tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45121739983248960642024-03-14T11:49:03.647-07:00Cecilia's Random WritingsFiction, thoughts about writing, and random inspirations.Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.comBlogger129125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-19835572202750926612016-04-06T03:00:00.000-07:002016-04-06T03:00:05.000-07:00Wolf Pack Run - Huge book sale!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Greetings, all!<br />
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I'm excited to announce that I'm part of the Howling Good Romance Authors Group sale, which they term the Wolf Pack Run. There are 26 paranormal romance and urban fantasy books, each of which is on sale for 99 cents, including The Mountain's Shadow. There are also a couple of box sets in there, too.<br />
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Even better - there's a giveaway for $100 and $50 gift cards.<br />
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Intrigued yet?<br />
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<a href="http://michellefoxerotica.blogspot.com/2016/03/wolf-pack-run-apr-2016.html" target="_blank">Check out this page for the giveaway link and a list of the books. </a>I will probably end up grabbing some of them for myself, too! :-)</div>
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Thanks, and happy reading!</div>
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Cecilia</div>
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-80002414647634613572016-03-10T03:00:00.000-08:002016-03-10T03:00:09.654-08:00Character on the Couch: Beth Dolgner's CarterI had a lovely time at Anachrocon a couple of weekends ago with fellow authors including Beth Dolgner, who, I found, lives quite close to me. She was kind enough to send her gentleman ghost hunter Carter over for a chat.<br />
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<b><i>Ghost of a Threat </i></b></div>
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Book 1 of the Betty Boo, Ghost Hunter Series</div>
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<i>Normal young women go on dates on Saturday nights. Paranormal investigator Betty “Boo” Boorman goes on ghost hunts in Savannah, Georgia, America's most haunted city. She's more comfortable around ghosts than guys, anyway.</i></div>
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<i>A violent haunting forces Betty to team up with her rival ghost hunter, the arrogant Carter Lansford. When the violence is turned toward her, though, Betty knows she needs additional expertise. She enlists the help of a handsome stranger, who introduces himself simply as Maxwell, Demon.</i></div>
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<i>Betty's ghost hunting is cut short when she's threatened and, finally, attacked. Either someone wants her to stay away from an investigation, or a demon hunter is targeting her. As Betty begins to fall for Maxwell's mysterious charm, she starts to wonder if her life—and her soul—are worth the risk.</i><br />
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<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Threat-Book-Betty-Hunter/dp/0984915613/" target="_blank">Amazon</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghost-of-a-threat-beth-dolgner/1112549772?ean=9780984915613" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a></i></div>
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<b>1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.</b><br />
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Carter Lansford had never thought of himself as someone who would willingly visit a psychologist. He was descended from a long line of strong men, rich merchants who had helped shape Savannah’s history. None of them would have ever visited a psychologist. After all, they certainly weren’t the ones who needed help. They did just fine on their own, thank you.<br />
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Then again, none of Carter’s ancestors had been ghost hunters like him. Nor had they, Carter thought smugly, ever published a book, been a featured guest at paranormal conventions or been the local media’s favorite person during the Halloween season. They had also never seen demons in the flesh. <br />
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<b>2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?</b><br />
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Carter had refused to believe in demons for as long as possible, assuming that violent paranormal activity was simply the result of really angry ghosts. He had been in denial until he had seen a demon lay his hands on a man and burn him from the inside out, incinerating the body completely. Carter shuddered every time he remembered the scene, a sickening feeling in his stomach rising as he recalled the smell of burning flesh. Carter would never dare to tell his friends about the nightmares, and so he had finally given in, hoping no one would see him furtively entering the psychologist’s office.<br />
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<b>3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?</b><br />
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Carter walked into the office and headed straight for the window. He brushed the fingers of one finely manicured hand along the windowsill, as if he was inspecting for dust. With a sniff of satisfaction, he turned and walked to the couch, sitting down with the air of visiting royalty. He crossed his legs and smoothed his blonde hair calmly.<br />
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<b>4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?</b><br />
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“So,” Carter said grandly in his Southern drawl, finally making eye contact with the psychologist, “if you’ve read my book, then what I’m going to say won’t be much of a surprise to you. Do you believe in ghosts and demons?”<br />
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“Do you, Mr. Lansford?”<br />
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“Of course. I have proven their existence. My paranormal investigation team is the best in Savannah. Understand, though, that I can’t tell you all of my story because some of it could have, well,” Carter paused dramatically, “negative consequences.”<br />
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“Our discussion is completely confidential, I assure you.”<br />
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Carter waved a hand dismissively. “I’m a public figure. I can’t be too careful.”<br />
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<b>5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?</b><br />
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Of course The Burglar Bar would be the closest bar to the psychologist’s office. Carter kept walking, knowing it was a favorite place of Betty’s. While he and his rival ghost hunter might have formed a tenuous friendship, he was in no mood to run into her, especially since so much of his therapy session had been about her and her boyfriend. It was worth walking the few extra blocks to enter the cool darkness of the bar at the Pink House. The snug space in the basement of the historic mansion was quiet at this time of day, and Carter sat at the far end of the bar, as far from the few other patrons as possible. Carter barely looked at the bartender, and his voice was distracted as he said simply, “Martini.”<br />
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<b>6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)?</b><br />
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My best characters show up in my mind pretty fully formed, and the opening chapters of a novel are when I get to know them. I carefully observe the decisions they make and the things they say, tweaking the text until it suits their personality. Often, after that “getting to know you” stage, my characters seem to act on their own. I don’t feel like I’m creating them anymore: they are autonomous beings, and I’m simply following in their wake, writing down everything they say and do.<br />
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Of all the characters I’ve ever written, Carter is my favorite. His snobbish attitude meant he often said or did things that surprised me. I’d be typing a manuscript while thinking, “Really, Carter? Can you really be that much of a jerk?” He often disappointed me in the first two Betty Boo novels, but I was proud to see his character evolve and grow over the course of the whole series. Carter always felt so real to me!<br />
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<i>CD says: I love it when that happens! I usually feel like opening chapters are a "getting to know you" period for my characters as well. Thank you so much for stopping by!</i></div>
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Beth Dolgner started writing short stories at a young age, and having a journalism teacher for a dad certainly set her on the right track. After she graduated from Florida Atlantic University with her degree in Communications, Beth began working as a freelance writer, journalist and public relations representative. </div>
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<i>Georgia Spirits and Specters</i>, Beth's first non-fiction book, debuted in the spring of 2009 and was followed by “Everyday Voodoo” in 2010. Beth made her fiction debut in October of 2011 with the paranormal romance <i>Ghost of a Threat</i>, the first in the Betty Boo, Ghost Hunter series. She is also the author of the young adult steampunk novel <i>Manifest</i>.</div>
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Beth and her husband Ed live in Atlanta, Georgia, with their four cats. Beth is online at <a href="http://www.bethdolgner.com/">www.BethDolgner.com</a>. Her books are available in paperback, Kindle and Nook formats from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Threat-Book-Betty-Hunter/dp/0984915613/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457560203&sr=8-1&keywords=ghost+of+a+threat" target="_blank">Amazon</a> and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghost-of-a-threat-beth-dolgner/1112549772?ean=9780984915613" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a>.</div>
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<br />Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-65673079473182298312016-02-11T07:30:00.000-08:002016-02-11T07:58:42.051-08:00Happy Thursday and Valentine's Day!Greetings, lovely readers! I have a couple of surprises for you today. First, though, I'm on a review tour with CCB Book Promotions, which includes a Rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card.<br />
<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="d3474665481" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d3474665481/" id="rcwidget_pltvwxnt" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>
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And now for the goodies...<br />
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Since I love all of you who read my books and follow my blog, I have a free short story for you to download. It's a silly story I wrote a few years ago - apparently when Valentine's Day was on a Tuesday - that features an undercover witch, a young man running away from his troubles, and a talking catfish. I put it in my public Dropbox folder, so to download, click on the menu at the top right, the box with the three dots, and select "Download." Here are the links:<br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/u7otzb6mwxs01ba/Always%20a%20Bridesmaid.mobi?dl=0" target="_blank">Kindle/.mobi</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/bhm0id1lom6ffs9/Always%20a%20Bridesmaid.epub?dl=0" target="_blank">Everything Else /.epub</a></div>
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If you'd like a .pdf, please use the contact form at the right and let me know. Sorry, I'm still figuring all this tech stuff out. And of course I'm open to feedback, especially if any of you would like to see the story continue. Don't worry, it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but there is more to tell.<br />
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The second surprise for you is a dual cover reveal! The first is for a prequel novella to the Aether Psychics series, and it will be released toward the middle of March. If you'd like a preview copy in exchange for an honest review, please let me know - I should have advance copies by the end of next week.<br />
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<i><b>Danger. Love. Lies.</b></i></div>
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After tragedy hits and danger moves in, Pauline Donahue flees London, searching for sanctuary and a way to start over. A job at a small university provides the escape she needs. Keeping recalcitrant professor Edward Bailey on task after a shattered heart renders him broken and destroyed becomes her daily routine. But when the same vicious man from her past sets his malicious sights on Pauline, her safe haven comes crashing down.<br />
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Duke of Waltham, Christopher Bailey, never counted on the gentle commoner, Miss Donahue, to save his brother--and himself--from broken pasts and a lifetime of mistakes. But she does just that. As their love blossoms, danger closes in, threatening Pauline and Christopher's lives. Together, they are forced to face their biggest fears, revealing secrets that could ruin them both.<br />
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The second cover reveal is for the third book in the Aether Psychics series, Aether Spirit. As you saw in Light Fantastique, aether isn't exactly the innocuous substance our characters thought. Now the series picks up with Dr. Chadwick Radcliffe, who is reunited with his beloved Claire, but of course it's complicated.<br />
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<b><i>Forgetting her is impossible. Remembering him could kill her.</i></b></div>
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Aether Psychics, Book 3<br />
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When Chadwick Radcliffe arrives at Fort Daniels to assume the position of medical chief, the prejudice against his mixed heritage is no surprise. But he never expected to encounter the one woman who’s beyond his reach—medically and emotionally.<br />
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A steamcart accident stole three years of Claire McPhee’s memories, and now as she helps soldiers cope with combat-related neuroses, she secretly hopes to find the key to filling that gaping hole.<br />
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There’s something vaguely familiar about Dr. Radcliffe, but every time she comes close to determining why, he pushes her away—and her hypnosis-induced memory blocks explode with pain.<br />
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Chadwick knows the Eros Element can heal, but its unintended side effects are too dangerous to risk using it to bring Claire’s memories out of the shadows. But with the key to the Union’s victory buried in Claire’s mind, Chadwick and Claire are forced to push past the boundaries others have placed on them—even if rediscovering their love risks their lives.<br />
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Warning: Vast amounts of Victorian mental health geekery and copious amounts of tea were poured into the writing of his book. No matter how pretty the aether is, the author cautions readers not to try using it to manipulate others’ emotions. The side effects could be atrocious.<br />
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It's in final edits now, so I'll let you know when it's available for preorder and when I have review copies. The release date is May 31.<br />
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I hope everyone has a fabulous Valentine's Day weekend!<br />
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-51851038273231396662016-02-04T03:00:00.000-08:002016-02-04T03:00:15.102-08:00Characters on the Couch: Leanna Renee Hieber's Clara and HaroldToday I'm excited to welcome Clara and Harold, two of the main characters from Leana Renee Hieber's Gaslamp Fantasy trilogy. I met Leanna first at DragonCon and then at last year's Authors After Dark. She is charming and approachable, and I can't wait to read this series!<br />
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Welcome to The Eterna Files, written by Leanna Renee Hieber, "the brightest new star in literature"(True-Blood.net)<br />
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London, 1882: Queen Victoria appoints Harold Spire of the Metropolitan Police to Special Branch Division Omega. Omega is to secretly investigate paranormal and supernatural events and persons. Spire, a skeptic driven to protect the helpless and see justice done, is the perfect man to lead the department, which employs scholars and scientists, assassins and con men, and a traveling circus. Spire's chief researcher is Rose Everhart, who believes fervently that there is more to the world than can be seen by mortal eyes.<br />
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Their first mission: find the Eterna Compound, which grants immortality. Catastrophe destroyed the hidden laboratory in New York City where Eterna was developed, but the Queen is convinced someone escaped―and has a sample of Eterna.<br />
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Also searching for Eterna is an American, Clara Templeton, who helped start the project after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln nearly destroyed her nation. Haunted by the ghost of her beloved, she is determined that the Eterna Compound―and the immortality it will convey―will be controlled by the United States, not Great Britain.<br />
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1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.<br />
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Because The Eterna Files trilogy is a very character-driven historical fantasy / paranormal saga set in 1882, and it's a large cast novel featuring two X-files kinds of teams, one in London, one in New York, I have to answer for two of my leads across the respective pond. One, twenty-nine year old New Yorker Clara Templeton, a strong-willed Clairvoyant, Spiritualist and Sensitive, who heads The Eterna Commission in New York City, a commission that began as a search for a cure for death but became the first line of defense against supernatural terrorism, and stoic Englishman Harold Spire, just as strong-willed and determined, not to mention a staunch skeptic. He is a police-chief turned paranormal officer and he doesn't really believe one word of what he's been summoned by Queen Victoria to pursue and protect. Their voices are very strong in my head and heart, so in some cases here I'll answer in their voice...<br />
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Clara Templeton:<br />
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"A psychologist? Is that like a psychic? If so, I always like to talk to one of my kind. As long as they don't summon too many ghosts, as more than five in a room has an adverse effect upon my health. If this couch has any positive effect on epilepsy I'd be much obliged."<br />
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Harold Spire:<br />
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*scowls*<br />
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"There's nothing that needs examining in my head, thank you very much, it's the heads of my "superiors" that I'd recommend be thoroughly accounted for. And maybe when they came to their senses, I'd be taken off this circus of 'paranormal' detail and returned to blessed, solid, corporeal police work."<br />
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2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?<br />
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Clara Templeton:<br />
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"Oh, dear, well, The Eterna commission was my idea, and it's been a terrible mistake and cost lives I'd never intended. I'm very internally fraught over this, but it's the dark magic that's now begun to unfold around the commission that presents a problem."<br />
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Harold Spire:<br />
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"Internally, yes, I do have a problem with being appointed to a 'paranormal' appointment I do not support or agree with. But duty is duty and I try to keep my anger and frustration to myself, though I do believe my colleague, the astute Miss Everhart, sees through all my masks. The progressing conflicts of supernatural terror that befall my team and myself are entirely external and I hope to see their swift end."<br />
<br />
3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?<br />
<br />
They would each, as polite and genteel citizens, wait to be bid to sit and only in the chair or place indicated to them. Once there, they would remain still, poised and thoughtful. Harold Spire might clench his fists if presented with a problem he could not summarily solve, Clara would fold her hands and look into the distance with a laser focus, as if searching for answers from the past lives she is connected to.<br />
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4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?<br />
<br />
Clara Templeton: "I've nothing to hide about myself. I'd like to hear your thoughts, Madame Therapist, on how I might best shield my mind from an onslaught of spirits and malevolent energy, as I wish to address my most significant weakness and nip it in the bud."<br />
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Harold Spire: *staring with steely focus* "Give me insight, please, into the mind and motives of a killer, Madame Therapist, so I may root him out from his lair and make him serve justice."<br />
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5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?<br />
<br />
Clara Templeton: "I'd like a cordial, please, a soothing liqueur, something of spice and caramel."<br />
Harold Spire: "Pint of ale, please. Quickly."<br />
<br />
If Mister Spire and Miss Templeton were at the bar together, they would carefully talk business from two very different perspectives; the skeptic and the believer, and never let the alcohol dim their sharp senses or sensibilities. Both like maintaining control far too much to let any substance get the better of their meticulous awareness.<br />
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6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)?<br />
<br />
For this book, no, my characters were plain as day to me, I know entirely who they are and if anything, I had to struggle a bit to get them to unfold some of their vulnerabilities to me. With Clara, since she is the most like me of any character I have written, I had to divorce myself from her enough to write her objectively and properly. Now that I'm writing the first draft of book 3 in the trilogy, they're more clear and adamant than ever and I love it, especially as the two leads look at the world in opposite ways, but conduct themselves very similarly, with confident aplomb and fierce commitment to their duty.<br />
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Buy link: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/eternabn" target="_blank">The Eterna Files</a><br />
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<i>Thank you so much, Leanna! I enjoyed meeting your characters, and I love it when they appear fully formed in my brain, too. Good luck with this new series - I'm looking forward to reading it!</i><br />
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Actress, playwright, artist and award-winning, bestselling author Leanna Renee Hieber has written nine Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels for adults and teens, set in 1880s New York City and London. Her Strangely Beautiful saga hit Barnes & Noble and Borders Bestseller lists, garnered numerous genre awards and will reissue in a special edition from Tor/Forge in April 2016. Darker Still of her Magic Most Foul saga was a Scholastic "Highly Recommended" title and an American Booksellers Association "Indie Next List" pick. Her new Gaslamp Fantasy trilogy, The Eterna Files, an X-Files meets Penny Dreadful kind of series, is now available from Tor/Forge and the sequel, Eterna and Omega, releases August 2016. Her books have been translated into many languages such as German, Complex Chinese, and Polish. A lifelong Goth girl devoted to spreading love and understanding of Gothic literature, she is also a proud member of performer unions Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA and works as a ghost tour guide for New York City's premiere Ghost and Macabre tour company Boroughs of the Dead. She's been featured in several films and in television on shows like Boardwalk Empire. She's active on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/Leannarenee" target="_blank">@LeannaRenee</a>, <a href="http://facebook.com/lrhieber" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, and more about her books as well as free reads and writing resources can be found at <a href="http://leannareneehiber.com/">http://leannareneehiber.com</a> and her Gothic, Steampunk, Neoclassical art and jewelry can be found at <a href="https://etsy.com/shop/torchandarrow">https://etsy.com/shop/torchandarrow</a></div>
Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-37080897440128766832016-01-06T03:00:00.000-08:002016-01-06T13:09:24.700-08:00Paranormal Love Wednesdays blog hop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR9Diq7QlJJRzwuAquzmG5QRKNUvMeSFA_cwi8v7_R2etE2kexPUEkaiL83I48XxcPt_oZbYeG5Jk7s8r96Zfs4YHOeovZB2VL8mWnSZ_6nBh7kSrL2dqTVZkZQGQ1mGCe4_X8GRaHPnlh/s1600/paranormal+love+wednesdays+2-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR9Diq7QlJJRzwuAquzmG5QRKNUvMeSFA_cwi8v7_R2etE2kexPUEkaiL83I48XxcPt_oZbYeG5Jk7s8r96Zfs4YHOeovZB2VL8mWnSZ_6nBh7kSrL2dqTVZkZQGQ1mGCe4_X8GRaHPnlh/s1600/paranormal+love+wednesdays+2-1.jpg" /></a></div>
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Greetings, all! I've decided to jump in on the <a href="http://paranormallovewednesdays.blogspot.com/2016/01/welcome-to-2016-join-us-for-paranormal.html?zx=bd2cdeb7b53b95c">Paranormal Love Wednesdays blog hop</a> since I'm trying to figure out what character to write about next in the Lycanthropy Files series. I've got a <a href="http://fans.vote/vote/ACkcUx_uij4/cecilia-dominic/which-lycanthropy-files-secondary-character-would-you-like-to-see-in-their-own-novella" target="_blank">survey</a> going and thought I'd share excerpts from two of the females in the running, Kyra Ellison and Reine la Fey (Reine ended up being a write-in, so I thought I'd mention her here).<br />
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First up, Kyra. She was sort of a villain in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Mountains-Shadow-Lycanthropy-Files-ebook/dp/B00DUB24O6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383663694&sr=8-1&keywords=the+mountain%27s+shadow+cecilia+dominic" target="_blank">The Mountain's Shadow</a>, but I felt she would have an interesting story of her own. Here's her short excerpt, told from the POV of the main character Joanie:<br />
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<br />
He scurried back into the office, and I turned to see a woman in a long white dress gliding through the cars. My first thought was that it was the angry ghost of one of the vehicles’ former owners, but then Lonna narrowed her eyes.<br />
<br />
“Isn’t that the chick who was with Leo in the restaurant on Tuesday? What’s her name, Kyra? The third—”<br />
<br />
“Yep, that’s Kyra Ellison.” I interrupted her before she could blurt out the word.<br />
<br />
She came closer, and I saw she wore a white sundress. So much for the ghost. But she did look pissed.<br />
<br />
“You!” Her shout was almost a shriek. “You’re the one.”<br />
<br />
“One what?” I couldn’t tell if she was looking at me or Lonna.<br />
<br />
“Man-stealer!” She reached into the pocket of her dress, and Lonna grabbed my arm.<br />
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“Run!”<br />
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Then there's Reine, the mischievous fairy in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MO9WHFQ/ref=series_rw_dp_sw" target="_blank">Blood's Shadow</a>. Her excerpt is told from the point of view of Gabriel, who looks really hot on this cover, don't you think?<br />
