A Surprise Book Signing While on Vacation!

I have finally gotten to start sorting the 600+ pictures from our Alaska trip.  I can't believe I didn't post this one as soon as we got home!

After our Alaskan cruise we stayed several days in Seattle at the very nice Paramont Hotel. They had a print out of events and activities for the week. Imagine my delight when I saw that a favorite author was doing a book signing at Seattle Mystery Bookshop! So we hopped on a bus and I got to buy a couple of books:

and have my picture taken with the very lovely and charming 

Jayne Krentz aka Jayne Castle (she has the lovely red hair)

I am planning to read Canyons of Night in October and I'll be hosting a Giveaway then for the autographed copy. Apparently Canyons is the third book of one trilogy but it introduces the setting and characters for the latest release, The Lost Night. Watch the Blog for the Review and Giveaway! And thank you to Ms. Krentz for being so gracious.

Interview with Bec McMaster and Giveaway of Kiss of Steel

Please welcome Bec McMaster, Author of Kiss of Steel. 
See Below to enter the Giveaway for a print copy.

Q1.  What inspired you to write this genre?

BM: I have always had a love of science and a curiosity about the world and how it works – I studied two years of biology at University before deciding it wasn’t for me – so a lot of movie or books with a science base have always appealed. And the more outlandish the inventions or ideas, the more I like them. I remember my Dad taking me to see Wild, Wild, West when it first came out and we loved it. Then of course it started infiltrating a lot of the genres I read and my mind started racing. The story and world practically built itself.

Q2.  Do you do anything especially helpful for your world building? (Notebook, Bulletin board, etc.?)

BM: I stare out the window a lot. Kidding. Keeping track of it is hard, and I have started keeping detailed records, but honestly a lot of it is in my head. I have entire worlds and plots in there and I can recall most of it off the top of my head. It’s the names I need to keep track of mostly.

Q3.  Do your work career/hobbies/interests influence your writing?

BM: Everything I see, do or read influences my writing in some way. I’m particularly interested in travel, so I love setting my books in places I’ve been to or want to visit. It’s the next best thing to being there, and I love researching travel blogs and weird little facts about the places I set my books so that it truly feels like you’re there. I spent several months living in London four years ago, so a lot of that went into creating Kiss of Steel. London has such an atmosphere and a weight of history about it. I spent hours walking down random streets and staring at all the houses or little museums and pubs that were everywhere. Or absorbing all the little details of costumes at the Victoria & Albert museum. They’re amazing!
 
Q4.  Did you find anything “hands on” or unusual required when researching these books?

BM: Again, it’s a combination of experiences over the years popping up in the stream of my sub-conscious. For example, I did a junior pentathlon once, so we studied fencing, which came in handy for certain scenes. And my step-sister’s boyfriend is English so I spent a lot of time listening to him and the way he speaks. Not that he probably knows that.
 
Q5.  What is one thing you struggle with in your writing?

BM: Adverbs. They’re everywhere. Luckily I give the manuscript a good prune with the editorial scissors before anyone else lays eyes on it. I remember my critique partner highlighting them in a page once, just to show me. There was a lot of yellow.
 
Q6.  Please share your most rewarding experience since being published. 

BM: It actually happened two nights ago. I had my local book launch at the library in town and 120 people showed up, which is pretty good for a small town. The level of local support has been amazing, and people have been really, genuinely excited about hearing what has happened. I’ve always been a private person – in fact a lot of my friends weren’t even aware I wrote until a few years ago – so it’s been an eye-opening experience for me.

Q7.  If you could ask readers a question, what would it be?

BM: If you could create an invention to do anything you wanted, what would it be? (I must admit, I want the Tardis).

 

KISS OF STEEL BY BEC MCMASTER 

IN STORES SEPTEMBER 2012

 

A brilliantly creative debut where vampires, werewolves, and clockwork creatures roam the mist–shrouded streets of London...

