers.”
He’d
suspected as much. She had a strange accent. Hard to place, but pleasant to
listen to. “It’s in the blood.”
She
chuckled. “That’s one way of putting it.”
She pulled
out their satellite phone from a side pocket of her backpack and turned it on.
“Base Hugo. Base Hugo. This is Expedition Argos. Base Hugo. Do you copy? This
is Expedition Argos.”
The phone
crackled. “This is Base Hugo. We copy, Expedition Argos. You’re in one hell of
a shitstorm. Have you found shelter?”
“We’re in
an ice cave at thirty-nine thousand feet,” she informed the man on the other
end. “What’s the forecast?”
“Not
promising. Looks like this thing’s going to last at least through next week.
There might be a small window to send a helicopter in to bring you out this
Saturday, but that’s iffy at best. Hope you’re ready to hunker down and wait it
out.”
“We’ll keep
in touch,” Jaylianna promised. “Our next call will be at…” She checked her
wristband. “Sixteen hundred hours.”
“Copy that.
Talk to you then. Hugo out.”
She turned
off the phone and tucked it inside her inner coat pocket. “Unless you get cold,
we need to save our Sterno packets for when we really need them.”
“All right.
When they say it’s time to go meet the chopper, is there any place in
particular we rendezvous?”
She
motioned downward. “There’s a slope a hundred or so meters beneath us that’s
wide enough to allow a helicopter to lower down a ladder.”
“So I take
it this is as high as I’ll get on this mountain.”
She smiled,
but he didn’t see any humor in it. “You managed to reach thirty-nine thousand
six hundred and eighteen feet. That’s higher than a lot of expeditions managed
to reach before they had to be called off.” She cocked her head to the side.
“Disappointed?”
“Hell, no. The
simple fact that I was able to get this far is enough for me.”
“So getting
to the top wasn’t a big priority.”
“It’s the
adventure I’m after. Being able to tell others what I’ve done. Personal
satisfaction.”
That seemed
to appease her.
“In the
meantime, what do we do until it’s time for you to check in again? Swap
stories?”
“I always
prefer to rest. Catch a few ZZZs.”
He
acquiesced. “That would’ve been my second suggestion.” Digging his hands deeper
into his coat pockets, he watched Jaylianna lie on her side and make herself
comfortable, using the backpack to pillow her head. “Out of curiosity, have you
ever made it to the summit?”
“Yes.”
“Once? More
than once?”
She rolled
her eyes up at him. He quickly waved it off. “Never mind. It’s nice to know I
have an expert at mountain climbing.”
She
murmured something that sounded vaguely like, “If you only knew,” but he
dismissed it.
Taking her
cue, he tried to settle onto his backpack but he was too stressed and anxious
to feel sleepy. Curiously, he watched as she removed one of those little
wind-up lanterns from her gear. She cranked the handle several times until it
emitted a glow, then placed it on the floor between them.
A cracking
noise came from overhead. Phillip sat up in alarm and stared at the ragged
ceiling of ice a few meters overhead. He glanced over at Jaylianna just as a
second loud snap resounded. A look of worry crossed her face as she also rose
into a sitting position.
“That can’t
be good, can it?” he whispered.
“It could
be the ground shift—”
The floor
suddenly collapsed. Jaylianna shrieked as she, the lantern, and her backpack
went plunging down into the dark morass. Phillip scooted as far away from the
hole to keep from also falling, when the ice ledge crumbled beneath him, and he
found himself tumbling backwards.
It was
almost a straight shot down until he hit the pool of freezing cold water. He
struggled, flailing his arms and kicking his legs in an attempt to get his head
above the surface. It was all he could do not to succumb to the icy liquid trying
to suck him under.
He wasn’t
expecting something to grab him. He tried to fight it off, afraid something
diabolical or supernatural had risen from the depths.
“Breathe!”
a voice yelled near his ear.
He hadn’t
known his face was above the water until he heard the word. Obediently, he
gulped in a deep breath.
There was
no light coming from anywhere. It was dark. Apocalyptic dark. A shudder went
through him.
