Kindle Daily Post

Guest Blogger: Joe Hill, author of "NOS4A2"

Joe Hill's latest novel, NOS4A2, is a spine-tingling story of supernatural suspense. Here is his essay, "So Bad They're Good." A longer version appears on Goodreads.

At some point, a few months after I started work on my new novel, NOS4A2, I realized I was working on a monster of a book...a book as long as my first two (Heart-Shaped Box and Horns) put together. I felt a story of that size needed a big engine under the hood, a bad guy on the same scale as the narrative around him.

Along came Charlie Manx, determined to save children from the harrowing, hard world of adults, a man who wanted kids to have fun for all eternity. Fun – and nothing but. No guilt, no unhappiness, and no regrets, not even after a good bloody game of scissors-for-the-drifter. Charlie Manx sees himself almost as a modern day Santa (which is, as we all know, ‘Satan,’ if you move one letter just a little to the right).

Some of us are connoisseurs of villainy; some of us (maybe most of us) are perversely fascinated by the bad guys. Be honest now… who doesn’t prefer the lightning to the lightning rod? Here are five other bolts of pure electricity, my personal best of the worst.

• Mr. Dark. In NOS4A2, Charlie Manx takes his prisoners to a fantastic amusement park called Christmasland, where every morning is Christmas morning, every night is Christmas Eve, all the rides are free, all the food is bad for you, and everyone is having such a good time, no one ever wants to leave. And so no one ever does. One inspiration for Christmasland was, of course, Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show, the terrifying traveling carnival at the heart of Ray Bradbury’s seduction of the innocent, Something Wicked This Way Comes. No one buys a ticket to Mr. Dark’s carnival and comes back undamaged.

• Anton Chigur. Chigur is the rangy, clear-eyed hitman who lopes through Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men, using a captive bolt pistol – a kind of pneumatic nail gun designed to punch in a cow’s skull – to settle up with everyone who crosses him.  Chigur’s unusual gun was what convinced me that Charlie Manx needed an iconic weapon of his own… hence Charlie’s shiny silver autopsy mallet.

• Abbot Enomoto. Like Moriarty, Abbot Enomoto is the spider at the center of a vast web of power and influence and crime; like Dracula, the holy abbot of Mount Shiranui is (maybe) an immortal who has survived for centuries by feeding on the blood (and spirits) of the weak. Abbot Enomoto casts his long cold shadow over the entirety of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, the tale of a young Dutchman swimming in the unfamiliar seas of Edo-era Japan, and finding himself vastly overmatched by an evil beyond comprehension.

• Amazing Amy Dunne. Give it up for the relentlessly chippy star of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Amy Dunne, who is like the charming, preppy, wickedly smart heroine of Clueless… if the Clueless gal was a laughing psychopath. Control freak Amy has icewater for blood, the soul of a maniacal wedding planner, and the heart of a crocodile.

• Ursula Monkton. Okay, so this last one is a bit of a mean tease, because at the time of this writing, Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane is still unreleased. So you can’t yet read about Ursula Monkton, a governess with impeccable manners, excellent taste, and a gift for tormenting the weak: think of her as the anti-Mary Poppins, poison in a spoonful of sugar (I understand it helps the medicine go down). Breathe easy, kids… Neil’s most supercalifragilistic book ever is out in just a couple more months, and as we all know, bad things come to those who wait.

--Joe Hill

 

 

 

Exclusive Novella from Author Jason Mott

Starting today, the exclusive release of Jason Mott’s novella, The First, is now available in the Kindle store. The novella provides readers with a window into Mott’s much anticipated novel coming this fall, The Returned, which has been picked up by ABC as a new series called Resurrection coming this fall. In this haunting and unforgettable debut novel, an impossible miracle is occurring all across the globe. Read how it all begins in this short story, The First.

As part of the exciting launch of the novella, Kindle has received an exclusive letter to readers from the author, Jason Mott, which will be included in each ebook.