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<br />
“So you’re older than you look,”<br />
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“As are you. And we both have our secrets. You just don’t know as many of yours. Now leave me. I will seal the blood so that it won’t hurt poor Maximilian again, and I’ll do the same upstairs.”<br />
<br />
“Could you wait until our detective finishes what he needs to do?”<br />
<br />
“No, it is necessary now. Sealing the blood will allow it to rest, which will allow the spirits attached to it to be at peace if nothing else stands in their way. Plus, I need to remove the contamination from Max’s wards around the building and land—his using blood magic, even in small amounts, damaged the spells and allowed the intruders to get in. Nothing I do will interfere with the detective’s work.”<br />
<br />
“I trust you,” I said, realizing I did.<br />
<br />
“Oh, do you?” She flashed me a wicked grin, and before I realized her intention, she pulled my head to hers and kissed me on the lips. She tasted of honeysuckle and sweet wine, and the passion she ignited flowed through me in golden waves. The static came back, and I pulled her to me to quell the tingling that became a burning need.<br />
<br />
I barely heard Selene’s “Gabriel, oh!” before Reine pushed me away with a mischievous laugh.<br />
<br />
“That’ll teach you,” she said. “Remember, my kind is never to be trusted. Nor are most others.” With a chuckle that lingered in the air, she disappeared, and I turned to face Selene.<br />
<br />
<br />
So who deserves their own novella set in Salem at Halloween? <a href="http://fans.vote/vote/ACkcUx_uij4/cecilia-dominic/which-lycanthropy-files-secondary-character-would-you-like-to-see-in-their-own-novella" target="_blank">Vote here!</a> To vote for Reine, put her name in the "You forgot..." space and click Vote. For a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card, vote, then come back and tell me who you voted for in the comments, and be sure to include your email address with your comment text so I know how to get in touch with you.<br />
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Don't forget to stop by the other posts on the blog hop! <a href="http://paranormallovewednesdays.blogspot.com/2016/01/welcome-to-2016-join-us-for-paranormal.html?zx=bd2cdeb7b53b95c">Click here</a> for the main post with links.Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-44993865751545108092016-01-03T13:45:00.004-08:002016-01-03T13:45:53.206-08:00Calling all Lycanthropy Files fans!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Greetings, all, and happy new year!<br />
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I hope your holidays were enjoyable, peaceful, or whatever you needed them to be. To my friends who have had a tough time, hugs! Regular life is starting up soon.<br />
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My holiday season was busy with lots of eating, cooking, drinking, more eating, more cooking, some writing, and a little bit of reading. You can check out my reviews on my <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5011217.Cecilia_Dominic">Goodreads author page</a> (and maybe think about following me?). :-) I'll post about the holiday kitchen playtime on the <a href="http://www.randomeonophile.com/">wine blog</a> sometime soon. Tonight's dinner is going to be cassoulet, yes, the Julia Child version. That was a multi-day project.<br />
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The exciting news - I was given the opportunity to participate in a Halloween-themed paranormal romance box set, which will be out in the fall. It's been a while since the last Lycanthropy Files book, and some of my fans have been requesting a new one, so I thought it would be fun to have a novella set in Salem (the box set requirements) with one of the secondary Lycanthropy Files characters. I know, it's hard to remember who everyone was, so I set up a handy dandy survey. Don't worry, write-ins are allowed if someone is missing who you'd like to see.<br />
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<a href="https://fans.vote/vote/ACkcUx_uij4/cecilia-dominic/which-lycanthropy-files-secondary-character-would-you-like-to-see-in-their-own-novella">Click here to vote!</a><br />
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Thanks, and happy reading and writing!Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-88047825951873767462015-12-01T11:05:00.000-08:002015-12-22T08:23:28.748-08:00Light Fantastique Releases December 15!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i><b>Light Fantastique</b></i> will be available for purchase on December 15. Reviews so far have been great with a four-star review from <a href="http://www.rtbookreviews.com/book-review/light-fantastique">Romantic Times</a>, which starts with, "This deftly woven adventure is cast with well-developed characters that round out an entertaining mystery." Then Riley over at <a href="http://smartgirlslovesfr.com/2015/12/11/tea-time-reading-light-fantastique/">Smart Girls Love Sci Fi Romance</a> wrote a very perceptive review for her Tea Time Reading column. </div>
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Blurb, excerpt, and buy links are below.</div>
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<i>At the Théâtre Bohème, danger decides who takes the final curtain call.</i></div>
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Aether Psychics, Book 2<br />
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Hailed as the most talented actress of her generation, Marie St. Jean has something more to her ability than mere talent. She loses a bit of her soul to each role. When the ghostly spirit of the theatre promises her an easy fix, she’s tempted by the chance to finally live a normal life.<br />
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Unfortunately, the man she’s drawn to is the last one to settle for normal. But with the Prussians surrounding Paris, there’s no escaping that temptation, either.<br />
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Violinist Johann Bledsoe thought he’d left his disgrace in England, but a murder outside the Théâtre Bohème makes him wonder if he’s been exposed. Another reason not to stick around once the siege ends, even if Marie fascinates him.<br />
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More murders, steam-powered ravens, and past and present secrets bring them closer to discovering just what lurks within the theatre, and who threatens from without. The only way to save themselves is to reveal their darkest shames—and use the Eros Element in a way that has already driven one man to the brink of madness.<br />
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Warning: Processed in a facility where wine is used as currency and dessert is a reward. If you dislike French cooking and attitudes, move along. Things are cooking in this book, and it ain’t Julia Child.<br />
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<b>Purchase Links</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5664/light-fantastique">Samhain</a> (on sale at time of post for $3.85 all ebook formats, $11.89 paperback)<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fantastique-Aether-Psychics-Cecilia-Dominic-ebook/dp/B014IR66T4/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1448995659&sr=8-1&keywords=light+fantastique+cecilia+dominic">Amazon</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/light-fantastique-cecilia-dominic/1122582600?ean=9781619232181">B&N</a></div>
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<a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=A-FxCgAAQBAJ&rdid=book-A-FxCgAAQBAJ&rdot=1&source=gbs_atb&pcampaignid=books_booksearch_atb">Google Books</a></div>
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<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9781619233294?mt=11&uo=8&at=11l4QL&at=11l4QL">iTunes</a><br />
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<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/ebook/light-fantastique">Kobo</a></div>
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I'm doing a review tour with CBB book promotions for both <i>Eros Element</i> and <i>Light Fantastique</i>. It also includes a giveaway for a $25 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble. <a href="http://www.cbbbookpromotions.com/blog-tour-sign-up-aether-psychics-series-by-cecilia-dominic-dec-14-18/">Click here for the schedule</a>. Stops so far:</div>
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<a href="http://www.talksupeblog.com/2015/12/steampunk-sundays-aether-psychics-by.html">Steampunk Sunday at Talk Supe</a>, which includes an interview with Marie. (12/13)<br />
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<a href="https://girlof1000wonders.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/review-giveaway-eros-element/">Review of Eros Element</a> at Girl of 1000 Wonders. (12/14)<br />
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<a href="http://tiffyfit.blogspot.com/2015/12/review-tour-aether-psychics-series-by.html">Reviews of both books</a> at A_TiffyFit's Reading Corner. (12/15)<br />
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<a href="http://www.candacesbookblog.com/2015/12/blog-tour-review-giveaway-eros-element-by-cecilia-dominic.html">Review of Eros Element</a> at Candace's Book Blog. (12/16)<br />
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<a href="https://girlof1000wonders.wordpress.com/2015/12/17/review-giveaway-light-fantastique/">Review of Light Fantastique</a> at Girl of 1000 Wonders. (12/17)<br />
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<a href="http://deborahjayauthor.com/2015/12/17/review-giveaway-aether-psychics-series-by-cecilia-dominic-steampunk/">Review of Eros Element</a> at Deborah Jay's Author Blog (12/17)<br />
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<a href="https://shelflifeblogblog.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/aether-physics-book-tour-review-giveaway/">Review of both books</a> at the Shelf Life blog. (12/18)<br />
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<a href="http://www.annadurand.com/meet-johann-bledsoe-character-interview-by-cecilia-dominic">Character Interview of Johann</a> at Anna Durand's blog (12/22)<br />
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Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy! </div>
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From Chapter Eight:<br />
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Sometimes the wanderlust in Johann subsided just enough for him to feel a twinge of homesickness. The snow outside made him think of how his family home would look now at the beginning of the holiday season. Perhaps a light dusting would give the peaks and sharp-angled roofs a glittering edge, or a heavier fall would make the old hall look like a dowager trimmed in white fur—dignified and elegant, but also potentially deadly.<br />
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His mouth twisted into an almost-grin at the association. One never escaped a conversation with his grandmother, the dowager Marchioness, without some sort of scar. Typically for him it included a hint or direct statement of what a disappointment he was to the family, a dreamer rather than a doer like his older brother.<br />
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A fluttering movement caught the corner of his eye, and he looked up to see Marie standing in the back of the theatre, something clutched in her hand. Whatever it was disappeared into her cloak pocket, and her expression distracted him from curiosity about what she’d caught, if anything. Longing warred with confusion on her face.<br />
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“Mademoiselle?” he asked. “Are you all right?”<br />
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“That music,” she said and put a hand to her middle between her heart and her stomach. “It made me homesick for something, but it doesn’t make sense. This is my home, such as it is, but now I miss…something. What were you playing?”<br />
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Johann had spoken with hundreds and played before thousands, but he’d never told his secret. His gut said he could trust her even if he wasn’t trustworthy himself. What would it be like if he was, if he could bear open his heart to someone else? He’d never wanted to, and the idea struck him as strange, but accustomed to going with his impulses, he stepped into that space between fear and trust.<br />
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“It’s my own composition. I call it Winter.”<br />
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She moved closer, and the amused lift of her cheeks became apparent when she stepped into the light cast by the lamps in the orchestra pit. “Original title.”<br />
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He put his violin on its stand. “You mock me, Mademoiselle?”<br />
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Her smile vanished, and now her cheeks reddened. “Oh, no! It was lovely, but it needs a name that’s less bleak and more poetic, maybe Blossoms Under Snow?”<br />
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He liked seeing her blush and wondered if she was one of those women whose flush covered her entire torso if it was deep enough. He sent a desist thought to his groin, but it bounced the notion back with the urge to keep her talking and blushing. “I can’t use a word like Blossoms in a composition title. I’m far too manly for that—it would make me appear weak.”<br />
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“Then how about icy shards? That shouldn’t challenge your masculinity.” The temperature in her tone matched that of the hypothetical ice.<br />
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What had he said? It figured he would get himself in trouble before long. What did she want?<br />
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The answer came to him, then—to be respected for who she was. And he saw her as a very strong woman. But he didn’t know what to say to get himself out of this mess. He only knew one thing—he didn’t want her to leave angry.<br />
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“Forgive me,” he said and took her hand. That was always a safe bet, much safer than the ones that had ended him up in this mess, the ones he’d taken to escape his father’s influence.<br />
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“For…?” She wouldn’t look at him, and she snatched her hand away.<br />
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“For being an ass. I’m too good at it. I didn’t mean to imply that womanliness was the opposite of strength. In truth, you and Iris are two of the strongest people I know.”<br />
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“Iris? You are on such intimate terms with her?”<br />
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“Miss McTavish, then. Yes, we’ve been working together to help Edward, and no, nothing improper has occurred between us. We’re…friends.”<br />
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“You’re not accustomed to being friends with women.” Her statement was almost a question.<br />
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“Not typically. I’ve not treated them well in the past, I fear.”<br />
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What was she doing to him to make him want to confess and clear his conscience to make room for… For what? He certainly had no desire to be tied down to anyone. As soon as he got this little problem with the Clockwork Guild worked out, he planned to continue the adventure they’d started, perhaps even to the Ottoman Empire and beyond, and he wasn’t afraid to go on alone.<br />
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She drew back, but she didn’t leave. “Why the sudden burst of honesty?”<br />
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“It was the music. It is a piece about my home, and I play it when I miss it.”<br />
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-54755789866971379742015-11-12T00:00:00.000-08:002015-11-12T00:00:21.532-08:00Characters on the Couch: Jacci DeVera's CallaToday I'm happy to introduce Jacci DeVera and her character Calla McAmis, a mountain lion shifter. The interview reminded me of when I lived in Arkansas for a year, and the wildlife service swore that there were no mountain lions in the state but said there was a $30,000 fine if you killed one. Because government logic, y'all.<br />
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<i><b>Queen of the Hollow</b></i></div>
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Calla is a young shifter, the only female within miles High Lonesome, her small southern West Virginia hometown. Her mother had managed to keep her safe from the bounty of male mountain lions in the past, but now Calla finds herself alone and without a protector...and the moon is full. </div>
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Haben hasn’t been able to get close to Calla since their first meeting, right around Valentine’s Day. When he shows up at her house a year later, he finds the wounded spit-fire determined for him to keep his distance - despite his instinct to keep her safe. </div>
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Calla must choose to either place her trust and safety to an outsider, or fight off every male mountain lion between here and Charleston with just her wits and a shotgun. The stakes are high and the numbers are against them. Even if they prevail, will Calla be able to keep her heart safe from her protector til sunrise?</div>
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<i>1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.</i><br />
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Lycanthropy isn’t commonly accepted in Southern West Virginia, so if someone got wind that Calla McAmis believed in mountain lions in Appalachia, much less that people changed into them, she probably would be ordered to go.<br />
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Otherwise, Calla has lived a very sheltered life and is now 19, so she might willingly go to a psychologist in order to be able to cope with the modern day world she has just found herself forced into. An excerpt from the story reads: “I just…want to live like everyone else does. Not like this. Not hidden away. Not scared. Not knowing what to do on a – on a Saturday—or a Tuesday night—or wonder why Taco Bell is so great—or what Instagram is—and have a cell phone. All I know is that I will have to fight when the moon is full. Nobody else does that. I don’t want to, either.”<br />
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<i>2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?</i><br />
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I would say it is an internal conflict, a problem coping with the world, without Calla’s mother. Her mother died unexpectedly, and Calla had never been out of her mother’s sight until that moment. So now she has to learn to do everything else, outside of being a shifter, all of a sudden with no one to guide or teach her. Calla’s external conflicts are mostly in the form of other shifter-cats that want to encroach on her territory.<br />
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<i>3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?</i><br />
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Calla would wait rather awkwardly at the door for you to tell her to sit and where to sit at.<br />
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<i>4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?</i><br />
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She’d come across as backwards with a stranger, even one she initiated visiting. She would only answer questions you asked to her. To a question like “Why are you here?” or “What is bothering you?” she might respond with: “I want to be like normal girls.”<br />
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<i>CD: Oh, that would be a challenge!</i><br />
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<i>5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?</i><br />
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Calla does not walk into a bar. (The county is probably a dry county anyway.) If she did by some mistake, she would immediately turn around and leave and go home. Home is the only “safe” place to her.<br />
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<i>6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)?</i><br />
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We “sit down and visit.” There’s a few interview type questions I ask, but I’m always delighted with a question/answer session like this, as it never fails to shed additional light and depth on the characters. A lot of times I’ll take an opportunity to shove the character into an unrelated scenario, and see how she reacts. That teaches me a lot. Plus sometimes it’s enough of a characterization ‘insight moment that it works its way into the story.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0p6SMePGyQYh4C5omwF_6xbAWM1qNUMuVdKKboyPQJUpwUkHuYmPmMZynE_Y9GMNk3vGZj_hwZSEI1aadH87Z9n5zakVgdfPTsF1aNvfFV9bZty1hXpp6sAjQNdiRfStBP5PrksG2nukB/s1600/CardFrontjaccideveracardv3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0p6SMePGyQYh4C5omwF_6xbAWM1qNUMuVdKKboyPQJUpwUkHuYmPmMZynE_Y9GMNk3vGZj_hwZSEI1aadH87Z9n5zakVgdfPTsF1aNvfFV9bZty1hXpp6sAjQNdiRfStBP5PrksG2nukB/s320/CardFrontjaccideveracardv3.jpg" width="320" /></a><i>About the author:</i></div>
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Born and raised in the foothills of the Appalachia herself, Jacci has an intimate knowledge with the ways of life, the people, the inherent magic, and the languages of the South. She writes fantasy, paranormal, and western romance.</div>
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Jacci enjoys writing as much as she enjoys napping, cats, cookies, myths, and wolves. The only "rule" she has when she writes is that the story must have a happy ending.</div>
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Thrilled with the direction writing, and particularly romance, has taken in recent years with genre lines blurring, her love of fantasy, paranormal, and historicals can intermingle without concern for intolerance.</div>
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The journey is as important as the destination itself. Stories are found everywhere.</div>
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Buy links:</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Hollow-Jacci-DeVera-ebook/dp/B017AQLJFQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446555495&sr=8-1&keywords=queen+of+the+hollow">Amazon</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-queenofthehollow-1914067-368.html">All Romance Ebooks</a></div>
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<a href="https://animoto.com/play/01RUpzJgluC1GRKazaQLeQ">Book Trailer</a></div>
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Thanks for stopping by and reading! If you would like help with an unpublished character you're stuck with or would like to feature one of your published characters on my blog, please feel free to email me through the contact form or at cecilia (at) ceciliadominic (dot) com</div>
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-67859988965033985542015-11-05T00:00:00.000-08:002015-11-05T00:00:05.416-08:00Character on the Couch: Luke from Red Jameson's With These Wings<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Adobe Caslon Pro Bold;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Some characters walk right into my head and take over. This is the first time one walked into a couch session and did. So, without further ado, meet Luke. I think you'll like him.</span></span></div>
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Hi, Cecilia! I’m Luke Anderson. Actually, that’s <i>Dr.</i> Luke Anderson. I’m a trauma surgeon who’s been in the army for the last four years, since my residency ended. And less than a week after I became a civilian again, my parents died from a drunk driver. So now that I’ve spilled my guts, I guess that means I’m officially on your couch.<br />
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<i>1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.</i><br />
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Okay, so in medical school our psychiatry training was—what?—less than a year of knowledge crammed in with many other classes. Which means I knew the symptoms I was experiencing before I was honorably discharged from the military were PTSD. But it’s completely different when the doctor becomes the patient, isn’t it? My mom, shortly before her death, recommended a therapy support group especially for soldiers with PTSD. And it’s there I’ve made many friends, including the psychologist who runs it.<br />
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However, all that said, it’s still tough as sh—sorry. It’s tough to talk about having any problems, any issues. That’s why I thank god every day for my girlfriend, Sam, and that she came into my life when she did. She’s so patient and good with me, good for me. Yeah, she just might beat out any psychologist. <br />
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<i>2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?</i><br />
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God, it is weird dissecting myself like this. So I’ll try to be more objective, call myself patient X. Here’s my diagnosis: Patient X experienced PTSD for roughly eight months before his discharge. After his parents were killed in an accident, there were a few days of insomnia, lack of appetite, aggression, anger issues.<br />
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But then I met Sam. Sorry, it’s just too weird to call myself patient X. So here I am being me. And I might still have nightmares for…who knows how long. But the daily broken record of guilt and shame are getting quieter and quieter.<br />
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<i>3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?</i><br />
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Oh, I love shrinks. This question made me laugh. I don’t know why, but I’m sure you could analyze why. Anyway, I would probably sit anywhere.<br />
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<i>4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?</i><br />
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Well, the first time I went to group, I didn’t talk about my problems. Figured, since I was the new guy, I’d better say something, though. So I talked about trying to find a job fresh from being discharged. I’m guessing that means I’m not open to revealing myself.<br />
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But I was different with Sam. Yeah, I keep talking about her, but I can’t help it. She—I felt like I could reveal myself. It took a while, and I was still grieving, but I did open to her. It’s still hard to open up in group, though. But I’ve since had a few talks with Mack, the psychologist I was talking about who runs the support group.<br />
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<i>5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?</i><br />
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A beer and I’d ask Sam to join me. After talking with Mack, I felt like he cracked my skull open. There were things inside my mind I didn’t even know existed. So, yeah, I’d ask for Sam to join me, to sit next to her, and laugh. Man, she can make me laugh. And sometimes, that’s all you need in life, you know?<br />
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<i>6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)?</i><br />
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I’ll let Red answer this one, but it’s been fun being interviewed. I think. I feel a bit like after a talk with Mack, which reminds me I have to call him. Anyway, thanks! -Luke<br />
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<i>You're very welcome! Thanks for stopping by.</i><br />