“Stop
struggling!” the same voice ordered.
He froze. Water
splashed up his nose. His arms and legs felt heavy. Even though his clothing
and outerwear was waterproof, it didn’t mean it couldn’t get waterlogged. Especially
when immersed and held underwater.
The arms
tightened around him, and he realized she was keeping his head above the
surface. “Jay?”
“Hold on!”
Something
slapped his legs. She was trying to keep them both afloat.
A hardness
pressed against his back.
“Grab it!”
It was all
he could do to find the wall of ice and try to keep a grip on it. The arms
released him, and he got the impression Jaylianna had gone under.
“Jay? Jay!”
Holding onto
the wall with one hand, he swept his other arm outward, hoping to find her and
bring her back to the surface. He was shocked when a tiny light appeared a
short distance away. In its glow he saw the woman appear and shake the water
from her eyes. Her parka was missing, leaving her dark hair hanging like a
black curtain over her shoulders.
She turned to him. “You okay?”
He coughed and spit. “Yeah. You?”
“I think we fell into a crevasse.”
“Can we get out of it?”
“Yeah. Maybe.” She had a funny
expression on her face. He saw her look upward and raise the lantern to examine
the sides of the crevasse, and for a brief instant he thought he saw…
She lifted the lantern higher, and
what he believed he’d imagined became clearer.
Clearer and undeniable.
“I can climb up to the opening,”
she told him. Slowly, she swung around to face him. Between them, a fish-like
tail splashed the surface, blue-green scales reflecting in the pale lantern
light. “As soon as I reach the cave entrance, I’ll put out an SOS to base camp.
Let them know what happened. But you can’t stay submerged in this water long.”
“How are you going to reach them?
You put the phone in your parka,” he reminded her.
She pointed to an area above them.
Pointed…with her hoof-shaped hand.
“There’s another phone in my pack.
It got caught on something. Once I get up there, I’ll drop the rope down to you
and you can haul yourself up out of the water after I make the call. Then I’ll
help you up the rest of the way.”
He nodded and readjusted his grip
on the wall.
After revving the lantern to a
higher brightness, she set it on a small bit of ice jutting next to her. She
gave him another unreadable look, prompting him to wish her luck. With a nod,
she raised both…arms…
No. Legs. Animal legs. Goat
legs. Legs that end in hooves.
…placed them on the wall, and
heaved herself up out of the water.
Phillip swallowed hard, his heart
pumping frantically in his chest as he stared at the long, sinuous tail,
glistening with scales, down to the semi-transparent fins. She maneuvered
herself from one tiny outcropping to another, using that tale for balance as
she found purchase with her front legs.
It was slow going, but she
eventually reached the dangling backpack. Withdrawing the second satellite
phone from an inner pocket, she hung the strap around her neck, then pulled out
a length of coiled rope. “Phillip?” she called down to him.
“Still here!”
“Rope coming down! I attached an
ice pick to the end, so heads up!”
She played it out until he heard it
hit the water. Despite the dim light, he was able to grab it on the first try. “Got
it!”
“Tie it around your waist. After I
make the call, I’ll help pull you up. Think you can make the climb?”
“Fifty bucks say I can!”
She laughed, and for the first time
he felt hope they’d be able to get through this.
As he secured the rope around his
waist, he heard her call in the SOS. When it was over, she yelled down,
“They’re on their way! You secured?”
“I’m ready!”
She pulled, and he did his best,
using the pick to carve toeholds in the wall as she kept the rope taut to keep
him from falling. Water sluiced from his clothing, but he didn’t dare take the
time or use the energy to remove any of it.
Eventually, he reached the remains
of the ledge, now more of a wide lip at the cave opening. Settling where there
was no chance of him falling back in, he took a couple of minutes to catch his
breath. At the same time, he made no bones about looking closely at her. At her
new form. Her shape. The mixture of human, animal, and fish, clearly visible
even in the dank light.
“I’m a Caprica,” she softly
admitted.
“A Caprica? Like Capricorn? The
zodiac sign?”
“Yes.”