Author Jason Mott is as excited as we are about bringing his novella to Kindle, as he explains the inception of the novella: “This story was born out of my novel, The Returned, about a global event in which long-deceased loved ones have begun returning from the dead, seeking to reenter the lives they left behind. At its core, the novel is about loss, and the many different ways we respond to it. We all have methods and mechanisms, specific only to us, to help us conquer the silence left behind by the passing of a loved one. Some of us isolate ourselves from memories. We pack away the photo albums, clean out closets, speak of the ones we’ve lost only when absolutely necessary. Others cling to memory. We vow never to forget, and create memorials. We speak to the departed, write them letters, as if they can hear us from beyond.” 

In addition to the exclusive letter from the author, the Kindle version of The First is available in the Kindle store, exclusively until June 1st, starting today.

As Jason Mott explains, "The publication of this novel is the culmination of a childhood dream that I never really dared believe would come to fruition. If there was ever proof that chasing a dream isn't folly, this is it."

We’re thrilled to be part of such a meaningful new release.

Read more about Jason Mott and his debut novel, The Returned, available on pre-order.

Sylvia Day Whets Our Appetite for "Entwined with You"--and More Crossfire

After naming Sylvia Day’s Bared to You a 2012 Best Book of the Year in Romance and devouring Reflected in You, we've been anxiously awaiting the release of the third book in Day's scorching Crossfire series, Entwined with You. To whet our appetites and make waiting for the book's arrival a little easier, Amazon Romance expert Alyssa Morris spoke with Day about what’s next for Gideon and Eva, her upcoming collaboration with Harlequin and Cosmopolitan, her all-time favorite romance novels, and much more.

Alyssa Morris: Now that you’ve had a bit of time to absorb the success of Bared to You, does it feel real? Or are you still surprised?

Sylvia Day: I'm still surprised! I’m glad I’m a veteran and that I’ve been publishing for close to 10 years, so I had some experience under my belt as far as dealing with it. But on the other hand, there’s no way to anticipate writing something that becomes a global phenomenon, you know. I don’t know about other writers--I didn’t even dream about anything like that. I always figured that it just happened to the Stephenie Meyers and J.K. Rowlings of the world. So, yeah, I don’t think I’ll ever get over being surprised that I had a series that struck such a chord.

AM: It just hit such a moment in our culture, where all of a sudden this is what everyone wants to be reading. It’s an interesting confluence.

SD: Right. We always talk about that, about right book, right time. Random House released Fifty Shades on the same day I self-published Bared to You, so talk about the right timing. Just… wow!

AM: Do you have a favorite moment in the Crossfire series so far? 

SD: You know, I really loved the weekend that Gideon and Eva spent in the Outer Banks. These poor guys. When they’re alone, they’re fine. Life is perfect when they’re alone. Unfortunately, they don’t get a lot of time alone. [Laughs] So I just love that. I love seeing them together away from all of the distractions and intrusions and everything else that’s going wrong in their lives.

I can’t talk too much about Entwined with You because it’s not out yet. And that’s so hard, because I so want to talk tabout it! But there’s more alone time with Gideon and Eva as we move forward in the series and they grow stronger, so I’m really enjoying that as a writer. 

AM: Can you tell us a little bit about what we can expect to see next for Gideon and Eva? And is Entwined with You the last book in the series, or it might continue farther?

SD: Yes. It’s definitely continuing, so I can say that for sure. I was not able to wrap up the entirety of the storyline into three books, and I was absolutely adamant that I was not going to try to rush or cram the third book to try to make it fit. And I was fortunate that my agent and my editor they both agree that it would be a big disservice to the series to not let it play out the way it needs to, so there will definitely be future books.