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<i>Red:</i> So, what did you think of Luke? Yep, he popped into my head shortly after his girlfriend, Samuella, popped in there first. While sitting in my mind for a few months, usually when I’m finishing another of my books, my characters tell me things about themselves. I listen. That’s all I do. I just try to listen to what kind of person they are. To become the best listener of your characters, I think it best to listen to real people. I mean really listen. Get to know why people say certain things, why they think the way they do, get to know as many people as possible. And care about them. It not only makes you a great writer but a better person too.<br />
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Before I write, I make sure my couples are compatible. So I do a basic questionnaire for them based on the Attachment Theory. Writing romance, I think, takes a lot of responsibility to not just write about a couple falling in love, but also make sure the couple will be good for each other and will stay in love for a long time. That’s why I find the Attachment Theory so helpful.<br />
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Thank you so much for interviewing Luke and me! This was a blast and such fun questions! :)<br />
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<i>Thank you both for visiting! I like Luke a lot and am looking forward to reading the book.</i><br />
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<span style="border-color: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-width: initial; clear: left; float: left; font-size: 18.6667px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; transform: rotate(0rad); white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="144px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/MDgRZ3ydTtIU_DJ50rQ60Lf_Re1QtX-CjAK4n7YdrIoD1o1livnjtft9IZL-UK6ESdKOO5OIamG_ZlNdKCpZIwNWAW_Dsp8izltUalpIWhf4cnwbZQ-M6pKb1LwR-UdCk0F9f2e0789rvnxf" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="192px;" /></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-d455cb36-d457-e7da-5d2c-54e9184bc07c"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Adobe Caslon Pro Bold;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">As a military historian by day, sometimes Red does feel a bit clandestine when she writes romance at night. No one knows that while she researches heroes of the past and present, she uses everything for her characters in her books. Her secret's been safe . . . until now. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Adobe Caslon Pro Bold;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">She lives in Montana with her family and far too many animals but never enough books.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Adobe Caslon Pro Bold;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">She loves her readers, so please feel free to contact her at <a href="http://www.redljameson.com/">http://www.redljameson.com</a> </span></span><br />
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Blurb: Book 1 of The With These Wing Series, a paranormal romance<br />
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For more than a thousand years Samuella Dís has been a fairy godmother. The fairy title is ironic, since she’s a dís—an ancient society of all-female, winged, immortal avengers who paint their toenails with reckless abandon and have difficulties with real swearwords. However, something’s wrong with Sam’s latest assignment. Her newest orphan is a six-foot-three soldier, who’s indubitably handsome, and a flausching man. Not a boy at all, but a flinging flanging man!<br />
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Luke Anderson is home barely a week when he loses his parents in a drunk driving accident. Already plagued by nightmares from his tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, he’s not sure how much more he can take. And maybe he’s gone a bit crazy because he can’t keep his eyes off one spunky strawberry blonde at his parents’ funeral—inappropriate, right? But she offers so much comfort in those huge amber eyes of hers, and, hey, it’s not like the world would end if he hit on the woman.<br />
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Since the dís are a dwindling species, The Norns, Sam’s bosses, are trying to matchmake Sam and Luke. Only, the last time they played cupids England almost collapsed. Plus, there’s the issue of human men going insane once they’ve had sex with a dís. And Sam could die from a broken heart. Oh, and there’s the little matter of when a dís gets upset she can cause apocalyptic events. But it might be worth it for love. Then again, the Norns have been stalking Oprah lately, and there’s no guessing if they’re merely insane or certifiably brilliant.<br />
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<i>Excerpt:</i><br />
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“I never sleep,” she said.<br />
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“Never?”<br />
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Now she smiled. “Of course I sleep. I mean, I don’t when I’m—I don’t need—I mean, I slept with you.”<br />
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“I noticed.”<br />
<br />
She reached a hand out, almost touching his cheek, but stopped. “Are you okay?”<br />
<br />
He had to refrain from wincing. Again, he was reminded she was here for him because she wanted to comfort him. She didn’t want to get in his pants and see what the hell had inappropriately sprung to life.<br />
<br />
She probably thought him too old. He was too old for her. But as soon as he’d told himself as much, the thought flickered away like a spring butterfly, especially as he looked down at her wide lucid brown eyes.<br />
<br />
He nodded. “Are you okay?”<br />
<br />
“I—” she looked genuinely perplexed. “I never sleep.”<br />
<br />
“You sure about that?” he teased.<br />
<br />
She grinned again. “I sound like a broken record, don’t I?”<br />
<br />
“Do kids your age still use that expression? Do you even know what a broken record is?”<br />
<br />
She laughed. “Hey, I’ve listened to many a Forty-Five in my day.”<br />
<br />
He popped his brows up. “I’m impressed. You even know the lingo. But don’t tell me you listen to records because the sound quality is better.”<br />
<br />
“It is better.”<br />
<br />
He rolled onto his back, flinging his free hand over his eyes. “God, you’re not one of those, are you?”<br />
<br />
She scooted closer to him. Now, she propped herself up on an elbow and looked down at him, but his arm was still under her. “Who are those?”<br />
<br />
“Those people who talk on and on about the difference between digital sound versus…I don’t know…versus anything else.”<br />
<br />
She shook her head. “There’s a huge difference in the sound quality. Can’t you hear it? Or are you too old?”<br />
<br />
He chuckled at her mocking, removing his hand from his face. “Okay. I have to know. How old are you, missy?”<br />
<br />
“Missy?”<br />
<br />
“Yeah, missy.”<br />
<br />
Her smile turned mischievous. “I can’t tell you how old I am.”<br />
<br />
“Why not?” He suddenly swallowed. “Jesus, you are over eighteen, aren’t you? Oh god.”<br />
<br />
She started to laugh as he placed his hand over his face again. “I’m older than eighteen, yes.”<br />
<br />
“Thank god.”<br />
<br />
“I’m quite a bit older than eighteen.”<br />
<br />
“I doubt it.”<br />
<br />
She bit her bottom lip, still not telling him, and in the process giving him a heart attack from worrying she was much too young. Or maybe his heart was spasming because he loved this fun banter they had.<br />
<br />
Deciding to confess his age, he said, “I’m thirty-three. Am I…ten years older than you?”<br />
<br />
“No.”<br />
<br />
“Twelve years older than you?”<br />
<br />
“I’m not twenty-one.”<br />
<br />
“Are you older than twenty-one?”<br />
<br />
“Of course I am.” She rolled her eyes.<br />
<br />
“Twenty-two?”<br />
<br />
She sighed. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone.”<br />
<br />
“Or you’ll have to kill me? Are you a spy? Is your age a national security issue?”<br />
<br />
She giggled, shaking her head. “Ready, Mr. Smarty Pants?”<br />
<br />
He took in a dramatic breath. “I’m bracing myself. Hit me with it.”<br />
<br />
Her smile fell away as she said, “I’m one thousand, seven hundred twenty-six years old.”<br />
<br />
“Wow, that’s—that’s very detailed.”<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-1295435666250088462015-10-28T12:00:00.000-07:002015-10-28T12:00:03.889-07:00Characters on the Couch: Viola Carr's Lizzie and ElizaIt's often said that we authors have voices in our heads. Viola Carr has voices with their own voices. She's currently in the midst of the very clever Electric Empire steampunk series. The second, The Devious Dr. Jekyll, came out Tuesday.<br />
<br />
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<i> </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Diabolical-Miss-Hyde-Electric-Empire-ebook/dp/B00KFG44VK/">THE DIABOLICAL MISS HYDE</a><br />
<br />
Magic,
mystery, and romance mix in this edgy steampunk fantasy retelling of
the horror classic—in which Dr. Eliza Jekyll is the daughter of the
infamous Dr. Henry Jekyll.<br />
<br />
In an electric-powered Victorian
London, Dr. Eliza Jekyll is a crime scene investigator, hunting killers
with inventive new technological gadgets. Now, a new killer is
splattering London in blood, drugging beautiful women and slicing off
their limbs. Catching the Chopper will make Eliza’s career - or get her
burned. Because Eliza has a dark secret. A seductive second self, set
free by her father’s forbidden magical elixir: wild, impulsive Lizzie
Hyde. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
When the Royal Society sends their Enforcer, the
mercurial Captain Lafayette, to prove she’s a sorcerer, Eliza must
resist the elixir with all her power. But as the Chopper case draws her
into London’s luminous magical underworld, Eliza will need all the help
she can get. Even if it means getting close to Lafayette, who harbors an
evil curse of his own. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Even if it means risking everything and setting vengeful Lizzie free …</div>
<br />
<i>Before I give you the cover and blurb for the second book, which I cannot wait to read, here's an interview with Viola, Eliza, and Lizzie. It made me laugh, which gives you an idea of the tone of the books. Yes, there's some dark stuff, but a lot of humor. Oh, and as you can see, she comes from a place where they add an extra vowel to "behaviour."</i><br />
<br />
<i>1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.</i><br />
<br />
Oh, dear. Where does one begin? {evil laugh}<br />
<br />
My heroine – crime scene physician Dr. Eliza Jekyll – is witty, clever, polite and cautious. But she has a secret dual identity. Drink the magic potion, and she becomes Lizzie Hyde, her flamboyant, rude second self. <br />
<br />
Lizzie is reckless, angry and unafraid. She carouses in seedy pubs, drinks too much gin and flirts with dangerous men. She couldn't care less what other people think of her.<br />
<br />
Which would be all very well, if Eliza wasn't trying to carry on a respectable career in a strait-laced Victorian London obsessed with keeping up appearances. If Eliza wasn't addicted to the magic potion, over-using to the extent that Lizzie sometimes pops out of her own accord. And if magic of any kind wasn't forbidden on pain of execution. <br />
<br />
Most inconvenient!<br />
<br />
Understandably, Eliza doesn’t like talking about her 'problem'. Getting her into therapy won't be easy without a pretext. She's worked as a mad-doctor in lunatic asylums. So you might get her in your office with the promise of showing her some cool new treatment for mental illness. As for treating her own issues… well, she'd decline with a sharp smile and a witticism, and walk away. <br />
<br />
Lizzie thinks it's Eliza who's the problem. Offer her a way to get rid of Eliza, and she'd at least listen. If you suggest to her <i>she</i>'s a sickness who needs to be cured? She'll likely punch you in the face.<br />
<br />
<i>2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?</i><br />
<br />
Yes to both! External, because changing shape at whim is very inconvenient when magic is a capital offense. Spies are everywhere. She's sure to get caught.<br />
<br />
And internal, because despite the trouble Lizzie causes, deep in her heart Eliza <i>secretly wants to be</i> Lizzie. To say and do exactly what she thinks, to take what she wants with no regard for the consequences.<br />
<br />
Lizzie, too, wants her own life. She's sick of being stuck inside Eliza all the time. She wants out.<br />
<br />
Not to mention the romantic conflict. What if they're interested in different men? Worse: what if it's the same man?<br />
<br />
Most of the time, they'd each happily strangle the other… but they love each other, too. The way we all secretly love the darkest, strangest part of our own heart. Because, well, it's our <i>heart</i>.<br />
<br />
<i>3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?</i><br />
<br />
Eliza sits quietly, smooths her inoffensive gray skirts, folds her hands in her lap. She listens to what you've got to say before she opens her mouth to demolish you with her cutting wit, so she won't have to face the problem.<br />
<br />
Lizzie – assuming you got her in there at all – slouches about, grumbling and poking at your stuff and wondering where the gin is. <br />
<br />
<i>4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?</i><br />
<br />
Lizzie: {flops on couch in a flounce of scarlet skirts} Well? Don't just sit there gaping like a stunned sardine. Get on with it. All this head-shrinking malarkey is cutting into my drinking time.<br />
<br />
Therapist: I'd like you to talk to me about the effect your behaviour is having on your host.<br />
<i>CD note: Viola made it easy on me and filled in the therapist questions.</i><br />
Lizzie: {snorts} <i>My </i>behaviour? All my fault, is it? What about <i>her</i>? She never wants to have any fun! Always yammering in my ear with 'do this', 'don't do that', 'keep your voice down', 'ooh, Lizzie, don't flirt, whatever are you up to with that sly-fingered gent?'<br />
<br />
Therapist: So you’re hearing her voice? She gives you instructions?<br />
<br />
Lizzie: Invading my privacy, that's what it is. Right distracting it is, too, having prim and prissy Dr. Eliza chirping in my ear when I'm getting down to most private business. Never a moment's peace!<br />
<br />
Therapist: And how does that make you feel?<br />
<i>CD: Hahahahaha!</i><br />
<br />
Lizzie: Like I want to punch her in the nose? I'm only doing what <i>she'd</i> do if she had the guts. At least Miss Lizzie knows how to have a good time. I'm a prisoner, that's what I am. I'm the victim here. <i>She's</i> the one with a stick shoved up her snooty behind.<br />
<br />
Therapist: I'm sensing some hostility…<br />
<br />
Lizzie: Right. She's the one what hates me. I'm just trying to get along. Are we done here?<br />
<br />
<i>5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?</i><br />
<br />
Lizzie orders gin. Flirts with the bartender. More gin. Flirts with the bloke next to her until he pays for more gin. Has deep conversation about how she, Lizzie, is just fine the way she is, thanks very much, and Eliza is the one who ought to get some frickin' <i>therapy</i>. More gin, laced with laudanum. Everything goes black. Eliza wakes up next morning sprawled on the pub floor, wondering what the hell happened, where her stockings are and why her skirt has blood on it.<br />
<br />
<i>6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)?</i><br />
<br />
I definitely do a lot of work on backstory. What are the pivotal events that made this character the way she is? What are the core beliefs that guide her decisions? And what are her limits – what would those core beliefs never allow her to say or do?<br />
<br />
Often the characters don't consciously know what these things are. One of Eliza's core values is justice – she's driven to solve crimes and get justice for murder victims, particularly murdered women. But at the start of the series, she doesn't really know why - not until she uncovers some mysteries from her childhood does she come to understand.<br />
<br />
Thanks for hosting me on your blog today – it was lots of fun!<br />
<br />
<i>And thank you for coming by! You gave great answers. I mean, Lizzie did. </i><br />
<br />
<i>My review of </i>The Diabolical Miss Hyde<i>:</i><br />
<br />
<i>I picked up a copy of The Diabolical Miss Hyde at the Avon Party at the Romantic Times Convention because it was the only obvious steampunk there. I started reading it that night and got sucked in, but then life got in the way. I picked it back up last night, and can we say book hangover? I was up way too late finishing it.<br /><br />Eliza Jekyll is the daughter of that Doctor Jekyll, and she's a forensic medical specialist, although that's not what she's called. She also has a secret. Like her father, she has a literal dark side who comes out, Lizzie Hyde, and does all sorts of naughty things.<br /><br />One of the things that really worked about this book that I never would have expected was that Eliza's parts are in third person while Lizzie's are in first. It gives the reader a good sense of Lizzie's frenetic immediateness, especially since she only gets to come out every so often. It also works for the transitions later in the book so you know exactly whose POV we're getting.<br /><br />Also intriguing is Captain Remy LaFayette, who is part of the Royal Service whose mission is to squash the practice of magic, but who is dealing with his own curse. I won't spoil what it is, but I found it all intriguing. Lizzie is attracted to this captain with a dark side, but he's got the hots for Eliza, and wow, that's going to be a complicated love triangle, especially since Eliza is attracted to a bad boy of her own.<br /><br />I really really hope this is the first in a series because I can't wait to get back to this complex world and these fascinating characters. (And I'm so glad it is!)</i> <br />
<br />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Devious-Dr-Jekyll-Electric-Empire-ebook/dp/B00T3DGF90">THE DEVIOUS DR. JEKYLL</a><br />
<br />
A perilous case. A worthy foe. This could make her career ... or ruin it forever.<br />
<br />
Solving
the notorious Chopper case was supposed to help crime scene physician
Dr. Eliza Jekyll—daughter of the infamous Henry—establish her fledgling
career in the chauvinistic world of Victorian law enforcement. But the
scrutiny that comes with her newfound fame is unwelcome for a woman with
a diabolical secret: her dark and jealous shadow self, Lizzie Hyde. And
there is the mercurial Royal Society agent with his own secret to hide,
Captain Remy Lafayette. Does he want to marry Eliza or burn her at the
stake? It’s impossible, however, for Eliza to push Remy away when he
tempts her with the one thing she can’t resist: a bizarre crime to
investigate. And although Eliza is uncertain about Remy, Lizzie isn’t.
Lizzie wants to steal the magnetic and persistent agent and usurp
Eliza’s life. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
As the search for a bloodthirsty ritual
torturer dubbed the Pentacle Killer draws Eliza and Remy into a
terrifying world of spies, art thieves, and evil alchemy—where the price
of immortality is madness or damnation—only Lizzie’s dark ingenuity can
help Eliza survive. Eliza and Remy must race to thwart a foul
conspiracy involving the sorcerous French, but they must also overcome a
sinister enemy who is all too close to home: the vengeful Lizzie, who
is determined to dispose of Eliza for good.</div>
<br />
AUTHOR BIO<br />
<br />
Viola Carr was born in a strange and distant land, but wandered into darkest London one foggy October evening and never found her way out. She now devours countless history books and dictates fantastical novels by gaslight, accompanied by classical music and the snoring of her slumbering cat. You can find her on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/violacarrauthor/">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/viola_carr">Twitter</a>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>If you could be your evil twin for one night, what would you do? Comment for a chance to win a paperback copy of </b></i><b>The Diabolical Miss Hyde</b><i><b>. </b></i></div>
<br />Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-91432147193311538402015-10-25T15:00:00.000-07:002015-10-26T10:19:41.556-07:00Snarkology Halloween Hop: Victorian Ghosts and Hysteria<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.thesnarkology.com/snarkology-halloween-hop-oct-26-31st/"><img alt="http://www.thesnarkology.com/snarkology-halloween-hop-oct-26-31st/" border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64o632K9l8fqBFKhrtO6QCuNBwaQITT_hVaTYaBqVCHKZBXWzmTtxzxAhSR7mJkTqo0hhpa87nvzu0xeMqWv0xSgxVTuXS9AIBcIavq1SZe8kWpumWjMMu-7aJ0xyP45MKkLT3aN9EJ2S/s400/Snarkology+Halloween+Blog+Hop+2015%25281%2529.jpeg" width="400" /></a><b> </b></div>
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<b>Follow the hop for more fun,
great books, and awesome prizes. (Click Image)</b></div>
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This year I'm thrilled and honored to be part of the Snarkology Halloween Hop. There are lots of bloggers participating, each with their own prize, and the grand prizes for the actual blog hop are fabulous, too. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.thesnarkology.com/snarkology-halloween-hop-oct-26-31st/">Click here to enter for a chance to win:</a></div>
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(1) $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or</div>
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(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or</div>
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(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or</div>
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(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card</div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Victorian Ghosts and Hysteria</span></i></b></div>
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When I was a kid, I spent hours reading ghost stories. Something about apparitions from beyond the grave fascinated me. Like many elementary school children in the South, I read Kathryn Tucker Windham's series, most notably <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Alabama-Ghosts-Jeffrey-Books/dp/0817303766">13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey</a>, which, thanks to my overactive imagination, ensured that I didn't go upstairs to go to the bathroom in the evenings without turning ALL the lights on. Yes, I liked the idea of ghosts. No, I didn't want to meet one.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibSxOyBydoPspN62L_WIACiiIgQFH9R-ynS_hs-IOCimGSEjLqb-rQfYnob_g341d7QQJ6u3TlN03z6XObYWaf-e3u894FSAJ2-ITzpKofYa9G8eJ6XxyznVi12B4hKFadAaAWev_u8Z5b/s1600/Pratt+Hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibSxOyBydoPspN62L_WIACiiIgQFH9R-ynS_hs-IOCimGSEjLqb-rQfYnob_g341d7QQJ6u3TlN03z6XObYWaf-e3u894FSAJ2-ITzpKofYa9G8eJ6XxyznVi12B4hKFadAaAWev_u8Z5b/s320/Pratt+Hall.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pratt Hall at Huntingdon College (image credit: al.com article)</td></tr>
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Thankfully I'd mostly gotten over my fear of ghosts by the time I went to Huntingdon College. If you're familiar with the 13 Alabama Ghosts book, you will recognize the school as the site of the haunting mentioned in the eleventh chapter, or <a href="http://blog.al.com/strange-alabama/2012/04/the_red_lady_of_huntingdon.html"><i>The Red Lady of Huntingdon College</i></a> (hyperlinked to an al.com story about her). My sorority pledge room or storage room - I was never sure which - was supposedly the site of the tragedy, but we were always careful to never be up there alone or piss off Martha. I never saw, heard, or felt her, which was probably good with my aforementioned imagination. You see, the mind is a tricky thing. The Victorians knew this well.<br />
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While researching my current work, the third book in my Aether Psychics series, which will be called <i>Aether Spirit</i>, I found a fascinating book called <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Neurosis-Myth-Malady-Victorians/dp/0671449990/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445726901&sr=1-1&keywords=birth+of+neurosis">The Birth of Neurosis: Myth, Malady, and the Victorians</a></i> by physician and medical historian George Drinka. It was written in the early 1980s and is long out of print, but thanks to my local library, I was able to get my hands on a copy quickly. It details the history of mental health in the Victorian era outside of Freud. Yes, there were others working in psychology, which was really psychiatry since they were all medical doctors at the time. The cultural context for mental illness is fascinating and can be seen in Victorian ghost stories if you know where to look.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjX93OYIqBZTu9CkZr6T863FVxrnK1rY1iLe3fe1kR-R53_YlmnMoVMH_JQeFBeO_8cNuzBIZ56FQXCKTbL7mBKQ5sa1u6zkxFTGyj8ywz7LT8lsUIFkm_qSqR2YIWrywAFTCVrhyRP7s/s1600/Birth+of+Neurosis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjX93OYIqBZTu9CkZr6T863FVxrnK1rY1iLe3fe1kR-R53_YlmnMoVMH_JQeFBeO_8cNuzBIZ56FQXCKTbL7mBKQ5sa1u6zkxFTGyj8ywz7LT8lsUIFkm_qSqR2YIWrywAFTCVrhyRP7s/s320/Birth+of+Neurosis.jpg" width="208" /></a><br />
<br />
First let’s talk about how death was handled in Victorian times. Typically people died at home, not removed from their relatives in hospitals, and it was common across the lifespan. Women frequently died in childbirth and children before they reached adulthood. If you think about it, signs of death and mourning were everywhere, whether they were people in mourning clothing, the peals of church bells, or elaborate funerals and processions. Rules about mourning were also part of the many Victorian social regulations. Is it any wonder that ghost stories became a popular genre with well-known authors such as Charles Dickens (of course), Arthur Conan Doyle, and Henry James contributing to it? It was actually a great genre for female authors, too.</div>
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So how do ghosts and mental illness intersect? What happened beyond the grave and “madness” were two areas the Victorians didn’t have much control over or knowledge about, but about which they were fascinated. They’d made some progress with regard to nerves but still didn’t know exactly how they worked and regarded the nervous system, particularly that of women, as fragile and easily overwhelmed by the growing chaos of “modern” life or other disturbances. Would such overwhelmed nervous systems be more inclined to see things that weren’t there and mistake them for spirits? We recall Ebenezer Scrooge’s accusation that Marley’s ghost is a bit of undigested beef.</div>
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According to <i>The Birth of Neurosis</i>, one theory about psychological problems was called the Degenerate Theory, in which successive generations succumbed to worse forms of mental illness until the final progeny died either in prison or mental institutions. So, rather than being a cause for anxiety for individuals and their immediate family only, psychological issues could potentially mean the dying out of an entire family, and this concern permeates the ghost story literature of the era. For example, in the first story in Michael Sims’ entertaining compilation <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Coach-Connoisseurs-Collection-Victorian-ebook/dp/B00LP90MXU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445727927&sr=1-1&keywords=phantom+coach">Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories</a></i>, from which I draw my examples, the narrator says, </div>
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“…I thought I could make out that Miss Furnivall was crazy, from their odd ways about her, and I was afraid lest something of the same kind (which might be in the family, you know) hung over my darling.” </div>
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She’s talking about her “darling” charge, a little girl named Rosemund, and the child's great aunt, who is guilty over some events of many years previously. The story is <i>The Old Nurse’s Story</i> by Elizabeth Gaskell. <br />
