Bring It Back(List) - Subwoofers, a Paranormal, Contemporary Fantasy Romance Series by Linda Mooney

Alligator, Bear, Cougar, Deer, Eagle
They found each other by accident.
They became a team for life.

Blurbs and Buy Links

A Plethora of Paranormals - The Science (or Magic) of Shapeshifting

There are a lot of paranormal romances out there. A LOT. And I love to read the genre as much as I enjoy writing it. And I also think it would be safe to say that a large majority feature shapeshifters.

Not too long ago, most, if not all, shapeshifters were of the wolf variety. Since then I've seen bear, feline, and even dolphin and shark. I myself have written shifters that were elephants, alligators, Newfoundlands (a "big-ass" dog), coyotes, wolf (Lupan), bear, red deer, ball python, and now a bald eagle. And in every case, I can envision how these big hulking men can morph their bodies into those forms.

But then there are those forms which leave me scratching my head. Duck shifter? Hedgehog shifter? Tarantula shifter? The vision of a man squeezing himself into that teeny-tiny form leaves me in stitches. I  can see a guy or girl becoming something that's relatively equal in size and weight to their human bodies, but to shrink into a form that can be held in the palm of a hand is perplexing. Science can "explain" the former, but wouldn't it take magic to perform the latter?

What unusual shapeshifters have you run across? I'd love to hear some recommendations!

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New!

PREDATOR OF THE PINES
Subwoofers, Book 4
Contemporary Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
by Linda Mooney
Word Count: 33.3K
$2.99 e (and coming soon to print and audio book!)

Alligator, Bear, Cougar, Deer, Eagle
They found each other by accident.
They became a team for life.

While preparing for a hurricane that’s heading straight for the Bag It and Tag It lodge, William “Brew” Estes makes a last-minute run to the market to grab supplies. While there, he heads off a robbery and saves the day…all in a day’s work for the former Marine.

Celeste Hart is exactly where she never wanted to be. When the robbery goes wrong, she knows this could be her only chance to get away. She runs, despite the storm that’s on the way, knowing that if they catch her again, they could break her this time.

The moment Brew laid eyes on the blonde, he knew something was up. Later, when he sees her walking down the road, he can’t leave her without cover, so he offers her a place to stay, if only through the storm. But neither can deny the connection they feel for one another.

When the truth comes out, will Brew and his partners turn her in to the police for her part in the robbery? Or will they help her escape the grasps of her stepbrother and his cronies?

Warning! Contains culinary skills, knowledge of firearms, driving wind and rain, a $5 bet, unbelievably tender kisses, a color brochure, love by candlelight, and a struggle to protect the woman who was becoming more precious to him than his own life.  

Excerpt and buy links.

Oh Ye Magical Beasts We Call Shapeshifters

There's a magic to animals, a purity of spirit that's captivating. They live to survive and procreate the species, and typically malice isn't in an animal's makeup.

So taking a beastly nature and inserting it into a human being makes for some fun stuff. You get the inner core needs of survival mixing with human goals, attributes, and untruths--perceptions as we see them.

I'm a huge fan of shifter stories for this reason. Taking the purity of the beast and shoving it into the chaos of man, then watching my creation adapt, overcome, and hopefully, fall in love.

My Circe's Recruits series takes the shapeshifter subgenre and turns that paranormal aspect on its side. Genetic manipulation, mating heats (and yes, I know mating heats have been done. I also started writing this series back in 2007), and a pack mating mentality all come together to make one tight, fierce family.

Circe's Recruits 2.0 are the new and improved Circs--shapeshifters. They look mostly human. They blend. And this time they're psychic as well. Fangs, claws, and a dire need to procreate make the Circs a pack that will move heaven and earth to protect their own.

The series unfolds in the next four months (Circe's Recruits 2.0: Gideon, is available now).

If you want something different, sexy, and wild, check out Circe's Recruits 2.0. And try to see the man within the beast...

CIRCE'S RECRUITS 2.0: ALEX

Coming Aug 22nd

Neither human nor animal, but something in between. And these Circs are hungry…

Excerpt:

Alex Palmer kept his face expressionless as he watched his client conduct business. He stood to the right of the slighter man, who was seated in a ratty, upholstered chair. Joo Kim wore a cheap black suit over a white collared shirt. Sweat beaded his forehead, the air conditioning nonexistent in the cheap hotel room.

The paper-thin walls allowed the chaos from the bustling Burmese province to bleed through. Shouts, horns, and street noise competed with the loud haggling from the prostitute and her john next door, the racket a mash of Burmese and English Alex partially understood but ignored, focused on keeping his client alive.

Joo Kim finished his deal, a fair trade of guns for drugs. The opium peddler, an older American man, had connections to a little known rebel faction in a small province outside the city. The seedy hotel was the perfect place for drug deals to go down with little fanfare. Small time dealers and buyers met often at the White Orchid.