The first book was really the introduction to Gideon and Eva. That’s where we first become familiar with their flaws and their issues, which are of course very prevalent in the first book. The second book they were really apart most of that book. They were mostly broken up through that whole thing. It was very angsty and dark. The third book is very different. Eva’s in a different place. At the end of Reflected in You, Gideon has made a pretty large sacrifice for her. Her big issues had been insecurities, concerns about other people and other women particularly in Gideon’s life. It’s hard to have those sorts of fears and self-doubt after somebody makes a huge sacrifice, like Gideon did for her. So she’s in a much more stable place as far as her comfort level with the relationship and being able to accept the depth of his commitment to her.

Gideon, however--what he’s done, there’s a lot of ramifications. Not just externally, but internally. So as she grows stronger, he’s actually struggling with more. That said, she’s really the anchor for that relationship. She has been from the beginning. So with her being stable, it brings new stability to the whole relationship, and readers will see a lot more moments of calm and connection between the two than we have seen in the previous books.

AM: Awesome. So this is sort of a pet question for me: Will Cary ever get his own book?

SD: You know, I’m not sure. At this point I’m so wrapped up with Gideon and Eva that I haven’t really gone into tangents with the secondary characters. Now of course, Cary’s story continues through the course of the book, but in a lot of ways he’s more messed up than the other two are [laughs], and he’s juggling these two relationships. He also has some pretty pivotal things happen in Entwined with You that readers will see that have a very enormous impact on him and his growth.

Can I finish his story along the course of the Crossfire series? I mean, it’s possible, especially considering that I’ll be going into more books, but then again because he has so much more work to do, it’s possible that he could have a spinoff series, if I can’t fit it in around Eva and Gideon. That was another reason why the series is continuing, because all of the secondary characters have their own stories that are going on.

AM: Yeah. Eva’s parents…

SD: We’ve got Eva’s parents, we’ve got the Stanton issue, we’ve got Cary, we’ve got her work issue, and of course Gideon’s got his whole family relationship. His whole family dynamic is just a mess, so you know all of those things are progressing along with Gideon and Eva’s relationship. So, I’m sure some of those things, a lot of those things will get resolved because Eva and Gideon are not going to be in the place where they need to be to reach their happily ever after when everything else around them is in such flux. On the other hand, bigger issues might have to go into a separate series, and while I don’t rule it out, I’m not planning on it right now.

AM: So what can we expect to see next from you outside of the Crossfire world? I know that you have Afterburn and Aftershock with Harlequin and Cosmopolitan.

SD: Yes, I’m really excited about that, too. Exploring new frontiers has pretty much always been a part of my career. I started publishing ebooks back in 2005, and of course there was no Kindle or Nook at the time. People were just buying the files online and reading them on their computers.

AM: I definitely did that.

SD: I couldn’t understand the appeal of that myself, but of course I was working at the computer all the time, so I didn't want to do my leisure time there, too. But I knew it was going to be an expanding medium. My New York publishers were not digitizing books at the time, but I thought this is exciting, this is fun. And I had a lot of writer friends at the time who were like, “What are you doing? Ebooks are like where you go when New York won’t publish your stuff!” And I’m like, “You’re missing it, guys, I’m telling you this is going to be it, this is going to be the future” --and of course look at it now. So to do a collaboration with a magazine, I thought, "OK, this is taking it to a different level." I find that really exciting.

The series is actually one story following one couple across both books, Jackson and Gianna. It’s a contemporary story set in New York, Gianna’s the narrator, so Crossfire readers will have a certain comfort level with it because of that, but it’s a totally different story and they’re totally different characters. It actually took me a while to get into it because I was so stuck with Gideon and Eva that it was like trying to fall in love with a different couple, but they won me over, and now I love them, too. I can’t wait until it comes out. Again, because it’s a digital first release, we can get it out quickly. I don’t have to wait a year, or a year and a half as we would have in the past. The collaboration with Cosmo is really fun.

AM: You’re obviously a very prolific writer. You’ve had several books come out in the past year, and several more  coming out next year. How long does it take you to write a novel? Do you work on them all simultaneously?