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Mental illness had symptoms similar to the sensations experienced by those who encountered ghosts. Recall that Arthur Conan Doyle was a trained physician. In his story <i>The Captain of the Pole Star,</i> the captain asks the narrator, the ship’s doctor, about the symptoms of madness. The narrator replies, “Pains in the head, noises in the ear, flashes before the eyes, delusions…” The captain has also been seeing a ghost and is going mad from grief. Or is he? The doctor has to sort it out. <br />
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The emotional experiences that attract ghosts in stories also drove people mad, for example, guilt, witnessing violent death, and suggestion through frightening tales. These are evident in <i>The Phantom Coach</i> story by Amelia B. Edwards and Henry James’ <i>Sir Edmund Orme</i>. Also, the narrator in Charles Dickens’ lesser known story <i>The Trial for Murder</i> is at a point in his life when he’s feeling burned out by his job and dissatisfied with his situation when he starts seeing a ghost. Although they didn't call it burnout, Victorian physicians treated men and women who were "neurasthenic" due to overwhelm from the demands of life.</div>
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Victorian ghost stories are entertaining in their own right, but knowing how the society viewed psychological illness adds an interesting dimension to the tales.<br />
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<i>I will never forget 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. What is one ghost story that still haunts you? See what I did there? Tell me your favorite ghost story for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card. Novels, short stories, and movies are all fair game. Please leave your email address <b>in the comment box itself</b> so I can easily contact the winner. And don't forget to <a href="http://www.thesnarkology.com/snarkology-halloween-hop-oct-26-31st/">enter for a chance to win</a> one of the main blog tour prizes.</i><br />
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com57tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-77128407713779777982015-10-22T00:00:00.000-07:002015-10-22T00:00:00.157-07:00Guest spot - Cover reveal for The Twisting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today I'm really excited to be part of the cover reveal for Laurel Wanrow's second book The Twisting. I read and LOVED the first book in the series (my review is below by the Goodreads giveaway), so I'm excited to see that this one is sharing a book birthday with the paperback release of my third Lycanthropy Files book <a href="http://ceciliadominic.blogspot.com/2014/06/cover-and-blurb-reveal-bloods-shadow.html">Blood's Shadow</a>.<br />
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Welcome to the cover reveal for <i>The Twisting, Volume Two of The Luminated Threads</i> by Laurel Wanrow! The talented Craig Shields <a href="http://craigshields.co.uk/">www.craigshields.co.uk</a> has beautifully depicted the magical Victorian world of this new adult steampunk fantasy romance. His cover artwork graces both the ebook and a print paperback edition.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016R5909I">Pre-order</a> <i>The Twisting</i> on Amazon for the special price of only .99 cents. <i>The Twisting</i> releases November 3, 2015 in ebook and trade paperback.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">About the Book:</span></strong><br />
<strong>The story of otherworldly Blighted Basin continues in THE TWISTING...</strong><br />
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">In a valley hidden from the rest of Victorian England, Annmar Masterson has found friendship and acceptance at Wellspring farm. But as her recently discovered magical abilities grow, unstoppable crop-eating pests drive her new home to the brink of collapse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Shapeshifter Daeryn Darkcoat's heart pulls toward Annmar, but duty comes first. With harvests across the Farmlands shire facing destruction, the predator guard scrambles for new solutions, calling upon the ingenuity of animal shifters, mechanics and growers alike.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Desperation drives landowners to utilize prototype machines, heedless of the threat to their way of life. As the danger mounts, Annmar's knowledge of Outside ways—and her magic—might be more important than anyone realizes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Weaving steampunk engines and a land of wild magic with a coming-of-age romance, this sequel to THE UNRAVELING and second volume in THE LUMINATED THREADS whisks readers off on another spellbinding adventure.</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">THE TWISTING is a full-length novel, approximately 370 pages, with a sweet romance for readers 18+ due to mature themes. Please note: This is volume 2 of a three-part serialized novel. Volume 1, The UNRAVELING is available now, and Volume 3 releases in the spring of 2016 to complete Annmar and Daeryn’s steampunk fantasy romance. To be notified of upcoming releases, sign up for </span><a href="http://eepurl.com/17xRH"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Laurel's Newsletter</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. (</span><a href="http://eepurl.com/17xRH"><span style="font-weight: 400;">http://eepurl.com/17xRH</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">)</span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016R5909I">Preorder The Twisting on Amazon</a> for only .99 cents!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27203243-the-twisting?ac=1" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Excerpt:</b></span><br />
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Annmar scrunched back into her pillow. This wasn’t a cat. The face was too pointed, never mind the sleek body three times as long as it was tall. Yet when she looked into its face, the familiar eyes belonged to…<br />
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“Daeryn?”<br />
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Eyes squinting, the animal’s ears pressed flat. Its head sank, giving a little jerk up and down.<br />
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Had he…nodded? “That is you.” Daeryn. This was a polecat. Her drawings had been correct, but not the same as seeing one uninjured, acting normal. Or as normal as a polecat in someone’s bed would act.<br />
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She pressed her fingertips to her temples. Oh, Lord, just stop thinking already. But her head didn’t hurt, her vision wasn’t cloudy, and neither were her thoughts. She lowered her hands and looked around to confirm they were alone before fixing her gaze on…him. “What are you doing in my room?”<br />
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His shoulders lifted.<br />
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That was a shrug. He half-crouched and jumped to the foot of the bed, then to the floor, all before she knew that’s what he had in mind. He disappeared behind the end of her bedstead.<br />
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She half-sat up, and as she started swinging her legs around, a hand pulled down the extra quilt that hung on the end of her bed. Annmar gasped and scooted under her covers. A moment later, Daeryn’s tousled brown hair came into view. The quilt swung through the air, and he stood, the fabric draped over his shoulders and held closed in the front.<br />
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He squinted at her, his expression the same as the polecat’s, looking very sleepy. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Didn’t mean to surprise you.”<br />
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What was she supposed to say to that? He’d been in her room. Sleeping in her room. In her bed! Oh, Lord, what would Mother… Nothing. Mother wasn’t around to worry about anymore, as Mary Clare had pointed out. Annmar had no one to answer to, Blighted Basin society included. Their lack of rules completely befuddled her. How did these people function?<br />
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Still. This was highly improper. She glared at him, and he seemed to shrink beneath the quilt, drawing it closer to his body. He was likely naked.<br />
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She heated, the blush running from her chest up over her face and…down. Thinking of it just brought on more heat. Mercy, in her bed. Had he been…<br />
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“You…uh, you haven’t been in…here as…” She swallowed.<br />
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His eyes widened, and he shook his head vehemently. “Only as a polecat.” He took a step back. “I wouldn’t do that… Not to you.” He turned and walked to the door. “I’ll leave.”<br />
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Yes, he most certainly was naked under there, and a part of her was curious. She was nineteen, a grown woman. Her first look at him had been brief—she swallowed—but good. “Hold on a minute,” she gasped.<br />
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He paused in the open doorway and half-turned to face her.<br />
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“I don’t understand what you’re doing in my room.”<br />
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“Sleeping here.”<br />
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“Why?”<br />
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His brows and shoulders lifted at the same time. He looked as confused as she felt when he stepped out and closed the door.<span id="docs-internal-guid-b2dca377-829a-b5bf-08f3-358d99930c24"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.cbbbookpromotions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Laurel-Wanrow-Author-photo_copy-copy.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Laurel Wanrow" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3057" src="http://www.cbbbookpromotions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Laurel-Wanrow-Author-photo_copy-copy-300x298.jpg" height="198" width="200" /></a><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">About the Author</span>:</div>
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Laurel Wanrow loves misty mornings, the smell of freshly dug earth, petting long-haired guinea pigs and staring at the stars. She sees magic in nature and loves to photograph it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Before kids, she studied and worked as a naturalist—someone who leads wildflower and other nature walks. During a stint of homeschooling, she turned her writing skills to fiction to share her love of the land, magical characters and fantastical settings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">When not living in her fantasy worlds, Laurel camps, hunts fossils and argues with her husband and two new adult kids over whose turn it is to clean house. Though they live on the East Coast, a cherished family cabin in the Colorado Rockies holds Laurel’s heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Visit her online at </span><a href="http://www.laurelwanrow.com/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">www.laurelwanrow.com</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span>
<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1431101836564_415207">
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1431101836564_415206"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1431101836564_415205"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1431101836564_415204">To be notified of new releases: </span></span><a data-blogger-escaped-rel="nofollow" data-blogger-escaped-target="_blank" href="http://eepurl.com/17xRH">Laurel's Newsletter</a></span>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Don't miss Volume One, in The Luminated Threads series, <em>The Unraveling</em>:</h3>
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<a href="http://www.cbbbookpromotions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/The-Unraveling.jpg"><img alt="The Unraveling" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3056" src="http://www.cbbbookpromotions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/The-Unraveling.jpg" height="475" width="308" /></a></div>
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<strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25634347-the-unraveling" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XGY8QIK" target="_blank">Amazon</a> </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong> </strong> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">A signed paperback copy of <i>The Unraveling, Volume One of The Luminated Threads</i> is on a <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/159568-the-unraveling" target="_blank">Goodreads Giveaway </a>Thursday, Oct 22 through Thursday, Oct 29, 2015.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">GIVEAWAY:</span></b></div>
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$10 Amazon card, and 2 print paperbacks—the winners’ choice of <i>The Unraveling</i> (book 1) or <i>The Twisting</i> (book 2)<br />
Open to the US/CA/UK</div>
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Ends November 2, 2015</div>
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<i>Prizing is provided by the author, hosts are not responsible.</i><br />
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<i>Cecilia's review of </i>The Unraveling<i>:</i><br />
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<i>While I loved the characters and story, the magical part of this book is the setting and world-building. This is a wonderfully written book with imagery that will stick with you long after it's over. I'm not kidding about this - I had dreams of giant vegetables the night after I finished it. The author obviously did a lot of research and planning, and all the layers of this multifaceted society work together beautifully except when they're not supposed to. I also loved that the hero is a shifter, but not a typical wolf or other large mammal. Nope, he's a polecat. Yes, I had to look it up. They're cute weasel-type critters.</i><br />
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<i>I can't wait to see how everything plays out in the next books in the series.</i></div>
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-76358809990084790752015-10-06T03:00:00.000-07:002015-10-06T10:48:08.225-07:00Outtake Tuesday: Cut Scene from A Perfect Man<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When we pick up a book from the bookshelf, we're (hopefully) getting something that's been through multiple rounds of revisions and edits. We don't often get to see the early drafts and "mistakes." I decided, for the entertainment of my readers and for the use of anyone who wants to see why certain scenes or characters don't make it into a final draft, to post cut scenes from my published works.<br />
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<i>A Perfect Man</i>, which was released in May, has a lot of them because I worked on that book for a long time, off and on for three or four years. I have several cut scenes files, not sure why. Here are the contents of one of them, the original chapter five. An early version of the book had some extra characters, and others had different names. Phoebe, who I'll bring in a later book, is a biology student who is taking classes in the MFA program. I combined Carl and Albie into just Albie. Iain turned into Isaac, Sarah into Samantha.<br />
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Confused yet? Here's the deleted scene (warning - adult language):<br />
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Sarah sighed and put her face in her hands. This was going to be tough. Really tough. Karen might complain about her story being hijacked, but at least it meant she would have help! Meanwhile, she would discover the difference between writing what you know and putting yourself through hell to purge the wound you inflicted on yourself and your family.<br />
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“You don’t have to do this, you know.” The voice was familiar, soothing. It was also the voice that had told her, “You don’t have to feel guilty about this.”<br />
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“Fuck off,” she told it. She opened a new document in Word and started writing.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
[story excerpt]<br />
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Those mesmerizing green eyes… “Are you kidding me?” she asked herself. The phone rang. It was Karen.<br />
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“I’m convening a session of the Bitch Club,” she said.<br />
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Sarah wiped the tear that crept down her cheek, smearing it up with the heel of her hand. “I’m…kind of busy right now. I’m, um, writing.”<br />
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“Are you okay?”<br />
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“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be fine. Are you?”<br />
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“I don’t know.”<br />
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“Where are we meeting?”<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Even late on a Sunday night, the coffee shop was crowded, but Phoebe had gotten a table. Or, judging from the books piled there, Phoebe had already been camped out there all afternoon.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
“Work hard today?” asked Sarah. She was the first one there.<br />
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Phoebe rolled her eyes and piled stuff so that Sarah could have space for her notebook. “I’m always working. And I can’t get this damn book off the ground. It would be so much easier if humans just reproduced by splitting themselves. Damn romance.”<br />
<br />
“I’ll drink to that.”<br />
<br />
“Are you okay?"<br />
<br />
Sarah sighed. Why did people keep asking her that? “Yeah, I’m fine. What do you want to drink?”<br />
<br />
When she got back, Phoebe still sat alone. “Hey, Phoebe, question.”<br />
<br />
“Yeah?”<br />
<br />
“Did you ever do anything you really regretted? Like really hated yourself for?”<br />
<br />
Phoebe frowned. “Not recently.”<br />
<br />
“That’s a nice, evasive answer. I’m being serious.”<br />
<br />
“I am, too. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy trying to get past all that stuff.” She shrugged. “It’s just not worth it to drag it all out again.”<br />
<br />
“Ah.” She wrapped her hands around the ceramic mug. The smooth curves fit her hands perfectly, and although the heat stung her skin, she found it to be comforting.<br />
<br />
“Is there something you want to talk about, Sarah?” She saw that Phoebe was looking at her, her pretty cornflower blue eyes dark with concern.<br />
<br />
Sarah shrugged. “It’s this writing project. It’s like I’ve got all this stuff that I need to get out, to purge, but I’m afraid of what I’m going to find underneath.”<br />
<br />
“Like what?”<br />
<br />
Karen and Lillian walked through the door before she could answer. Although the two young women were close in age, they couldn’t be more different in how they carried themselves. Karen looked young but with that confident air of a woman with her whole life ahead of her in spite of the pensive expression on her face. Lillian, only five or six years older, had that certain walk that women only had after they had given birth. Not that it was any less confident, but more careful. She smiled easily, but there was always a shadow lurking behind it, a whole cache of worries just below the surface about her family, especially her three kids.<br />
<br />
“I’m surprised you were able to get away,” Karen said to Lillian as they sat down. <br />
<br />
She nodded. “Me, too, but Paul said to go ahead. I think he’s relieved that I finally have some female friends, even if they’re in that program he doesn’t see the point in.”<br />
<br />
Sarah felt her cheeks grow hot. She’d never met Paul, but she already hated him. “Then screw him!”<br />
<br />
Lillian smiled, gently. “I did. And I’ve got three kids to show for it.”<br />
<br />
Sarah couldn’t help but laugh. “Touché. So what’s the call for the bitch club?”<br />
<br />
Karen sighed. “Y’know, I’ve been thinking that I must be stupid to call y’all together for a mere hunch, but I think that Seth is up to something.”<br />
<br />
“Was tonight your meeting with him?” Phoebe asked.<br />
<br />
“Yep.”<br />
<br />
“How’d it go?”<br />
<br />
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate him any less, but he was way too agreeable.”<br />
<br />
“Even to the idea that his precious Harrison isn’t the perfect man for Lila?”<br />
<br />
“He managed to sidestep it.”<br />
<br />
Sarah blew on the surface of her coffee. “I wonder what the other guys told him.”<br />
<br />
Karen snorted. “Who knows?” She looked around. “Does anyone want anything?”<br />
<br />
“The usual,” Lillian told her. <br />
<br />
“Cool. I’ll get this round.”<br />
<br />
When Karen left, Lillian leaned forward, and Phoebe and Sarah leaned in as well. Lillian checked behind her shoulder to make sure Karen indeed stood in line, and with a small grin said, “I think that they’ll end up together.”<br />
<br />
“Who? Harrison and Lila?”<br />
<br />
“No, Phoebe, Karen and Seth.”<br />
<br />
Phoebe shook her head. “No way. I mean how cliché would that be?”<br />
<br />
“Besides,” Sarah added, “you don’t want to shit where you eat, if you know what I mean. We’ve still got almost two years in this program. What if it didn’t work out?”<br />
<br />
“But what if it did? They could be a cute writing team.”<br />
<br />
“Until things go sour, then they’d be in a cute legal mess.” Sarah shook her head. “No way in hell.”<br />
<br />
“Fine,” said Lillian. “Want to put a wager on it?”<br />
<br />
Sarah sat back and pondered for a moment. “If we’re going to wager on our friend’s happiness, we need to make it worthwhile.”<br />
<br />
“How about a hundred dollars?”<br />
<br />
Phoebe whistled. “A hundred dollars?”<br />
<br />
Lillian looked at her. “And don’t even think about asking what my husband would think. Yes, a hundred dollars.”<br />
<br />
Sarah stuck her hand out. “You’re on! Phoebe?”<br />
<br />
The petite blonde shook her head. “Too rich for my blood.”<br />
<br />
“Fine, then, you can be the monitor. You can make sure that neither of us is trying to influence the outcome, that we play fair.”<br />
<br />
When Phoebe hesitated, Sarah added, “And whoever wins has to give you twenty percent.”<br />
<br />
“Deal.”<br />
<br />
Karen returned with her decaf soy latte and Lillian’s iced white mocha. “What’d I miss?”<br />
<br />
“Nothing, really.”<br />
<br />
She sat down. “So what do I do?”<br />
<br />
Sarah opened her mouth, but Phoebe’s look stopped her from giving Karen the advice she thought she should. She couldn’t try to influence the outcome of the bet. “I think you should just follow your heart.” The words felt strange on her tongue. Look where following her heart had led her.<br />
<br />
“That’s not exactly what I was hoping for.” Karen slumped back in her chair. <br />
<br />
“I think Sarah’s right,” Lillian said. “We can’t decide this for you.”<br />
<br />
“But…” Karen looked at each of them in turn. “This is why I called the Bitch Club to order! I need some advice here, ladies!”<br />
<br />
“I think you should find out what the other guys have told him to do,” Phoebe told her. “He doesn’t seem to be able to stand very much on his own. I’m betting he went to the others for help.”<br />
<br />
Sarah nodded. “I’m sure Carl and Albie have lots of advice for him, the young fella.” They all laughed. <br />
<br />
“Yeah, and Iain seems to be somewhat of a smooth operator,” Lillian added. “This isn’t just your project, Karen, it’s a class project.”<br />
<br />
“In which case you should find out where the class is steering him, at least the guys.”<br />
<br />
Karen nodded, slowly. “In that case, each of you gets to corner one of them. I can’t because it would look suspicious. Who wants who?”<br />
<br />
“I’ll take Iain,” Phoebe volunteered. “I’m too nervous to tackle one of the older guys. And Iain knows me from the restaurant.”<br />
<br />
“You hang out at the Chocolate Chasm?”<br />
<br />
“All in the name of observational research, of course.” Phoebe blushed. “And believe me, there’s lots to observe.”<br />
<br />
Sarah couldn’t resist. “Any bodice-ripping going on?”<br />
<br />
Phoebe blushed even deeper. “Nope, at least not there. I make predictions as to whose bodice will be ripped later that evening. Not that I, um, ever find out.”<br />
<br />
“I’ll take Carl,” Lillian said. “He seems to like me. I think I remind him of his daughter or something.”<br />
<br />
Sarah sighed. “That leaves Albie for me. God, what a prick.”<br />
<br />
“But you’re the best one to be able to handle him. You’re feisty!” <br />
<br />
“Maybe a little too feisty for my own good.” Sarah sighed again. “Fine, I’ll take Albie.” She looked at the others. “But you all owe me coffee for not having to do it yourself.”<br />
<br />
Karen laughed. “That’s fine. We’ll meet here the same time next week, and y’all can tell me what you found.”<br />
<br />
Sarah and Phoebe walked out to their cars together. <br />
<br />
“It’s going to be an interesting week,” Sarah remarked.<br />
<br />
“No kidding.” Phoebe looked at Sarah through her blonde curls. “Hey, we never got to finish our conversation.”<br />
<br />
“That’s okay, I don’t really know if I wanted to finish it.”<br />
<br />
“Well, if you need to talk, I’m free tomorrow morning before class.”<br />
<br />
“That’s sweet of you, Phoebe, but I’ll be fine.” Really, she said to herself as she got in her car, I’ll be fine. She waited for the voice to argue with her, but tonight it was silent.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
Why this scene got cut:<br />
<br />
1. The book ended up being on the long end for me and Samhain as it was, so there was no room for the wager subplot.<br />
<br />
2. I didn't want Karen catching on to Seth's interest so soon.<br />
<br />
3. I wanted to pare the book down to just Karen and Seth's points of view.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJYnmHZzJSjN7ndZzpQalvMdw-O9-LGKugE1zR2YGi9QXQvCLPZ9u7EUCB8hUJS3WYq4kSC6Q1B0cfLsIhWKHpM_Im5TyxWIHsrVSXqpWvY9ddqhqYIlPa29ltQWW-rGQKcjBvHEYRxz3P/s1600/PerfectMan-A72web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJYnmHZzJSjN7ndZzpQalvMdw-O9-LGKugE1zR2YGi9QXQvCLPZ9u7EUCB8hUJS3WYq4kSC6Q1B0cfLsIhWKHpM_Im5TyxWIHsrVSXqpWvY9ddqhqYIlPa29ltQWW-rGQKcjBvHEYRxz3P/s1600/PerfectMan-A72web.jpg" /></a></div>
If you'd like to check out the final version of A Perfect Man, you can read an excerpt <a href="http://ceciliadominic.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-perfect-man-first-chapter-and.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Or if you'd like to buy it, you can find it at <a href="https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5430/a-perfect-man">Samhain Publishing</a>, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Man-Cecilia-Dominic-ebook/dp/B00TLIGB6E/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1430009824&sr=1-1&keywords=a+perfect+man+cecilia+dominic">Amazon</a>, </span><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-perfect-man-cecilia-dominic/1121228853?ean=9781619229464" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Barnes & Noble</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ny6sBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT308&lpg=PT308&dq=cecilia+dominic+%22a+perfect+man%22&source=bl&ots=CfkKc31tka&sig=_jEsKHA_aWRba71lzh-S6ZLMmI4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CFAQ6AEwDGoVChMIxNLo0oaqyAIVT6yACh0mnwAU">Google Books</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-perfect-man/id967562544?mt=11">iTunes</a>, and anywhere else books are sold. It was one of About.com's ten romance novels not to miss in May.<br />
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-54501449554210682152015-09-24T06:03:00.000-07:002015-09-24T10:59:57.514-07:00Character on the Couch: Jillian Neal's Brock and HopeToday I'm delighted to have Jillian Neal and her characters from her newly released novel Gypsy Hope to the couch. We authors typically try to use our powers for good, but Jillian is taking it a step further. For every copy of Gypsy Hope sold, Jillian is donating $1 to the ProLiteracy organization to help combat adult illiteracy. ProLiteracy works globally to educate, provide resource materials, and to help people that are illiterate. So pull up a beach chair, and let's meet these characters!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxQ9zjCdPPK9uWjxfBWJUm3AsHxkVAa-BH9ClEf6WtDsU2mqoKALDm25gg_Zn7kTtLI3pr95xqNoyHdnkIlg0LWpJeenTjSdRzsN_LZIz01KX_ENuW0pbY2B8RiWDIxAe_Zllx7U5wNK4c/s1600/Gypsy+Hope+AMAZON.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxQ9zjCdPPK9uWjxfBWJUm3AsHxkVAa-BH9ClEf6WtDsU2mqoKALDm25gg_Zn7kTtLI3pr95xqNoyHdnkIlg0LWpJeenTjSdRzsN_LZIz01KX_ENuW0pbY2B8RiWDIxAe_Zllx7U5wNK4c/s640/Gypsy+Hope+AMAZON.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the kind of cover that makes me go "awww!"</td></tr>
