Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Teresa D’Amario | Why Shape shifters?
Uncategorized / April 4, 2008

Hi Everyone! I’m so excited to be here! And many thanks to the folks of Fresh Fiction for inviting me to their blog. I’ve met several of the ladies in person at Celebrate Romance in Columbia, SC, and let me tell you, they are a fun group! CR was my first ever conference, both as a reader and as an author, and I can tell you I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Rubbing elbows with some of my favorite authors, and getting to know the folks who love to read! What could be better? It was a wonderful experience, and one I shall always remember. I only wish I could make it to RWA or to RT this year, but sadly I will be unable to join all the wonderful authors and readers at those two. So instead, I thought I’d introduce myself here at Fresh Fiction and answer the one important question I seem to get. “Why Shape shifters?” Paranormal romance in general constitutes so many different types of creatures. There’s the vampires we all know and love. The demons we are just learning to have love affairs with, the selkies, the faeries, and even more. So what makes the shape…

CJ Lyons | Better than Sex!
Uncategorized / April 3, 2008

Okay, well, almost….but honestly, that’s the only way I can describe the rush you feel having your first book sold, published, and now, ta-da!, getting fanmail! When I began to write LIFELINES I knew it would be a challenge to find our target audience. Afterall, we were breaking all the rules—combining thriller pacing with a women’s fiction feeling, a medical suspense told solely from the point of view of the women of Angels of Mercy’s ER, and finally, combining romantic elements in an on-going, multi-character series. Before the release, I worried. Would the mystery/suspense reviewers like it or would they find it too much like women’s fiction? Would the romance reviewers think there wasn’t enough romance? Would the “big name” reviewers pay any attention at all? Turns out the worry was for nothing. Publishers Weekly and the Baltimore Sun both loved LIFELINES, with Publishers Weekly calling it a “breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller”. Romantic Times Book Reviews made it a Top Pick and Romance Reviews Today gave LIFELINES a coveted Perfect 10! But us writers aren’t known for our neurotic tendencies for nothing, lol! Despite all this, I still worried about readers finding LIFELINES—and liking it. LIFELINES is shelved in general…

Nancy Haddock | Invisible Friends: A Play Day with Characters
Uncategorized / April 2, 2008

As a reader, don’t you just love finding characters you’d like to have as friends? Or for back up if life got down right dangerous? Or, oo-la-la, as a secret admirer if not a lover? I adore it when I become attached to the characters in books. Those I meet in only one book, I’ll revisit by rereading over and over. Those I meet in a series, I get to revisit with each new book. And, yes, I have been known to reread every book in a series before I read the newest one, if only to touch base and catch up. As a writer, I’ve grown attached to my own characters. So much so, that they are no longer merely “imaginary” friends – they’re full-scale invisible ones!In my debut from Berkley, LA VIDA VAMPIRE, my heroine Cesca is a born and bred native of St. Augustine, FL, the city I now call home. When I go down to the Old Town – with friends or by myself – it’s all too easy to view the sites from Cesca’s point of view. In fact, it’s a struggle not to see through her eyes because she’s that real to me. When…

Dianne Castell | North or South… Which one are You?
Uncategorized / April 1, 2008

One of the reasons I wrote Hot and Bothered (Kensington BRAVA April 08) was to set a book in the South and not just geographically but in characters and language and food! Characters in NY are way different than characters in Savannah. You won’t hear the doorman at the NY Hilton say Y’all come back now, ya’ hear. And food? Just try getting a cream egg in Savannah or sweet tea in Manhattan. I’m more Savannah then Manhattan. Not that I don’t looove NY City, I do. But I live in Cincinnati and feel connected to the South. I fry chicken and make cream gravy and make my own pumpkin pie. I don’t have a hidden tiara in my panty drawer but I do subscribe to Southern Living, think Paula Deen is the cutest thing on earth and have actually waited in line for two hours to eat at Lady and Sons. Yep, it’s worth the wait! And I can twirl a baton! I have a pair of white gloves in my drawer and use cloth tablecloth and napkins and set the table proper with flowers for Sunday dinner. If my kids don’t mind their manners they get “the look…