SD: At the start of my career, I used to be able to work on multiple projects at once. I can’t do that anymore. For a full-length novel, it takes me anywhere from 4-6 weeks to write the initial manuscript, and then of course there’s editing and tweaking and so on and so forth. About a month to a month and a half for a full length book. I do a lot of novellas and short stories. I really enjoy the format, and those can take me anywhere from a week to three weeks….  Sorry, my husband just walked into the room carrying an award for me which apparently just came in the mail.

AM: That’s exciting!

SD: Yeah! It’s actually really pretty. Ah! It’s from the Australian Romance Readers Association. Favorite Erotic Romance of 2012, Bared to You. Nice!

AM: Congratulations!

SD: Thanks! He came in like Vanna White. He has it balanced on one hand. [Laughs]

AM: When did you start writing? I know that before you started writing full-time, you were US Army military intelligence, so that’s a big switch, career-wise.

SD: Well, you know, when I was 12, my mom handed me my first romance novel and said, “I want you to find a man like this.” I read it, and I absolutely just loved it. It was this sweeping saga sort of romance. I got to the end, and I just wanted to go back to the beginning and start all over again. And I was like, “I wanna do that. I wanna write stories that people don’t want to end.” That same week, I had an essay that was due for my English class on what we wanted to be when we grew up. My essay was on how I was going to be a romance novelist, so that was always my career choice. But then of course there’s school, and then we had Desert Storm and I felt like I needed to contribute, so I joined the Army. It turned out that I had an aptitude for languages, so I was offered the opportunity to go to the Defense Language Institute and learn a different language. Of course I jumped on the opportunity. And I went and learned Russian, and that was a marvelous experience. I’m so glad that I did it--so much so that my sister, who’s 12 years younger than I am, ended up joining the Air Force and becoming an Arabic linguist, just based on my stories of how much I appreciated and how much I got out of my time in the military. So when people are like, “How do you go from being a linguist to being a writer?”, it was actually that being a linguist was a detour from my dream of being a writer, because I decided on that when I was so much younger.

In 2003, I had 2 very small children, and one day they were down for a nap, and all the laundry was done and the house was clean, and I was sitting here going, "You have this me time right here, these next few hours while the kids are asleep. What are you going to do?" It was the perfect opportunity for me to start doing what I had always wanted to do, which was write. I told myself, “I have three years before my kids start going to kindergarten,” so really, "Three years, you can try to get published, and then after that, if it doesn’t happen, you can go back to work, no harm, no foul."  I had no idea how unrealistic an expectation three years to publication was. I had no clue how difficult it was to break in, and I think it’s probably great that I was so green, because if I had listened to all of the advice I got afterwards, I don’t know if I would have gotten off the ground.

As it was, I sat down in October of 2003 and wrote my first novel, which turned out to be Ask for It, which is a historical romance. I finished that by November, and then I started another book that turned out to be In the Flesh, which was released as Livia Dare later on. I just kept writing and writing and writing. Lori Foster had the Lori Foster Brava Novella contest because at the time she was writing for Brava, and you submitted three pages of a novella to her and she chose 20 finalists and then there was a reader’s choice and an editor’s choice. The editor was Kate Duffy. Via the course of that which I entered in June and in December of 2004, which was just a little over a year after I started writing in October of 2003, I got the phone call from Kate where she offered to buy the book, which became Bad Boys Ahoy, now being retitled as Scandalous Liaisons.

During that whole year, I had been submitting. I was already writing erotic romance, though I’m not sure we were calling it erotic romance then. It was just sexier romance, sensual romance, and the only places that were really publishing that at the time was Brava of course, and Red Sage, and Virgin Books had their Black Lace, and of course there was Ellora’s Cave, which was digital. So I submitted to Black Lace and Ellora’s Cave. Within two weeks after I got the call from Kate, Ellora’s Cave picked up the story I submitted to them, and Black Lace picked up the story I submitted to them. And it was kinda like when it rains, it pours! Over the course of about a two week period, I ended up selling four or five different things to multiple publishers and it was just like, wow. Ok! I guess I’ve started!