“I thought that was—”
“Fiction? Mythology?” She gave a
single laugh. “Don’t you know all mythology has origins from somewhere?”
He saw a shudder go through her.
Unzipping his coat, he peeled it open, then unbuttoned the flannel shirt
beneath it until he got to the thermal underwear before he reached for her. She
didn’t object, but scooted next to him and allowed him to draw her against him.
Pull her into his lap until their bodies touched, and he could close his shirt
and coat around them both so their combined body heat kept them warm.
“Your secret is safe with me,” he
murmured into her wet hair.
She continued to shiver. It made
her chuckle vibrate. “Who’d believe you anyway?”
Phillip stared out the cave opening
at the curtain of snow blowing at a forty-five-degree angle. Here he was,
holding a woman who wasn’t a real woman, but more of a combination of three
species, and he didn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable. In fact, it
felt…natural.
Her shivering lessened, becoming
momentary attacks rather than persistent.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Oh, hell, no! Thank you! I
wouldn’t’ve been able to make it out on my own.” He snorted. “You’re built for
this terrain. Climbing sheer walls. Swimming through that freezing cold water.
Can you also withstand blizzards?”
“If I can burrow underneath the
drifts, I can usually hold my own until it stops. But I prefer a tent, a
blanket, and a hot cup of tea.”
“How about I treat you to that hot
cup of tea when we get back to base camp?” he offered. If he didn’t know any
better, he’d swear she relaxed against him.
“I’d like that very much, Phillip,”
she admitted, and laid her head on his shoulder.
Monday, January 23, 2023
HERE BE NEWS for Monday January 23, 2023
Monday January 23, 2023
Welcome to HERE BE NEWS, where each monday we bring you all the latest from the fantasy romance authors at Here Be Magic:
Tuesday January 17, 2023: Deborah Bailey discusses whether or not AI can be helpful for creatives.
Wednesday January 18, 2023: WIP-it Wednesday. PG Forte shares an excerpt from her WIP, Christmas Angel.
Mark your calendar! The Worth the Wait Seasoned Romance Readers group is hosting a party! It’s their 2nd annual Snow Day event coming soon! Invite your friends and pop in any time all-day Saturday January 28th, or Sunday morning. Author posts will close Sunday.
Hope to see you there!
You must join the group to participate. https://www.facebook.com/groups/worththewaitseasonedromancereaders
New!
ETERNALLY
Time Travel
Fantasy Romance
by Linda Mooney
Word
Count: 23.2K
$2.99
e / $6.99 p
After suffering a brutal beating at the hands of Goen, Juda Plesh sees her opportunity to escape and takes it. She jumps. But where—or when—will she end up? Will Cayn be able to find her? And why did he abandon her in the first place?
Traveling through the centuries, Cayn Stiner has always been able to find Juda, but he’s disappointed when he finally locates her and she doesn’t recognize him. They’ve always been drawn to each other, tied emotionally to one another, but realizing she doesn’t remember him doesn’t sit well. The new scar on her forehead could have something to do with it.
Juda isn’t sure she knows the man at first, but she remembers the name, and slowly memories are coming back to her. Cayn is her love, her heart, for all of eternity. If only they can survive constant attacks from Goen, another Nomad like them who is determined to end Cayn and keep Juda for himself.
Constantly running, jumping through time, and looking over their shoulders, the couple want to be able settle down and start their family. Here, in this time, where they are accepted and the people care for them. But how will they be able to evade the madman and end their torment once and for all?
Warning! Contains fairy tale hogwash, tracking like a hound dog, meatloaf (and the best darn flapjacks in the county), special abilities, and two people who only want a chance to live and love like normal people.
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
WIP-It Wednesday for January 18, 2023
PG Forte: My current WIP is Christmas Angel--an M//M, second chance, angel-themed fantasy romance that's set primarily at a Christmas Tree Farm in Central Texas during December. It plays off a lot of classic movie tropes--A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, Just Like Heaven, That Heavenly Kid, The Bishop's Wife, Spirited, and pretty much everything Hallmark has ever released. For example, one hero (Tony) is a frustrated, overworked, small-town-dwelling Christmas tree farmer, the other (Jake) is his ex-husband, a jaded financial advisor who lives in NYC. Jake is also dead, a probationary angel, and believes himself to have been cast in the role of Marley to Tony's Scrooge. Spoiler alert: not everything Jake believes about himself or his mission is necessarily true. Here's an excerpt.
