Thanks to everyone who stopped by to talk with Laura about her books and the subject of soul mates.
Congrats to Lainey!!! You win a free download of your choice of Laura's TO SEDUCE A SOULMATE or DIVINITAS. Please contact AuthorIsland at yahoo.com with your email address and which ebook you'd like to have so Laura can get you out your prize!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
This Week At The Tiki Hut - Laura Tolomei
This week's special guest is eXtasy Books author, Laura Tolomei who stops by to talk about the journey through space and time of souls and soulmates.
Souls and soul mates: analysis of a journey through lives, times and space
by Laura Tolomei
My latest release is titled To Seduce A Soulmate, but it’s not the first time I wrote about soul’s journeys or soul mates for that matter. True, the subject fascinates me. Must be those travels in India or my personal beliefs life isn’t a one shot deal. Repetition makes perfect, that’s why souls need more than one journey to get it right…so to speak. The fact is we have so many lessons to learn on our way to true knowledge and awareness, it seems impossible to do it all at once.
These personal beliefs have the bad habit of slipping inside my books and leaving a common thread particularly in my dialogue. But let me start at the beginning.
The first published novel that talks about such issues is Divinitas, released about a year ago, Jan. 1st to be precise. Just to refresh your memory, Divinitas is about two souls chasing one other through several lifetimes in search of a balance. Predictably, the journeys are neither smooth nor easy, at least the ones presented in three stories that make up the novel, one set in Ancient Egypt, the other during the Persian Empire and the third in Celtic Britain.
Divinitas – PG excerpt
My latest release is titled To Seduce A Soulmate, but it’s not the first time I wrote about soul’s journeys or soul mates for that matter. True, the subject fascinates me. Must be those travels in India or my personal beliefs life isn’t a one shot deal. Repetition makes perfect, that’s why souls need more than one journey to get it right…so to speak. The fact is we have so many lessons to learn on our way to true knowledge and awareness, it seems impossible to do it all at once.
These personal beliefs have the bad habit of slipping inside my books and leaving a common thread particularly in my dialogue. But let me start at the beginning.
The first published novel that talks about such issues is Divinitas, released about a year ago, Jan. 1st to be precise. Just to refresh your memory, Divinitas is about two souls chasing one other through several lifetimes in search of a balance. Predictably, the journeys are neither smooth nor easy, at least the ones presented in three stories that make up the novel, one set in Ancient Egypt, the other during the Persian Empire and the third in Celtic Britain.
Divinitas – PG excerpt“How did you find your way?” Us-Yri asked at last.
“I will tell you my own personal point of view, but don't take any of this as Truth. Unfortunately, in this world we can never understand completely because a veil covers our eyes.” He paused briefly before continuing. “I believe the gods give us three tools to travel the path of Life—Body, Mind and Soul. Only the Soul will live on forever, but like a bird we desperately want to keep with us, the Body locks it in a cage. These limitations are more than enough to make us lose the right way. The Soul holds the key to our life, the past, the present and all the future lives as well—“
“You really believe we have more than one life?”
“Of course, Us-Yri. There are just too many things to learn in one single lifetime alone. We need time to grow, develop, learn about the world and mostly ourselves. Piecing together this information will set our Soul free. But Body and Mind work against it, so we can seldom collect all the right pieces and connect them in just one lifetime.”
“But how many do we need to reach—“
“Awareness?” Heru-Ur shrugged. “Each Soul will take its own time, Us-Yri. There are no fixed rules. Of course, if the Body and Mind’s limitations are strong, a Soul could take forever before it grasps the Truth.”
Now supposing the above to be true, would you want to go through several journeys alone? Or wouldn’t you rather have someone who understands you because you share a bond older than life itself?
Divinitas – PG excerpt
“I will tell you my own personal point of view, but don't take any of this as Truth. Unfortunately, in this world we can never understand completely because a veil covers our eyes.” He paused briefly before continuing. “I believe the gods give us three tools to travel the path of Life—Body, Mind and Soul. Only the Soul will live on forever, but like a bird we desperately want to keep with us, the Body locks it in a cage. These limitations are more than enough to make us lose the right way. The Soul holds the key to our life, the past, the present and all the future lives as well—“
“You really believe we have more than one life?”
“Of course, Us-Yri. There are just too many things to learn in one single lifetime alone. We need time to grow, develop, learn about the world and mostly ourselves. Piecing together this information will set our Soul free. But Body and Mind work against it, so we can seldom collect all the right pieces and connect them in just one lifetime.”
“But how many do we need to reach—“
“Awareness?” Heru-Ur shrugged. “Each Soul will take its own time, Us-Yri. There are no fixed rules. Of course, if the Body and Mind’s limitations are strong, a Soul could take forever before it grasps the Truth.”
Now supposing the above to be true, would you want to go through several journeys alone? Or wouldn’t you rather have someone who understands you because you share a bond older than life itself?
Divinitas – PG excerpt
Shaun grinned. It had taken a long training to remind Halifax who he was and now that it was finally time to explain, it felt odd, maybe because their positions seemed reversed if compared to previous lives. Shifting through past scenarios, Shaun briefly analyzed their timeless relationship, searching for answers. Somehow, Halifax had always been the seducer rather than the seduced. Reversing their roles was a necessary shift, the Druid knew it far too well, but he still had to get used to it.
“Please,” the blond missionary begged, “tell me about it.”
Where to begin? From the ancient walls of Egypt or the Persian prince’s golden bed? From our love…or the betrayal that followed? Shaun wondered as images kept playing in the fire.
