“So tired of the straight line And everywhere you turn There’s vultures and thieves at your back And the storm keeps on twisting You keep on building the lies That you make up for all that you lack.” Angel – Sarah McLachlan Such a sad song. But so inspiring, so uplifting. I have strange affinity for this song. According to sources, Sarah McLachlan wrote it in response to the heroin overdose of Jonathan Melvoin, from Smashing Pumpkins. He was only thirty-four, another life cut short by addiction. It’s a fitting eulogy for a friend. Oddly, Smashing Pumpkins song Disarm inspired my very first attempt at a novel, so I find the symmetry agreeable, to say the least. As I was beginning to write SO CLOSE THE HAND OF DEATH, I heard Angel. I must have hit repeat fifty times. I knew, immediately, that this was how my main character, Taylor Jackson, was feeling. In a word, she’s miserable. And misery isn’t a normal state of being for Taylor. The story was conceived after I heard the song, and those particular lyrics. The words just spoke to me, the tone of the song overwhelmed my senses, and I knew exactly how…

Sister Fidelma Mystery #18 November 2010 On Sale: October 26, 2010 Featuring: Brother Eadulf; Sister Fidelma of Cashel 384 pages ISBN: 0312551207 EAN: 9780312551209 Hardcover $25.99  Add to Wish List Mystery Buy at Amazon.com Ancient Ireland — engaging series of mysteries The Dove of Death by Peter Tremayne In A.D. 670, an Irish merchant ship is attacked by a pirate vessel off the southern coast of the Breton peninsula. Merchad, the ship’s captain, and Bressal, a prince from the Irish kingdom of Muman, are killed in cold blood after they have surrendered. Among the other passengers who manage to escape the slaughter are Fidelma of Cashel and her faithful companion, Brother Eadulf. Once safely ashore, Fidelma—sister to the King of Muman and an advocate of the Brehon law courts—is determined to bring the killers to justice, not only because her training demands it but also because one of the victims was her cousin. The only clue to the killer’s identity is the symbol of the dove on the attacking ship’s sails, a clue that leads her on a dangerous quest to confront the man known as The Dove of Death. Excerpt Chapter One Fidelma of Cashel leaned easily against the…

We first introduced the Còig, a coven of Scottish witches in TALL, DARK and WOLFISH in May of 2010 with Elspeth Campbell’s book. Then we met up with them again in THE TAMING OF THE WOLF in November 2010 with Caitrin Macleod’s book. Technically 2011 is the year of the vampyre for Lydia Dare, however it could just as easily be called the year of the witch. Although each book in our new trilogy features a vampyre hero, the heroines are the remaining members of the Còig. We thought the best way to introduce you to the other three witches was to let Elspeth (now Westfield) and Caitrin (now Eynsford) do the honors. After all, who knows these three better than their coven sisters? Elspeth – Well, how should we start this? I doona want ta say somethin’ that will make one of them angry with us. Caitrin (snorts) – They’re usually angry with me for one reason or another anyway. So I’ll start. I suppose I’ll begin with Blaire Lindsay, since she is first up in IT HAPPENED ONE BITE. Blaire can fight better than any man. She is proficient at archery and swords, and she has the power…

Maybe trite, a tad cliché, but too true not to reiterate. Change applies to everyone, across races, zip codes and income brackets.  So whether you’ve come to Fresh Fiction as a writer or a reader or both, I hope you find value in this post. If you are a writer, your life revolves around change.  Whether pubbed or pre-pubbed, writers all deal with those shifting plot lines, that character who insists he will absolutely not wear loafers, the disappointment of losing a critique partner or turmoil of diminished writing time. If you’re published there are even more areas for potential change, such as needing to write in a new genre, changing your voice or adopting a pseudonym.  What happens if your agent gets pregnant and goes out on maternity leave, or your publishing house reorganizes and you find yourself with a new editor, or worse, the house drops the line you write for…and you have no editor?  This industry constantly changes cover art, titles, release dates, promotional offerings, conference dates… I could go on, but I won’t.  My point is that change is unavoidable.  It’s not a matter of whether or not it will happen, but when.  The more you anticipate…

Inspector Benedict Devlin #3 September 2010 On Sale: September 14, 2010 Featuring: Inspector Benedict Devlin 304 pages ISBN: 0312599471 EAN: 9780312599478 Hardcover $24.99  Add to Wish List Mystery Buy at Amazon.com We’re all Irish on 3/17, so begins our books set in Ireland week. A good solid police procedural. Bleed A Deep River by Brian McGilloway The third book in the internationally acclaimed Inspector Devlin series When a U. S. diplomat is attacked during the opening of a Donegal gold mine, Inspector Benedict Devlin is disciplined for the lapse in security. The gunman turns out to be an environmentalist who is the brother of an old friend of Devlin’s. Then the shooter is found dead near the mine and Devlin begins to suspect that the business is a front for something far more sinister Excerpt Chapter One Friday, 29 September ‘They’ve uncovered a body out at the new mine.’ It took me a few seconds to realize the speaker was addressing me. I looked up from my desk to where Superintendent Harry Patterson loomed over me. ‘Excuse me?’ ‘They’ve dug up a body out at the mine,’ he said irritably. ‘We’re going out there. It’s a dead body,’ he explained,…