Of course you don’t realize that the hard work doesn’t actually begin until after you go to sell all your other stuff.

AM: That seems to be a theme in your career. Things happen really quickly, and then you do a lot more work, and sitting down, and then there are these big periods of excitement and change.

SD: Yeah. Really, that’s true. You go through a couple years where it’s just heads down and get it done, and then something happens, and it’s like “Wow!” and “Yay!” And then head back down and write more.

But I’m grateful all the time, because the hard part is selling the next book. And I’ve been fortunate that I’ve always been able to sell the next book.

AM: Can you give us an idea of some of your favorite romance writers and some books you’re looking forward to reading?

SD: My favorite romance novel is a book called The Fifth Favor by Shelby Reed. It's just one of those ones where I could not stop reading it, and when I got to the end I was so devastated it was over. Oh man, I could have just kept reading this story for like ever. I love Lisa Kleypas. I love her historical romances. I’m a huge fan of Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunters series, JD Robb’s In Death series. Oh! Another one of my favorite books is The Search by Nora Roberts. I really love that book. The hero was so grumpy, and I just loved him. I absolutely loved him all the way through. He’s just a classic Nora Roberts hero. And of course you have the search dogs. I just thought the whole thing was beautifully done. Of course Nora doesn’t do anything that’s not beautifully done. I love Patricia Briggs’s Alpha and Omega series. I think she writes romance so well.

AM: I’ve just been reading the Mercy Thompson series lately and they’re so good. I don’t know what took me so long to find her.

SD: She’s just fabulous, she really is--I love her stuff. Those are the ones I always rattle off the top of my head because I follow them so religiously. I still love Lora Leigh. She’s not releasing books really a lot right now, but I love her stories. Karen Marie Moning. Love her. I fell in love with her for her Highlander series, but of course I’ve followed her since then.

AM: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us, Sylvia!

SD: Thank you!

3 Benefits of Dating Your Enemy

Guest post by Tilly Bagshawe.

In my novel, Do Not Disturb, hotel heiress Honor Palmer finds herself powerfully attracted to her business rival and all round arch-nemesis, the dashing and ambitious Lucas Ruiz. When I was asked to think of the benefits of dating your enemy, initially I could only think of three letters: S-E-X.  Sex, surely, is rarely hotter, or more passionate and intense, that when there is a love/hate element involved.

When I worked in the city (London’s Wall Street) in a very competitive, male, testosterone-driven environment, workplace feuds were common. When they occurred between the sexes, they frequently involved a hefty dose of flirtation. Affairs--sparked by competition and fueled by the huge amounts of money and power at stake for the winner--were rife. So was the burn out rate, both professionally and romantically. It was an exciting place to work, but it could also be utterly exhausting. I loved it, and met my husband there, a relationship that began as outright war (seventeen years and four children later, I think we can safely say I won); but just thinking about that period now, the “sexual napalm” years, to quote John Mayer, makes me want to lie down and take a long nap.

It is often said that men and women can’t truly be friends. But I wonder if they can ever truly be enemies either. Attraction, frustration and suppressed lust have their role to play in male/female enmity and rivalry, just as they do in love. So what are the benefits of dating your enemy? 

1) Incredible sex. 

2) Give it a decade or so and they might just become your best friend.

3) The realization that you probably weren’t really enemies in the first place. You were lovers, stuck on the wrong side of the mirror.

Superheroes Who Have Made the Leap from Book to Big Screen

With summer blockbuster season ramping up, the Kindle editors are taking a moment to recognize the literary characters whose day-saving antics have proved prime material for movies. There’s the Caped Crusader, of course. But what about other heroes who made the leap from the printed page to film? We’ve rounded up five favorites below.

Superman
Clark Kent is back in the spotlight with the impending Man of Steel movie -- the latest in a string of big screen adaptations. How will the dashing journalist fend off menacing Kryptonians in this one? We'll find out when the film releases June 14.