But despite everything I have to be grateful for, I’m still feeling down. I guess the Christmas blues have set in early this year. See, I have this vision in my head of what my perfect Christmas would look and feel like. And every year that falls short of the mark, leaves me more and more depressed. The fact that my dream Christmas is based on the memory of an actual Christmas Past—my past, not the distant past—only makes it worse.
I think I’d feel a whole lot better if I could convince myself that it never really happened—at least not in the way I remember it. That falling in love at Christmas was a fantasy, a dream. Or failing that, something I could hope for in the future, a goal that I could work towards; not something I had once and lost.
After finishing up in the shop, I lock the door and head back across the parking lot toward the white limestone farmhouse where I grew up. The low, rumbling growl of a powerful engine turning off the highway catches my attention and slows my steps. “Who the fuck is this now?” I mutter as I stop to watch the showy, big-ass motorcycle cruise up our lane. The look of the thing—metallic red and creamy white, Santa Claus colors—is right on point for the season. All that’s missing is a wreath between the handlebars. Which, I guess, must be what he’s here for since no one in their right mind would attempt to carry a Christmas tree home on a bike, not even a super-sized, full-dress tourer like this one. Then again, considering that biker Santa isn’t even wearing a helmet, who’s to say he is in his right mind?
He’s a ginger, with the kind of rangy build I tend to fall for, a scruffy beard and hair that gleams copper in the sunlight. And even though I know it’s just my imagination playing tricks on me, like it always does this time of year, my heart still clenches at the sight. Because I’ll be damned if this jerk-off doesn’t remind me of my ex.
Except for the beard. That’s totally out of character. And…wait a minute. Is this dickhead smoking a cigar? Yes, he sure as fuck is. Which clinches the matter. I’ve never known anyone more dedicated to the preservation of his own health and well-being than my former husband. So this must be some sort of Christmas memory induced madness messing with my senses—more gravy than grave, as Scrooge would have it. Because Death-Wish Dude here can’t be Jake.
Except… Holy Guacamole. As he slows to a stop, close enough for his eyes to meet mine, I realize that this is, in fact, my very own Ghost of Christmas Past. “Jesus fucking Christ. Are you kidding me? What the hell are you doing here?”
“Whoa. Nice language,” Jake’s familiar voice admonishes. “You sing Christmas carols with that mouth?”
“Do I what?”
“You know. ’Tis the season, and all of that? What else are you gonna do with your mouth this time of year?”
“Well, I can think of a few things,” I’m goaded into replying. And then immediately regret it when the twinkle in Jake’s eyes hits me like a punch in the gut.
“Oh, I bet you can.”
“Fuck. You.”
“That an offer?”
“Don’t make me laugh. And don’t make me ask you this a third time, either. Why are you here?”
Jake spreads his hands in a what-can-you-do gesture. “Wasn’t my idea. I’m only here because you want me to be.”
“I do not!”
“Beg to differ. Apparently, I’m the answer to your prayers.”
* * *
Christmas Angel will be released on May 18, 2023 as part of the Redemption anthology (a limited-edition, fallen angel paranormal romance collection) and is available for pre-order now. https://books2read.com/b/br1JkE
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Can A.I. Be a Help to Creatives?
There's a lot of conversation about artificial intelligence these days. Especially when it comes to A.I.-generated art. I've read many social media posts where artists are sounding the alarm that art can be used – without the artist's permission - to train the software.
But I've
also read that artists shouldn't fear that A.I. will replace them. Out of curiosity
I signed up for Midjourney and have generated several images. Yes, they are
often very imaginative and visually interesting. But, I've also found that the images
don't always come out the way I expected.