When Nowhere is Safe…

Most people avoid the dreaded Whitechapel district. For Honoria Todd, it's the last safe haven. But at what price?

Blade is known as the master of the rookeries—no one dares cross him. It's been said he faced down the Echelon's army single–handedly, that ever since being infected by the blood–craving he's been quicker, stronger, and almost immortal.

When Honoria shows up at his door, his tenuous control comes close to snapping. She's so...innocent. He doesn't see her backbone of steel—or that she could be the very salvation he's been seeking.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Award-winning author Bec McMaster lives in a small town in Australia and grew up with her nose in a book. A member of RWA, she writes sexy, dark paranormals and steampunk romance. When not writing, reading, or poring over travel brochures, she loves spending time with her very own hero or daydreaming about new worlds. For more information, please visit http://www.becmcmaster.com/ or follow her on Twitter, @BecMcMaster.

GIVEAWAY ONE PRINT COPY OF Kiss of Steel

Thank you to Sourcebooks for allowing me to host a giveaway!
TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY for Print Copy from Sourcebooks:

ENTER HERE

For 3 Extra Bonus entries: Visit the author's website and tell me something you find of interest.
For 3 Extra Bonus entries: Comment on this Interview and/or Answer the Author's Q7 above in pink.
For 2 Extra Bonus entries: Comment on my review (the previous post).

* This contest is only open to residents of US and Canada.
* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on October 5, 2012.
The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.
WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED on October 6, 2012.
Winners will have 72 hours to respond by email or the winners form linked in the announcement.   

Interview and Giveaway with ML Buchman, Author of I Own the Dawn

Please help me welcome ML Buchman, author of I Own the Dawn.

Comment from Martha: I really like The Night is Mine and was glad to snag I Own the Dawn to review as well. I am so impressed by the energy and intensity of your romance suspense titles.

Reply from Matt: Thanks so much! I’m certainly having a good time doing it as well.

1. I love series and I like to this question:  When you do a series do you have each book plotted out before you start the first one or do the subsequent books flow from the first book?

MB: Each book is built on its own. I have a theme of what connects them, sort of a forward vision but always glad to be diverted by chance and possibility. For example, I know the first installment in this series is four books long because I chose a helicopter that has four seats and I’m filling them with women one-by-one; one helicopter, one crew, four seats, four love stories. And to sell the series, I did have a brief synopsis of each heroine and hero. But could I have predicted Dilya in I Own the Dawn or the sad story of “villains” before I wrote it? No.

2. I noted on your blog that you were pulled into romance by a 1996 visit to a RWA national conference.  How does writing a romance compare with writing science fiction? What are the main differences, and what do these forms of writing have in common?

MB: Great question. I’ve always had a love story in all my books, “novel with romantic elements” as they’re called. So once I discovered romances I thought, “No worries. I’ll just shift the focus to the love story and have a romance.” So not! In my science fiction and my thrillers it is the on-going plot that sustains the story. Yes, my characters grow and change and are shaped by the challenges they face. (In many books in these two genres, the character change is miniscule. Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, great thriller reading, but the character is the same guy beginning to end of the book.)

Anyway, I had to write (and discard) several romances before I learned the ins and outs of creating a romance. A story that is based on: no question who the love interests are, who are intensely drawn together from the first pages, and who, with minimal need for the reader to suspend their sense of disbelief, just can’t get together for 3-400 pages. In the romances I enjoy reading and writing, mere plot is not enough to keep them apart. In my SF/F and thrillers, I need to understand what could make them fall in love and let them travel that road. To write a romance I find I must dig deeper into the character and really understand what makes the character the way they are about being in love, both for and against. It’s immense fun.

3. Have you had to do any unique research or what was one of the most surprising things you learned in researching for any of the Night Stalker series?

