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Master of the Opera, Act 6: Crescendo

In the sixth and final installment of Jeffe Kennedy’s sizzling Master of the Opera, a man and a woman risk everything they’ve ever loved-for the most dangerous passion they’ve ever known. . .

Caught in a web of secrets and lies, Christy Davis has come under the suspicion of the local police. Since becoming an intern at the Sante Fe Opera House, she has witnessed strange occurences in the underground tunnels. She has heard inexplicable whispers in the shadows after midnight. And she has found the lover of her dreams in the masked man who lives down below. But after the discovery of a dead body and other sinister events, Christy realizes that her life is in danger. Two men hold her fate in their hands: Roman, the opera house’s wealthy benefactor who uses his money and power to control her. And the masked maestro known as the Master who demands her surrender and commands her pleasure with each stroke. Both want her; only one can have her. . .

In a rising crescendo of madness, obsession, and lust, Christy must take a chance and follow her heart-to a breathtaking climax as powerful as love itself.

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Group Announcements

Veronica Scott thanks everyone who wrote her book in as the final entrant for the annual Dear Author/Smart Bitches #DABWAHA March Madness. As the sponsors explain it, DABWAHA is an "...annual NCAA-style tournament of books. 64 books are selected in 8 different categories, and readers pick brackets of which books they think will win each round. The winners of each round are determined by public voting...."  The first round of the tournament starts on March 18th and Veronica's ESCAPE FROM ZULAIRE is up against Nalini Singh's HEART OF OBSIDIAN. (gulp) Only one book can continue into Round Two so please go vote on the 18th (polls not open yet). Prizes for Readers!

The story:

Andi Markriss hasn’t exactly enjoyed being the houseguest of the planetary high-lord, but her company sent her to represent them at a political wedding. When hotshot Sectors Special Forces Captain Tom Deverane barges in on the night of the biggest social event of the summer, Andi isn’t about to offend her high-ranking host on Deverane’s say-so—no matter how sexy he is, or how much he believes they need to leave now.

Deverane was thinking about how to spend his retirement bonus when HQ assigned him one last mission: rescue a civilian woman stranded on a planet on the verge of civil war. Someone has pulled some serious strings to get her plucked out of the hot zone. Deverane’s never met anyone so hard-headed—or so appealing. Suddenly his mission to protect this one woman has become more than just mere orders.

That mission proves more dangerous than he expected when rebel fighters attack the village and raze it to the ground. Deverane escapes with Andi, and on their hazardous journey through the wilderness, Andi finds herself fighting her uncomfortable attraction to the gallant and courageous captain. But Deverane’s not the type to settle down, and running for one’s life doesn’t leave much time to explore a romance.

Then Andi is captured by the rebel fighters, but Deverane has discovered that Zulaire’s so-called civil war is part of a terrifying alien race’s attempt to subjugate the entire Sector. If he pushes on to the capitol Andi will die. Deverane must decide whether to save the woman he loves, or sacrifice her to save Zulaire.

AMAZON  Nook  Kobo   All Romance eBooks    iTunes   Xin Xii    Google Play

Win-A-Book Wednesday Winner

Congratulations to Linda, the winner of last week's Win-a-Book Wednesday! Shawna Reppert will be contacting you soon about your prize.

This Wednesday we'll have another mystery giveaway; stop by for more chances to win!

Return of the Brat Prince

Author Anne Rice made a big announcement this week: Lestat is returning! The new book is titled Prince Lestat and will be released on October 28, just in time for Halloween. Of course I've read Interview With The Vampire, but The Vampire Lestat was always my favorite of Rice's Vampire Chronicles. I loved that Lestat was larger-than-life even before he became a vampire. Running away to Paris with his violinist lover and becoming an actor definitely paved the way for his later turn as a rock star. His extreme highs and extreme lows spoke to me in a way that the constant whining from Louis in the first book didn't. I loved it that he wasn't perfect, pretty far from it in fact, but he was never boring.

So I'm excited for his return. Rice's books don't always work for me, but when they do I love them. Lestat is a character that's been in Rice's head for decades. The first book was published in 1976, with the second following nine years later. Rice has always made it clear how important, how real, Lestat is to her, so it doesn't surprise me that she would find his voice again.

My introduction to The Vampire Chronicles came via a song on Sting's first solo album. Moon Over Bourbon Street was my favorite song on the album. According to the liner notes, the song was inspired by Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice. So I went looking for it at the library, and happened to find Lestat's book right after I finished the first one.

Are you a fan of the Brat Prince of the vampire world? How did you discover Lestat?

Win-A-Book Wednesday with Shawna Reppert!

Shawna Reppert

From earliest childhood, Shawna Reppert has had a passion for stories-- for reading them and for writing them. She obtained a BA in English with a Writing Option from Penn State University and has participated in numerous writing workshops and seminars given by the likes of Charles de Lint, David Farland and Elizabeth Lyon. She sold several short stories to 'zines and one to the second Gears and Levers anthology before publishing her debut novel, The Stolen Luck, with Carina Press in may of 2013. That novel won a Silver Medal for original-world fantasy in the Global E Book Awards and is currently a finalist for an Eppie in fantasy romance. She published the urban fantasy Ravensblood on 10/31/13, and is currently working on the sequel while other projects work their way through the marketing pipeline. She also has some short fiction for sale on Amazon, including a two-fer of short pieces set in the Ravensblood universe.