Us-Yri and Set, Mitra and Varuna, Shaun and Halifax…that in Divinitas the characters change names and shapes makes little difference. They remain essentially the same souls that grow in awareness also thanks to their special relationship…if and when they have one. The problem of recognition is no small one, considering a soul has no face, no tangible trace to jog one’s memory. And in modern times, Martin has none of the Druid’s or Ancient Egyptian’s mystical knowledge to convince Pirate Drake he’s his soul mate. Martin’s only resource is in the words, which must be very powerful if he wants To Seduce A Soulmate.
To Seduce A Soulmate – PG excerpt
“Please,” the blond missionary begged, “tell me about it.”
Where to begin? From the ancient walls of Egypt or the Persian prince’s golden bed? From our love…or the betrayal that followed? Shaun wondered as images kept playing in the fire.
Us-Yri and Set, Mitra and Varuna, Shaun and Halifax…that in Divinitas the characters change names and shapes makes little difference. They remain essentially the same souls that grow in awareness also thanks to their special relationship…if and when they have one. The problem of recognition is no small one, considering a soul has no face, no tangible trace to jog one’s memory. And in modern times, Martin has none of the Druid’s or Ancient Egyptian’s mystical knowledge to convince Pirate Drake he’s his soul mate. Martin’s only resource is in the words, which must be very powerful if he wants To Seduce A Soulmate.
To Seduce A Soulmate – PG excerptMartin was about to reply when the waitress brought their platters. He pulled back to give her room, then leaned forward again. “Listen, I’m not asking you to believe in it, but don’t tell me you didn’t feel it because I read it in your eyes, too.”
“Read what?” Drake asked, suddenly feeling very cold.
“The flicker of recognition. When our eyes met, you knew who I was just as surely as I knew who you were.”
“That’s impossible, Devil,” he argued, biting his cheeseburger. “We’ve never met before in our lives.”
“You wouldn’t believe how many unexplainable things defy rationality, Pirate. When I lived in India, I saw more than my share of them.”
“They’re all visionaries over there.”
“I beg to differ, Pirate. They have an age-old tradition, a mix between magic, religion, logic and belief in the unknown. To them, the soul is something alive even when the body dies, with a million journeys behind it and a thousand more ahead, which shape it and mark its path in each successive passage.” He paused to eat a french fry. “And it’s not just an individual affair. I believe there are souls that start out together, soul mates some call them, which inevitably call for each other because alone they’re incomplete. So they go through life seeking their missing half, the essential piece that will restore them to the unity they had started out with.”
“And you think I am—“
“I don’t think, Pirate, I know.” Spoken without any emphasis, the words rang even more forceful despite Drake’s thundering heartbeat clogging his ears. “I’ve been waiting a lifetime to read what I did in your eyes and your reaction was exactly as I’d imagined it a million times in my head. That’s why I behaved like I did that first night.”
“I don’t believe this, Devil.”
“That’s your choice, Pirate. I can’t and certainly won’t force you to believe in this. When you ran away that night at your parent’s house, it became quite obvious that you weren’t ready to accept the truth anyway.”
“What truth?”
The Irish devil stretched across the table. “Just answer me honestly, Pirate. Before you met me, have you ever felt you recognized a complete stranger before in your life? Or felt an electrical current run through your body merely by standing next to someone? Or felt your heart beat so fast you feared it might fall out of your chest?”
With a heavy heart, the pirate realized there was no point in lying so he had to shake his head in denial, long hair flying around.
“But you did the moment you saw me, right?”
Divinitas
AUTHOR: Laura Tolomei
GENRE: Gay, M/M, Lesbian, Menage, Paranormal, Deities, Historical, Dark Fantasy god, gods
ISBN: 978-1-55487-215-2
RELEASEE DATE*: January 1st, 2009
FLAME RATING: 5
PUBLISHER: eXtasy Books
BUY LINK
To Seduce A Soulmate
AUTHOR Laura Tolomei
GENRE: Gay, Holiday, Contemporary, m/f, m/m, m/m/f
ISBN 978-1-55487-440-8
RELEASE DATE: December 1st, 2009
PUBLISHER: eXtasy Books
BUY LINK
WIN - Leave a message or comment for Laura this week at the Tiki Hut and your name goes in the hat for a free download of your choice of TO SEDUCE A SOULMATE or DIVINITAS. Good Luck!
Monday, January 4, 2010
This Week At The Tiki Hut - Jennifer Linforth
This week at the Tiki Hut is author Jennifer Linforth who talks about why she tackled Leroux's Phantom of the Opera in her historical series published by Highland Press.
If one is going to query a publisher, Jennifer Linforth suggests not doing so in pink ink. Her first, written when she was twelve, was nothing if not colorful. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society and the Romance Writers of America in addition to being a writing mentor. Writing historical fiction and historical romance with unusual themes and locations, such as autism and the social mores of the mentally ill in the 19th century, she has a passion for Austrian culture and is often found searching for stories in long forgotten histories.
It was her love of research and classic literature that brought her to expanding Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera.
Writing from a tiny loft office, Jennifer admits to being country mouse with city mouse tastes and is constantly fighting to keep the little critters in line. She can't pronounce pistachio, hates lollipops with gooey centers, and dearly loves to laugh. If asked for her motto in life, she points to the following poem upon her office wall:
Come to the edge. We might fall. Come to the edge. It's too high! COME TO THE EDGE! And they came, and he pushed, and they flew. ~ Christopher Logue Croyez.
Visit Jennifer's Website *** Blog *** Myspace *** Facebook *** Twitter
***
Everyone wants to undress Mr. Darcy in one way or another. Whether literally, or by expanding his story, readers yearn to dive deeper between his sheets. So why then did I choose to do so to a Phantom?
The Phantom of the Opera has one of the largest and most devoted fan followings in the world. Choosing to expand such a classic came with an impending sense of doom. Would this idea be embraced like the countless tales of Pemberly after the nuptials? Or would I be tarred and feathered…
I had to find out. The result was a three book series contracted by Highland Press Publishing, and one which has, thus far, left this author thankfully featherless.