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First, let me thank Cecilia for having my characters, Brock Camden and Hope Hendrix, on the couch today. Strong characters, passionate love scenes, and deep emotion are the hallmarks of my work. Brock and Hope’s story is no different but does offer another element that I think makes it all the more compelling. Brock is illiterate. Overcoming that, learning to accept both of their pasts, and ultimately a future neither of them imagined makes Gypsy Hope an engaging and heartbreaking novel, to be sure. But I write romance so there will always be a happily ever after. I wouldn’t even know how to write anything else.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.</i><br />
<br />
Ha! Honestly, a court order wouldn’t be necessary though Brock Camden would probably not go willingly. He would go for Hope. He would do most anything for her. They’ve been best friends since high school. They would both tell you that counseling would be helpful due to their traumatic childhoods. (Brock’s father was an abusive alcoholic. That situation led to his dyslexia and illiteracy never being diagnosed. Hope’s parents were killed in a car accident when she was a little girl.) Brock is a cowboy through and through, however. He would be more inclined to work and try to bury his pain and his past out in the pastures. That is how he’d been dealing with all of his issues right up until the moment Hope proposes they become a couple long enough for him to “show her the sexual ropes” she feels she’s missed out on.<br />
<br />
<i>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?</i><br />
<br />
Largely the conflicts are internal. Hope has fear/anxiety issues due to her parents’ deaths. Brock is terrified that someone will figure out that he’s illiterate. When Hope discovers his painful secret, he pushes her away, too. She has to convince him that she loves him whether he can read or not and show him that illiterate does not mean unintelligent, unlovable, or even unattractive.<br />
<br />
<i>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?</i><br />
<br />
Brock would follow Hope’s lead. She would cautiously seat herself on the couch. He would sit beside her, wrap his arm around her, and immediately be ready to tell you to “back off” if he thought you were being too intrusive. If he sensed or suspected that Hope was afraid or that the session was too painful, he’d suggest/demand that they leave. He’s extremely protective and would like to think that their problems could be solved without external help.<br />
<br />
<i>4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?</i><br />
<br />
Brock would only talk if Hope asked him to share. I envision short clipped sentences. He can be quite gruff. His cowboy drawl softens the blow. His opinion would be - what happened in his past happened. There’s no changing it. Why drudge it up now?<br />
<br />
Hope would talk more openly in an effort to seek healing for the issues she knows she has. If she loosened up, Brock might follow suit.<br />
<br />
<i>5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?</i><br />
<br />
If Brock were alone and not driving, he’d have whiskey straight up, probably something from the Jack Daniel’s distillery. He’s wary of alcohol after seeing what happened to his father when he drank too much, so he would not over do it. If he were with Hope and driving her home, he’d just have a cheap beer. Hope wouldn’t be likely to venture into a bar alone but does like a glass of wine. She’s a light-weight, so she would be cautious.<br />
<br />
<i>6.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)? And for this book, how did you research illiteracy?</i><br />
<br />
The research on illiteracy actually came many years before Gypsy Hope was born. When my eldest son was eight, he was diagnosed with dyslexia. We were inundated with the horrifying statistics about illiteracy. 757 million people around the world cannot read or write a simple sentence. Nineteen percent of graduating high school seniors cannot read above a third grade level. I wanted to give illiteracy a voice, and in that desire, Brock Camden came on the scene.<br />
<br />
As for my characters, they tend to come to me fully-formed. As I write, I get to know them. This is why I will re-write a manuscript at least three times before it goes to my critique partners or my editors. I want to really dig deep and get to know my characters. I’m constantly asking myself, “What if? and How would they react?” when I write. I always want to dig deeper. I never want to “phone in” a scene.<br />
<br />
Speaking of Myers-Briggs I am an INFJ empath. Given that I derive other people’s emotions with ease, my novels tend to have a great deal of emotional depth. INFJ’s think using images. So, I often use Pinterest for character and plot development. I can pull the emotion out of an image and transfer it into words. I knew Brock had been Gypsy Beach’s football star in high school but I was missing a part of his past. I opened Pinterest one day and three pictures of sexy cowboys were at the top of my screen. I had it. It hit me like lightening. He was ultimately a misplaced cowboy never meant to be on a beach in North Carolina. So, how had he gotten there? How did that make him feel? and Would he ever go back to the ranch that raised him?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnT3Vu0vdQ_o2_LedOGM6pug5GaXXyOcu40ljinWosKoYtGoZM7HIeogy8ibiEGPXAn7Hb7f5HheXz436zbe7kCvq4xPjrxYxzzbO_suKvwxjSEcrYCv_qV0MATqqYMZ-xbD9Fiy-62USt/s1600/headshot_200X300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnT3Vu0vdQ_o2_LedOGM6pug5GaXXyOcu40ljinWosKoYtGoZM7HIeogy8ibiEGPXAn7Hb7f5HheXz436zbe7kCvq4xPjrxYxzzbO_suKvwxjSEcrYCv_qV0MATqqYMZ-xbD9Fiy-62USt/s200/headshot_200X300.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
Jillian Neal is a Romance author that manages to blend her imagination, Southern sass, and loving heart in every novel she pens. She showed her talent for weaving intricate plot lines and showcasing dynamic characters in her seven-book, urban fantasy, series, The Gifted Realm. Her skillset continues to shine in her contemporary series, Gypsy Beach, which will leave you with a longing to pack your bags and move to a tiny beach town full of bohemian charm.<br />
<br />
She lives outside of Atlanta with her husband and their children.<br />
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<i>Cecilia says: I'm an INFJ, too! And yes, I also think in images, although I'm still not good at Pinterest. Thanks so much for coming by and bringing your characters! I do want my readers to know that Jillian's books have the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. They're perfect beach reads whether you have a beach to read on or not.</i><br />
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<i>If you have a character you'd like help with or would like to feature on this blog, please fill out & submit the comment form on the top right. Thanks, and happy reading!</i>Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-45557727705762773162015-09-17T00:00:00.000-07:002015-09-17T00:00:10.865-07:00Characters on the Couch: Aidee Ladnier's CharlotteToday we get to meet Charlotte, aka "Charly," the other half of the paranormally talented duo from Aidee Ladnier's ongoing project.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">India Eisley, Aidee's visual model for Charlotte (from Aidee's <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/aideelad/smudges/">Smudges Pinterest page</a>)</td></tr>
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<i>Character Two name:</i> Charlotte (Charly)<br />
<br />
<i>Age:</i> 16<br />
<br />
<i>Gender: </i>Female<br />
<br />
<i>Species (if applicable):</i> Human<br />
<br />
<i>Cultural or historical context (if important to the story, e.g., if it's a Regency):</i> Modern day teenager, American South<br />
<br />
<i>Brief description and relevant history: </i><br />
<br />
Charlotte's parents have just divorced and she and her mom have moved in with her great aunt. Although bullied at her last school, she's still angry to be moved away from everything she's ever known. Her mother offers to help her remake herself for her new school and Charlotte adopts the name Charly and tries to remake herself as the perfect, popular girl. She begins hanging out with the popular crowd but she's drawn to Miranda. And when she's around Miranda she hears voices. Then when they touch, suddenly both of them can see the echoes Miranda sees only they don't repeat actions but instead interact with the young women (like their touch completed a psychic circuit). Miranda represents everything scary to her, gifts she doesn't understand, a sexuality she's not comfortable with, etc.<br />
<br />
<i>Where you're stuck, or why your character needs a psychologist: </i><br />
<br />
I feel kind of backed into a corner with this character. She has every reason to stay away from the other character and I'm uncertain how to build the bond between them.<br />
<br />
<i>Follow-up questions:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The relationship between Charly and her mother is potentially a huge area to explore. Does her mother help her reinvent herself because she wants to help or because she wants her daughter to be “normal”? </i><br />
<br />
I think her mother helps her because she wants her daughter to have the best. She's willing to take on two jobs in order to pay the credit card bill to pay for Charly remaking herself. She feels guilty for uprooting her daughter but after her divorce, they literally had nothing and so her mother retreated back to her family support system. Charly has family all over town but doesn't realize it at first.<br />
<br />
<i>Having every reason to stay away from Miranda is a good basis for a romance novel character. What do they have in common other than unusual talents and homosexuality? Is that why Charly was bullied?</i> <br />
<br />
Miranda is a painter and is volunteered by one of her instructors into doing set painting for the school play which Charly is one of the minor players in.<br />
<br />
<i>Has Charly had any unusual experiences before she met Miranda that could be related to their talent? </i><br />
<br />
When she's around Miranda she occasionally hears whispers and voices. This alarms her that she's possibly having auditory hallucinations, but as soon as she connects with Miranda she realizes that she's actually hearing the same component that Miranda sees. It's a little harder for her to tune out, and starts to cause some anxiety. They quickly learn, though that once the circuit is complete, the spirits last thought is completed, their last words finished and their last breath breathed. They can move on.<br />
<br />
<i>What does Charly want from life? What does she fear most?</i> <br />
<br />
Charly wants to be accepted. She joins every club and extracurricular activity she can when she's enrolled mid-year. Her idea is that the law of averages will mean she'll meet someone she can be friends with. She's afraid of being lonely. Her mother is always at work, her aunt is really old and comes from an alien (small town) culture, and Charly's afraid of being alone.<br />
<br />
<i>And for the relationship – what does Miranda have that Charly envies and vice versa? Mother/lack of mother relationship could be huge here.</i> <br />
<br />
I think Charly's envious of Miranda's ability to buy or do or go anywhere she wants because her family has a lot of money. Charly's mom is barely making it, forced to move in with family in order to survive. Initially, I think Charly's a little willfully ignorant of her mother's finances, but it slowly becomes more worrisome for her. She sees Miranda as having everything she wants and not wanting it.<br />
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<i>Cecilia says:</i><br />
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Common values and interests are a great force of attraction to other people. When clients talk to me about wanting to find a partner or even to meet new friends, I encourage them to put themselves in situations that will allow them to meet people with the same interests repeatedly. Think about your involvement in Southern Magic. I’ve found several good friends through Georgia Romance Writers because we have a common interest – writing – that helps us “get” each other.<br />
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Both of your characters want the same thing – acceptance. It doesn’t look the same at first because they’re doing opposite things to gain it. Miranda, who wants to be accepted by her family, is in avoidance mode, and Charly is actively pursuing it with all her activities. Gradually coming to recognize it and realizing that they actually do understand each other on a deep level will be a great romantic arc to your story. It also sounds like they have the potential to connect at first through artistic pursuits, again with Miranda being more behind-the-scenes and Charly pursuing the spotlight, but both involved in the drama department.<br />
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The desire for acceptance also provides a good basis for conflict because it will also get in the way of them pursuing their helping the spirits cross over. Even in a place that has stories like The Ghost in the Field, people who actually have that kind of talent are often shunned. Thus there needs to be something positive they can connect over on a deeper level. I can see your characters having arguments as to whether they should continue with this spiritual work, but both of them having a noble reason to continue. For Miranda, it’s wanting to help her best friend cross over. Perhaps Charly can discover something that could help her family finances, like a treasure hidden in her great aunt’s house that one of the smudges knows about. That brings up a different value – altruism, or whatever else you’d like to call it.<br />
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As for Charly’s internal conflict, her primary conflict emotion sounds like anger hiding fear. The relationship with Miranda has the potential to gradually give her the sense of security she wants if she can overcome fear and envy, which will cause her to push Miranda away at first, and learn to focus on what’s truly important to her.<br />
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Thanks so much for bringing the girls by, Aidee! I enjoyed analyzing them. These are fascinating characters, and I look forward to seeing how this story turns out.<br />
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If you have a character you'd like help with, please send me a message through the contact form (upper right on page) or email me at cecilia (at) ceciliadominic (dot) com<br />
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About Aidee Ladnier:<br />
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Aidee Ladnier began writing fiction at twelve years old but took a hiatus to be a magician’s assistant, ride in hot air balloons, produce independent movies, collect interesting shoes, and amass a secret file with the CIA. A lover of genre fiction, it has been a lifelong dream of Aidee's to write both romance and erotica with a little science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, or the paranormal thrown in to add a zing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94Lqe3az5tfI-0lPcs-_gmSLm71oNsFYAYpo87ql7eT3Wxl-xeF386qbWdGkAaIjiLSL9XRQEC7TMYrR-UHAKjFUBUKoxXE1RgnjB2kboPJIYCn-__JZA0lTnKMg5rRrwgS3UdPQFs9tN/s1600/AC7A6799.+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94Lqe3az5tfI-0lPcs-_gmSLm71oNsFYAYpo87ql7eT3Wxl-xeF386qbWdGkAaIjiLSL9XRQEC7TMYrR-UHAKjFUBUKoxXE1RgnjB2kboPJIYCn-__JZA0lTnKMg5rRrwgS3UdPQFs9tN/s320/AC7A6799.+%25281%2529.jpg" width="213" /></a>You can find her on her blog at <a href="http://www.aideeladnier.com/">http://www.aideeladnier.com</a> or on her favorite social media sites.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/AideeLadnier">Twitter</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/aideelad">Facebook</a><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6570769.Aidee_Ladnier">Goodreads</a><br />
<a href="https://www.pinterest.com/aideelad/">Pinterest</a><br />
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-13263399075435058872015-09-10T07:08:00.000-07:002015-09-10T07:08:26.940-07:00Character on the Couch: Aidee Ladnier's MirandaToday I'm so excited to have an unpublished character for my couch. I love featuring the published ones, but I admit that these are even more fun for me. Meet Aidee Ladnier's Miranda:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3zvpDCKV6pXLXCP41WWbugULSMaDDbZ0mFg29PlaXhE_k6oMYJgdByLVB-m315tKUH3eBXGgV4Vg2MheHwBiiIykUb5ayIpN_-lPCRyoPzxQ6MU4XlPZzwK7HH8TmgIY08hxVe9HyV3gL/s1600/Miranda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3zvpDCKV6pXLXCP41WWbugULSMaDDbZ0mFg29PlaXhE_k6oMYJgdByLVB-m315tKUH3eBXGgV4Vg2MheHwBiiIykUb5ayIpN_-lPCRyoPzxQ6MU4XlPZzwK7HH8TmgIY08hxVe9HyV3gL/s320/Miranda.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellen Page, who is Aidee's visual model for Miranda (stolen from her Pinterest page)</td></tr>
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<i>Character One name</i>: Miranda<br />
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<i>Age</i>: 16<br />
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<i>Gender</i>: Female<br />
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<i>Species (if applicable)</i>: Human<br />
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<i>Cultural or historical context</i>: Modern day teenager, American South<br />
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<i>Brief description and relevant history:</i><br />
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Miranda is a high school student that identifies as lesbian which you would think is her big secret, but no, it's that she can see "smudges" or echoes left when people die. She can't interact with them, just watch them as they do the same things over and over that they may have done in life. Miranda's mother died young, when she was four or five, from cancer but she's never seen her mother's ghost echo. Miranda's father remarried and she has a good relationship with her stepmother although they have little in common on the surface. She is an average student and has friends at school although her best friend committed suicide the year before (not really, she was murdered which is the crux of the exterior story when Miranda sees her echo struggling with an invisible attacker). She's also very interested in the new girl, Charly.<br />
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<i>Where you're stuck, or why your character needs a psychologist:</i><br />
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This character has a lot of death surrounding her and I'm uncertain how this will affect her or even allow her to function. I want this story to allow her to bring her friend's killer to justice as well as be a tiny first romance between my two characters but I'm afraid she has too much on her plate.<br />
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<i>Follow-up questions:</i><br />
<i>What does Miranda believe about what happens after people die? Is there a heaven? Hell? One way to think about it is, what was she taught about death as a child? Does she belong to some sort of spiritual or religious tradition? </i><br />
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Miranda was raised in a Methodist household and believes that when people die they go to Heaven if they’re good and Hell if they’re bad. I don’t think she’s thought about it much, just that this is what happens. She was told that her mother went to Heaven and to her that just means she’s no longer around.<br />
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<i>Does she believe that the smudges are really the peoples’ spirits or just echoes before she meets Charly and they find out the truth? How old was she when she started seeing them? (Note: we'll meet Charly next week)</i><br />
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I don’t think she thinks the smudges are people’s spirits. She’s only seen them do the same thing over and over like a recording. So to her, they are almost disconnected from the people they represent, more like a snippet of a 3D film only she can see. I think she started seeing them at a fairly young age and that her mother may have also seen them and counseled her not to speak of them. Perhaps her mother would have explained more when she got older, but since she died when Miranda was young, that opportunity passed. Miranda’s father’s family has lived nearby (perhaps a few hundred miles away), but he met Miranda’s mother while he was at college and she came from somewhere else. Miranda has never met anyone from her mother’s side of the family possibly because her mother had a falling out with them or even ran away.<br />
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<i>How was Miranda’s mother’s death handled? Like, was there a big funeral with lots of supportive family, or were she and her father essentially left to themselves with some show-sympathy and a few casseroles? </i><br />
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One of Miranda's most vivid memories of her mother's death was her father dropping her off at school the day after the funeral and going to work. It was as if nothing had happened or it was an event that happened in the past. He was unwilling to talk about it, her grandparents (father's side) seemed relieved, and everyone politely stepped around the subject at her elementary school. She never even talked about it until her father's new wife asked her about it. And then it all came flooding out, tears, rage, feelings of abandonment and her stepmother helped her, validated her, and offered her comfort. It's one of the reasons that their relationship is so good in the present. While Miranda cannot go to her father or her father's family due to their coldness and stand-offishness, her stepmom, has always been there and her stepmom's family has always welcomed Miranda but they live very far away.<br />
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<i>It might be helpful to think about larger motivation. What does Miranda want from life that seeing the smudges keeps her from accomplishing or thinking that she’ll accomplish? </i><br />
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The smudges have sort of forced Miranda into the role of silent witness. They give her a sense that no matter what you do in life, you're remembered by something insignificant like walking your dog or taking out the trash. She's stalled a little (not wanting to think about applying for college, not wanting to apply herself in school - making passing grades but nothing above). She fights to remain staunchly average despite the fact that she's not. Due to her father's career as a physician and his family money, as well as her intelligence, she has a lot of opportunities that she's passing up on.<br />
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<i>What does Miranda fear the most? </i><br />
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Being rejected by her father and stepmother. As a result she has never explicitly come out, and in return her family has never asked about her sexuality. She also doesn't date so that the delicate fiction that she's a perfectly average daughter is maintained. And she'll certainly never mention the smudges.<br />
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<i>You mention a best friend. Were they a clique of two, or are there others? Does Miranda have friends or do other kids avoid her because she’s weird? </i><br />
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She was friends with several other high schoolers but Anne was her best friend. When Anne died, Miranda pulled away from her other friends, turning down activities, parties and invitations. At first they gave her some slack, but now everyone thinks she should be moving on. But Miranda really just wants to be left alone.<br />
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<i>Do Miranda and Charly live in a place like Charleston or New Orleans where there’s more of an acknowledgment of odd spiritual stuff, or are they in a setting where anything outside the strict Christian norm is regarded with suspicion? Setting could also strongly impact how accepted their sexuality is. </i><br />
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I think they're not too far from a large city like Charleston or New Orleans, but their town is small to middling. Some odd spiritual stuff is accepted - for example, everyone knows the story of the Ghost in the Field who cries for her children on rainy nights. That said, they aren't so small that they're expected in church every Sunday but small enough that everyone knows what church you go to. There are a couple of prominent out gay couples, so their sexuality though atypical would not result in their house being burned down.<br />
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<i>Cecilia says:</i><br />
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Wow, Miranda does have a lot on her plate, but she also has a lot of advantages and resources that balance out her challenges. Instead of being too complex, it all sounds like layers to the same internal conflict.<br />
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Miranda doesn’t want to be noticed because notice brings rejection. That’s what she learned from how her father and his family tiptoed around her mother’s death and denied its importance, even to the point of being relieved. What did the poor woman do to bring that kind of negative attention? Or was she an extraordinary person who married into a traditional family who couldn’t handle her, and she couldn’t help it?<br />
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Miranda senses that her mother was rejected by her father and his family, possibly for this talent Miranda inherited from her. But what about the good things Miranda learned from her mother? Is she throwing out everything because of how her mother’s death was handled? It’s great she has a good relationship with her stepmother, but she needs to resolve her feelings and fears about her mother in order to move forward, and that will mean looking at the whole person, perhaps acknowledging parts of her mother she hasn’t allowed herself to think about. It also might mean rejecting some of the messages she’s gotten from her father and his family, which will push her emotionally out of this stuck place. I’d do a complete character profile for Miranda’s mother and figure out what characteristics Miranda inherited from her that are not allowed in her father’s family. For example, Miranda is a painter. Is it possible she wants to be an artist but doesn’t think her family would approve of that career choice, so she keeps her grades average so as not to be pushed into an “acceptable” path?<br />
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Doing whatever she’ll end up doing with the smudges and taking up romantically with Charly will definitely bring Miranda notice as well as give her a sense of connection to another person who truly understands her on all levels. You’re giving her a great choice for her to make – the safety of ordinariness and the security of fitting into her father’s family or following her heart with the possibility of being something really special with someone really special with all the risk it entails. Her core conflict emotion is fear, and what will push her to overcome it is your character and story arc.<br />
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Thanks for reading! We'll meet Charly next week. Meanwhile, please feel free to check out some of Aidee's published books. If you have a character you'd like help with, please send me a message through the contact form (upper right on page) or email me at cecilia (at) ceciliadominic (dot) com<br />
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About Aidee Ladnier:<br />
<br />
