Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Fresh Pick | FALLING UNDER by Gwen Hayes
Fresh Pick / July 22, 2011

March 2011 On Sale: March 1, 2011 Featuring: Haden Black; Theia Anderson 336 pages ISBN: 0451232682 EAN: 9780451232687 Trade Size $9.99  Add to Wish List Young Adult Paranormal Buy at Amazon.com Falling Under by Gwen Hayes It only takes a moment to call… In her dreams he’s irresistible–seductive, charming, and undoubtedly dangerous. But when he appears to her while she’s awake–and captivates her just the same–she’s not sure where the dream begins or when it ends. Theia Anderson has always led a sheltered life, not allowed the same freedoms as the rest of the teenagers in the small California town of Serendipity Falls. But when a devastatingly handsome boy appears in the halls of her school, she feels every urge she’s ever denied burning through her at the slightest glance from Haden Black. Theia knows she’s seen Haden before–not around town, but in her dreams. Theia doesn’t understand how she dreamed of Haden before they ever met, but every night has them joined in a haunting world of eerie fantasy. And as the Haden of both the night and the day beckons her forward one moment and pushes her away the next, the only thing Theia knows for sure is…

MaryJanice Davidson | My Own Personal Stalker
Author Guest / July 22, 2011

Vampires, vampires, all over the place.  These days you can’t walk into a bookstore, pick up a magazine, flip through the TV guide, or watch movie previews without being reminded that the vampire trend (“trend” going back over a hundred years to Bram Stoker) is still chugging full-bore ahead.  Vampires, I’ve decided, are like roaches.  Sexy roaches!  (Good thing that didn’t sound weird.) Which is great by me and better than great, since thanks to the fictional undead I’m now a full-time writer who occasionally sees my name on the New York Times best-seller list.  Thanks, hordes of fictional blood-sucking spawn!  No, really, vampires, thank you.  I owe you a solid. Not only is the trend letting me write what I love, it’s letting me talk about it on national television, newspapers, and magazine and blog interviews.  Which brings me to the Twilight series and how it relates to Queen Betsy and the gang.  Because what people don’t know is that Twilight is my stalker.  Twilight is the guy who breaks into my house when nobody’s home and sniffs my dryer lint.  Twilight’s gonna hound me to my grave.  I’m probably going to have to get a restraining order against…

Stephanie Rowe | Top 10 Reasons to Fall In Love with Jarvis Swain
Author Guest / July 21, 2011

Top Ten Reasons why readers will fall in love with Jarvis Swain, the hero of TOUCH IF YOU DARE. 10) He wears leather & carries a sword. A black leather jacket stretched across broad shoulders, worn from years and years of battle, his scent tangled deep inside those soft fibers, mixed with the smell of leather and soap. His hand fisted around the hand of a jeweled sword with a deadly blade. That flexed forearm as he readies the weapon. The creak of the leather as he raises his arm to defend the woman he loves…Um, yeah. Leather and sword. Always a good thing. 9) He’s the Guardian of Hate. Think of this way: this immortal warrior is keeping the most awful, most destructive emotion in the world bottled up inside him to protect all of humanity from it. It’s been eating away at him for 150 years, and eventually it will destroy him, and yet he will give his soul and his life for his duty. 8) He’s loyal to his team. You gotta love a man who will sacrifice himself for his teammates. Through torture, through death, through all the worst that life has to offer, it’s an…

James MacManus | A Fantasy, A Life
Author Guest / July 20, 2011

I have always wanted to be a seal. During family holidays on the chilly English coast my childhood dream was to walk into the sea, magically become a seal and swim to the horizon  without  a backward glance at family and friends left on the beach.  My pale, thin skin had gone to be replaced by a grey pelt lined with thick blubber. My hands had become flippers and my legs had fused into a powerful tail. That small, round, funny face of mine had turned into a long sleek snout bristling with whiskers and capped with beautiful dark eyes. And I would be happy. I would have the freedom of the seas, the freedom to slide through the waves, hunt fish and frolic for the amusement of passengers on passing ships. This escapist fantasy has endured and led me to write my first novel, THE LANGUAGE OF THE SEA. It is set in Cape Cod where Leo Kemp loses both his job as marine biologist and his 10 year-old son in a boating accident. He takes his students on a last field trip at sea and is swept overboard in a sudden storm. He finds himself in the water…

Lydia Dare | Character Thieves, Love Them or …
Author Guest / July 19, 2011

More than once we’ve had a character who walked on to the page – the brother of the hero, a neighbor, an old friend – only to steal the scene and make readers want to know more about them. And they’re not alone. We want to know more about them too. In fact, the drive to know them better usually results in us writing an entire book to figure them out.  THE WOLF NEXT DOOR with hero Lord William Westfield and his neighbor Prisca Hawthorne is one example. THE TAMING OF THE WOLF with heroine Caitrin Macleod and previous book villain Dashiel Thorpe, the Earl of Brimsworth, is another. Matthew Halkett, the Earl of Blodswell – the vampyre hero of our current release IN THE HEAT OF THE BITE made his debut in an earlier book and played a fairly important role in It Happened One Bite. While Rhiannon Sinclair – the magical heroine has been around since our second book Tall, Dark and Wolfish and has patiently waited her turn through book after book to finally get a happy ever after of her own. But not all secondary characters are potential heroes or heroines. Some are too old, some…