Maker’s Song #4 March 2011 On Sale: February 22, 2011 Featuring: Heather Wallace; Dante Baptiste 384 pages ISBN: 1439137307 EAN: 9781439137307 Mass Market Paperback $7.99 Add to Wish List Fantasy Urban Buy at Amazon.com As good as the first. Etched in Bone by Adrian Phoenix SON OF A FALLEN ANGEL. FORGED IN VAMPIRE’S BLOOD. SWORN TO A MORTAL WOMAN. IF DANTE FALLS, THE WORLD FALLS WITH HIM. . . . THREE LEGACIES ETCHED IN BONE More beautiful and powerful than any creature the world has ever seen, Dante Baptiste has become the supreme target of the three worlds that spawned him. The mortal agents of the Shadow Branch have tried to control his mind through psychological torture. The vampire elders who guide nightkind society have plotted to use him in their bloodthirsty bid for power. And the Fallen have waited for millennia for Dante to claim his birthright as their Maker. But Dante belongs to no one—except the woman he loves. . . . ONE PASSION SWORN IN BLOOD Determined to face the Fallen and the world on his own terms, Dante hopes to piece together his shattered past and claim his future, with FBI agent Heather Wallace at his…

It isn’t often that woman gets to become a virgin again.  Man, is it fun! My name is Emily March and my debut novel, ANGEL’S REST, is a March release.  It’s the first book in a series I’m writing for Ballantine called Eternity Springs.  The second book, HUMMINGBIRD LAKE, arrives at bookstores on March 22nd, with the third book, HEARTACHE FALLS, coming April 27th. So many wonderful things have happened since this first book came out.  It’s been released as an audiobook–as an Audible member with two accounts because I buy so much this is a real thrill.  It’s been chosen as a featured selection for Doubleday Book Club and is available as a ebook and in large print, too. The biggest thrill for this debut author to date came when I learned that ANGEL’S REST had received a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly magazine. As an author with twenty-two previous books under my belt with no previous PW starred review, I was ecstatic. Which brings me back to the whole virgin thing. Before ANGEL’S REST and my Eternity Springs series, before I was Emily March, my name was Geralyn Dawson.  As Geralyn, I’d been  a USA bestselling author…

Dark-Hunters #2 September 2010 On Sale: September 14, 2010 Featuring: Talon; Sunshine Runningwolf 416 pages ISBN: 0312653832 EAN: 9780312653835 Hardcover (reprint) $24.99  Add to Wish List Romance Paranormal Buy at Amazon.com Classic Dark-Hunter. Night Embrace by Sherrilyn Kenyon Special Release Dear Reader, Life is great for me. I have my chicory coffee, my warm beignets, and my best friend on the cell phone. Once the sun goes down, I am the baddest thing prowling the night: I command the elements, and I know no fear. For centuries, I’ve protected the innocent and watched over the mankind, making sure they are safe in a world where nothing is ever certain. All I want in return is a hot babe in a red dress, who wants nothing more from me then one night. Instead, I get a runaway Mardi Gras float that tries to turn me into roadkill and a beautiful woman who saves my life but can’t remember where she put my pants. Flamboyant and extravagant, Sunshine Runningwolf should be the perfect woman for me. She wants nothing past tonight, no ties, no long-term commitments. But every time I look at her, I start yearning for dreams that I buried centuries…

Anthony Weston came to me as I lay on the hospital bed waiting for the first of three surgeries that would lead to a hysterectomy six weeks later. There I was, tucked into an oversized blue and white print hospital issue with an IV in one arm, beeps, buzzes, and scuffing footsteps pushing me toward a migraine. Without glasses or contacts, I could see about three inches in front of me and that’s a generous estimation generous. I didn’t even have the calming voice of my husband next to me as he’d been shuttled to the waiting room. I did the only thing a writer can do at a moment like this – I closed my eyes and thought of my next book, or more to the point, my next hero. I love creating heroes, the wounded kind that ‘bleeds hurt and been done wrong’ – the kind every woman wants to heal. My mind wandered, the noises quieted, and there he was, Mr. Anthony Weston, in his proper attire and perfectly tied cravat. When he popped into my head, I didn’t know the details of his painful history, the lowly beginning as a stable boy with an empty belly…

Court of Angels #1 March 2010 On Sale: March 1, 2010 Featuring: Marley Millet; Gray Fisher 400 pages ISBN: 0778327620 EAN: 9780778327622 Mass Market Paperback $7.99  Add to Wish List Romance Paranormal, Romance Suspense Buy at Amazon.com Suspense with a touch of paranormal brings the French Quarter alive. Out of Body by Stella Cameron Born of an ancient family of clairvoyants, Marley Millet finds that her psychic gift is both unsettling and incredibly dangerous. She never wants to “travel” again—but the choice is not hers to make. After glimpsing the fates of two missing New Orleans jazz singers, Marley knows she has no choice and must speak up before more women disappear. Flinty cop-turned-writer Gray Fisher, who interviewed both chanteuses before they vanished, takes a special interest in Marley’s incredible story—and in Marley. Scouring the wild clubs of the French Quarter, Marley and Gray make an unlikely and uneasy team. But their determination is matched only by the heat between them…and the evil they have uncovered. This chilling new paranormal series takes romantic suspense to a new level of merit. Excerpt Chapter 1 A woman would die. Unless Marley Millet could find the victim, and quickly, it would be too…