New Medieval Fantasy Coming!

Hello, All!

My original plans for this month's post went somewhat pear-shaped as I've come down with either a very bad cold or the Black Plague. Time will tell which.

In the meantime, please enjoy this cover reveal and blurb from my upcomeing medieval fantasy novel Brother to the Wolf, which will be available sometime in July. Although set in an original world, it's heavily influenced by my interest in paganism and in the Robin Hood legends, so if you like that sort of thing this may be right up your alley (or deer trail, as the case may be.) 

Two enemies with one shared father. Can they join in brotherhood to protect a nation from tyranny?

 

It’s been three generations since the Vainqueur invaders took Seaxland in a storm of blood and steel. Only a few Seax lords kept their titles, selling out their own king to the Vainqueur invaders.

 

Sir Gareth, Vainqueur knight, tainted by his mother’s half-Seax blood and rumored to be a bastard, will do whatever it takes to improve his position and keep his estate intact.

 

Worth Tiltonson, Seax lord’s son and Gareth’s secret half-brother, is haunted by the knowledge of what his family did to keep their title and lands. He has vowed to use the remnants of their power to protect his people.

 

The inevitable clash between the two brothers leaves Worth outlawed and an injured Gareth swearing revenge. But when Gareth is betrayed by the baron he serves, Worth and Gareth must work together to stop the men who want to kill the Vainqueur crown prince who is Seaxland’s only hope of peace. But when Gareth is betrayed by the baron he serves, Worth and Gareth must work together to stop the men who want to kill the Vainqueur crown prince who is Seaxland’s only hope of peace.

Want to hear  when this or any other of my works comes out?  Follow my Amazon page to get notifications! https://www.amazon.com/Shawna-Reppert/e/B00957U8KG

Are Frogs and Toads Lucky? Legends and Lore

Image: Bigstock.com

Late last night the "spring peepers" gave a concert in my yard. Toads trilled under the porch, as enthusiastic bass and tenor sections of frogs in the garden competed with a shrill soprano chorus of tiny tree frogs amid the lilac branches. 

The sound of these creatures is the surest sign that the warm weather is here to stay. In fact, frogs and toads are also called spring cheepers, and even pinklewinks and pinkwinks, depending where you are in North America.

I’ve been fascinated with amphibians ever since I was a kid scooping up tadpoles into a jar from the creek near my house. When I grew up and left home, my Welsh grandmother gave me a ceramic frog for my apartment and told me that I should always have a frog in the house for good luck. That was a long time ago, but I still keep a statue of a frog near the door, and there are always a few frog and toad figurines in my home.

Just in case...

The ancient Romans thought house frogs were lucky too, keeping live frogs as mascots. Both the Egyptians and Greeks believed that frogs possessed a creative force – they were symbols of inspiration (Hmmm … as a writer, maybe I need some frogs on my desk!)

Chan Chu, the Toad of Wealth
Image: Bigstock.com

FROGS AND WEALTH

Many cultures consider it a sign that money is coming to you if a frog enters the house. Figurines of frogs are used in the practice of Feng Shui in order to attract wealth both at home and at work. 

A three-legged toad named Chan Chu is the traditional pet of the immortal Liu Hai, Chinese god of wealth. The toad is usually pictured with a gold coin in its mouth, and often sitting on a pile of coins as well. 

Businesses often keep a statue of Chan Chu near their cash register. In the home, however, Chan Chu is never placed facing the door. The toad is to be placed as if he has just entered the home, bringing abundance with him.

FROGS AND ACHIEVEMENT

Many societies have equated frogs and toads with great transformative powers and even reincarnation. After all, they're every bit as amazing as butterflies. They go through vastly different phases in their lives:  From eggs they hatch into gilled tadpoles that can only live underwater, and then gradually transform to air-breathing land creatures. It’s not surprising that frogs are also associated with personal growth and achievement.

Image: Bigstock.com

The ultimate achievement is shown in an old story: A toad had fallen in love with the moon and wanted to go there more than anything. Everyone told the toad that it was impossible to leap so high. But the toad decided not to listen and began jumping. Each time it jumped, it went a little bit higher. After many, many jumps, it finally reached the moon!

Speaking of the moon, it’s interesting to note that while western cultures perceive the shape of “man in the moon”, the Chinese might point to the “toad in the moon” instead. And in some Asian tales, eclipses occur when the toad tries to swallow the moon itself.