The Watchmen
Hugo Award-winning graphic novel Watchmen chips at the armor of the shiny superhero. The gang here is afflicted by everyday flaws and live in a society that shrugs at their existence, even though their earlier actions have a profound impact on world affairs. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s work was adapted for film in 2009. 

Hellboy
Mike Mignola also challenges the concept of the traditional superhero. Mignola’s titular character is a behemoth demon summoned from Hell to aid the Nazis. His intentions are anything but evil, however, and he’s got a good sense of humor too.

Batman
Perhaps no comics character has seen more silver screen action than the Caped Crusader. That's no suprise considering billionaire Bruce Wayne and his alter ego have been literary figures for more than seven decades.

Spider-Man
Hollywood has also taken to nerdy Peter Parker: A trilogy dedicated to his skyscraper-flying character concluded in 2007, only to have another reboot ramp up last year. Long before either came the Marvel Comics series co-created by the legendary Stan Lee.

Who is your favorite book-to-big-screen character?

The Trials of “Van-Dwelling”

Broke and desperate but determined, 26-year-old Ken Ilgunas decided to buy a cheap van and secretly live in it in a Duke University parking lot to afford grad school. Walden on Wheels, his self-deprecating travel memoir, is a frank, funny, and brutally honest portrait of life in a van.

Though living in a van on a college campus was, in many ways, as ordinary as living in a dorm (albeit a cheaper, tighter, and somewhat smellier dorm), there were instances when the peculiar hardships of “van-dwelling” made me question whether living cheap was worth it. It turned out to be totally worth it—I graduated debt-free—but for your entertainment, I present some of the stranger, unexpected, and more unpleasant aspects of two years in a home on wheels. 

A mouse lived in the van's ceiling for three days. During this period, I got little sleep as I obsessively watched the imprint of its tiny paw prints scurry across the upholstery.

Once a family had a picnic next to my van. For four hours! Living in there was a secret, so I couldn’t make a sound, let alone open the door. For those four hours, I remained fixed in the same sprawled position on my bed for fear it would squeak and I'd be discovered.

During my first rainstorm in the van, I discovered there was a leak in the roof. It dripped down onto the bed and left a pancake-size circle of wetness, making it look like I'd had a terrible accident.

I was so excited and nervous about going on a date with a girl (a rare occurrence, I assure you), I accidentally crashed the van into a concrete cylinder, leaving permanent scars that would ultimately make it unsellable.  

Ants, thousands of ants, invaded my storage container one fall afternoon and carried off my food.

Without the luxury of refrigeration, I scoffed at the supposed need to keep some food items “fresh,” not bothering to chill my month-old bottle of squirtable butter. This resulted in a nightlong food-poisoning extravaganza that culminated in my throat discharging the entirety of my stomach’s contents into my wastebasket in one impressive burst.

When my secret was finally discovered, a student in the adjacent apartment complex told campus administration that my van made her feel “uncomfortable.” I was given a new parking spot next to the campus police station—and a law was created that more or less bans students from living in their vehicles.

—Ken Ilgunas

Guest Blogger: Sarah Thebarge, author of "The Invisible Girls"

Twenty-seven-year-old Sarah Thebarge had it all - a loving boyfriend, an Ivy League degree, and a successful career - when her life was derailed by an unthinkable diagnosis: aggressive breast cancer. After surviving the grueling treatments - though just barely - Sarah moved to Portland, Oregon to start over. There, a chance encounter with an exhausted African mother and her daughters transformed her life again.

In 2010, I was riding public transportation in Portland, Oregon, during rush hour when an African woman and her two little girls got on the crowded train.  The woman and her older daughter found seats, but there was no open seat for the littlest girl, so she stood between her mom’s knees as we rode towards downtown.