But from their spot-on intel—nice job, Carter—Alex knew the hotel had recently begun attracting some important people with topnotch security. The American government also had an investment in the situation, since they kept an eye on the volatile region. Hence Alex’s client, Joo Kim, posing as a rogue CIA drug buyer.

Normally, the muscle of their private security firm would handle a case like this. Alex was a front man, the softer, more personable aspect of the business. The one who did the meet and greet with potential clients, putting them at ease while also showing them how impressive Gideon Enterprises was using an impressive show of fang and claw.

But he’d needed to be in on this one all the way because the buyer’s contact had insider information he wanted.

Information he needed.

The emptiness inside him, the loss that continued to plague him, echoed. Loneliness, his constant companion despite being surrounded by others, festered, and it drew on the rage he kept bottled up all the time. He couldn’t think about Katie without miring himself in a guilty fury.

Pain pricked at his fingertips as claws threatened to slide free. But he got a hold of his anger and kept the raging monster inside him from showing itself, used to pretending to be normal.

Hell, he’d been born with skills ordinary people considered fiction. But after being experimented on by some really bad people, Alex had become something else. Something not quite human.

To read more, click here. 

 

About the Author

Caffeine addict, boy referee, and romance aficionado, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Harte has over 100 books published with more constantly on the way. She’s a confessed bibliophile and devotee of action movies. Whether hiking in Central Oregon, biking around town, or hanging at the local tea shop, she’s constantly plotting to give everyone a happily ever after. Visit http://marieharte.com and fall in love.

Here Be News

New Releases

New!

MONSTER OF THE GLADES
Subwoofers, Book 3
Contemporary Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
(Alligator Shifter)
by Linda Mooney
Word Count: 36.3K
$2.99 e

Alligator, Bear, Cougar, Deer, Eagle
They found each other by accident. They became a team for life.

When Clint Abrams of Bag It and Tag It Excursions is approached by representatives of JayMax Productions to film scenes in the swamp for a horror movie, he is intrigued. Both by the movie, whose subject hits a little too close to home, and by the tall, freckled redhead, Charlie Dupine.

Clint can’t hide his feelings for Charlie, and the more time he spends with her, the more he knows she is his destiny. His life mate. His everything.

There is something about Clint that Charlie can’t quite explain, and she can’t get him off her mind. She’s not big on relationships but if nothing else, a one-night stand with the guy can’t hurt while she’s at the lodge. He’s causing feelings in her that she’s not sure about.

But when danger rears its head, it’s not all because of the wildlife. Clint will do whatever it takes to save her, but that may mean exposing his secret. Will she run when she learns the truth? Or can she love him just the same? That choice may be taken away when lives are threatened and the FBI becomes involved. 

Warning! Contains swampy bogs, a snare pole necklace, alligator soup, were-gators, an explosive pineapple, and one insane act that could cost a man his life, as well as the woman he loves.

Excerpt and buy links

Released August 20, 2016! Book Two of The Sorcerous Moons

Oria’s Gambit

A Play For Power

Princess Oria has one chance to keep her word and stop her brother’s reign of terror: She must become queen. All she has to do is marry first. And marry Lonen, the barbarian king who defeated her city bare weeks ago, who can never join her in a marriage of minds, who can never even touch her—no matter how badly she wants him to.

A Fragile Bond

To rule is to suffer, but Lonen never thought his marriage would become a torment. Still, he’s a resourceful man. He can play the brute conqueror for Oria’s faceless officials and bide his time with his wife. And as he coaxes secrets from Oria, he may yet change their fate…

An Impossible Demand

With deception layering on deception, Lonen and Oria must claim the throne and brazen out the doubters. Failure means death— for them and their people.

But success might mean an alliance powerful beyond imagining.

Buy on 

Amazon

Smashwords

To celebrate the release of Book Two, Book One in the series, LONEN'S WAR is on sale for only .99!

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Here Be News

New Releases

New!

LIONMEADE
Paranormal FantasyRomance
by Linda Mooney
Word Count: 43.6K
$2.99 e/ $9.99 p

A kingdom rife with rumors of the evil that lays in wait on the fringes of the woods. Fairy tales of curses, animalistic beasts, and an inhuman prince. Lady Bethel has heard the stories all her life, but what she once thought were just stories told to keep a child in line could prove to be so much more.

The daughter of Lord Voril of Banderling, Lady Bethel spends her time following in her late mother’s footsteps, caring for the sick in the villages surrounding Banderling Mayne. While traveling home after dark, against her father’s warnings, Bethel and her guards are attacked by what she thought were wild animals, but she couldn’t be more wrong. When she awakens, she can’t remember much, but she remembers voices. Particularly one—her savior.