FROGS AND FERTILITY

Frogs and toads are ideal symbols 
of transformation and change!
Image: Bigstock.com

Since frogs lay enormous quantities of eggs, it’s only natural that they would become a fertility symbol. The Egyptians depicted the water goddess, Heket, as a frog or as a woman with the head of a frog. She ruled conception and birth, was the goddess of midwifery and protected new-born babies. 

Egyptian women seeking to conceive or those in the midst of childbirth often wore amulets which depicted Heket as a frog sitting on a lotus flower. It’s interesting that in ancient Mesoamerica, some tribes worshipped a corn goddess who took the form of a frog or a toad. Just like Heket, she was the patron of fertility and childbirth.

Frogs also came to symbolize abundance in general. They appeared in vast numbers during the annual flooding of the Nile and it wasn’t long before the Egyptians adopted the frog as their official hieroglyph for an immense number: 100,000!

FROGS AS MEDICINE 

Vodka or whiskey with frogs in it is
considered good for you in Vietnam.
Image: Bigstock.com

Many cultures associated frogs and toads with healing powers. A supposed cure for thrush, sore throat, and colds was holding a live frog and placing its head in the patient's mouth! As the frog breathed, it was said to draw the illness away from the patient and into itself. Maybe this is why laryngitis is still sometimes described as "having a frog in your throat". You could also drink the water that a frog had been swimming in. 

Although it was often believed that frogs and toads caused warts, it's also been claimed that warts could be cured by rubbing a frog or toad across them. Eating frog soup was said to cure whooping cough.

The ancient Celts venerated natural bodies of water, and springs and wells were sacred. The presence of frogs in the water was highly desirable since they associated frogs with both purity and healing. Bathing in such water or drinking it was thought to cure illness. Many such wells still exist, and one in Shropshire, England, is allegedly guarded by three frogs who are actually faeries in disguise!

Incidentally, there’s an old story about how frogs came to have only four toes on their front feet while their back feet have five. A group of young frogs ignored the advice of their elders and hopped into the midst of what they thought was going to be a sumptuous feast of bright fireflies. Instead, they found themselves in the midst of the faery court. The faery queen was so outraged by this interruption that she used her magic to remove a toe from every front foot of every frog – and threatened to remove more if they ever came back!

Frog brought fire to Man by carrying a burning stick.
Image: Bigstock.com

FROGS AS HEROES

Frogs and toads have appeared in ancient stories as heroes and benefactors of the human race. In Native American legends of the Southwest, Frog is usually depicted carrying a piece of wood in its mouth, because the Mojave people believe it was the Frog who brought fire to humans. 

In some stories, Australia’s Aboriginal peoples credited the frog with bringing rain to make the plants grow. And in Aztec folklore, the god Quetzacoatl assumed the form of a little blue frog in order to bring “the food of the gods” to humans – cocoa!

Good frog!

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LEGEND ∙ LORE ∙ LOVE ∙ MAGIC

The fae are cunning, powerful and often cruel. The most beautiful among them are often the most deadly. Hidden far beneath the mortal world, the timeless faery realm plays by its own rules—and those rules can change on a whim.

Now and again, the unpredictable residents of that mystical land cross the supernatural threshold…

In this enchanting romance series from Dani Harper, the ancient fae come face-to-face with modern-day humans and discover something far more potent than their strongest magic: love.

THE GRIM SERIES by Dani Harper

  

STORM WARRIOR, STORM BOUND, STORM WARNED, STORM CROSSED

Note: Every book in this series is designed to stand alone.
It's fun to read them in order, but you won't get lost if you don't!

See ALL Dani's novels on her Amazon Author Page 

Here Be News

No New Releases This Week...
Other News:

Jenny Schwartz is re-covering her titles and here are two of the pretty new covers!

Bring It Back(list):

Veronica Scott shares an excerpt from HOSTAGE TO THE STARS. When Sara is taken by space pirates, Special Forces soldier Johnny Danver refuses to leave her behind...

Buy Links:     Apple iBooks     Amazon    Kobo     Barnes & Noble



........

Sales & Promos:

https://www.amazon.com/First-Bite-Dark-Wolf-Book-ebook/dp/B00BI4W7G2

Geneva “Neva” Ross doesn’t want to die. But now that she’s been turned into a werewolf against her will, she’ll do anything to protect her family and friends even if that means taking her own life.


Too bad Travis Williamson saw her jump. A lone Changeling with a dark past, he feels compelled to use his powers to save her. The last thing he expects is to feel a connection to the strong-willed woman. And when Neva is hospitalized, Travis risks everything to kidnap her, knowing the approaching full moon will put everyone in jeopardy.


