Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Sami Lee | All Hail the Aussie Bloke
Author Guest / July 26, 2016

Hi, I’m Sami and I write romance novels set in Australia. Not surprising since I live in Australia and have all my life. They say ‘write what you know’ and I know a lot, a LOT, about Aussie men. I didn’t mean that to sound like I’ve had a LOT of personal experience…more that I’ve been a life-long observer J. One of the best things about the new publishing paradigm is the freedom it allows me to write my Aussie blokes, the way I see them. Years ago when I first began reading romance—long before the e reading revolution when I could only get those little Harlequins from the library or my local K-Mart—there were very few Australian men in romance novels. The ones that existed were the uber rich type who lived in a posh part of Sydney, travelled a lot and spoke like British aristocrats. In the end these guys came off looking very cosmopolitan, and very unreal to me. The men I actually knew were nothing like that. They were big and loud and uncouth, sometimes volatile and often inappropriate. They were also protective and strong, hardworking optimists, decent salt-of-the earth individuals who laughed loudly and made…

Candice Gilmer | Fan Fiction Made Me a Better Writer
Author Guest / July 26, 2016

Hi. My name is Candice Gilmer, and I write contemporary and paranormal romance. And I used to write fan fiction. I wrote a lot of fan fiction. I had a fangirl love for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Star Wars, and wrote about my adoration of the character quite often. If he had as many girlfriends as I wrote about him having, well that Jedi would have never gotten anything done. I even wrote ongoing stories with him and an OC I made, (Original Character), a serial before serials were popular. And I loved it. I loved the world, I loved the rules of the world, and I loved Star Wars. (Still do.) Sure, I branched out and wrote some Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan fiction (my latest release, FANTASY GIRL, the main character, Lynn, writes Buffy fan fiction) and a few other genres. It was fun to delve deeper into these worlds that I loved, and create more stories and explore the nuance of every scene or episode, weaving my own stories in among the cannon ones. Besides being fun, I learned how to do a lot of specific things writing fan fiction, too. Like dialog. Pacing. (Two simple things, but…

Tamara Gill – ONLY AN EARL WILL DO
Author Guest / July 26, 2016

As an author who’s fortunate enough to write historical romance, which also includes throwing in time travel every now and then, I have to say there is nothing better than sitting down and reading a book that has juicy scandal throughout it, or characters who skate on very thin ice that could possibly throw them toward ruin. I tend to write outside the box, which will probably never make me a household name, but then I don’t write to the market, I write books that I’d love to read, and hopefully others will as well. My new series which debuts with Entangled Publishing’s Select Historical imprint To Marry a Rogue certainly has scandal, sex and a villain who’s seriously in need of a good wallop. ONLY AN EARL WILL DO opens with the words, “You’re ruined!” Which should set you up for a read that will hopefully keep you turning the pages? It’s a tale of two people, ripped apart by financial status, and the devious plans of others with their own alternative motive. Of course when two people are separated by time, life happens, it certainly doesn’t stop for anyone, and things happen… needless to say, when my hero…

Rhenna Morgan | What Do You Dream?
Author Guest / July 26, 2016

The vast majority of my plotting is done either driving to and from work, or in the shower. Seriously, if I could get a water proof computer set up in my master bathroom, I’d plot a book in half the time. Despite my propensity for free-thinking behind the wheel and while washing my hair, the general premise for the Eden Series came from someplace completely unexpected. I was in my kitchen one afternoon prepping for some guests to come over and running horribly late, when I spun toward something sitting on the countertop across the room, held out my hand palm up, and tried to “summon” the object to me. No, I’m not delusional. (Well, okay. Maybe I’m a little bit nutty, but they tell me it’s all part of the job.) Still, what shocked me with my simple action was that I fully expected the object to fly across the room and land in my palm. I didn’t plan it. I just did it as if it were completely natural. About three seconds later—once I’d double checked to make sure no one had seen what I had done—I realized the reason I’d believed I could actually pull off such…

Tracy St. John | Crafting Alien Heroes During Happy Hour
Author Guest / July 26, 2016

I started out writing mainstream science fiction more years ago than I care to admit to. Those stories were filled with menacing aliens designed to terrify my heroes and heroines. Then romance called, and I decided to try my hand at writing that. I still wanted aliens, but nicer ones. Hunky ones. Aliens who would make an Earthling race off-planet for love. When I started, I wasn’t sure how to build hot extraterrestrials. What would make them different from Earthlings, but not so different that they were unattractive? I had a few thoughts, but I wasn’t certain what tempted me would appeal to readers. Unsure of how friends and family would feel about me writing explicit scenes, I was afraid to ask anyone I knew. This was before social media, so I didn’t have that connection either. Enter happy hour on a Friday night after work. Alcohol. Woozy co-workers. Lowered inhibitions. The door was open, and I walked through it. “Aliens,” I said to the three raucously giggling women I toiled 30 hours a week with. “They want to ravish you. What are they ravishing you with?” The descriptions that followed told me what a pure life I’d led up…