Certain stories transcend time leaving more questions than answers. No author made me question as much as Gaston Leroux. My love for The Phantom of the Opera stemmed from a deep respect for a book that was a mystery, horror and romance rolled into one. After revisiting Leroux’s novel for the third time the questions in my head would not fade. Why—as a jurist—did he leave so many unanswered questions in such a fascinating book?
The only way to find out was to devote years of my imagination to living deep below an opera house with a corpse-like madman.
The first challenge? Breaking down the visions created by Andrew Lloyd Webber. His musical and 2004 movie starring Gerald Butler created an iconic image of The Phantom and the story as a whole. Leroux’s original is quite different from the romantic, famous love triangle of Webber’s that millions of fans saw and fell in love with. In Webber’s film and musical we see a mildly deformed man clearly oozing sex appeal who happens to have murdered out of anger. Webber stripped away the unattainable parts of Leroux’s story to leave a basic romance as the focus. In Leroux, Erik (The Phantom), was a murderously vengeful personality… a clear madman, while concurrently being a repressed and ardent gentleman. He was the central character in a Death and the Maiden tale. Hideously deformed and hiding behind a full black mask, he slept in a coffin. He had issues with maternal longings just as Christine had issues with paternal needs. Leroux penned him as a monster for a reason. I did my best to adhere to his original ideas for my series while maintaining there was indeed a man with in the madman. Naturally, certain elements were changed to suit the limits of my imagination and to reach the broader market desired by my publisher.
The second challenge? Weaving enough of Leroux’s original story into the fabric of the series so readers could enjoy it without needing to read Leroux’s book first. Book one in my series, MADRIGAL, (released October 2008) begins four years after Leroux’s original ended.
If one is going to query a publisher, Jennifer Linforth suggests not doing so in pink ink. Her first, written when she was twelve, was nothing if not colorful. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society and the Romance Writers of America in addition to being a writing mentor. Writing historical fiction and historical romance with unusual themes and locations, such as autism and the social mores of the mentally ill in the 19th century, she has a passion for Austrian culture and is often found searching for stories in long forgotten histories.
It was her love of research and classic literature that brought her to expanding Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera.
Writing from a tiny loft office, Jennifer admits to being country mouse with city mouse tastes and is constantly fighting to keep the little critters in line. She can't pronounce pistachio, hates lollipops with gooey centers, and dearly loves to laugh. If asked for her motto in life, she points to the following poem upon her office wall:
Come to the edge. We might fall. Come to the edge. It's too high! COME TO THE EDGE! And they came, and he pushed, and they flew. ~ Christopher Logue Croyez.
Visit Jennifer's Website *** Blog *** Myspace *** Facebook *** Twitter
***
Everyone wants to undress Mr. Darcy in one way or another. Whether literally, or by expanding his story, readers yearn to dive deeper between his sheets. So why then did I choose to do so to a Phantom?
The Phantom of the Opera has one of the largest and most devoted fan followings in the world. Choosing to expand such a classic came with an impending sense of doom. Would this idea be embraced like the countless tales of Pemberly after the nuptials? Or would I be tarred and feathered…
I had to find out. The result was a three book series contracted by Highland Press Publishing, and one which has, thus far, left this author thankfully featherless.
Certain stories transcend time leaving more questions than answers. No author made me question as much as Gaston Leroux. My love for The Phantom of the Opera stemmed from a deep respect for a book that was a mystery, horror and romance rolled into one. After revisiting Leroux’s novel for the third time the questions in my head would not fade. Why—as a jurist—did he leave so many unanswered questions in such a fascinating book?
The only way to find out was to devote years of my imagination to living deep below an opera house with a corpse-like madman.
The first challenge? Breaking down the visions created by Andrew Lloyd Webber. His musical and 2004 movie starring Gerald Butler created an iconic image of The Phantom and the story as a whole. Leroux’s original is quite different from the romantic, famous love triangle of Webber’s that millions of fans saw and fell in love with. In Webber’s film and musical we see a mildly deformed man clearly oozing sex appeal who happens to have murdered out of anger. Webber stripped away the unattainable parts of Leroux’s story to leave a basic romance as the focus. In Leroux, Erik (The Phantom), was a murderously vengeful personality… a clear madman, while concurrently being a repressed and ardent gentleman. He was the central character in a Death and the Maiden tale. Hideously deformed and hiding behind a full black mask, he slept in a coffin. He had issues with maternal longings just as Christine had issues with paternal needs. Leroux penned him as a monster for a reason. I did my best to adhere to his original ideas for my series while maintaining there was indeed a man with in the madman. Naturally, certain elements were changed to suit the limits of my imagination and to reach the broader market desired by my publisher.
The second challenge? Weaving enough of Leroux’s original story into the fabric of the series so readers could enjoy it without needing to read Leroux’s book first. Book one in my series, MADRIGAL, (released October 2008) begins four years after Leroux’s original ended. Despite all of the above, Erik was a simply seeking the most basic of human emotions--love. Yet how can one when love society sees you as nothing more than a deviant of the underground?
You fake your death and start anew…
Sharing the back cover blurb for MADRIGAL:
Years ago he faked his death and vowed the Phantom would never again haunt the Opera Garnier. But strange packages left by Anna, an unwanted Samaritan turned unlikely friend, causes Erik to desire the unattainable—love.
When Anna’s haunted past puts Christine Daaé in danger, Erik is falsely accused of the vicious crime. The Phantom is reborn as Erik, forced to the brink of insanity, revisits his passion for Christine—the woman he once swore to possess. Fighting the injustice against Erik, Anna struggles to prove his innocence. Standing in the way is her past that cannot be transcended, and years of prejudice labeling Erik more monster than man.