Bickering constantly to hide their growing attraction, Travis and Neva run from the authorities and from Neva’s sinister sire, Meredith de la Ronde. Meredith is determined that Neva will join her murderous wolf pack. Or die.

https://www.amazon.com/First-Bite-Dark-Wolf-Book-ebook/dp/B00BI4W7G2

Bring It Back(list) Hostage to the Stars

VS Note: Johnny is one of my favorite characters!

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?

The excerpt:

Johnny faded to the end of the column and kept watch on their back trail. Once the group ascended to the plateau seeking the designated landing zone, and he heard the muted sound of the incoming shuttle, he sought out the captain, crouched in the lee of a large boulder, close to Ms. Immer.

                “Just fyi, I’m goin’ for the other woman,” Johnny said. “You have a nice flight home to base. Don’t forget to tell them I’m here. Good luck to you, Ms. Immer.”

                “Who the hell do you think you are, sergeant?” The captain’s voice was tense and angry. “You don’t get to change mission parameters to suit yourself. I don’t care if you’re in the goddamn Special Forces or not, I gave you a direct order. We’re not going after any other civilians this trip.”

                “No, you’re not, I see that.” Johnny couldn’t keep the contempt out of his voice. “In my branch of the service, we don’t leave people behind. In case it’s escaped your notice, I’m not under your command. Special Forces operates independently.”

                Holding his pulse rifle where it could conveniently be considered a threat by Captain Scortun if he was feeling paranoid, Johnny backed away. None of the other soldiers wanted to challenge him.

                “We’re not waiting for you,” Scortun yelled. “When our shuttle lands, we’re gone.”

                “Good riddance,” he said under his breath, as he faded into the underbrush and slipped away down the steep hillside.

Buy Links:     Apple iBooks     Amazon    Kobo     Barnes & Noble

Another small snippet from earlier in the book - the scene where Sara is taken by the pirates:

Romance and Mother's Day

The family is getting together Sunday to celebrate Mother’s Day with a big brunch. Instead of anyone cooking, we’re going to a local family style restaurant. I’ve been saving calories all week to enjoy a stack of pancakes that my husband will finish.

Last Thursday, I stood at a rack of Mother’s Day cards to buy one for each of my two daughters. This is always a long process. I make every effort to get cards that have the right sentiment and reflect something of their personality. It took some time, but I came away successful.

There are others in our group, Cori’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law. I searched for cards for them as well and found myself smiling.

I promised you romance. Let me back up a bit. This past weekend our son, Ari received his Master’s Degree in Cyber Security. 
Paul and I, along with our daughters and their families went to Boston for graduation. Saturday, Ari and his girlfriend Kate had a Cinco de Mayo graduation party. Ari thanked everyone for their support and help. He saved the best for last, thanking Kate. He turned to her and told her how he couldn’t have made it through grad school without her, he couldn’t do anything without her, and the truth of the matter is he didn’t ever want to be without her. He got on his knee and proposed.

His friends were curious why Kate was so surprised. Surely, she picked out her ring. Well, no. The ring belonged to Ari’s great grandmother, Ida, who gave it to my mother Grandma Jessie, who gave it to Uncle Alan, who gave it to me to hold for Ari. My mom is no longer with us. I know she would have been pleased to see Ari and Kate so happy. There wasn’t a dry eye in the backyard.

Last Thursday, standing at the card rack, while I still reveled in the excitement from the weekend and looked forward to Sunday, I found myself thinking of the Mother's Days of finger paint pictures, pasta necklaces and single carnations. I browsed reading the sentiments and realized what a wonderful, loving family. So, Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

There is no such thing as a new idea

I know some writers fear the blank page. I’m not one of them.

I love a new idea and I love exploring it while plotting and world building and working out who my characters are.

I love starting a new manuscript. It’s after that the wheels fall off. What was once a fantastic shiny new idea is now nothing but a tarnished pile of junk. I become convinced that it was a dumb idea and that even if it was a good idea I have now ruined it and I haven’t done enough research, and that someone else has done it better and I shouldn’t even bother.

Most of the time I shake those feelings off and remind myself that there hundreds of thousands of Cinderella stories, a billion billionaires and more Dukes in romance than have ever existed in the history of the world. 

There is no such thing as a new idea.

What I bring to that idea is my life experiences and my way of seeing the world. The way I tell it makes it different. That doesn’t mean it won’t end up being a trash pile left by the road of the ebook super highway—not every book can be a flying car zooming straight to the NYT best seller list, though it would be really nice to soar to those illustrious heights.  