Aidee Ladnier began writing fiction at twelve years old but took a hiatus to be a magician’s assistant, ride in hot air balloons, produce independent movies, collect interesting shoes, and amass a secret file with the CIA. A lover of genre fiction, it has been a lifelong dream of Aidee's to write both romance and erotica with a little science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, or the paranormal thrown in to add a zing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94Lqe3az5tfI-0lPcs-_gmSLm71oNsFYAYpo87ql7eT3Wxl-xeF386qbWdGkAaIjiLSL9XRQEC7TMYrR-UHAKjFUBUKoxXE1RgnjB2kboPJIYCn-__JZA0lTnKMg5rRrwgS3UdPQFs9tN/s1600/AC7A6799.+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94Lqe3az5tfI-0lPcs-_gmSLm71oNsFYAYpo87ql7eT3Wxl-xeF386qbWdGkAaIjiLSL9XRQEC7TMYrR-UHAKjFUBUKoxXE1RgnjB2kboPJIYCn-__JZA0lTnKMg5rRrwgS3UdPQFs9tN/s320/AC7A6799.+%25281%2529.jpg" width="213" /></a>You can find her on her blog at <a href="http://www.aideeladnier.com/">http://www.aideeladnier.com</a> or on her favorite social media sites.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/AideeLadnier">Twitter</a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/aideelad">Facebook</a><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6570769.Aidee_Ladnier">Goodreads</a><br />
<a href="https://www.pinterest.com/aideelad/">Pinterest</a><br />
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-57159661473953925172015-08-25T08:44:00.000-07:002015-08-25T10:38:13.216-07:00Eros Element release day!Since I've got my Facebook ad and tweets coming straight to this page, I'll go ahead and give y'all the cover, blurb, and buy links:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Element-Aether-Psychics-Cecilia-Dominic-ebook/dp/B00Y05TWDC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436139642&sr=1-1&keywords=eros+element" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Element-Aether-Psychics-Cecilia-Dominic-ebook/dp/B00Y05TWDC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440517612&sr=8-1&keywords=eros+element">Amazon UK</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eros-element-cecilia-dominic/1121969555?ean=9781619230002" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a></div>
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<a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Cecilia_Dominic_Eros_Element?id=hR51CQAAQBAJ" target="_blank">Google Books</a></div>
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<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/eros-element" target="_blank">Kobo</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5545/eros-element" target="_blank">Samhain Publishing</a></div>
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<i>If love is the ivy, secrets are the poison.</i></div>
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Aether Psychics, Book 1</div>
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After enduring heartbreak at the hands of a dishonest woman, Edward Bailey lives according to scientific principles of structure and predictability. Just the thought of stepping outside his strict routine raises his anxiety.</div>
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Adding to his discomfort is Iris McTavish, who appears at his school’s faculty meeting in place of her world-famous archeologist father. Worse, the two of them are to pose as Grand Tourists while they search for an element that will help harness the power of aether. </div>
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Iris jumps at the opportunity to prove her worth as a scholar—and avoid an unwanted marriage proposal—while hiding the truth of her father’s whereabouts. If her secret gets out, the house of McTavish will fall into ruin.</div>
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Quite unexpectedly, Edward and Iris discover a growing attraction as their journey takes them to Paris and Rome, where betrayal, blackmail and outright theft threaten to destroy what could be a revolutionary discovery—and break their hearts.</div>
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<i>Warning: Allergen alert! This book was produced in a facility that handles copious amounts of wine, tea and baked goods. May contain one or more of the following: a spirited heroine, a quirky hero, clever banter, interesting facts both made-up and historical, and lots of secrets. It is, however, gluten free.</i></div>
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Click <a href="http://ceciliadominic.blogspot.com/2015/07/cover-reveal-eros-element-aether.html">here </a>for a post with an excerpt and the story of how I started writing steampunk.<br />
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If you stop reading here and go buy and enjoy the book, I'm perfectly cool with that. However, I've had a sort of blog post bouncing around in my head for the past few weeks. Waking to an email titled, "Should you quit your day job?" pushed me to think about it some more.</div>
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I'm taking the day off from work today to do release day promotion including a couple of online events, a Twitter chat at 12:30 EDT (11:30 central) and then a Facebook release party from 5:30 to 9:30 (link <a href="http://t.co/Oo079Ejf9D">here</a>). I might be sneaking in a massage at some point, too, and hopefully some writing. I had to argue with myself about taking the day to just be a writer, whereas it was a no brainer to take Friday off to go to a continuing education seminar on the DSM-V and ICD-10. Trust me, this is much more fun than that will be.</div>
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Why do I feel guilty, or at least indulgent, for taking the time to be a writer?</div>
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Mostly, there's the money. My mind tells me I'm losing several hundred dollars by not being at my practice today. This is where I fall into the comparison trap. It often seems like everyone is more successful at this than I am, so why bother? Perhaps I should just put my energy into seeing more patients and building my practice even though busy weeks sap the emotional energy I need for writing.</div>
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Then there are all the messages we writers get about the state of publishing, how it's so hard to get noticed because there are so many books out there. That feeds into the "what's the point?" attitude that sneaks around the corner and tries to pounce on me in my low moments.</div>
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So why do I bother, and why did I ignore the negative voices in my head to take the day off and fully embrace being a published author?</div>
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Eros Element is my fifth published book (seventh completed). As with many people, multiples of five are meaningful for me, so I wanted to honor this accomplishment by giving it the attention it deserves. Plus, I'm passionate about this book - it's my favorite of all of them so far - and with it being the first in the series, I want it to have a strong release.</div>
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Most of all, I want to honor this part of myself that wants to create and tell stories. I realized that I haven't been embracing this writing career fully, which has included not getting author photos done. I finally did that last week (thank you, Lorikay Photography!).</div>
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As a psychologist, I hear a lot about the things that make people's days difficult. I'm glad I have the opportunity to put something out there that will help someone deal with the crap in their own life. Plus, writing helps me to deal with my own difficulties. It's a win-win, no matter what happens with sales rankings or reviews.</div>
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And that, my friends, is why I'm happy to be an author, whether it's a quarter of an hour or a day at a time. Thank you so much for reading!</div>
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- Cecilia</div>
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-73349308215905130982015-08-23T09:25:00.001-07:002015-08-23T09:25:42.214-07:00Procrastination talk referencesThank you so much, those of you came to see me talk about procrastination at the Southern Magic meeting! As promised, here are the links to the articles and books I used for the talk:<br />
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Atlantic article: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/02/why-writers-are-the-worst-procrastinators/283773/">Why Writers Are the Worst Procrastinators: The psychological origins of waiting to work</a> by Megan McCardle 2/12/2014</div>
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New York Times article: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/science/positive-procrastination-not-an-oxymoron.html?_r=0">This Was Supposed to Be My Column for New Year's Day</a> by Michael Tierney 1/14/2013</div>
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Psychology today articles: <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/surprise/201404/get-unbored">Get Unbored</a> by Tania Luna, 4/10/2014 (has a couple of strategies I didn't mention)</div>
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<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201209/what-is-boredom">What Is Boredom?</a> by Art Markman, Ph.D., 9/25/2012</div>
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Wall Street Journal article: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303933104579306664120892036"> To Stop Procrastinating, Look to the Science of Mood Repair</a> by Sue Shellenbarger 1/7/2014</div>
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To those who care about such things, I apologize for these references not being in proper reference format. Putting things in reference format holds no elements of interest for me. If you've forgotten what I'm referring to, check out <a href="http://www.letitiasweitzer.com/books/">Letitia Sweitzer's book</a>:</div>
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If you'd like to try out structured procrastination, the web site with the original essay is <a href="http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/">here</a>, and the link to buy the book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Art-Procrastination-Effective-Lollygagging-Postponing/dp/0761171673/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344889395&sr=1-1&keywords=Procrastination">here</a>.</div>
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If you've just happened by and would like me to come talk to your group about procrastination, please email me at cecilia (at) ceciliadominic (dot) com<br />
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Don't forget! Eros Element releases on Tuesday! Here's the <a href="http://ceciliadominic.blogspot.com/2015/08/countdown-to-eros-element-release.html">release festivities schedule</a>. There will be online and real-life fun including a Twitter chat from 12:30 to 1:30 EDT and a Facebook party on Tuesday from 5:30 to 9:30 EDT.<br />
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Preorder/buy links:</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Element-Aether-Psychics-Cecilia-Dominic-ebook/dp/B00Y05TWDC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436139642&sr=1-1&keywords=eros+element" target="_blank">Amazon</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eros-element-cecilia-dominic/1121969555?ean=9781619230002" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a></div>
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<a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Cecilia_Dominic_Eros_Element?id=hR51CQAAQBAJ" target="_blank">Google Books</a></div>
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<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/eros-element" target="_blank">Kobo</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5545/eros-element" target="_blank">Samhain Publishing</a></div>
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-19609585409373507102015-08-17T11:40:00.002-07:002015-08-25T07:48:26.877-07:00Countdown to Eros Element release<div style="text-align: center;">
How excited am I about the impending release of Eros Element next week?</div>
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<a href="http://giphy.com/gifs/excited-big-bang-theory-goody-qE4ph7Tl9e4tG">via GIPHY</a></div>
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I'm Sheldon getting a cardboard standup of Spock excited! Which is appropriate considering Edward, the hero of Eros Element, lives his live according to scientific principles, and, well, here's the blurb:</div>
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<b><i>If love is the ivy, secrets are the poison.</i></b></div>
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Aether Psychics, Book 1<br />
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<i>After enduring heartbreak at the hands of a dishonest woman, Edward Bailey lives according to scientific principles of structure and predictability. Just the thought of stepping outside his strict routine raises his anxiety.</i><br />
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<i>Adding to his discomfort is Iris McTavish, who appears at his school’s faculty meeting in place of her world-famous archeologist father. Worse, the two of them are to pose as Grand Tourists while they search for an element that will help harness the power of aether. </i><br />
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<i>Iris jumps at the opportunity to prove her worth as a scholar—and avoid an unwanted marriage proposal—while hiding the truth of her father’s whereabouts. If her secret gets out, the house of McTavish will fall into ruin.</i><br />
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<i>Quite unexpectedly, Edward and Iris discover a growing attraction as their journey takes them to Paris and Rome, where betrayal, blackmail and outright theft threaten to destroy what could be a revolutionary discovery—and break their hearts.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Warning: Allergen alert! This book was produced in a facility that handles copious amounts of wine, tea and baked goods. May contain one or more of the following: a spirited heroine, a quirky hero, clever banter, interesting facts both made-up and historical, and lots of secrets. It is, however, gluten free.</span><br />
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Yep, no threat of gluten in the physical or ebook, but the characters are mostly English, which means that plenty of tea and teatime goodies are consumed throughout the story. It wouldn't be a Cecilia Dominic book without food descriptions, would it? There's a little wine, too.<br />
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So, to celebrate and count down to the release and beyond, here's what I'm doing where:<br />
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Monday, August 17:<br />
Here's something a little different - a podcast. Thank you so much to Kim Smith of <a href="http://www.kimsmithauthor.com/writer-groupie-episode-35-cecilia-dominic-author-of-eros-element/">Writer Groupie</a> for the fun interview! Click <a href="http://www.kimsmithauthor.com/writer-groupie-episode-35-cecilia-dominic-author-of-eros-element/">here</a> to see what we talked about (hint - it's not just writing, and there might be garlic involved).<br />
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Spotlight at <a href="http://linda-joyce.com/blog/2015/08/17/new-release-eros-element-by-cecilia-dominic/">Linda Joyce's blog</a> with excerpt from Chapter Two.<br />
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Tuesday, August 18:<br />
I talk about my favorite steampunk books at fellow steampunk author <a href="https://laurelwanrow.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/guest-blogger/">Laurel Wanrow's blog</a>.<br />
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Wednesday, August 19:<br />
Spotlight at the <a href="https://cdhersh.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/wednesday-special-spotlight-eros-element/">blog of C.D. Hersh</a>.<br />
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Thursday, August 20:<br />
<a href="http://meganmorganauthor.com/2015/08/20/guest-blog-cecilia-dominic">Characters on the Couch hosted by Megan Morgan.</a> See what happens when Edward and Iris come in for a session.<br />
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<a href="https://smartgirlsscifi.wordpress.com/2015/08/20/teatime-reading-eros-element/">Review</a> at Smart Girls read Sci Fi blog - first review!<br />
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Friday, August 21:<br />
<a href="http://nancyleebadger.blogspot.com/2015/08/nancy-lee-badger-interviews-author.html">Author interview at Nancy Lee Badger's blog</a>. She asked some really interesting questions.<br />
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Saturday, August 22:<br />
I'm not going to be online because it's my [mumble, mumble]th high school reunion, and I'm also talking about procrastination to the Southern Magic Chapter of the Romance Writers of America in Birmingham. <a href="http://www.southernmagic.org/programs.html">Meeting info</a>.<br />
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Sunday, August 23:<br />
<a href="http://frank-tuttle.blogspot.com/2015/08/guest-spotlight-cecilia-dominic.html">Revie</a>w at fellow author Frank Tuttle's blog.<br />
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Monday, August 24:<br />
<a href="http://www.romance-ffp.com/what-were-they-thinking-historical-research-from-a-psychological-perspective/">What were they thinking? Historical research from a psychological perspective.</a><br />
Craft article at the Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal chapter of RWA website.<br />
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Tuesday, August 25:<br />
RELEASE DAY!!!!<br />
Believe it or not, it's been several hours since I've had caffeine. I'm just seriously excited about this.<br />
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There are a couple of virtual events. First, I'll be doing a Twitter chat/Q&A from 11:30 to noon CDT (that's 12:30 to 1:00 for those of us here in the Eastern slice of the U.S.) through Fresh Fiction. Follow the #FFbchat hashtag and come say hi!<br />
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Then on Tuesday evening from 5:30 to 9:30 EDT, I'm hosting a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/897405513672260/">party at my Facebook page</a>. There will be takeovers by authors who write steampunk and other genres such as urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance, and prizes. You can see their books below and RSVP for the party and check out the author schedule <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/897405513672260/">here</a>. It's okay if you can only come to part of it - that's the beauty of virtual parties. There's also no such thing as an awkward goodbye.<br />
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I do have a blog blitz scheduled for a few days after the release. Here's the <a href="http://shadesofrosemedia.com/eros-element-by-cecilia-dominic/">schedule</a>. Follow along for more excerpts and the chance to win a $25 Amazon gift certificate or a signed paperback copy of Eros Element.<br />
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Finally, if you're in the Atlanta area on August 29, I'm having a tea party to celebrate Eros Element's release. I will also of course have books for sale and signing. Click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/873825192700403/">here</a> for details and to RSVP to the Facebook event.<br />
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Yes, I've been enjoying making graphics lately.<br />
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Thank you so much for reading and following along, and I hope you will consider purchasing and reviewing Eros Element! Click <a href="http://ceciliadominic.blogspot.com/2015/07/cover-reveal-eros-element-aether.html">here</a> for an excerpt. Oh, and if you want to follow along for news of releases, sales, and wine and sleep tips, please consider <a href="http://eepurl.com/bjz2yf">signing up for my newsletter</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Element-Aether-Psychics-Cecilia-Dominic-ebook/dp/B00Y05TWDC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436139642&sr=1-1&keywords=eros+element" target="_blank">Amazon</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eros-element-cecilia-dominic/1121969555?ean=9781619230002" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a></div>
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<a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Cecilia_Dominic_Eros_Element?id=hR51CQAAQBAJ" target="_blank">Google Books</a></div>
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<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/eros-element" target="_blank">Kobo</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5545/eros-element" target="_blank">Samhain Publishing</a></div>
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-11962599441882275362015-08-15T16:01:00.002-07:002015-08-16T11:40:52.430-07:00Blood's Shadow on sale for 99 cents through August 21!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3MhbjRf2EqcgWP0OBg3zMsU_VWEsAIXlU_k6G3EMFS6AvszwqUvH_c22tC6QjwYO8tuUo1NFVRHdsCAvRcBPeYwEkNj4IeSjRpZGvmh4RTxPFPICa1UPof8an8iNC2NsQ5cPrUIdTR4YG/s1600/BloodsShadow72lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3MhbjRf2EqcgWP0OBg3zMsU_VWEsAIXlU_k6G3EMFS6AvszwqUvH_c22tC6QjwYO8tuUo1NFVRHdsCAvRcBPeYwEkNj4IeSjRpZGvmh4RTxPFPICa1UPof8an8iNC2NsQ5cPrUIdTR4YG/s400/BloodsShadow72lg.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Encountering werewolves can be deadly.<br />
Trying to cure them? Murder.</td></tr>
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I'm pleased to announce that the third Lycanthropy Files book Blood's Shadow is on sale now through Friday, August 21 for 99 cents. Here are the buy links:<br />
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<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjAAahUKEwimwOn1k6zHAhWIExoKHa55AaY&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBloods-Shadow-The-Lycanthropy-Files-ebook%2Fdp%2FB00MO9WHFQ&ei=sL_PVaaoPIinaK7zhbAK&usg=AFQjCNG7743RK80duBsQs33GoHyv7zS8nw&sig2=O8VOsjD7Bj2sAYOGm9WStQ&bvm=bv.99804247,d.bGQ">Amazon</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEsQFjAKahUKEwimwOn1k6zHAhWIExoKHa55AaY&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.barnesandnoble.com%2Fw%2Fbloods-shadow-cecilia-dominic%2F1120137841&ei=sL_PVaaoPIinaK7zhbAK&usg=AFQjCNGkdauI-6Vo4beiyhEJB-Vh9fz1Sg&sig2=FWtWfTAq0EArIzjRHpX1Jg&bvm=bv.99804247,d.bGQ">Barnes & Noble</a></div>
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<a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=G71EBAAAQBAJ&rdid=book-G71EBAAAQBAJ&rdot=1&source=gbs_vpt_read&pcampaignid=books_booksearch_viewport">Google</a></div>
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<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/blood-s-shadow">Kobo</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=13&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CFgQFjAMahUKEwimwOn1k6zHAhWIExoKHa55AaY&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.samhainpublishing.com%2Fbook%2F5202%2Fbloods-shadow&ei=sL_PVaaoPIinaK7zhbAK&usg=AFQjCNHrD6z-Lq7D4dANxcrzU33mG48arQ&sig2=A2oqNnCa8sal1IlkclNI1A&bvm=bv.99804247,d.bGQ">Samhain Publishing</a> (all ebook formats)</div>
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Although this is the third in the Lycanthropy Files series, it was written to be read alone if necessary. Here's what Paranormal Romance Authors that Rock had to say about it:From the Paranormal Romance Authors that Rock review:</div>
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<i>This is my first time reading any of Cecilia Dominic’s books. It won’t be the last. I enjoyed her spin on the werewolf tales.</i></div>
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<i>This book was more of a Werewolf mystery with a dash of romance. The characters were well thought out and complex.</i></div>
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<i>Strong writing, hooked me from the start to the end...</i></div>
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<i>(click <a href="https://pratr.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/bloods-shadow-by-cecilia-dominic/">here </a>for the full five-fang review)</i></div>
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As the Investigator for the Lycanthrope Council, Gabriel McCord encountered his share of sticky situations in order to keep werewolf kind under the radar of discovery. Now, as the Council's liaison to the Institute for Lycanthropic Reversal, he advocates for those who were turned werewolf against their will. </div>
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Everyone seems to be on board with the Institute’s controversial experimental process—until one of its geneticists is found lying on his desk in a pool of blood.</div>
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Gabriel races to single out a killer from a long list of suspects: Purists, who believe lycanthropy is a gift that shouldn’t be returned. Young Bloods, who want the cure for born lycanthropes as well as made. The Institute's own very attractive psychologist, whose most precious possession has fallen into the hands of an ancient secret society bent on the destruction of werewolves. </div>
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Failure means he’ll lose his place on the Council and endanger the tenuous truce between wizard and lycanthrope. Even if he wins, he could lose his heart to a woman with deadly secrets of her own.</div>
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Warning: Some bloody scenes, adult language, and consensual sex between adults. Also alcohol consumption at Scottish levels and tempting portrayals of unhealthy Scottish food.</div>
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From Chapter Eight:<br />
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I checked through the peephole and saw the last person I expected: Selene.<br />
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I opened the door and pulled Selene inside. “Are you crazy? You don’t know who might be out there!”<br />
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“What is your problem?” She detached her arm from my grip and narrowed her eyes at the Scotch in my hand. “Are you drinking that straight from the bottle?”<br />
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“No, I’m drinking it from a glass like a gentleman,” I said and motioned for her to follow me into the kitchen, thinking it would be best to introduce her to David before he surprised us. But when I got in there, I saw he’d left through the side door. His empty glass sat on the counter beside the letter from my father, and the sound of his car’s engine started and moved away.<br />
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“What’s that?” she asked and reached for it.<br />
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“Official business,” I told her and picked it up. It barely had any weight to it, and I handled it carefully.<br />
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“From when, nineteen hundred?”<br />
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“Nineteen forty-three,” I murmured.<br />
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She shook her head. “Look, I’m sorry if I’m interrupting something,” she said. “I was driving by and…” She squeezed her eyes shut. “That’s a lie. I looked you up and found you.”<br />
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I bit my tongue so I wouldn't ask if she’d consulted her scarfaced concussion-dealing friend before showing up for a visit. “What can I fix you to drink?”<br />
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She opened her eyes, and her open face betrayed her surprise. How had she gotten mixed up with that bloke at the pub? She reeked of innocence, but she was no dummy. “To drink?” she asked.<br />
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“The rules of hospitality dictate that if a guest shows up at one’s residence, one should offer some sort of refreshment. Thus, would you like a drink?”<br />
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She nodded. “Do you have any wine?”<br />
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I gestured to my dual zone wine fridge. “Red or white?”<br />