A few minutes into the ride, I was watching the little girl try to sleep while standing up, thinking, Someone needs to hold that tired child, when she opened her sleepy eyes and looked at me.  I opened my arms to her, and she climbed into my lap and fell asleep. 

Her mom and I had a conversation on the train, and a few days later I ended up going to their house to check on the family.  They were living in the poorest conditions I’d ever seen --  they had no socks or blankets or furniture or toiletries or heat.  They had run out of food, and were eating moldy bread the mom had retrieved from a Dumpster behind a nearby grocery store.

I started going back a few times a week, showing them how to navigate life in America and get the resources they needed.  A few months into our friendship, they adopted me as an honorary family member and nicknamed me Sahara.  And I called them The Invisible Girls, because that first day on the train, no one seemed to see them but me.

The closer I got to these girls, the more I realized that in spite of our many differences, we had a lot in common.  Because after growing up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I knew what it was like to be a little girl in a fundamentalist culture. And after nearly dying of breast cancer in my 20’s and ending up in Portland with just a suitcase of clothes, I also knew what it was like to be a refugee of sorts.  So when I saw the girls on the train, they looked familiar to me -- because I’d been an Invisible Girl, too.

The Somali girls’ joy and unconditional love brought me back to life.  I began asking not, “What do you get for the girl who has everything?” but “What do you get for the girls who have nothing?”  

I decided that instead of buying them things that would eventually fall apart or break, I would leverage the best resource I had -- my ability to write -- so I could try to earn them a college education.  Going to college had been crucial in my own journey of transforming from an invisible girl to a visible woman, and I wanted to give these girls the same opportunity.

I wrote our story into a book called The Invisible Girls, and the proceeds are going towards a college fund for the Somali girls. 

Because every girl deserves an education. 

Because every girl deserves a chance.

--Sarah Thebarge

Guest Blogger: B. V. Larson on "The Bone Triangle"

B. V. Larson's new book, The Bone Triangle, published by 47North, is the second in the Unspeakable Things series.

The Bone Triangle is an urban fantasy written in a crime-noir style. In this second installment in the Unspeakable Things series, blogger and PI Quentin Draith specializes in investigating inexplicable murders in Las Vegas. He’s hired by a woman to find her runaway daughter, but soon finds himself embroiled in a diabolical plot to destroy the entire city.

And as a member of a secretive group that refers to themselves collectively as “the Community,” Draith is no stranger to seemingly impossible happenings. They are known to others as “technomancers,” individuals who wield technology so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic. Technomancers rule the city behind the scenes, while Quentin serves as their agent in the streets.

As Draith searches for the runaway, an infamous region of the city is slowly being depopulated. The people there fear to go out at night, and they blame something they call the Beast -- an alien creature that devours people, leaving nothing behind but piles of wet bone. Due to the grisly finds, the region has come to be known as the Bone Triangle, and it is growing in size each day.

In Quentin’s search for the runaway, he encounters the Beast, and soon discovers a much deeper, more sinister plot. Seeking answers and aid, he heads out into the deserts north of Las Vegas, where nuclear tests were once performed with regularity. In the abandoned test sites he learns about himself, his lost past, and the source of all Technomancer power.

Even as Draith’s investigations take him to other worlds where he meets aliens, scientists, monsters and other impossibilities, the gritty reality of Las Vegas shines through. 

Guest Blogger: Elin Hilderbrand

The Surfing Lesson is a touching short story about a poignant stage in a marriage explores the backstory of Margot Carmichael, one of the stars in Elin Hilderbrand's new novel Beautiful Day.

Full disclosure: I am not a surfer.  I have never lay on a board, nor sat on one, much less stood on one.  I don’t even particularly like waves.  When I go into the ocean, I time my entry and exit between waves, after executing what I have termed “the French dip,” which lasts two to three seconds.