Battling the nobleman determined to lock him away, Erik must save Christine, control his demons, and tame a heart unexpectedly beating for two opposite women. Christine, who he longs to love, and Anna: the woman who saw beyond his bitter soul to the man beneath the mask.
In the midst of a brutal manhunt, can he be loved for himself or is he condemned to be The Phantom of the Opera?
Murderer, Maestro, Magician, Mastermind.
ABENDLIED, book two of The Madrigals releases January 2010 and continues to expose more of Erik and the manhunt to bring him to justice. ABENDLIED can be read prior to MADRIGAL even though it continues the first book. It follows all characters as they endure the manhunt and introduces an often forgotten part of Leroux’s plot:
Desiring normalcy is difficult enough with a price on his head, but when Erik is falsely accused of killing Philippe de Chagny, brother of his nemesis Raoul, he is launched toward madness.
Anna is an unlikely companion, sharing Erik's heart and the bounty on his head. As the manhunt heats, Erik's mysterious relationship with Philippe spurs the campaign against them forward, and exposes her darkest secret: defending her honor ended in murder.
Plagued by his past as The Phantom of the Opera, Erik's memories enslave his heart to Raoul’s wife Christine, whose shocking confession brings a ruthless bounty hunter into the fray and blackmail to the Chagny bloodline. Blackmail from a hunter who cares little about the Phantom or Philippe, and everything about the one he has lusted for: Anna.
With the past weeping like an open wound, can love endure or will it take memories of one unlikely man to heal them all?
Memories of Philippe Georges Marie, Comte de Chagny...
Philippe de Chagny was a vital secondary character in Leroux’s original story and my favorite of all classic literature. It was his story that sparked the creation of this series. A series I hope readers will continue to embrace long after I put down my quill. For those who are more adventurous, once I am done writing stories that expand classic literature I can loan them some feathers… I leave it to them to find the tar!
Enjoy!
Monday, November 23, 2009
This Week's Special Guest Is Diane Craver
As the youngest in the family growing up on a farm outside of Findlay, Ohio, Diane Craver often acted out characters from her own stories in the backyard. In high school she was the student sitting in class with a novel hidden in front of her propped up textbook. Her passion for reading novels had to be put on hold during her college years at Ohio State University with working part-time on campus and being a full-time student. Before embarking on her writing career, she was a school teacher and play director.Diane is a member of Romance Writers of America. Several non-fiction articles have been published in Woman’s World Weekly, The Catholic Telegraph, Virtue, Down Syndrome Today, WritersWeekly.com, and several other publications. Her book, The Christmas of 1957, received 5 stars from the Midwest Book Review. She writes contemporary romance, inspirational mainstream, chick-lit mystery, and non-fiction books.
After watching the original movie, Cheaper by the Dozen, young Diane decided then and there, she someday wanted a large family. By the time she married Tom, the love of her life, she decided maybe six children was a better number than twelve. She enjoys her life in southwestern Ohio with her husband and six children. Two daughters, Christina and April, live away from home with successful careers. Another two children, Bartholomew and Emily, are attending college. Life is never boring with two daughters, Sara and Amanda, born with Down syndrome living at home. Diane’s husband of thirty-one years is very supportive of her writing career, as well as her awesome children.
Visit Diane's Website *** Visit Diane's Blog
Welcome to the Tiki Hut, Diane!
***
Using Life Experiences in My Writing
As a writer, I have to admit that my stories are influenced by my many life experiences. Hey, I've lived life fully! LOL Even though I might use some real-life situations and interesting features from actual people for my characters, I create fictional stories for the reader's enjoyment.When I wrote my newest release, WHITNEY IN CHARGE, I wanted to write a story about sisters and their family bond. The focus had to be on the youngest sister, Whitney, since I'm the little sis in my family. I could easily write how the older sisters like to mother the youngest. In Whitney's case, her sisters Shannon and Regan want Whitney to get back into dating after her husband's death. Unfortunately, they think they know best and sign her up for skydiving so that she can meet hot guys. Whitney hates heights and flying! I also enjoyed writing about Whitney falling in love again.
In my chick-lit mystery, book, A FIERY SECRET, the main character is a feisty investigative reporter, Catherine Steel. The inspiration for her came from my daughter Christina. I stole a few of her amusing dating stories for a bit of the storyline. There's a secondary character Miranda born with Down syndrome. She was fun to write. I think it's important to show people with disabilities in a positive light. Miranda is actually based on my youngest daughter Amanda. She is a vivacious 19-year-old and brings great joy to our family.
Luke Brunsman, a character in my inspirational romance, NO GREATER LOSS, was inspired by my husband, Tom. I also like my heroines to be strong women with athletic abilities. Psychologist Jennifer Hunter is a great tennis player (I'm not) and Tori Moorhead in my women's fiction, NEVER THE SAME, is awesome in sports. After watching our daughters, April and Emily, excel in sports, I like to include athletic abilities in some of my female characters. I admire athletic talent, especially since I have none in that area. Hey, I started out on the varsity girls' basketball team but was moved to the reserve team.
But I don't just get creative ideas from my own family and life. TV has been a big influence. One idea actually came from a news report about a plane crash. When I heard of a woman walking away from this crash and wanting to change her life, my imagination took this compelling idea to develop the story for NEVER THE SAME. The same thing happened with A FIERY SECRET. On TV they mentioned Prince Charles and Camilla Bowles getting married, and an idea popped into my head how cool it’d be for the main character to have a fantasy related to Buckingham Palace.
I will continue writing some real-life situations for my characters, but I will also use imagination to mold them into unique people.