Adain has taken it upon himself to hunt down the beasts that threaten the kingdom. The number of attacks grows, but he will stop at nothing to end the monsters he knows all too well. Having been in exile all his life, he must remain the faceless benefactor to Lady Bethel, despite his growing feelings, for she can never know the reality of his world.

Tales will be told, truths will come to light, but above all, love will reign.

Warning! Contains a deep forest retreat, death, blueberries, possible solutions, attempted kidnapping, and a birth defect with unimaginable consequences.

Excerpt and buy links.

Skeleton Key Book Series
One Skeleton Key. Endless Adventures. https://skeletonkeybookseries.com

After a big night out to celebrate his last day at work, Bryce Allard stumbles home. By his door he finds a glass skeleton key that makes his front door open to another world.

Queen Keleti’s city is under siege. Betrayed by her cousin, she must find a way to save her city from the invading army. Keleti is a Heavenly, a hawk shapeshifter, so she could fly to safety, but she will not leave her people. When she finds Bryce hiding in her city she thinks he’s a spy.

Bryce finds himself caught up in the skirmishes and the siege while trying to earn the Queen’s trust. Trust gradually becomes affection, and Bryce begins to consider staying instead of returning home. However he soon realizes why he is here. There is one thing that no one is willing to do to end the siege: kill a Heavenly.

He has to kill Keleti’s cousin. But will he be thanked, or thrown off the cliff by the Warrior Queen?

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HOSTAGE TO THE STARS  by Veronica Scott
The story: He rescued her from space pirates … but can he keep them both safe from the far greater evil stalking a deserted planet?

Space travel without Kidnap & Ransom insurance? Not a good idea. University instructor and researcher Sara Bridges can’t afford it, so when pirates board her cruise liner, she’s taken captive along with the mistress of a wealthy man, and brought to a deserted planet. When a military extraction team sent to rescue the mistress refuses to take Sara too, she’s left to the mercies of a retired Special Forces soldier, along as consultant.

Reluctantly reactivated and coerced into signing up for the rescue operation to the planet Farduccir where he once was deployed, Sgt. Johnny Danver just wants to get the job done. But when the team leader leaves one captured woman behind, he breaks away to rescue her himself.

As Johnny and Sara traverse the barren landscape, heading for an abandoned base where they hope to call Sectors Command for help, they find villages destroyed by battle and stripped of all inhabitants. A lone survivor tells a horrific tale of the Sectors’ alien enemy, the Mawreg, returning after being pushed out …

Searching for evidence to give the military, Johnny is captured. He regains consciousness in a Mawreg cage–with Sara next to him. Death is preferable to what the aliens will do to them… And even if they do escape their captors, can they alert the military in time to prevent another invasion of the Sectors?

Standalone sequel to Mission To Mahjundar (mild spoilers for Mahjundar in this story.)


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Other News

Not new exactly but just because it's so cool:

Bootcamp of Misfit Wolves

Every time I return to the Vanguard world, it’s like taking a trip down memory lane. I’ve never been the type of person who fits in with the popular crowd. I marched to the beat of my own drum, even now as an author. So why wouldn’t I love writing about the outcasts of the wolf shifter packs. Sometimes a woman just wants to root for the underdogs.   

Bootcamp of Misfit Wolves is a novella-length book of approximately 36,000 words. It released on October 14th and has hit the Top 100 Paranormal Romance list on Amz. I'll share the blurb after the links:

Amazon --> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016IPTAU6

Amazon UK --> http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016IPTAU6

Amazon CA --> http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B016IPTAU6

Amazon AU --> http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B016IPTAU6

Amazon DE --> http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B016IPTAU6

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From the author of the bestselling Vanguards books comes a new series focusing on a new pack of underdogs who desperately need guidance to find their inner alphas. Full of humor, personality, and a vampire warrior outnumbered, the Vanguard Elite is rising.

BOOK ONE

Ian’s alpha tosses him out of his car at a training camp for worthless and weak wolf shifters run by a crazy vampire.

His only choice is to escape and go lone wolf.

Until he runs into Clare…

She actually volunteered for this gig.

Her wolf is all alpha but it’s crammed into a petite package, and she definitely has no mercy when it comes to him.

The work is hard.

The training dangerous.

Surviving is optional.

Clare can’t stand Ian’s disregard for her authority and he hates her driven ambition.

Sparks fly and teeth are bared. Opposites attract they say.

If they don’t kill each other first.

Want a chance to win $50 gift certificate at either Kindle or Nook?  Click Here

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The Most Ancient of Shapeshifters

It's Shifter Week at Here Be Magic, a theme I particularly love as it distinguishes shifters from weres.

Yesterday Nicole Luiken riffed on the concept of whether various magical creatures could be "approved" as shifters. See, there are really several ways of looking at this kind of metamorphosis from human to animal.