MB: I researched this intensely. I wanted to be as authentic as I could which sent me exploring in many directions. A couple of things stand out.
a) Going to Heckler & Kock’s on-line forum and asking about how to best use a sniper rifle against (well, that would be telling), and the amount of derision in addition to the help I received.

b) Standing in a gun shop asking really naïve questions of a gun shop owner packing two pistols in a shoulder harness, one at the small of his back and probably more elsewhere. All the while with his newborn girl cradled in his arms.

c) Spending a couple of hours with a woman who flew a double-tour on a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq as crew chief. What she cared about was not what I expected. She signed up for the country, but flew for the people beside her. Her reentry into society was a rude shock in the simplest ways. For years, every meal had been taken care of, there were no electric bills, no question of rent. But most of all, for her and I came to understand for others as I read more and more about soldiers and especially about special forces teams, it was about the people they were with first and foremost.

4. What most inspires your plots?

MB: My sense of justice or injustice. Those who twist humanity into inhumanity creates many of my plots. And my characters are the ones to will fight against that until their very last breath.

5. Is there a particular character you’ve had the most fun with while writing the Night Stalker series?

MB: Dilya. Her insights are her own. She was an accidental character who was supposed to visit for one scene and then refused to leave. It allows her to speak truth in the oddest ways. I love writing the men and women, but she was a complete surprise.

6. If you could have a theme song for the Night Stalkers, what would it be? And/or do you have a dream cast for your books?

MB: Ha! I don’t have a song for my Night Stalkers. They fly in silence, but “We Will Rock You” might not be a bad one. They fly from a place of immense power. My books are all cast, that’s how I see them when I’m writing. I’ll change and shuffle and combine features of several, but I need to see them.

The Night is Mine starring Uma Thurman as Captain Emily Beale and a young Aidan Quinn as Major Mark Henderson.

I Own the Dawn starring a composite of several but mostly Roxanne Dawson (engineer on Star Trek: Voyager) and Jenette Goldstein (the tough gunner-babe in Aliens) as Kee Smith and Jude Law as Lieutenant Archibald “Archie” Stevenson III.

Wait Until Dark… but that would be telling.

7. Where is your writing headed? Sci Fi, Fantasy, Suspense or more Romantic Suspense?

MB: Yes! My wife and I made a list while out walking a few days ago. There are 14 books that I could write right now. More in the Night Stalkers series. A spin-off tale that appears in book 4. I have a contemporary romance series started (Where Dreams are Born is out, book 2 by spring). I have a silly fantasy series of 3-4 that I’m dying to get to. And then, sigh, we thought up a new romance series based on a Tuscan B&B that I’m just dying to start. Being a writer is never having to say you’re bored. :-)

I see that you wrote a guest post about being male and writing romance so I’ll refer readers to this link for those comments: http://goodbadandunread.com/2012/08/16/guest-blog-you-write-what-by-m-l-buchman/

Thank you so much for delivering awesome action and romance packed suspense stories. (I will probably pick up one of your apocalyptic stories before the year is out.)  And thank you for sharing your thoughts with readers. 

Thanks to you for some great questions!

I OWN THE DAWN BY M.L. BUCHMAN – IN STORES AUGUST 2012

Name: Archibald Jeffrey Stevenson III

Rank: First Lieutenant, Dap Hawk Copilot

Mission: Strategy and execution of special ops maneuvers

Name: Kee Smith

Rank: Sergeant, Night Stalker Gunner and Sharpshooter

Mission: Whatever it takes to get the job done

You Wouldn't Think It Could Get Worse, Until It Does...

When a special mission slowly unravels, it is up to Kee and Archie to get their team out of an impossible situation with international implications. With her weaponry knowledge and his strategic thinking, plus the explosive attraction that puts them into exact synchrony, together they might just have a fighting chance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M. L. Buchman has worked in fast food, theater, computers, publishing, and light manufacturing. It's amazing what you can do with a degree in geophysics. At one point he sold everything and spent 18-months riding a bicycle around the world. In 11,000 miles, he touched 15 countries and hundreds of amazing people. Since then, he has acquired a loving lady, the coolest kid on the planet, and lives in Portland, Oregon. For more information, please visit http://www.matthewlieberbuchman.com/.