Sometimes faces aren't developed properly and limbs are at strange angles. My request might create something very attractive or something unsettling. It all depends. I've seen paragraphs-long requests that have included many specifications (dealing with lighting, positioning, etc.) in order to control how the completed image is rendered.
Will the
average person even understand all of the directions they'd have to provide to
get the right image? Probably not. So, in the end, they'd probably need someone
(a graphic artist or photographer) to make the adjustments.
All of this brings me to using A.I. for writing. A couple of weeks ago I heard that Canva now has an A.I. that can create content from written requests. I decided to try it out – with mixed results.
When I asked for five suggestions about writing and editing a blog post, it produced five helpful points. They were a bit bland, as far as writing style, but serviceable. Would I have posted that as an article without any changes? No. However, was it a good starting point if I wanted to write that post for my blog? Sure.
After that, I decided to try it again and ask for five things to help with setting yearly goals. It was the New Year, after all. This time I was interested in getting some ideas for a blog post. Unfortunately, this time, the results weren't very good. The five points were repetitive and pretty much said the same thing over and over. It didn't stimulate any ideas or give me any starting points that I didn't already have.
Another test was to ask it to write a poem about a tree. The result was better than the goal-setting suggestions. Though the result did reference trees, it didn't have the kind of descriptive language that I'd expect in a poem. In other words, it was okay, but not particularly interesting.
Yes, I think A.I. could be very helpful for creatives, and I'm not expecting it to replace writers or artists anytime soon. Creative expression is healthy and necessary.
As someone
who loves tech, I like keeping up with new innovations. So, I'm not ready to
say no one should use A.I. tools. However, at the same time, creatives should be
mindful of potential copyright concerns. Artificial Intelligence is still evolving, and in time
we'll see the real impacts.
New! ETERNALLY, a Time Travel Fantasy Romance by Linda Mooney
New!
ETERNALLY
Time Travel
Fantasy Romance
by Linda Mooney
Word
Count: 23.2K
$2.99
e / $6.99 p
After suffering a brutal beating at the hands of Goen, Juda Plesh sees her opportunity to escape and takes it. She jumps. But where—or when—will she end up? Will Cayn be able to find her? And why did he abandon her in the first place?
Traveling through the centuries, Cayn Stiner has always been able to find Juda, but he’s disappointed when he finally locates her and she doesn’t recognize him. They’ve always been drawn to each other, tied emotionally to one another, but realizing she doesn’t remember him doesn’t sit well. The new scar on her forehead could have something to do with it.
Juda isn’t sure she knows the man at first, but she remembers the name, and slowly memories are coming back to her. Cayn is her love, her heart, for all of eternity. If only they can survive constant attacks from Goen, another Nomad like them who is determined to end Cayn and keep Juda for himself.
Constantly running, jumping through time, and looking over their shoulders, the couple want to be able settle down and start their family. Here, in this time, where they are accepted and the people care for them. But how will they be able to evade the madman and end their torment once and for all?
Warning! Contains fairy tale hogwash, tracking like a hound dog, meatloaf (and the best darn flapjacks in the county), special abilities, and two people who only want a chance to live and love like normal people.
Monday, January 16, 2023
HERE BE NEWS for Monday January 16, 2023
Monday January 16, 2023
Welcome to HERE BE NEWS, where each monday we bring you all the latest from the fantasy romance authors at Here Be Magic:
Tuesday January 10, 2023: PG Forte discusses becoming more organized in the new year.
Thursday January 12, 2023: Ruth Casie talks about the A Duke in Winter anthology and its Shakespeare connection.
Just use Discount Code Word:
VEILS
After three tours of duty, and serving the last four years overseas, Griffin Strong is looking forward to finally returning home and living out his life without bombings and bloodshed. After a 300-mile drive home, a quick trip through the car wash ends in another reality. An eerie, fog-covered reality where he is all alone…or so he thought.
With no electricity, cars
that don’t function, and guns that won’t fire, Griff has to
find protection for himself, but protection against what
exactly? What the hell even happened? Survival instincts
kicking in, he stocks up on whatever he can carry, and sets
out on his own.