CONTEST: Leave a comment or question for Diane this week and you're entered in her drawing. The winner will get to choose a free download from her Samhain backlist. The titles are NO GREATER LOSS, A FIERY SECRET, or NEVER THE SAME.
Monday, October 26, 2009
This Week At The Tiki Hut - An X Rated Halloween
Thanks for such a fun post and thanks for sharing you Halloween interview with us!
We had five winners this week - each will receive a free ebook from one this week's talented authors!!!
Andrea - Judy - Joey - Estella - Booklover0226 - if we drew you name, email me at AuthorIsland.com with your info so we can get you out your free ebooks!!
Extasy Book at Halloween - Vampires, Shifters and Sex - A Match Made in Hell itself!
Halloween’s right around the corner and I’ve a great book coming out by eXtasy Books, Bloody Passion, genre M/M, ménage, horror, dark fantasy—The Druid, the hunter, the apprentice: sex, power and transformation…what else?
But this is not the news I wanted to give you. No, the real excitement is I’ve joined forces with 4 other wonderful writers, Courtney Breazile; Angela Caperton, Jamboree Jones and C.R. Moss to promote our upcoming releases. Until Angela launched the idea, few had tried a group promo adventure which is not the cost sharing of an ad, but a collective brainstorming to plan and plot new strategies on a group level, rather the usual individual one. And I must admit what we came up so far is incredible, to say the least. But first a word about our 5 books, which are:
We had five winners this week - each will receive a free ebook from one this week's talented authors!!!
Andrea - Judy - Joey - Estella - Booklover0226 - if we drew you name, email me at AuthorIsland.com with your info so we can get you out your free ebooks!!
Extasy Book at Halloween - Vampires, Shifters and Sex - A Match Made in Hell itself!
Halloween’s right around the corner and I’ve a great book coming out by eXtasy Books, Bloody Passion, genre M/M, ménage, horror, dark fantasy—The Druid, the hunter, the apprentice: sex, power and transformation…what else?But this is not the news I wanted to give you. No, the real excitement is I’ve joined forces with 4 other wonderful writers, Courtney Breazile; Angela Caperton, Jamboree Jones and C.R. Moss to promote our upcoming releases. Until Angela launched the idea, few had tried a group promo adventure which is not the cost sharing of an ad, but a collective brainstorming to plan and plot new strategies on a group level, rather the usual individual one. And I must admit what we came up so far is incredible, to say the least. But first a word about our 5 books, which are:
Reincarnated Death Wish by Courtney Breazile – Release date Oct. 15th
Green Flash by Angela Caperton – Release date Oct. 31st
Unseen Path by Jambrea Jones – Release date Oct. 31st
In the Spirit by C.R. Moss – Release date Oct. 15th
Bloody Passion by Laura Tolomei – Release date Oct. 31st
One of our best achievements is a great trailer, available on YouTube:
Another promo idea was to devise a mini-interview where each of us asked and answered 3 questions, concerning Halloween. Here are my questions and the answers I received.
1. What Halloween creature would you bring on a deserted 
island?
Angela: I think a black cat familiar. A magical one, of course, that can change into a rakish lover.
Courtney: Werewolf, one of my favorite beasts.
CR: A witch so we could manifest things
Jambrea: A werewolf...hoping he would change into a hunky man. heehee
Laura: Frankenstein with John Holmes’s equipment.
2. What Halloween creature would you choose to become?
Angela: An owl! I live in the woods and I see them and hear them this time of year. We have a mating pair of Barred Owls that live on our property and every fall I love listening to them call to each other. I think it would be wonderful to fly and hunt by moonlight.
Courtney: I would be a sexy witch, no green skin and warts.
CR: A witch ;)
Jambrea: I think I'll go with the same answer...werewolf. :)
Laura: Vampire’s wife.
3. What would be the perfect Halloween soundtrack? 
Angela: I’m a Loreena McKennitt fan, and her albums are some of the most beautiful and haunting songs and music I have heard. Mysterious, atmospheric, light and dark, she is the slice of frozen time that is Samhain – that is Halloween.
Courtney: Deep breathing.
CR: IMHO the perfect soundtrack for Halloween is the soundtrack from the movie Halloween. The first one, not the remake... Though I do like Rob Zombie's music and his ideas for the remakes...
Jambrea: Wow...this hard. Little Red Ridding Hood. There is a song out by Sam the Sham and the Pharaoh's that would be a great theme. Here is the song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J1XqEX3VBc
Laura: Howling wolves.
Read the more Q&A on the other author’s blogs:
Angela http://blog.angelacaperton.com/
Courney http://themanyshades.blogspot.com/
CR http://www.brigitsworld.blogspot.com/
Jambrea http://internationalheat.wordpress.com/
Well, what do you know…it’s been great fun and for the future, we’re scheduling chats all across the web. And however things turn out, it has been a great experience, very instructive in learning to cooperate with fellow authors and great ladies like my co-partners have proved to be. So thank you and look for us on the Internet. Ciao from Rome,
Laura Tolomei
Website http://www.lallagatta.com/
WIN - This week, you have FIVE chances to win!!! To get your name in the hat for one of the five free downloads by this week's guests, simply leave a comment or a question here at the Tiki Hut Blog this week, our FIVE winners will be chosen next Monday, so stop by next week to see who our five lucky readers are - you just may be one!
Monday, October 19, 2009
This Week's Special Guest Cherish D'Angelo/Cheryl Kaye Tardif
The Birth of Cherish D’Angelo, aka Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Call me Cheryl; I prefer first names. You could also call me Cherish, since that’s the name I’ve adopted as my pseudonym so that I can detour from writing mainly suspense and venture into the romance genre. Cherish D’Angelo is my flowery, romantic pen name. I selected it a few years ago when I started writing my first romance novel. Since my real first name is Cheryl, which means “dear one” or “beloved”, I wanted something similar, and “Cherish” came to mind. Finding a last name to go with it proved to be trickier. After all, when I make it big in romance, I’ll have to sign that name on thousands of books. Hundreds of thousands, hopefully.