Shawna has always had an affinity for wolves, and used to keep a wolf-dog hybrid as a pet. Her current four-footed children are a Lipizzan stallion and an orange-and-black cat named Samhain. She enjoys Irish social dancing and is an ardent supporter of live Irish music. Shawna also likes to play with the Society for Creative Anachronism and can sometimes be found in medieval garb on a caparisoned horse, throwing javelins into innocent hay bales that never did anything to her.

A Pennsylvania native, she currently lives in the beautiful wine county of Oregon.

Visit her website:  http://www.shawna-reppert.com/

Win a copy of RAVENSBLOOD below.  (ADDED:  Ravensblood currently available in E-book only!)

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In a life of impossible choices when sometimes death magic is the lesser of the evils, can a dark mage save the world and his own soul?

Corwyn Ravenscroft. Raven. The last heir of an ancient family of dark mages, he holds the secret to recreating the Ravensblood, a legendary magical artifact of immense power.

Cassandra Greensdowne is a Guardian. Magical law enforcement for the elected council— and Raven’s former apprentice and lover. She is trying to live down her past. And then her past comes to the door, asking for her help.

As a youth, Raven wanted to be a Guardian but was rejected because of his ancestry. In his pride and his anger, he had turned to William, the darkest and most powerful mage of their time. William wants a return to the old ways, where the most powerful mage was ruler absolute. But William would not be a True King from the fairy tales. He would reign in blood and terror and darkest magic.

Raven discovers that he does have a conscience. It’s rather inconvenient.

He becomes a spy for the council that William wants to overthrow, with Cassandra as his contact.

Cass and Raven have a plan to trap William outside his warded sanctuary. But William is one step ahead of the game, with Raven’s life, his soul, and the Ravensblood all in danger.

A/N:  I was asked to write a little about why I'm offering this book in the giveaway.  It's simple.  As an avid reader, I know the thrill of discovering a new writer.  I also know how easy it is to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices available, and how it can be difficult to take that first risk with an unknown.  So this is one way to persuade a reader to take a chance.  And if you aren't the lucky winner, please remember that the first three chapters can be read for free at my website!
http://www.shawna-reppert.com/

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Here Be News

New Releases

My name is Helmut Haase and I'm one half of the Fog City Detective Agency--specifically, the half that pays all the bills. My partner, Shamus O'Sheehan, mostly drinks beer and naps. I keep him around because he's my friend, but also because he's a Druid. I'm just a detective, and there are plenty of those in Wudong, the Confederacy of Hesperia. There's not another Druid for miles.

We had it pretty good until the day we met Alek Pallas. He hired us to track down a thieving employee, and even though something was off, his big fat check was too much to pass up. But the man we found wasn't what we were led to believe, and neither was Alek.

I'm talking shape-shifters, fallen angels and a conspiracy involving the vicious Cretan Empire. At least we didn't die. Hope that doesn't ruin the story.

Why am I telling you all this? Someday I'd like some credit for saving the world. Maybe not the entire world, and maybe not alone, but I still deserve a medal. And perhaps a cash prize.

Only $1.79!

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Veronica Scott is happy to announce the Release of her latest paranormal romance set in ancient Egypt - MAGIC OF THE NILE.
The story:

After a childhood spent scorned and ignored by her family because of her crippled foot, Tyema was magically healed then installed as the High Priestess of his temple by Sobek the Crocodile God. But Tyema is still haunted by her memories, scarred by the abuse she endured. Despite Sobek’s protection, as an adult she’s become a near recluse inside the temple grounds…

 Until Captain Sahure arrives in her remote town, sent from Thebes on an urgent mission for Pharaoh, requiring High Priestess Tyema’s help. From that moment on, her quiet, safe life is upended in ways she never could have expected.

 But after a whirlwind romance with Sahure, the two part as Pharaoh orders him to undertake another assignment on Egypt’s dangerous frontier, far from Tyema’s remote town.

 Heart-broken, Tyema is ready to return to her life of loneliness, official duties and, now, regret. But the Crocodile God has other plans for his priestess: she must uncover the sorcerer who threatens Pharaoh’s life with black magic. Soon enough, Tyema finds herself thrown into the chaos of Pharoah’s court, neck deep in intrigue and danger. Just when she thinks she can’t take the pressures of a very public court life and her secret investigation for the Crocodile God any longer, Sahure re-enters the scene.

 But is her former love there to help or to hinder? Can they resolve their differences and work together to find the dark sorcerer who threatens Pharaoh and Egypt? Will the love between a proud warrior and a shy priestess lead them to a future together?

The sequel to Priestess of the Nile 

Available at Amazon now! Other eBook Sellers Coming Soon!

Win-A-Book Wednesday Winner

Congratulations to Shadow, the winner of last week's Win-a-Book Wednesday! Linda Mooney will be contacting you soon about your prize.

This Wednesday we'll have another mystery giveaway; stop by for more chances to win!