Griff soon learns that he’s
not completely alone, although life of any form is rare to
come across, but whom can he trust?
When the subway in Manhattan
dumps Natalia Westfall in a snow-covered, deserted town far
from New York, she’s left alone, frozen, and desperate. Hope
lies in a uniformed military man, but will he want to be
weighed down by a sick, weak female like her? Griff takes a
chance, and it doesn’t take him long to learn she’s anything
but weak.
Facing thirst, starvation,
acid rain, enemies, and extreme temps--what will get them
first? The odds are stacked against them, and all they can
count on is each other.
LINK
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Bring It Back(list) - VEILS, Sci-Fi /Time Travel Romance Trilogy by Linda Mooney
Just use Discount Code Word:
VEILS
After three tours of duty, and serving the last four years overseas, Griffin Strong is looking forward to finally returning home and living out his life without bombings and bloodshed. After a 300-mile drive home, a quick trip through the car wash ends in another reality. An eerie, fog-covered reality where he is all alone…or so he thought.
With no electricity, cars
that don’t function, and guns that won’t fire, Griff has to
find protection for himself, but protection against what
exactly? What the hell even happened? Survival instincts
kicking in, he stocks up on whatever he can carry, and sets
out on his own.
Griff soon learns that he’s
not completely alone, although life of any form is rare to
come across, but whom can he trust?
When the subway in Manhattan
dumps Natalia Westfall in a snow-covered, deserted town far
from New York, she’s left alone, frozen, and desperate. Hope
lies in a uniformed military man, but will he want to be
weighed down by a sick, weak female like her? Griff takes a
chance, and it doesn’t take him long to learn she’s anything
but weak.
Facing thirst, starvation,
acid rain, enemies, and extreme temps--what will get them
first? The odds are stacked against them, and all they can
count on is each other.
LINK
Thursday, January 12, 2023
Shakespeare Retold
A Duke in Winter
Ten of your favorite historical romance authors have come together for this wintery collection to set your pulse racing. Melt the snow a little with this collection of sexy tales of moody dukes and the women hot enough to warm them.
Like all anthologies, this one has a theme. Our theme required that all the stories be based on a Shakespeare play. The caveat? They all must have a happy ending.
It's been a long time since I've read Shakespeare. I needed to get reacquainted. I reread Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Taming of the Shrew. I was still 'researching' when I had to disclose which story I would using. Most of the better known ones (at least to me) were already scooped up. I did more research and decided to base my story on Love's Labour's Lost.
The short summary: After vowing to avoid women, the King and three of his friends have to host a princess and her three ladies. The four men fall in love and decide to court the women. In the end, the women must return to their kingdom for a year after which they will marry the king and his friends, providing they remain true to them.
Why Did I Chose Love’s Labour’s Lost
Love's Labour's Lost is a comedy about young love,
with an unexpected ending. As the bard said, 'We lose ourselves to keep our
oaths.' Was their oath realistic? Could they have held to their word? Shakespeare thinks not, not were true love is involved.
True love is a romance writer's elixir. While I was limited in word count, I tackled this story featuring only one couple.
The Duke’s Lost
Love
Will they fight the obvious, that their
ideal person is in front of them, or
will they walk away from their heart’s
desire?
Lady Nanette de
Chappell, the Comtesse de Moyne and Lord Morgan Fitzhugh, the reluctant 5th
Duke of Preswick grew up near each other in Sommer by the Sea. Nanette at her
grandparent’s Dunamara Castle and Fitzhugh at Preswick Hall.
Fitzhugh is at
Preswick Hall with his three closest friends. Each of them suffer from a form
of feminine defeat. Fitzhugh has decided never to marry and pass the title to
his younger brother. After a night of drinking and discussion, they all swear
off the company of women for three years determined to study chivalrous love.
That snowy morning,
Nanette and her three ladies arrive at Fitzhugh’s doorstep in broken carriage.
After years apart, she is on her way to retrieve an item from the shuttered
Castles for her ill grand mere. Avoiding a dinner party to meet yet another
suitor she will find lacking, she seeks the solitude of Dunamara to determine
if her ideal is realistic or a dream no man can fulfill.