Lisa Kessler | Who Wants to Live Forever?
Author Guest / July 18, 2011

Hi everyone – I’m excited to be on the Fresh Fiction blog today! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live forever?  I think my fascination with immortals started with Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, carried into the Highlander movies and tv series, and finally culminated for me with my Night series. I’m intrigued to understand how a person (or being) can keep their lives relevant when the world around them is constantly changing, and they’re not. Anne Rice’s Lestat searched for pleasure and entertainment, but eventually found himself aching for meaning and redemption. In the Highlander television series, Duncan MacLeod, engrossed himself in learning languages and fighting styles while continuing on his “There can be only one” path in The Game. My hero, Calisto Terana, has walked the earth for over 200 years hoping for another chance at love and redemption. After his love was murdered in 1775, he gave up his soul to the night for a second chance to love her.  He had no idea he would wait centuries for her to live again, to see her face one more time. As the world around him changed, he amassed wealth and power, but his heart…

The End of the FIRST Experiences with Harry Potter
Author Guest / July 17, 2011

I’m sure someone out there will say I’m a Potterhead, I’m not sure it’s true but I do know I’ve enjoyed the last twelve years or so in the world of Harry Potter. I didn’t read the first book, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERERS’ STONE as HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE, the UK title) although I did become aware of the book after reading about it in Time or Newsweek when it first was being issued in the US after a phenomenal run in the UK. It sounded intriguing but not enough that I’d pay import prices for the book. I waited until it came out in trade paper at the my local Waldenbooks. (NOTE sad so many things mentioned no longer exist except in my memory: Newsweek, Time, Waldenbooks). And if I remember buying the first book followed closely by HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS. But I do remember I was hooked and quite excited because it seemed J.K. Rowling was a prolific and timely author, one book a year is a nice clip. I tried to get my children to read the books, they were both in the teens, one 19 the other 11, but…

Brooke Moss | Roll The Inspiration Dice
Author Guest / July 16, 2011

Thanks for inviting me to guest blog here at Fresh Fiction, I am so thrilled to be here! I decided to talk about my inspiration today. Where does it come from? When does inspiration hit me? I tell ya, it’s a lot simpler than people think. I tend to creep people out. I don’t set out to do it, and I certainly don’t mean to come across as creepy…but I think I do. You see, I have this fascination with asking people inappropriate details about their relationships. Where did they meet? How did they know their significant other was “the one”? What was their first kiss like? What was their first time like? Where was the craziest place they were hit by the mood? My close friends know to expect these kinds of questions from me, but newer acquaintances are usually put off by my strange curiosity. It usually leads people to believe that I am a strange, mildly perverted woman with no life. And, well, the strange and no life part are correct. But perverted? No! I’m just a writer. You see, as an author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction, I seek out little romantic details in everyday…

Fresh Pick | THE LEXICON by Steve Vander Ark
Fresh Pick / July 14, 2011

January 2009 On Sale: January 16, 2009 368 pages ISBN: 1571431748 EAN: 9781571431745 Paperback $24.95  Add to Wish List Fiction Media Tie-In, Non-Fiction History Buy at Amazon.com Everything Potter you’ve ever needed to know The Lexicon by Steve Vander Ark This unofficial guide to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is a 368 page companion work perfect for the curious reader who wants to know more about these remarkable books. Named one of 15 Great Web Sites for Kid by the Association For Library Services, a division of the American Library Association, the Lexicon is an authoritative, fun to read reference to the series. For years fans who have heard Vander Ark keynote academic conferences on the Potter series have asked him for a book based on his website that attracts more than 25 million visitors annually. Extensive new commentary, which does not appear on the Lexicon website adds to the fun of reading this fascinating book. The author has been featured around the world in more than 1,000 articles appearing in publications like the New York Times, The New Yorker, The London Times, The International Herald Tribune and the Associated Press as well as National Public Radio, the BBC and…

Escape to Urban Fantasy In July
Urban Fantasy / July 14, 2011

Enjoy the dog days of summer with any of these new and and exciting July releases. GREEN-EYED ENVY, Kasey Mackenzie (Ace, July 2011, $7.99, Shades of Fury) When the bodies of cat shape-shifters start piling up in Boston’s magical underbelly, Chief Magical Investigator Marissa Holloway finds one common thread that ties the victims together: all were old flames of FBI Agent Harper Cruz. And since Marissa’s lover Scott Murphy once enjoyed a one-night stand with Harper, the Fury has twice the incentive to crack the case wide open before the killer’s green-eyed gaze turns in Scott’s direction. DEEP IN THE WOODS, Chris Marie Green (Ace, July 2011, $7.99, Vampire Babylon, Book Six) Dawn Madison has captured the master of the London Underground, but now must face her followers- a vicious pack of undead teenage girls who put the vamps in Los Angeles to shame. VIPER MOON, Lee Roland (Signet, July 2011, $6.99, Dark Huntress) A dark, sexy debut set in a small Missouri town where evil waits at the end of every alley. Cassandra Archer is the huntress. She has faithfully served the earth Mother for years, rescuing kidnapped children from monsters- both human and supernatural- dwelling in the ruins…