On Writing Your Way Home

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware." - Martin Buber

This past Tuesday was Mardi Gras. Ten years ago, I would’ve spent the day in New Orleans watching the parades, or at the very least eating a king cake and hanging out with family. This year, though, like every year for the past ten, I put on a Louisiana-themed T-shirt (this time: my New Orleans water meter shirt from Storyville) and went to work like it was any other day.

I’ve been living in the San Francisco area for a decade now, and I love it out here. There’s a lot to love: great weather, great food, great people. Mountains an hour in one direction, a beach an hour in the other. And, before I had my Small One, there was Wine Country. ;) But no matter how much I enjoy being here, I’ll never love it the way I love home.

I miss the things you’d expect. The food, for one. In honor of Mardi Gras, my day job cafeteria served “jambalaya,” and jambalaya is in quotes because while the food was good, and it contained some of the ingredients one might guess were in jambalaya after looking at a picture, it was not jambalaya. I miss LSU football games. I miss the cadence of Southern accents and the relentless green of the Louisiana landscape.

I miss the things you’d think I wouldn’t. The rain. Real rainstorms, not the gentle, obligingly brief showers we get in San Francisco. I want warm, muddy rivers in place of the clear, cold Pacific. I want humidity so thick it feels like the air is holding you up.

I’m not sure I could have written this list before I left home. Before I’d done much traveling, I didn’t know what would be different enough to miss. It’s one of the great gifts of living in new places—you get to look back at where you’ve come from and see it for the first time, like an astronaut looking down at Earth. But the price of that gift is homesickness.

The thing about this homesickness is, it feels like stretching an overworked muscle. It’s painful, but in a good, needful sort of way. I like reminding myself of what home feels like, even when it hurts. Going back—at least permanently—isn’t in the cards for me right now, and I suppose that’s why most of the stories I write are set in the South. I’m getting there the only way I can.

What do you love most about the place you call home?

--

A.J. Larrieu is the author of the upcoming urban fantasy Twisted Miracles, which is set in New Orleans and does, in fact, contain jambalaya. It releases on April 7, 2014 from Carina Press. To celebrate, she’s giving away a few unique pieces of her home state—find out more here.

How Much Is Real in The Phantom of the Opera?

Today is release day for A Haunting Duet, Act 5 of my serial novel, Master of the Opera! This is the penultimate episode and, as Amy as So Many Reads puts it, it's a doozy!

That's part of what happens when you break the standard story arc into six episodes. In a 90,000 word book, we expect the major climax to occur at about 75% into the story. Breaking it into 15,000-word chunks, that makes the 5th one chock full of climactic goodness.

(On March 10, I'll be guesting on sister Here Be Magic contributor Eleri Stone's blog, talking in more detail about structure and how I set up the beats in each episode and overall.)

Amy is a fun reader and often emails or otherwise contacts me (e.g., Twitter) as she reads through my stories. In this episode, she asked: "is this real or is it all a dream?"

Well, that's a good question.

I've discussed before on this and other blogs that Master of the Opera to me is, more than anything, magical realism. I think the original Phantom of the Opera is the same way. While most of the story is grounded in reality, bits and pieces dip into the impossible. Some of it can be explained away - an underground lake? Paris was built on a swamp, after all - but other aspects cannot. (How can the Phantom talk through a mirror?)

One inevitable explanation is that Christine's interface with reality is questionable. There's plenty of hints for this in all versions - she's artistic, she carries complicated grief for her lost father, she believes in the manifestation of the angel of music. An argument can be made that, despite the superstitious beliefs of others, Christine is the only person who actually sees the Phantom.

What is real and what is the dream?

Only you can decide.

Win-A-Book Wednesday with Linda Mooney

Linda Mooney

Linda loves to write sensuously erotic romance with a fantasy, paranormal, or science fiction flair. Her technique is often described as being as visual as a motion picture or graphic novel.

A wife, mother, and retired Kindergarten and music teacher, she lives in a small south Texas town near the Gulf coast where she delves into other worlds filled with daring exploits, adventure, and intense love.

She has numerous best sellers, including 10 consecutive #1s. In 2009, she was named Whiskey Creek Press Torrid's Author of the Year, and her book MY STRENGTH, MY POWER, MY LOVE was named the 2009 WCPT Book of the Year. In 2011, her book LORD OF THUNDER was named the Epic Ebook "Eppie" Award Winner for Best Erotic Sci-Fi Romance.

http://www.LindaMooney.com

She thought they were saving her life. She was wrong. Instead, Meredith Powell was kidnapped, taken aboard an alien spacecraft, and forced to prostitute herself to paying humanoid customers. But she had hope. She would only have to serve for two years, and then she would be returned to Earth. 

It was a life she had to learn and adjust to, until one paying customer took a special interest in her. A customer who had other plans for her, and none of them involved returning her to her home planet.

Warning! Contains drippy lights, padded tables, a jeweled waistlet, pink cuffs, and a lover with an incredible ability.

* * *
I like to push the envelope sometimes, and write something totally out of the box. This book came about because I asked myself an odd question. What if alien abductions were not because they wanted to study us?

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