I started an angel collection years ago as a memorial for my son, who died at birth. Prior to his birth and death, I’d ordered two angels from a friend who made ceramics. She wasn’t sure if I’d want them after he died, but I did, and this started a collection that grew every year around his birthday and at Christmas. Angels…hmmm…Cherish Angel? No. Cherish D’Angelo. YES! I’d found my new name. It means: “Beloved angel.” Yeah, that’s me.
After Cherish D’Angelo was “born”, she went to work on her first contemporary
romance―Reflections. It was a story of a woman stranded on a tropical island with a reclusive rich guy, who had a deaf daughter. Cherish wrote about half of it, then hid it away on my computer. I’d realized that I had other stories that were demanding my attention―darker, more suspenseful stories. It wasn’t the right time for Cherish. So she slipped into a kind of coma, though every now and then she opened her eyes and said, “What about me?” before slipping back to sleep.
In June, I heard about a contest over at Textnovel.com. Now I’m really not much of a contest person. I love giving them and awarding prizes, but I don’t usually like entering them. I’d been a member on Textnovel ever since the CEO Stan Soper emailed me and invited me to check out the relatively new website.
What drew me to Textnovel’s newest contest was the fact that Dorchester Publishing, the oldest independent mass-market publisher in the US, had paired with Textnovel and was offering a small advance and a book contract. I’m very familiar with Dorchester. I’ve been hooked on their books since I was a teen, and my agent recently submitted my new thriller Children of the Fog to Dorchester. Plus, one of my author friends, thriller author Jeff Buick, is published with them, and I recently connected with one of their romance authors, Colleen Thompson, who is absolutely wonderful and writes awesome romantic suspense. Both told me that being at Dorchester was like being a part of a family. I want that! I want a publishing partner.
The Dorchester/Textnovel “Next Best Celler” contest is looking for the “New Voice in Romance”, and I want to be that voice. Cherish D’Angelo wants to be that voice. She’s ready now! She woke up from that virtual coma and dug out the file for Reflections. The old chapters were used as guidelines, but to date, about 80% of it is new material. Cherish has been on a roll with this novel and it’ll be finished by the end of October.
The Birth of Lancelot’s Lady
Reflections has grown into something far bigger and better than the original. A few days in, I changed the name to Lancelot’s Lady. It’s still the story of Rhianna, a young woman stranded on a tropical island with a rich recluse, but she has far more back story and Jonathan is far angrier, making for a complicated relationship and some humorous scenes. Then there’s Misty, Jonathan’s young, deaf daughter who can’t seem to keep a tutor; not to mention the development of JT Lance, Rhianna’s dying patient, and his butler Higginson, plus the inclusion of the Atkinsons, Jonathan’s caretakers.
As with my other novels, I have come to love these characters. I can picture them, right down to their flaws. And believe, me, they’re all flawed. Rhianna has survived a terrible past filled with horror and death, and Jonathan has cut himself off from family, friends and the world.
Since Lancelot’s Lady is a romantic suspense, both Cherish and Cheryl get to work on this story. I know that sounds weird, and truly, I haven’t lost it. Well, not completely. I think Lancelot’s Lady is a potpourri of sexual chemistry, sizzling tension, spicy passion, illusive danger and triumphant love. But in the end, it doesn’t matter so much what I think. I want to know what YOU think.
This leads me back to the “Next Best Celler” contest and how YOU can be involved. I really need your help to have a chance at winning this contest and to win that publishing contract. Even more, I want to know what YOU think about my newest venture and I’m willing to reward you for your time. For the months of October and November, I’ll be holding Giveaways. Right now you can visit my contest page to see how to enter this month’s Giveaway contest. You’ll have a chance to win signed novels and a $75 Starbucks gift card.
To have a chance at winning Dorchester’s contest, I really need votes and subscribers. I can’t do this without your support. Lancelot’s Lady must stay in the top 10 Most Popular, preferably the top 3. It’ll take about 5 minutes of your time to vote, but I truly hope you’ll check out Lancelot’s Lady and read it for free. And please leave me a comment there. Judges are also reading them. I truly hope you enjoy the debut of Cherish D’Angelo and Lancelot’s Lady.
~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, aka Cherish D’Angelo
Read & vote for Lancelot’s Lady, a Dorchester “Next Best Celler” entry, at www.Textnovel.com
Enter my October & November Giveaways
Visit my website at http://www.cherylktardif.com and follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cherylktardif
WIN - Special AuthorIsland contest: enter to win a signed copy of Cheryl’s paranormal suspense thriller Divine Intervention. Simply leave a comment here and one lucky winner will be selected. Good luck!
Call me Cheryl; I prefer first names. You could also call me Cherish, since that’s the name I’ve adopted as my pseudonym so that I can detour from writing mainly suspense and venture into the romance genre. Cherish D’Angelo is my flowery, romantic pen name. I selected it a few years ago when I started writing my first romance novel. Since my real first name is Cheryl, which means “dear one” or “beloved”, I wanted something similar, and “Cherish” came to mind. Finding a last name to go with it proved to be trickier. After all, when I make it big in romance, I’ll have to sign that name on thousands of books. Hundreds of thousands, hopefully.I started an angel collection years ago as a memorial for my son, who died at birth. Prior to his birth and death, I’d ordered two angels from a friend who made ceramics. She wasn’t sure if I’d want them after he died, but I did, and this started a collection that grew every year around his birthday and at Christmas. Angels…hmmm…Cherish Angel? No. Cherish D’Angelo. YES! I’d found my new name. It means: “Beloved angel.” Yeah, that’s me.