The concept of a were-creature, as in a werewolf, comes from the juxtaposition of the two root words - literally man-wolf, as "wer" meant man in Old Engligh (cognate with Gothic wair, Latin vir). The world of creative imagination has taken off from there to create all kinds of were-creatures. But using this terminology constricts the creature to being a human/animal, as in they transform to one kind of animal only.

Nicole posed the initial question of when did dragons become shifters instead of purely mythological creatures? She (humorously) answers "at least eight years ago." I'm not sure whose book she's thinking of there, though it would be interesting to know!

My answer? Since at least the 3rd Century BCE, and probably a hell of a lot longer than that.

In old Celtic lore, shifters roamed the countryside. These were people (using the term loosely) who could transform into any creature at will. Sometimes they're found in association with the Fae, othertimes not. Spenser, in The Faerie Queen, takes these old tales and explores the metaphor of metamorphosis. (See what I did there?) It's a topic that has long fascinated me.

Thus, when I set out to write the first of my Twelve Kingdoms books, THE MARK OF THE TALA, I knew I wanted to have shifters. Real shifters, who could take multiple forms. Not all of the Tala can shapeshift, but many can, particularly closer to the source of magic in their realm. The most proficient can take multiple forms.
There are even staymachs - animals that can be trained to shift into other animals.

It makes for an interesting world with tons of potential. Just wait until you all get to read THE PAGES OF THE MIND. More than that I cannot say. :-)

7 Reasons Why Shifters Make Better Lovers

Seven Reasons Why Shifters Make Better Lovers… According to Grady Chastell

1. They’re animals in the bedroom.

2. They’re not shy about taking their clothes off.

3. Endurance is an animal instinct.

4. I (Grady) am a Shifter. Just sayin’.

5. Vampires aren’t real. And if they were, they’d be dead. Who the hell wants to cuddle up with a dead body?

6. Male Shifters are especially driven to satisfy their partners. It's genetic. Really.

7. Cats do it better. It’s a fact.

Note from Grady: We Chastells are a bunch of Ac-taw, Shifters living in the small town of Cougar Falls, Montana. Burke, the pride leader and my older brother, has gotten himself hitched. And now I've found "the one." But she's not convinced. Not yet. And to prove how incredibly wonderful I am, check this out...

An excerpt from Outfoxed
This is is so, so bad. In the raptor-run restaurant a block down the street, Gabby smiled and tried to focus on Grady’s words, not the firm lips shaping them. If anything, the distance from him the past two days had made her need even worse. It was like he’d awakened an inferno of lust inside her and she needed him to put out the flames. She hadn’t paid any attention to the men who’d come to visit her today. Even Miles, who’d stopped by her store to check out the new places in town, hadn’t turned her head.

Knowing how Grady tasted, how he felt in her hand, made it hard to do more than sigh at him. And then to watch him flirt with Millie, to tease her yet treat her with respect, to witness him gracefully sidestep the aggravating she-bears with ease without making a scene. She liked him more and more. There had to be something wrong with him…aside from the fact he couldn’t dance.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He sounded wary.

“You’re awfully nice.”

He nearly choked on the swallow of beer he’d taken. “Nice?”

“Yeah. I’m trying to match this version of Grady with the man who taped a honk if you want me to make you purr note to the back of Burke’s pickup last week. Or the man who left his inebriated baby brother, naked as a jaybird, in front of Sonia Daly’s house.” Sonia was an older raptor who liked her men young and handsome. And drunk.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He struggled to hide a grin and stared at his half-eaten plate of food.

“And last month. Who was it that dressed a stuffed animal—a dog, not even a wolf—in Monty’s sunglasses, covered the thing with his clothes and scent, and sent him to Sophie?”

“Sophie who?”

“She told me the note promised hot nights with Scooby if she played her cards right.” Scooby. She grinned at the remembrance. Monty had been more than pissed at the time, while Sophie had thought it hilarious.

“Gabby, I’m hurt. How could you think I would do any of those horrible things?” The snort of laughter gave him away.

She joined him, and they laughed so hard they annoyed the wolves, bears and raptors trying to have a romantic dinner nearby.

A waitress came over to see what the fuss was about. Gabby started to apologize but stopped when she saw who’d come to inquire. “Sonia Daly?” she squeaked.

“Yeah.” She looked Grady up and down. “Hey Chastell, you tell your brother I’m still waiting on that date he promised me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” They waited until she left, looked at one another and burst into laughter again.

Grady didn’t wait for management to kick them out. He plunked some cash onto the table, grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the restaurant, still trying to catch her breath.

They stopped a few stores down from the restaurant. She turned to say something when their gazes caught. That tingle in her belly turned into an outright flutter of something special. Something warm and happy and right. Then he sighed her name and took her in his arms.

To read more, click here.

Outfoxed by Marie Harte