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“White, please.”<br />
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Soon I had her settled with a glass of Chenin Blanc on the opposite end of the sofa. The similarity to David’s visit from earlier didn’t escape me, but she was nicer to look at.<br />
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“So what brings you to Shady Acres?” I asked. “I’m afraid it’s not the Scotland in coffee table books.”<br />
“It’s fine,” she said. “It’s not so different from home except our historical houses are a couple, not several, hundred years old. As for what brings me…” She looked into her glass. “I wanted to know how the investigation into Otis’s death is going.”<br />
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“I had official business today, so I wasn’t able to do any investigating, but I will give it my full attention tomorrow. I’m hoping Garou will have his reports ready by then.”<br />
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“Are you going to question us? He already did.”<br />
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“That depends. Can you add to your statement?”<br />
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“Garou implied we were dating,” she said. “But we weren’t. But still, it’s my fault that Otis died.”<br />
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That drew my attention away from the curve of her neck and the way one button on her blouse seemed to hang on for dear life over her breasts. “Fill me in here. How does Garou’s implication cause you to be a murderer?”<br />
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She blinked, and two fat tears trailed down her cheeks. “Other people thought we were dating, or at least that we were more than friends. Because we were the same age and American, maybe. Lonna even hinted that it wouldn’t be a good idea to cross personal and professional relationships.” She snorted. “Like she’s not married to her co-director.”<br />
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“Right. Believe me, we did consider that, but we need both of them. Go on. I’m still not convinced LeConte’s death is your fault.”<br />
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“That morning after staffing, he asked me to walk with him to his office. He said he had something to ask me. I was afraid of what he’d say, he looked so hopeful and afraid all at the same time. I said no, I had things I needed to do before your visit. The next time I saw him, he was dead.”<br />
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“What do you think he was going to ask you?”<br />
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“To go out with him, I guess. I don’t know what else it could have been. But don’t you see? If I’d gone to his office with him, he might not have been killed or he would have had warning that something wasn’t right. You know we hear and smell better than humans do.”<br />
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“Or they might have gotten you too,” I reminded her. “Did you go to his office between his request to you that morning and when we found him?”<br />
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“I…” She looked down at her now empty wine glass. “I didn’t.”<br />
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I knew she was lying, but I didn’t want to confront her and spook my only link to the murder’s witness into running for the States. That she opened up to me even minimally gave me hope she would continue to do so as she came to trust me. “Do you remember anything else unusual about him or his behavior that day?”<br />
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“No, only that he was excited about getting the applications. He had a project on the side tracing the family records of known lycanthrope lines, and he was looking forward to putting it all together to see how the subjects’ lines intersected with the ones we know about and to isolate another genetic marker to maybe figure out why Chronic Lycanthropy Syndrome fully expresses in some people but not in others.” She shrugged. “That’s all I can remember.”<br />
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“I appreciate your coming to visit me today, but was it really necessary?”<br />
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“I needed to talk to you outside the Institute. I don’t feel comfortable there anymore.” She shuddered.<br />
“It’s like I’m being watched.”<br />
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I thought about the letter in the kitchen. “I know the feeling.”<br />
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She stood, and I did as well. “Thank you for the wine,” she said and held out her glass to me.<br />
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“My pleasure.” Our fingertips brushed when she handed the crystal over, and again, I got the image of her as a wolf looking into a pool of water, not unlike where David and I had stopped and been shot at that afternoon.<br />
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She looked up at me with a smile she tucked away, and again, I wondered what she’d seen. It was unusual enough for such strong visual images to come through with scent, and for them to do so with touch puzzled me. Was it part of me coming into my full power?<br />
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“I should be going,” she said.<br />
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I followed her to the front door. “Be careful,” I told her. “You don’t know who or what is out there watching.”<br />
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With a quick nod, she walked to her car and went to the passenger side before sighing and going to the driver’s side. She must not have been in the country that long if she was still trying to drive from the wrong side of the car. I hoped she would remember what side of the road to use.<br />
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Don't forget! Eros Element will be released on August 25. Stay tuned for blog tour schedule. If you'd like to join in the release day fun, I will be participating in a chat with Fresh Fiction at 11:30 CT (12:30 EDT) on Twitter. Here's the <a href="http://bit.ly/1RDAGYF">link</a>.<br />
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From 5:30 to 9:30, I'll be doing a Facebook party with guest authors. RSVP to join the event <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/897405513672260/l">here</a>. There will be book giveaways and prizes!<br />
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<br />Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-7322160533614844582015-08-13T03:00:00.000-07:002015-08-18T05:13:32.375-07:00Characters on the Couch: Lia and Lucas from Linda Joyce's Her Heart's Desire - Updated 8/18Today I'm excited to welcome fellow author and Georgia Romance Writers member Linda Joyce. She writes great fiction with Southern flair no matter where it's set. I've already <a href="http://amzn.com/B011LLKFXS">preordered</a> my copy of this one.
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Update - happy book birthday to Linda and Her Heart's Desire! You can get it <a href="http://amzn.com/B011LLKFXS">here</a>.<br />
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<i>Artist Amelia Britton battles her older brother for the right to remain on the family farm—their inheritance after their parents’ tragic deaths—she faces a looming mortgage, weather threatens to destroy her crops, and the man she secretly loves only sees her as Craig’s little sister. </i></div>
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<i>After serving his country in Afghanistan, Lucas Dwyer expected to return home to his family’s farm, but the bank foreclosed. Undeterred, he begins combining-for-hire to support his younger sister in college. His best friend convinces him to discourage local guys from dating Amelia. Craig wants her back in the city, farming is too hard for a woman alone. Only one problem—Lucas has fallen in love with Amelia. </i></div>
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<i>With family, the bank, and the weather conspiring against them, can Amelia and Lucas ever hope to grow the love blooming between them? </i></div>
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<i>1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.</i></div>
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Lucas: Hello, Doc. I’ll take this question. On the serious side, I’ve seen what combat does to a man in Afghanistan, so if I thought I needed to go, I would, but that’s not why I’m here now. *grins* Besides, I’m sure if Lia thought I needed a shrink, she’d lasso me and drag me. She can rope—stationary objects. She’ll never make it in a calf-roping event at the American Royal in Kansas City. Just to clarify, I’m here at Linda’s invitation.</div>
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<i>2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?</i></div>
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Lia: The “presenting problem” is Craig—my brother. Everything can be linked back to him--over achieving, over cautious, over bearing, and stepping way over the line when he recruited Lucas to “talk” to guys who wanted to date me. Talk in this case is a synonym for dissuading. I’m not sure I can forgive him for interfering with my life in such an intrusive way. Brothers! Can’t live with them. Can’t shoot them, or at least there’s no official hunting season on them in Kansas. So Doctor, by talking with you today, there’s a remote chance you’ve saved his life…maybe.</div>
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Lucas: Woman, you need to be fair. He’s got his faults, but his heart was in the right place—until he pulled a gun on me. Even if Craig were to back off—Mother Nature is unpredictable—some time friend, sometimes foe. Way worse than Craig could hope to be. </div>
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<i>3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?</i></div>
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Linda: Excuse me, Lia and Lucas, I’ll take this question, after all, who’s in charge here? So…Lia would scan the room looking for something interesting about it to paint. Maybe the way light slants across your desk and makes water in your glass sparkle. Lucas, on the other hand, would sit down in the chair, pull it closer to your desk and want to get down to business—do and be done—as quickly as possible. He’s got work on his brain. Did I get that right? *Lia and Lucas nod.* </div>
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<i>4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?</i></div>
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Lia: I’m here because Linda said it might be good for me…to deal with the guilt I have about my mother. When Craig and I found the secret room in the barn, packed floor to ceiling with unopened boxes, it threw me. My mother turned to hording before she died, and I’m not sure why…but I fear it’s my fault. However, if she hadn’t squirreled away all those boxes with all that stuff, I would’ve had to leave the farm, which would’ve been disastrous because the separation would have ruined any chance for a relationship with Lucas.</div>
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<i>5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?</i></div>
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Linda: *chuckles* There’s actually a scene in Her Heart’s Desire where Lia goes into a bar alone in the middle of the day, alone—a no-no in the Britton moral family code. Today, if she were to leave your office and head to Rockets—the bar in Harvest, Kansas, I believe she’d order a shot of tequila—something she’s never done before, then wait for Zoe to get off work—together they’d polish off a pitcher of margaritas. Beats shooting Craig. </div>
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<i>6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)?</i></div>
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Linda: When I first started writing, I used character interviews, a fill-in-the-blank method, sort of like putting lemon juice on invisible ink to make it appear—to make a character visible. If you’re familiar with yoga, it’s best to move into a pose instead of forcing a pose. For me, the interview method was like forcing, and now I prefer to move into learning about a character by listening. They’ll tell me what I need to know. I’ve not used Myers-Briggs, however, I can usually type a character after we’ve been well introduced. One tool I do use—an astrological chart. I studied astrology for two years, a class a week, and I barely know a thimble full. There’s one other way I learn about characters—they invite me in. One book I’m working on about three women, they came to me fully formed. It was as though I took an empty seat at a four-top, and they just talked as if I was there to take dictation. It was a bit eerie because when I pulled the chair up, it was the same as downloading the backstory. I knew them. And, no, they’re not people from my other life—the one where I feed dogs, pay bills, and take a care of family.</div>
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Linda Joyce is an award-winning contemporary romance author. She writes about assertive females pursuing goals and the men who can’t resist them. She’s a self-professed foodie with Beauregard, Jack, and Renoir as her kitchen canine companions. Linda’s a big fan of jazz and blues and attributes her love of those musical genres to her southern roots. She penned her first manuscript while living in Japan, the country where her mother was born and raised. She spent twelve wonderful years in Kansas. Now she lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and four-legged boys and writes novels.</div>
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You can find her at:</div>
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<span style="color: #00007f; font-size: small;">Website: <a href="http://www.linda-joyce.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Linda-Joyce</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #00007f; font-size: small;">Facebook Author Page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LindaJoyceAuthor" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">LindaJoyceAuthor</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #00007f;">Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/LJWriter" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">@LJWriter</a> </span></span></div>
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You can preorder Her Heart's Desire on <a href="http://amzn.com/B011LLKFXS">Amazon</a>.</div>
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Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-83355244392826995772015-08-06T00:00:00.000-07:002015-08-06T07:24:26.712-07:00Character on the Couch & Guest Post - Cecilia Tan's Ziggy<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>I'm excited to welcome bestselling and award-winning author Cecilia Tan back to the blog today with her character Ziggy of the Daron's Rock Chronicles series. Volume 7 dropped, er, launched on Tuesday.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>First, let's hear from Cecilia why she decided on the fascinating setting of the 1980's rock scene:</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Why Rock Fiction?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I've been writing Daron's Guitar Chronicles since the 1980s, when I was a teenager living in the suburbs of New Jersey. MTV was new then, and nonstop music videos brought visions of David Bowie, Prince, and Siouxsie Sioux right into my suburban den. These are the visions that saved my life, the guardian angels who told me through their songs and their mere existence that there was something else besides the crushing conformity of suburban life. Rock and roll called to me as a lifeline.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I was always the "weird kid." Even when other kids didn't know WHAT was weird about me, they knew I was different. I just couldn't conform enough to their idea of normal. Teachers called me "creative," but didn't really know how to support my overactive imagination: no one lets you write fiction instead of a book report. (I confess: Mr. Mantegna, that book I said I read about the silver condor in fifth grade? I totally made that up.) To protest the tyranny of the "fashionable girls" I started wearing a Han Solo costume to school, complete with blaster strapped to my leg. To me the idea of being a rock star would mean I could wear whatever the heck I wanted--spandex? a unicorn horn? a tuxedo?--and people would love me for it instead of bullying me. Rock and roll, to me, has always been about the outsider becoming loved instead of reviled.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">In Daron's Guitar Chronicles, our hero is a talented guitar player who dreams of escaping suburban hell in New Jersey and making it big (sound familiar?). When his story starts he has made it as far as music school in Rhode Island. Daron has a lot of challenges in his way, not the least of which is he's scared to death people will find out he's gay. Heck, Daron is scared to death of BEING gay. He fears not only that if his sexuality is exposed it will prevent him from having a successful career, but on a deeper level he fears intimacy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Enter Ziggy, the lead singer Daron's band needs to succeed, but what relationship is more intimate than being a partner in creative pursuits? Writing music together, performing it live, and bonding as bandmates gives Ziggy far more access to Daron's head and heart than Daron realizes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Some see Daron as having two quests, one for artistic success, one for romantic love. But really it's all one big quest for love: from the fans, from the men in his life, and from himself. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">So why rock fiction? It's the perfect vehicle for me to explore the inner workings of my poor angst-ridden heroes and the ways they push against conformity. These boys aren't going to live in a suburban box. They can't. They'd die, creatively and spiritually if not actually, if they were forced to be "normal." And I get to explore all the issues about love and acceptance in a giant metaphor (the music business) for how damaging love can be. Like the Bowie song says, "And when the kids had killed the man, I had to break up the band."</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Oh, and did I mention the story is set in the 1980s? I started writing it then and when I started publishing it in 2009, instead of updating it to the present, I kept it in the era of AIDS, Just Say No, and Silence=Death. In 1986 the "alternative rock" revolution hasn't happened yet. And neither has the gay "coming out" movement. So that's yet another way I get to equate rock music and love outside the mainstream.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">It's all one giant addictive tapestry of garage rock, arena shows, basement rehearsals, tour mishaps, friendship, love, and art, told through the eyes of a musician who has as much to learn about life as he has to learn about himself. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Daron's story is now seven books long--volume seven in the series releases today [CD note - er, Tuesday]!--and the web serial continues over at <a href="http://daron.ceciliatan.com/">http://daron.ceciliatan.com</a>. Readers have told me they find the series deeply entrancing. Daron becomes like a best friend to many, so talented and beautiful and flawed, you want to root for him to succeed day after day. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCMNUPpMl9TK9FX7l1xpWcm43qTarK2Zf2hY1B6VKvDuNBf_q6GuZklkdjNVHGatxOGa3aY_K01pjb9RYA9ZORF0Ry9Eniwt7dnAqSo_g6c-RH9sWUM9oNkm6Os697T1gwZ0s49eYQpzth/s1600/dgc_book_1_new_cover_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCMNUPpMl9TK9FX7l1xpWcm43qTarK2Zf2hY1B6VKvDuNBf_q6GuZklkdjNVHGatxOGa3aY_K01pjb9RYA9ZORF0Ry9Eniwt7dnAqSo_g6c-RH9sWUM9oNkm6Os697T1gwZ0s49eYQpzth/s320/dgc_book_1_new_cover_400.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">If you want to cheer him on, too, book one of the series is free right now on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EHZUA0/">Amazon</a> and <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/25887">Smashwords</a>, and the full chapters of the entire serial can be read at any time on Wattpad or on the Daron's Guitar Chronicles home site. </span></span><br />
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<i style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Thank you so much, Cecilia! This sounds like a fascinating series, and I can't wait to meet the characters in depth. Let's start with Ziggy, who's this week's Character on the Couch: </i><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Ziggy has a rocky history with psychologists. He was sent to one as a teenager and ended up in bed with the guy, because seducing people is the way Ziggy gets the upper hand in any relationship. <i>(CD - Oooh, nightmare patient).</i> Now, though, he's in his mid-twenties and he's a successful pop star. You'd think he'd be happy, but he isn't. The pressures of fame and his mother's recent death have been gnawing at him, as is his broken relationship with his former guitar player/partner, Daron. I think he goes to see a psychologist because he wants an impartial judge, someone who has no investment in whether Ziggy's ego gets bruised or not. <i>(CD: Okay, that's better)</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The weight on Ziggy's back is guilt. Ziggy has always put himself first before other people. He grew up somewhat underprivileged but doted on by his single mother. However, she died while he was out of the country, on a spiritual retreat to India he didn't even tell her he was going on. He has nightmares that she died alone, that she died from worrying about him. He also feels very guilty that the breakup of Moondog Three, the band he and Daron founded, is his fault, and that he screwed Daron's career by going solo. At this point the guilt itself might be so overwhelming it might prevent him from making amends.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>CD: This is great multilayered internal conflict! (takes notes)</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Ziggy saunters in like he owns the place, full of self-possession, and even smiles because he wants to seem friendly. He's optimistic as he shakes hands: he wants help, and he loves talking about himself, so this should go swimmingly, right? He kicks off his electric blue boots and sits crosslegged on the couch in a half-lotus.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Oh yes, he loves to talk, especially about himself. But he guards his heart, too, so I expect he might talk a lot about little things at first, "winnable" battles. But eventually he'll say, "Look, I've read some Freud. I know I've got some kind of Oedipal complex going on. I'm absolutely haunted by my mother right now."</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Ziggy orders a cosmopolitan and stares into it, playing with the cherry on the end of the toothpick but not drinking it. Then over the top of the rim of the glass he makes eye contact with someone. Doesn't matter if they're male, female, married, single, alone, or there with friends, he'll be having sex with them in under two hours, guaranteed.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)?</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Characters like Ziggy have a lot of layers. I know them very well the moment they pop into my head but it takes time for all their twists and turns to be revealed. That only happens when I "play test" them, i.e. through real writing of the scenes they're in. That's how you find out how they'd really react or what they'd relaly say. Ziggy is full of surprises and yet they all add up. Just for fun I put him through a Myers-Briggs test online and he came up ENFP, same as what Frost, the last character I sent to your couch came up with! I hadn't realized I liked that type so much!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>CD: It's funny how we gravitate to certain types like that. I tend to write introverted intuitives. It would be interesting to research whether we tend to write types closer to ours.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>So, once again, if you'd like to meet Daron and Ziggy (and I definitely do!), here are the links:</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">New book: Daron's Guitar Chronicles volume 7, launches August 4, at Amazon: <a href="https://amzn.com/B00ZN34BEK">https://amzn.com/B00ZN34BEK</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">First volume of Daron's Guitar Chronicles is free at:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/25887">Smashwords</a> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The full chapters of t</span></span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">he entire serial can be read at any time on Wattpad or on the Daron's Guitar Chronicles home site.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cecilia Tan is the winner of the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in Erotica and the author of over a dozen novels. Her forthcoming January 2016 novel from Hachette/Forever, Taking the Lead, pairs a bad boy rock star and a Hollywood heiress with a secret.</span></span>Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-70868169229633877792015-07-31T21:00:00.000-07:002015-08-01T14:18:02.875-07:00Long Shadows on sale August 1-7!<i>"People say I'm beautiful, but they don't see the monster inside..."</i><br />
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That's how the second book of the Lycanthropy Files series starts. The feedback I got from readers is that they love the heroine Lonna for her snarky, clever tone. The hero Max is a hot doctor with a Caribbean accent and some unusual talents. Haven't read the first one? That's okay - I wrote them as a series but also to be read as standalones as well. If you'd like to start at the beginning, you can read about the first Lycanthropy Files book <i>The Mountain's Shadow</i> <a href="http://ceciliadominic.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-mountains-shadow-on-sale-for-99.html">here</a>.<br />
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The Long Shadows ebook is available for 99 cents from August 1-7 from:<br />
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<a href="http://store.samhainpublishing.com/long-shadows-p-73287.html" target="_blank">Samhain Publishing</a> (all formats)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Lycanthropy-Files-Cecilia-Dominic-ebook/dp/B00H54X8GC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1393438690&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/long-shadows-cecilia-dominic/1117685729?ean=9781619220140" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/long-shadows-4">Kobo</a><br />
Anywhere else ebooks are sold.<br />
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<i>Being unique isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.</i></div>
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By day, Lonna Marconi’s busy career keeps her mind off the fact she was turned werewolf against her will. By night, a dose of wolfsbane lets her inner wolf out to play while her physical body stays safe at home.</div>
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When an overheard phone call at work warns her a trap is about to be sprung, she turns from hunter to hunted in the blink of an eye.</div>
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She finds refuge with the Ozarks pack she never claimed as her own. Upon discovering a family secret that explains why she’s unique among her own kind, Lonna finds heat in the arms of Max, who’s the one thing she cannot trust—a wizard.</div>
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Another kidnapping attempt sends her navigating the treacherous metaphysical borders of a centuries-old war, pursued by rogue sorcerers, a band of ghostly wolves, and repressed memories that prevent her from reclaiming her heritage. All the while, trusting her back to a wizard who demands the price of her heart…who may not have the luxury of giving his in return.</div>