After Cherish D’Angelo was “born”, she went to work on her first contemporary
romance―Reflections. It was a story of a woman stranded on a tropical island with a reclusive rich guy, who had a deaf daughter. Cherish wrote about half of it, then hid it away on my computer. I’d realized that I had other stories that were demanding my attention―darker, more suspenseful stories. It wasn’t the right time for Cherish. So she slipped into a kind of coma, though every now and then she opened her eyes and said, “What about me?” before slipping back to sleep.In June, I heard about a contest over at Textnovel.com. Now I’m really not much of a contest person. I love giving them and awarding prizes, but I don’t usually like entering them. I’d been a member on Textnovel ever since the CEO Stan Soper emailed me and invited me to check out the relatively new website.
What drew me to Textnovel’s newest contest was the fact that Dorchester Publishing, the oldest independent mass-market publisher in the US, had paired with Textnovel and was offering a small advance and a book contract. I’m very familiar with Dorchester. I’ve been hooked on their books since I was a teen, and my agent recently submitted my new thriller Children of the Fog to Dorchester. Plus, one of my author friends, thriller author Jeff Buick, is published with them, and I recently connected with one of their romance authors, Colleen Thompson, who is absolutely wonderful and writes awesome romantic suspense. Both told me that being at Dorchester was like being a part of a family. I want that! I want a publishing partner.
The Dorchester/Textnovel “Next Best Celler” contest is looking for the “New Voice in Romance”, and I want to be that voice. Cherish D’Angelo wants to be that voice. She’s ready now! She woke up from that virtual coma and dug out the file for Reflections. The old chapters were used as guidelines, but to date, about 80% of it is new material. Cherish has been on a roll with this novel and it’ll be finished by the end of October.
The Birth of Lancelot’s Lady
Reflections has grown into something far bigger and better than the original. A few days in, I changed the name to Lancelot’s Lady. It’s still the story of Rhianna, a young woman stranded on a tropical island with a rich recluse, but she has far more back story and Jonathan is far angrier, making for a complicated relationship and some humorous scenes. Then there’s Misty, Jonathan’s young, deaf daughter who can’t seem to keep a tutor; not to mention the development of JT Lance, Rhianna’s dying patient, and his butler Higginson, plus the inclusion of the Atkinsons, Jonathan’s caretakers.As with my other novels, I have come to love these characters. I can picture them, right down to their flaws. And believe, me, they’re all flawed. Rhianna has survived a terrible past filled with horror and death, and Jonathan has cut himself off from family, friends and the world.
Since Lancelot’s Lady is a romantic suspense, both Cherish and Cheryl get to work on this story. I know that sounds weird, and truly, I haven’t lost it. Well, not completely. I think Lancelot’s Lady is a potpourri of sexual chemistry, sizzling tension, spicy passion, illusive danger and triumphant love. But in the end, it doesn’t matter so much what I think. I want to know what YOU think.
This leads me back to the “Next Best Celler” contest and how YOU can be involved. I really need your help to have a chance at winning this contest and to win that publishing contract. Even more, I want to know what YOU think about my newest venture and I’m willing to reward you for your time. For the months of October and November, I’ll be holding Giveaways. Right now you can visit my contest page to see how to enter this month’s Giveaway contest. You’ll have a chance to win signed novels and a $75 Starbucks gift card.
To have a chance at winning Dorchester’s contest, I really need votes and subscribers. I can’t do this without your support. Lancelot’s Lady must stay in the top 10 Most Popular, preferably the top 3. It’ll take about 5 minutes of your time to vote, but I truly hope you’ll check out Lancelot’s Lady and read it for free. And please leave me a comment there. Judges are also reading them. I truly hope you enjoy the debut of Cherish D’Angelo and Lancelot’s Lady.
~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, aka Cherish D’Angelo
Read & vote for Lancelot’s Lady, a Dorchester “Next Best Celler” entry, at www.Textnovel.com
Enter my October & November Giveaways
Visit my website at http://www.cherylktardif.com and follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cherylktardif
WIN - Special AuthorIsland contest: enter to win a signed copy of Cheryl’s paranormal suspense thriller Divine Intervention. Simply leave a comment here and one lucky winner will be selected. Good luck!
Monday, August 17, 2009
This Week At The Tiki Hut - Laura Tolomei
If you really want to know, I was born in 1965 in Rome, Italy, but soon started my travelling career. At the age of five, my parents took me to Lagos, Nigeria, where I grew up free and hot like I've never been since. I loved it there and still think of it with nostalgia. Anyway, it was also where I learned English.
After my African experience, I was ready to tackle the US. I lived in Atlanta, GA, five teen-age years, attending the Crestwood High School, where I started my writing career by publishing a short story Nostalgia on the Crestwood Journal. Very thrilled about discovering my new talent, I went ahead during college, writing for the Emory University journal The Phoenix. Three articles mark my first-and last-steps in journalism, "The peace Corps", "WAMM, Women Against Military Madness," and "Lesbism".
After my American experience, I moved back to Rome, but still kept living from time to time abroad, spending several months in Mumbay India, a country I always felt very close to me in more ways than one.
Today, I write both in Italian and English, mostly fiction of various genres, from fantasy erotica, to mysteries up to plain ordinary life stories.
For those of you who read Italian, you can simply visit the Italian sections of my website, but if you feel particularly lazy, here's a short summary:
I have a short story on line Incontro Metropolitano (Meeting at the Subway) and two books: PICCOLO CROCEVIA A CINQUE (Little Five Points, for those who know Atlanta it's a spot near Emory University), printed by Editing Edizioni and released in December 2008, and L'INVESTIGATTO (loosely translated The Cat Detective), publisher Ennepil Libri to release in 2009.