Be sure to check the Contest page for a chance to win a free, signed copy of I Own the Dawn.

Thank you to Sourcebooks for allowing me to host a giveaway here to!
TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY for Print Copy from Sourcebooks:

ENTER HERE

For 3 Extra Bonus entries: Visit the author's website and tell me something you find of interest.
For 3 Extra Bonus entries: Comment on this Interview
For 2 Extra Bonus entries: Comment on my review.

* This contest is only open to residents of US and Canada.
* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on September 7, 2012.
The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.
WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED on September 8, 2012.
Winners will have 72 hours to respond by email or the winners form linked in the announcement.   

Guest Post: The Winds of Change by Amelia Grey

I happened to note that Ms. Grey has been writing romance for over twenty years and of course I have been reading romance for longer than that. ;-)  I am so pleased to share her thoughts on this subject that many of us can relate to! See the section in blue below to see how you can comment to win a copy of A Little Mischief.

The Winds of Change

Good morning! Thank you for having me today at Martha’s Bookshelf. I’m thrilled to be here with you to share my thoughts on how the romance writing industry has changed over the past twenty years.

I published my first book in 1990 so I’ve been around to see many changes in the past twenty plus years. There were less than three thousand members of Romance Writers of America when I started writing and I think there are over ten thousand now. Romantic Times was published like a newspaper not the slick magazine it is today. Conferences were small and big names like Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts were not only there, they gave workshops. You could even take a recorder into the workshops and tape them. Now you have to buy the dvd from RWA, if the author allows it to be recorded. Some don’t.

I think Romantic Times deserves the credit for helping authors learn how to promote their books. Brenda Joyce was the pioneer of self-promotion with her "hunk" bookmarks and splashy RT ades. To use today’s terminology, they went viral and set the bar for authors to compete with that caliber of promotion and thus began the years of mailing "flyers" and bookmarks to fans, bookstores, and other authors. That led to adding workshops on how to promote along with the ones on how to plot, create sexual tension write in the active voice. I think most publishers now expect authors to take a more vital and active role in the publishing and promoting their books.

 Back in the 1980s and 90s, everyone wanted to publish with major publishers. We felt we had made it if our books were in Walmart, the airport, and the grocery store. Now, with the birth of the e-book, there’s a whole new competitiveness. The 90s held a revolutionary self-promo tool that would change the face of publishing forever: The Internet. For the first time, romance authors could go online and talk to other romance writers and post on bulletin boards. You were no long home alone, with your thoughts and plot. You could post questions, inter-act with other authors, hook up with people who shared your same interest. Authors and writers’ groups initiated "loops" for members to chat with each other and with their fans. The internet was transforming in how readers and writers connected. 

By the 2000s publishers started taking notice of erotica books because of e-publishers such as Ellora’s Cave. Suddenly there were sexier and more graphic romance books. Many authors today aren’t even going to the traditional publishers to be published in print. They are saying, “I’ll just publish it myself,” and are going straight to e-books. Many are doing well. Recently there have been notable successes from authors who have retained their backlist and reissued them online as e-books. 

So in my opinion, the romance genre has changed greatly from its infancy in the early 1980s, and I can hardly wait to see what the future holds for the romance writing industry.

For a chance to win a copy of my latest book, the re-issue of A Little Mischief, tell me if you think I left out any of the major changes on how the romance industry has changed over the past twenty years? 

This giveaway will close 10PM on August 24, 2012. I will pick a winner with Random.org and announce on August 25, 2012.

I hope you’ll pick up a copy of the reissue of A Little Mischief if you missed it when it was first published in 2003. It won the Booksellers Best Award and Aspen Gold Award for best Historical.

I love to hear from readers! Please email me at ameliagrey@comcast.net, follow me at Facebook.com/ameliagreybooks, or visit my website at ameliagrey.com