Fitzhugh takes her to
Dunamara. The weather changes and they are stranded at the castle by a
snowstorm. Fighting through an avalanche and tunnel cave in, they must depend
on each other to escape.
In the process of
completing their quests, they both find something else. Will they fight the
obvious, that their ideal person is in front of them, or will they walk away
from their heart’s desire?
Excerpt
"It's because of you
that I acted." Her voice was low and composed.
Her statement caught him
off-guard. For a moment, he thought he had misunderstood until he peered at
her. "Me?" He quickly moved from embarrassment to confusion. He
didn't take his eyes off her.
"I've witnessed
situations where people willfully rejected taking action. They looked on as if
the situation was an entertainment. It's much the same amongst the ton. Along
with too many insulting innuendoes and uncaring, hurtful, and yes, intentional
acts of total disregard at the expense of someone.
"But not you. I took
notice of you all those years ago. The example you set. You didn't walk away
from others when they needed assistance. I made a pledge to myself I would
never be, nor be associated with, that type of person.
"No. I am not brave.
I am a thinking, feeling person who doesn't define acts of kindness as a
weakness, but rather as a strength. I have learned your lesson well."
"Don't make me out
to be something I am not. There are many more like me, better than me." He
closed his saddlebag.
"So you may think.
But if you looked, I mean more than a passing glance, you would see the truth.
At least that has been my plight. I haven't met anyone who can meet my
standard. "
He returned to her.
"And I will not
accept anyone less." She added before he said anything.
They were both searching
for something. He hoped with all his heart Nanette would find it. She’d grown
to be a beauty one any man would be proud to have as a wife. He tilted his head
as his gaze travelled over her face and searched her eyes.
His body heated as he
caught a glimpse of her, the real Nanette. Aware of her intelligence and
independent spirt, now he found her banter warm and enchanting. He admired her
fire, her ice. Deep down, he wanted to find out more about her warmth.
Currently Available on Kindle Unlimited
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
The Year I Became Organized
It's not too late to talk about New Year's Resolutions yet, is it? And, just as a side note, the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop is tackling the same subject today. As I point out in my post for the hop (HERE) I like to think of them more as goals. I'm off to a slow start this year due to Things Beyond My Control but I'm really hoping that this is the year I become organized. You'll notice that the title of this post is written in past tense--that's not a mistake. One thing I've learned from years of Self Improvement and manifestation practice is that one should always operate from the perspective that the goal you're attempting has already been accomplished.
So even though I've yet to crack the cover on my nifty new planner (that's it on the left. Pretty isn't it?) I'm feeling confident that I will meet my goals this year. I'm not even cringing at the thought that by saying so I'm inviting fate to come and laugh in my face. I've worried about that for the last two years and, frankly, I'm done with it.
So let's get out there and get 'er done. As Sigourney Weaver famously said to Melanie Griffith in Working Girl (one of my all time favorite movies) You Make It Happen. And yes, I know she was lying to her the whole time, but we're fiction writers. We believe lies for a living. Ooh. Alliteration.
And here's what the story's cover will look like when I re-release it on its own (because it's also pretty and kind of matches my planner).
February 14th is just another day...until it's not.
They say timing is everything, and that certainly has always been the case where Alex and I are concerned. We met nearly two years ago when he was hired to work at Cup of Joe, the coffee shop where I was already an old timer. It was lust at first sight, at least on my part, but I had a boyfriend then, and so did he. By the time we were both single and I’d worked out that he was bi, things between us had become complicated in so many other ways that it seemed much simpler and safer to just stay friends.
We were work spouses for a while, and then we weren’t. And when we reconnected with each other last month it was after a prolonged period of hurt feelings and miscommunication during which we barely spoke to each other at all.
Now, even though our friendship’s caught fire, so to speak, I feel like we’re both still recovering from that last, disconnected phase. Heaping a bunch of unrealistic expectations, or a need for chocolate hearts, plush toys, or rose colored anything on top of that seems like a little too much added pressure.
Read an excerpt HERE