Why then did I write a short story entitled, The Surfing Lesson?  The answer is that I wanted to write a spinoff to my forthcoming novel, Beautiful Day – and the story of Margot Carmichael’s divorce from her well-meaning but somewhat feckless husband, Drum, presented an irresistible opportunity.  The Surfing Lesson follows Margot’s painful and confounding realization, during her family’s two-week vacation on Nantucket, that she no longer loves Drum.  She yearns to feel differently, but when she and Drum and their three children bump into Drum’s ex-girlfriend, a woman who has haunted Margot for the entirety of her marriage, she feels no jealousy, and she understands the marriage is over. 

Drum is a Nantucket surfer.  Not only have I gotten to know this particular breed of athlete during my twenty years on the island, I have given birth to one.  My son, Maxwell, age thirteen, is one of the most graceful surfers I have ever seen in action.  It came to him naturally; it was as though he was born knowing how to place his feet, balance his weight, and ride the board.  I have spent many an early summer morning, completely exhausted, watching from the front seat of my Jeep on the south shore, while Maxx catches the earliest and best waves of the day.

I pretend to be exasperated about sacrificing my sleep so he can pursue the surf, but in truth, I’m jealous.  I wish I had the feel for the water and its movement the way he does; I wish I had his prowess and skill, and I have told him so. 

He is a good kid, and an even better son.  He always says, “It’s okay, Mom.  You can just write about it.”

Believe me when I say, you do NOT have to be a master of the left-hand breaker to enjoy The Surfing Lesson.  You just have to be able to read.  Happy summer!

--Elin Hilderbrand

 

 

Guest Blogger: Author Ella Grace on Time-Travel Romances

Guest blogger Ella Grace is a romance writer and author of Midnight Secrets.

Time travel has always intrigued me. Not only the science of it, but the very idea that something so extraordinary could exist or be possible. Imagine the ability to go back in time and prevent a horrendous event from happening. Or going forward in time to see what the future holds. Or how about just being able to go back to high school and change a couple of decisions you made? I could go for that in a heartbeat!

When writing this blog post about a favorite time travel romance, Linda Howard’s Son of the Morning immediately came to mind. A novel that involves Knights Templar, Robert the Bruce, Scottish warriors, murder, mystery and a steamy, passionate romance that spanned hundreds of years. How could you go wrong?

Grace St. John and Niall of Scotland fell in love 675 years apart. After suffering the excruciating agony of witnessing the murder of her husband and brother, Grace is on the run not only from the evil man who shot her family and wants to kill her too, but also from law enforcement who believes she committed the murders. She changes from a naïve, albeit brilliant, archaeologist into a strong, street-smart woman determined to avenge her family’s death. The only thing keeping her sane is her research of Black Niall, a Scottish warrior who lived hundreds of years ago. Something in the papers she’s studying could well provide the reason behind her family’s murders. 

In the midst of her research, she begins dreaming about Niall. She hears his voice even when she’s not asleep. She can feel his kisses, caresses. She finds herself falling in love with a man who’s been dead for centuries.

Against his wishes, Niall was chosen to be guardian of an immense treasure—one that holds a power that could change or destroy the world. Having lost all of his friends in battles and wars, he’s a bitter man, yet he takes his responsibilities with utmost seriousness. He knows his duties and while he may resent his role in life, he will not shirk his responsibilities. Niall begins to feel as though he’s being watched and then he hears Grace’s voice. His dreams become heated and intense. He doesn’t know who this woman is or why she’s haunting him but he becomes obsessed with her, as much as Grace becomes obsessed with Niall.

Traveling hundreds of years back in time, Grace finally meets Niall. And though they deny it, both know they’re already in love. A connection that stretched hundreds of centuries and thousands of miles cannot be denied.

Though published in 1997, the story stands the test of time. Son of the Morning is a truly wonderful book filled with appealing characters, an intriguing, original plot, and a steamy, sensual romance with a happy ending. That’s enough to make any romance reader close the book with a happy sigh.

Ella Grace is the author of a new steamy southern suspense, Midnight Secrets. Learn more about Ella Grace by visiting her author page.