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I hadn’t physically changed since the first time six months before. Then, in a trance, I had opened the front door to my apartment, taken off my clothes, and changed into a wolf with the world watching. Okay, not quite the world. It was pretty late, and my apartment complex was quiet. Since then, I had spirit-walked with the aid of the aconite, which caused me to create an astral projection of my wolf self rather than physically change. Somehow I could still eat what I hunted, and I hoped that wouldn’t translate into bad blood work. Who knew how much wild critters would raise one’s cholesterol? A stupid concern, I know, considering everything else. It’s funny what the mind latches on to. </div>
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Now I sat in the living room at Joanie’s and Leo’s house with them, all of us wrapped in sheets, as we waited for the moon to rise and for its light to sing in our blood. We could change without it, but it was easier in its light, which compelled us when it was full. I suppressed the urge to giggle at the sight, like we were at the most boring toga party ever. Joanie caught my eye, and her lips twitched like she thought the same. </div>
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The moon rose, its light spilling through the bank of windows. </div>
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“It’s time,” Joanie murmured. </div>
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My inner wolf stretched and yawned, unfurling to her full spiritual presence. </div>
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<i>“We can change? she asked. Really change?” </i></div>
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“Yes, just be gentle with me.” Again I stuffed the urge to laugh. I hadn’t said those words in a really long time. </div>
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I gasped when my human spirit shrank. The sensation was that of hurtling down a long hallway, then </div>
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landing in a warm pool and expanding within it to fill a new shape. The inner wolf and I became one. </div>
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I heard tendons snapping and bones cracking in new arrangements and suspected I would be sore the next day.</div>
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A light nip to my shoulder brought me back to myself, and I shifted my weight so I stood evenly on all four paws. Leo, a black wolf, sat and looked at me, his tongue lolling in amusement. Joanie, a petite brown wolf who could probably pass for one of the Arkansas red wolves, had nipped me.</div>
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“You were quivering like you were ready to explode with the sensations of it all,” she said telepathically. </div>
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“It’s different from when we spirit-walk,” I responded. “I feel heavier but more powerful.” </div>
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“Do you remember anything of the first time? When Iain and I chased after you?” </div>
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“Only that I wanted to get away and be free. And Gabriel…” </div>
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A low growl from Leo halted that line of conversation. Not that I blamed him. Gabriel had tried to claim Joanie first. </div>
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“Moonlight’s wasting, girls,” he said but waited for Joanie to lead us out of the house through a—oh, the shame!—doggie door in the mud room. </div>
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“It was the easiest solution,” Joanie told me once we were through. I heard the wry smile in her voice. </div>
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Once we were fully in the moonlight, the dry brown grass under my paws, I didn’t care that we’d been relegated to the status of mere <i>canis domesticus</i> or whatever the hell regular dogs were. I chased after her, nipping at her flank, and she mock-growled at me. We tumbled and tussled before I drew back.</div>
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“When do we hunt?” It came out as a vocal whine. </div>
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“When Matthew arrives.” Leo looked around, his ears perked. “He should have been here by now.” </div>
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“Maybe he got delayed by something? Too much traffic on the road, perhaps, or the cubs wanting to come with him?” The image of the playful pups didn’t dispel the concern in Joanie’s mental voice, and I remembered Matthew saying they never hunted alone anymore. </div>
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Leo paced back and forth on the lawn. “He said he’d be on time.” </div>
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A gunshot rang out, and all of us sat up, ears swiveling back and forth. </div>
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“What the hell was that?” I asked. “Okay, I know what it was, but what was it?” Human logical processes weren’t exactly working well, but they knew what I meant. </div>
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“Danger!” Joanie yelled in her mental voice, and we scrambled for the house, but another gunshot and a puff of wet dirt and grass in front of Leo, who had the lead, sent us toward the woods.</div>
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Thanks for reading! If you'd like to grab the ebook for 99 cents from August 1-7, here are the links again:</div>
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<a href="http://store.samhainpublishing.com/long-shadows-p-73287.html" target="_blank">Samhain Publishing</a> (all formats)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Lycanthropy-Files-Cecilia-Dominic-ebook/dp/B00H54X8GC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1393438690&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/long-shadows-cecilia-dominic/1117685729?ean=9781619220140" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/long-shadows-4">Kobo</a><br />
Anywhere else ebooks are sold.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdnnfY_uFmF8MedhVcggjw7bTmonGT5oO8waaAUvZXbN6YlI1EfMNoBtK7hwsuMZjnNVOLLYmdYqqRJ4rYtBARIoTnIyuDCEHBLCs0j-pGHzH8H8UjyKJE9aLV95_oqTG6ZOi072bSK7AT/s1600/ErosElement72lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdnnfY_uFmF8MedhVcggjw7bTmonGT5oO8waaAUvZXbN6YlI1EfMNoBtK7hwsuMZjnNVOLLYmdYqqRJ4rYtBARIoTnIyuDCEHBLCs0j-pGHzH8H8UjyKJE9aLV95_oqTG6ZOi072bSK7AT/s320/ErosElement72lg.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Also, don't forget that Eros Element, the first in my steampunk Aether Psychics series is now available for preorder. You can learn more about it <a href="http://ceciliadominic.blogspot.com/2015/07/cover-reveal-eros-element-aether.html">here.</a><br />
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If you'd like to stay informed about sales and new releases as well as get the first peek at cover reveals and excerpts, please sign up for my <a href="http://eepurl.com/bjz2yf">e-newsletter</a>. I send them out one to two times per month and include sleep tips and information about wines I've enjoyed lately. You can sign up <a href="http://eepurl.com/bjz2yf">here</a>.<br />
<br />Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-26665280529618098792015-07-23T00:00:00.000-07:002015-07-23T00:00:04.021-07:00Character on the Couch: Dante from Wandering SoulToday I'm excited to welcome Cassandra Chandler and her hero Dante to the blog. I can't wait to read her book, which is a new riff on the Phantom of the Opera story. We share a publisher, editor, <i>and </i>cover artist, so it's like we're author sisters!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't this gorgeous?</td></tr>
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<i><b>A leap across time is easy...if you throw your heart first.</b></i></div>
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A woman with a secret…</div>
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Elsa Sinclair’s ability to bring stunning realism to her historical novels is a secret she must never reveal. She does her research first-hand—by traveling back in time.</div>
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When she stumbles across the man behind the legendary Phantom of the Opera, she is moved by his strength, his kindness…and the moments when his solitary existence seems unbearable. She can’t simply sit by and leave him to his fiery fate.</div>
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A man out of time…</div>
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Dante Lucerne is shocked to find himself pulled from certain death and carried to another time and continent. The new world is full of wonders, not the least of which is the woman who saved him. </div>
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A darkness threatens…</div>
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As Elsa helps Dante adjust to his new world, she makes a terrifying discovery—she is falling in love. And it is Dante who must find a way to help her let go of secrets that run deeper than her power. Into the very heart of what they could lose if he fails…</div>
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Product Warnings</div>
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Contains a fiery heroine, a brilliant hero, and a love passionate enough to span a century.</div>
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<i>1. If your character were to go to a psychologist – willingly or unwillingly – what would bring them in? Yes, a court order is a valid answer.</i><br />
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I think Dante would be willing to visit a psychologist, but the irony there is that he needs it the least of all the characters in this series (except maybe Winston). Most likely, Dante would end up going to support Elsa if she ever dared to work on her issues with someone, and she would only go if her friends badgered her into it.<br />
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<i>2. Is the presenting problem one of the main internal or external conflicts in your book? If so, how does it present itself?</i><br />
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Elsa has trust issues that have clouded every relationship she’s managed to build (which isn’t many). Her friends just think she’s a control freak because she’s never opened up to them even a tiny bit about her past. They don’t realize she exists in a state of constant fear and tries to control every situation in an attempt to feel safe. Dante is the first person she lets past her guard, and even that is out of necessity. She has limited options—either bring him back to modern times or let him die in a fire. But if she brings him back with her, he’ll know about her ability to time travel. Taking the chance on rescuing Dante at the beginning of Wandering Soul, knowing that he’ll then share her secret, is the start of her journey toward learning how to trust.<br />
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<i>3. It's always interesting to see how people act when they first enter my office. Do they immediately go for my chair, hesitate before sitting anywhere, flop on the couch, etc.? What would your character do?</i><br />
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Elsa would hover by the door so she could make a quick exit if needed. Dante would remain standing, politely waiting for you to invite him to sit, and even then he’d wait for Elsa to be comfortable enough to sit down first. His posture is so good, any time I picture him I feel compelled to sit up straighter.<br />
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<i>CD: I am sitting up straighter just reading that. Perhaps I need to write more characters with good posture to cue me.</i><br />
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<i>4. Does your character talk to the therapist? How open/revealing will your character be? What will he or she say first?</i><br />
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Getting Elsa to talk would be extremely challenging. She’s adept at deflection, and would feel threatened by what she would perceive as someone trying to pry into her life. Dante might talk more than usual to help her not feel pressured to open up. He would have tons of questions about the field of psychology and be a delightful conversationalist. If Elsa ever thought that the conversation was making Dante uncomfortable, though, she would jump in. Her internal fearfulness and hesitation vanish when she thinks her loved ones need her help.<br />
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<i>5. Your character walks into the bar down the street after his/her first therapy session. What does he/she order? What happens next?</i><br />
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It would be hard to get Elsa into a bar. She and Dante would only go if they were meeting Garrett, Jazz, and Rachel for something special, like listening to live music (probably jazz). Elsa would get water and Dante would order a beer, at Garrett’s urging. They would all sit around a big table and Garrett and Jazz would work on educating Dante about their favorite type of music while Elsa quietly looked on. Jazz would try to prod Elsa to join into the conversation and Elsa would pretend to be annoyed by it, but actually be extremely happy to have Dante bonding with her surrogate family.<br />
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<i>6. When you're building characters, do you have any tricks you use to really get into their psyches, like a character interview or personality system (e.g., Myers-Briggs types)?</i><br />
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I talk to my characters in my head all the time—standing in line at the grocery store, trying to fall asleep. If I’m struggling with a scene, one of my favorite exercises is to put myself into that moment like I’m directing the story as a movie. I let my imagination run wild in a stream-of-consciousness visualization. I’ll imagine myself yelling, “Cut!” and the characters stop what they’re doing to talk things through. They’re still the same people that they are in the story, but aware that they’re fictional characters. We go over plot and character points, and I learn quite a bit about them and the story that way. It’s also a really fun exercise.<br />
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<i>CD: Oh, that does sound fun! I may have to try it with my next book, which is in the conceptual stage at the moment.</i><br />
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<i>Thank you so much for stopping by, and congratulations with your new release!</i><br />
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Cassandra Chandler has studied folklore and mythology for her entire life and been accused of taking fairy tales a bit too seriously. In her youth, when not reading or watching science-fiction movies, she could be found running through the wilds of Ohio and Florida. Raised in a household where tarot readings and viewing auras were considered mundane, she spends her time writing and trying to appear normal. At least the writing is working out.<br />
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Her romances range from sweet to scorching, set in extraordinary worlds and driven by characters searching for a deep and lasting love. Her sincere hope is to make her readers look twice at that knobby old tree and perhaps decide to keep salt packets within easy reach, just in case...<br />
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She has always seen the starry sky as a destination rather than a matte painting. Her primary residence is on earth, where she lives with her amazing family and a wide variety of stuffed animals, many of whom have multiple PhDs. You can follow her thoughts on writing, life and mostly writing at <a href="http://www.cassandra-chandler.com/">www.cassandra-chandler.com</a> or see her real-time ramblings on Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/CassChandler" target="_blank">@casschandler</a>). She loves to hear from readers through email at cassandrachandler15@gmail.com!<br />
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Buy Links:<br />
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<a href="https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5493/wandering-soul" target="_blank">Samhain</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wandering-Soul-Cassandra-Chandler/dp/1619230526/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436747118&sr=8-1&keywords=wandering+soul" target="_blank">Amazon </a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILzN2hOSob0w0Jre7ifL-dLN3BERuFtJ4AnRAors3mc4eGLiLXS3wcBdS2mUfPXRczIfMSHz49g8Im8E21OIBHrwUX9_DtB_icEbnzy_syxn5GUAEj6r6gsUEqIdelT7sGrqGakTqB_cy/s1600/MountainsShadow-The72web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILzN2hOSob0w0Jre7ifL-dLN3BERuFtJ4AnRAors3mc4eGLiLXS3wcBdS2mUfPXRczIfMSHz49g8Im8E21OIBHrwUX9_DtB_icEbnzy_syxn5GUAEj6r6gsUEqIdelT7sGrqGakTqB_cy/s1600/MountainsShadow-The72web.jpg" /></a>Just a reminder - my first urban fantasy book, <i>The Mountain's Shadow</i> is currently on sale for 99 cents from all ebook retailers through tomorrow, July 24. Click <a href="http://ceciliadominic.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-mountains-shadow-on-sale-for-99.html" target="_blank">here</a> for more information and an excerpt.<br />
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You can also buy it directly from:<br />
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<a href="http://store.samhainpublishing.com/mountains-shadow-p-73020.html" target="_blank">Samhain Publishing</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Shadow-Lycanthropy-Files-ebook/dp/B00DUB24O6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377797017&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mountain%27s+shadow+cecilia+dominic" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mountains-shadow-cecilia-dominic/1116010910?ean=9781619218109" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-mountains-shadow/id672343339?mt=11" target="_blank">iTunes/Apple</a><br />
<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-mountain-s-shadow" target="_blank">Kobo</a><br />
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If you're interested in reading more about my books, wine, sleep, or psychology, please <a href="http://eepurl.com/bjz2yf" target="_blank">consider signing up for my newsletter</a>. I'll only send one to two per month. Thank you!<br />
<br />Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4512173998324896064.post-26612382458816260892015-07-18T10:02:00.002-07:002015-07-22T13:35:36.570-07:00The Mountain's Shadow - on sale for 99 cents through July 24!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtg0YEBA6GzNA_b0RIU0cXoGbWvHHaQRKIbBcOjCYK1Hco4N163YEqkaMYBAkUVB4FZ8KJcquccfVRVOWlAEQFUI1y4ymxdYERuY9OYC-EhfLZjODiOf-EWVUC-FTy0Ei6CVANe5h-hTh-/s1600/MountainsShadow-The72web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtg0YEBA6GzNA_b0RIU0cXoGbWvHHaQRKIbBcOjCYK1Hco4N163YEqkaMYBAkUVB4FZ8KJcquccfVRVOWlAEQFUI1y4ymxdYERuY9OYC-EhfLZjODiOf-EWVUC-FTy0Ei6CVANe5h-hTh-/s400/MountainsShadow-The72web.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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In anticipation of Eros Element coming out in August, my urban fantasy series will be on sale, one book at a time, one week at a time this summer. Yes, Eros Element is steampunk, but there are a lot of readers - like me! - who like both.<br />
<br />
Here are the buy links for the first, The Mountain's Shadow, which is on sale for 99 cents now through July 24:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://store.samhainpublishing.com/mountains-shadow-p-73020.html" target="_blank">Samhain Publishing</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Shadow-Lycanthropy-Files-ebook/dp/B00DUB24O6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377797017&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mountain%27s+shadow+cecilia+dominic" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mountains-shadow-cecilia-dominic/1116010910?ean=9781619218109" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-mountains-shadow/id672343339?mt=11" target="_blank">iTunes/Apple</a><br />
<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-mountain-s-shadow" target="_blank">Kobo</a><br />
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Some mistakes can literally come back to bite you.<br />
<i>The Lycanthropy Files, Book 1</i><br />
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First it was ADD. Then pediatric bipolar. Now the hot behavioral disorder in children is CLS, or Chronic Lycanthropy Syndrome. Public health researcher Joanie Fisher was closing in on the cause in hopes of finding a treatment until a lab fire and an affair with her boss left her without a job.<br />
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When her grandfather leaves her his multimillion-dollar estate in the Ozarks, though, she figures her luck is turning around. Except her inheritance comes with complications: town children who disappear during full moons, an irresistible butler, and a pack of werewolves who can’t seem to decide whether to frighten her or flirt with her.<br />
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Joanie’s research is the key to unraveling the mysteries of Wolfsbane Manor. However, resuming her work means facing painful truths about her childhood, which could result in the loss of love, friendship, and the only true family she has left.<br />
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Warning: Some sexy scenes, although nothing explicit, and adult language. Also alcohol consumption and food descriptions that may wreck your diet.<br />
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Here's an excerpt, the first time Joanie sees the wolves and recognizes that CLS might be more than a psychiatric disorder:<br />
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At three o’clock I was wide awake. Sure, I felt like someone had hit me over the head with a wine bottle, but something had awakened me, and for once it wasn’t the usual nightmare. Although at that time of night, it seemed like bad dreams couldn’t be too far away. No, it had to be something else, something external. I listened and discerned voices coming from outside. For a moment, I dismissed it as the usual hubbub outside my apartment, but then I jerked fully awake. I was at my grandfather’s manor in the middle of nowhere, Arkansas. The only people in the house were me, Lonna and the butler.<br />
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I put on my robe and slippers and tiptoed down the hall and stairs. My feet remembered the location of the creaky boards and avoided them. Instead of going through the front door, I crept through the kitchen and out the side door to the small kitchen garden.<br />
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The almost full moon illuminated the lawn and surrounding trees with weird shadows. I paused and crouched behind a hedge and tried to still the beating of my heart so my ears could pick up the voices again.<br />
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“Let Ronan make the kill,” one of them, a female argued. The voice sounded familiar. I peeked through the shrubs and saw a pack of wolves too large to be Arkansas red wolves or coyotes. Two of them, the largest and smallest, were black, and they were accompanied by a silver wolf and a golden one. They circled a deer, the animal’s eyes wide with fear at having been driven out into the open and surrounded by predators.<br />
<br />
“He’s messy.”<br />
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“He’s young,” another replied.<br />
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Talking wolves? Am I dreaming? I shut my eyes and opened them after a few seconds. Nope, still there.<br />
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“I don’t know, guys. We shouldn’t be here.”<br />
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“The old man always let us hunt here. Why should now be different?”<br />
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“His granddaughter—”<br />
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“Is a flat-chested, elf-faced ivory-tower academic who won’t even know we’ve been here.” It was the female’s voice again. “If you’re careful, Ronan.”<br />
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The golden wolf lunged at the deer but misjudged its angle, and two of the others leapt aside as the animal crashed through their circle, hooves flying.<br />
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“We’ve got to figure out how real wolves do this,” panted the silver one as they took chase.<br />
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Real wolves? I shook my head. It was too incredible. What were these things? And what did my grandfather have to do with them?<br />
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I waited five or ten minutes to make sure they wouldn’t come back and staggered to my feet, my head still reeling from what I’d just witnessed. Especially the last comment by the gray wolf. If they weren’t real wolves, what were they?<br />
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“Amazing night, isn’t it?”<br />
<br />
The voice shocked me, and I wheeled around. For a moment, it sounded like my grandfather, and I was transported back in time to my childhood as he and I stood on the balcony and found constellations. I was never good at it, my brain already bent to the reality of math and science rather than fanciful creatures in the stars.<br />
<br />
A flicker of flame and then the smoldering ash of the end of a cigarette brought me back to the present. I coughed.<br />
<br />
“Thought I’d light up while you thought about your answer.”<br />
<br />
Leonard Bowman stood there, leaves stuck to his sweater and jeans. The light of his cigarette and the moon flickered in his dark eyes.<br />
<br />
“What are you doing here?”<br />
<br />
He raised an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same question.”<br />
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“It’s my grandfather’s house.”<br />
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No answer, just a long stream of smoke.<br />
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“It’s my house,” I finally said. The words felt awkward on my tongue, and I became aware I was standing in my nightshirt and boxers in a flimsy robe on a cool night. I shivered.<br />
<br />
“So your lawyer says.”<br />
<br />
I tried my best imitation of a Gabriel shrug. Leonard smiled and dropped the cigarette, which extinguished with a hiss in the dew-damp grass.<br />
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“So do you always lurk in the bushes of your own house?”<br />
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My cheeks burned with the flush that crept up my neck. “Not always. Sometimes I lurk in the trees.”<br />
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“I’d be careful if I were you, then.” A smile flickered across his lips, but his eyes remained serious. “You never know what might be in the woods around here.”<br />
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Thank you so much for reading the excerpt! If you would like to know when the next two books in the series will be on sale or to find out more about my other books, sleep (I'm a behavioral sleep medicine specialist), and wine, please <a href="http://eepurl.com/bjz2yf" target="_blank">sign up for my email newsletter</a>.<br />
<br />
To purchase <i>The Mountain's Shadow</i>, please visit one of the following or anywhere ebooks are sold:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://store.samhainpublishing.com/mountains-shadow-p-73020.html" target="_blank">Samhain Publishing</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Shadow-Lycanthropy-Files-ebook/dp/B00DUB24O6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377797017&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mountain%27s+shadow+cecilia+dominic" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mountains-shadow-cecilia-dominic/1116010910?ean=9781619218109" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-mountains-shadow/id672343339?mt=11" target="_blank">iTunes/Apple</a><br />
<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-mountain-s-shadow" target="_blank">Kobo</a><br />
<br />
<br />Cecilia Dominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799727636246434837noreply@blogger.com0