In English, I write erotica in various genres, mostly fantasy, sci-fi and paranormal, sometimes trespassing into contemporary. Feel free to look over my current and future projects by clicking here.
Laura talks about her new release SPYING THE ALCOVE
When my editor wrote me she’d gone through edits on only some of Spying the Alcove chapters, but I needed to change POV on chapters 3, 5, 7 and 9 from first to third person because she’d never seen something like that before, my stomach caved in just like Valerio’s when he saw Andrea’s glistening naked torso under the sun. True, Spying the Alcove has the unusual trait of combining two different narrative styles, one in third and the other in first person, but the mere thought I should rewrite one part to fit the other seemed wrong.
Pardon me, I don’t mean to sound snobbish nor did I plan to write something so unique. Apparently, the e-world does not have many examples of multiple POVs within the same book, but if Spying the Alcove does, it’s because it fits the storyline to a Tee, proving once again the characters make the story, never the author.
But let’s start at the beginning. The story centers around two Italian University teachers, the Professor and his assistant, digging for buried memories on the ancient city of Selimos, an archeological site located in southwestern Sicily. Long-time friends, the two men work amiably together until Andrea, the assistant, finds a Roman medallion, intact despite the centuries or the crumbling ruins littering the place. Intrigued, Valerio pockets it and that same night the medallion will begin to narrate a Roman matron’s erotic adventures in the privacy of her alcove, talking to the Professor as if it were the woman herself telling of her exciting adventures. Of course, it never entered my mind that this narration was anything but personal, which necessarily implied the use of first person, even if the story so far had been told in third person.
To a closer analysis, the novel’s own structure justifies the use of two different POVs. The medallion is in fact someone talking from a distant past, a time our protagonists know only from stuffy old books and boring researches. To bring such past truly alive, the narration needed to be as personal as possible, thus preserving the full enchantment that the printed words of sterile history books have trouble recreating.
If we also consider the book’s internal logic, it makes even more sense to have two different narrating styles because centuries of history separate the stories themselves, which never actually touch in either time or space if not in Valerio’s imagination.
Well, I guess I did a good job at arguing my point so in the end, both my editor and publisher decided to go ahead with it—more as a gamble, than because they were completely convinced—and for that, I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I know it’s not easy to take chances when you’re running a business, however creative it might turn out to be, and to try new paths is always risky. But I personally have a lot of faith in our readers.
Setting aside all logical arguments, I think readers need new inputs to keep their minds alert. I know it’s a trait of mine to challenge them, have done it before with Divinitas, a novel that mixes sex and religion in its own unique way—I like to think of it as a Laura Tolomei style—but Spying the Alcove didn’t seem to be very original at first. I mean, if you boil the Alcove’s contents down to their basic ingredients, they’re nothing different from the usual erotic book with a whole lot of sex and not much of a storyline. Allowing the two narrative POVs, however, gives the readers something more, a new way to enjoy a story and understand its characters, perhaps even with a greater emotional power than I’ve managed so far. And emotions are what my books are all about, whether written in first or third person.
Pardon me, I don’t mean to sound snobbish nor did I plan to write something so unique. Apparently, the e-world does not have many examples of multiple POVs within the same book, but if Spying the Alcove does, it’s because it fits the storyline to a Tee, proving once again the characters make the story, never the author.
But let’s start at the beginning. The story centers around two Italian University teachers, the Professor and his assistant, digging for buried memories on the ancient city of Selimos, an archeological site located in southwestern Sicily. Long-time friends, the two men work amiably together until Andrea, the assistant, finds a Roman medallion, intact despite the centuries or the crumbling ruins littering the place. Intrigued, Valerio pockets it and that same night the medallion will begin to narrate a Roman matron’s erotic adventures in the privacy of her alcove, talking to the Professor as if it were the woman herself telling of her exciting adventures. Of course, it never entered my mind that this narration was anything but personal, which necessarily implied the use of first person, even if the story so far had been told in third person.
To a closer analysis, the novel’s own structure justifies the use of two different POVs. The medallion is in fact someone talking from a distant past, a time our protagonists know only from stuffy old books and boring researches. To bring such past truly alive, the narration needed to be as personal as possible, thus preserving the full enchantment that the printed words of sterile history books have trouble recreating.
If we also consider the book’s internal logic, it makes even more sense to have two different narrating styles because centuries of history separate the stories themselves, which never actually touch in either time or space if not in Valerio’s imagination.
Well, I guess I did a good job at arguing my point so in the end, both my editor and publisher decided to go ahead with it—more as a gamble, than because they were completely convinced—and for that, I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I know it’s not easy to take chances when you’re running a business, however creative it might turn out to be, and to try new paths is always risky. But I personally have a lot of faith in our readers.
Setting aside all logical arguments, I think readers need new inputs to keep their minds alert. I know it’s a trait of mine to challenge them, have done it before with Divinitas, a novel that mixes sex and religion in its own unique way—I like to think of it as a Laura Tolomei style—but Spying the Alcove didn’t seem to be very original at first. I mean, if you boil the Alcove’s contents down to their basic ingredients, they’re nothing different from the usual erotic book with a whole lot of sex and not much of a storyline. Allowing the two narrative POVs, however, gives the readers something more, a new way to enjoy a story and understand its characters, perhaps even with a greater emotional power than I’ve managed so far. And emotions are what my books are all about, whether written in first or third person.
WIN- To get your name in the hat for a free download of Laura's latest release, SPYING THE ALCOVE, leave Laura a question or a comment this week here on the AuthorIsland Tiki Hut Blog. A winner will be drawn Monday, August 24th - Good luck!
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