All of this knowledge doesn’t stop the doubts from trying to throw sand in the gears to jam up my creativity machine, but it does mean I know how to clean them out and keep going until I have a finished first draft and can get a second opinion from my critique partners.

It's never been as and as I feared, nothing that a cut and polish wouldn't fix.

Fun Book Hashtags

DepositPhoto

VS Note: This post originally appeared on the Romance University blog.

I thought I’d share something simple and easy that I do weekly to share content, entice readers (hopefully) and have something fresh to post on my various social media. There are specific hashtags on twitter that I’ve found particularly helpful. Here’s the Merriam-Webster definition of a hashtag: “a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet).”

The beauty of a hashtag is that many people use them and will search on them to find content. A hashtag can relate to virtually anything, like a TV show, politics, or themes like the ones I’m going to share.

First on the short list of the ones I employ is the venerable #1linewed, established by the Kiss of Death Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. Frankly, this one is the least useful to me, although I do it faithfully on Wednesdays to be supportive. They publish a weekly theme and you’re supposed to find one line or sentence in your current WIP using that word and put it in a tweet. No buy links, no book title, no pretty cover art. So if someone really likes your one sentence, that’s a positive, but then there’s nowhere for them to go from there.

Contrast that with #bookqw (‘book quote Wednesday’), established by author Mindy Klasky. She also suggests a one word theme for the week but then pretty much anything goes, as far as content. What I do is include the hashtag and the theme word in my tweet and then attach my actual quote in a graphic format, with the cover art and a buy link. I go to Canva, a free tool for creating visual content, and make my graphic in about five minutes, cutting and pasting the selected sentences from my book into their template and adding my cover art. I’m sure there are many great tools for creating simple graphics but Canva is my go-to tool.

   

Sometimes I use a stock photo as well (which I purchase from DepositPhoto, which has great once a year deals on stock photo packages – merely one resource – there are many other stock photo sites) to further illustrate my quote. I definitely want the eye appeal factor to draw the reader in. I have a tendency to want to pick too long a snippet and adding the cover and/or a photo forces me to be more concise.

The nice thing is, I also post this #bookqw item on my author Facebook page, my Instagram, and Share it on Facebook with several groups and pages in my scifi romance genre where snippets of this type are allowed.  Other people often share it from there, or retweet it on twitter, if my quote and graphic has caught their fancy, so there’s potential for a nice signal boost.

A similar hashtag that really works for me is #SciFiFri. Again, they do suggest a theme weekly, but don’t insist you have to stick to it. Since I write science fiction romance, I can pretty much always find appropriate content in one of my books and it’s a nice way to draw a little attention to some of my backlist. They also do a #SciFiSat, with no theme other than science fiction-related. I don’t do that one as often because I’m in a weekend snippet hop and I don’t want to give my social media audience too many snippets or excerpts all at one time.

On occasion, I’ve bundled up a few of my hashtag graphics, and combined them into one post for my blog.

Even if a hashtag doesn’t work for you personally as a contributor, there may be cool content you can retweet or share. My favorite was #MerMay where people worldwide shared all kinds of mermaid and other fishfolk drawings, some of which were amazing or funny or colorful and I shared and retweeted the most eyecatching twice a day. I didn’t retweet so many as to make my followers block me (hopefully!) but I curated the best that I saw. There was also #inktober in October but that one wasn’t as much to my taste. Everyone likes different things!

You can find hashtags by googling and you can also find the definitions for the hastags. Some which you think are for one subject were snagged by someone else and might not be what you were anticipating. I found a good post on Author Media.com  entitled “44 Twitter Hashtags Every Author Should Know” by Caitlin Muir. I’m not sure how old that post is but there are some nice lists there, slightly off the topic that I’m covering, which was how I use the weekly hashtags to generate social media content.

I will say, another hashtag I love is #rwchat, which the creators define as “ …a weekly chat for Romance & Women's Fiction Writers every Sunday at 4pm PST | 7pm EST.” I try not to ever miss it – there’s a specific topic every week and the discussion is fast and lively. People are very generous about sharing their innermost thoughts on the topic at hand. We’ve had threads on everything ranging from creativity, marketing tactics, being introverted, tricks of characterization, doing pitches and blurbs, to stealing time to write. The participants include published and unpublished authors, so the contributions from people cover a lot of ground and are of interest no matter what level of publishing you may be at. Everyone is welcome, even if you just want to lurk. The organizers typically post 6-8 questions during the hour and then the participants comment and interact, using the hashtag.

So you don’t have to be a social media expert to make use of hashtags and even just dipping your toe into the pool may bring some good results, in terms of your social media reach.

What are your favorite hashtags?