Monday, November 30, 2015

Picture Prompts #2

Some more images, to help you through that awful writer's block.

Please click the image for the source.

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Saturday, November 28, 2015

You Might Like...Margaret Foxe

Steampunk 2 - Meet the Author
MF Logo
Margaret Foxe is a professional musician originally from Tennessee. Her first book was completed when she was ten years old, and featured an illustrated mouse named Patches. A voracious reader, she didn’t discover the romance genre until her late twenties. She remains a full-fledged addict. Her debut novel, Prince of Hearts, combines all of her favorite things: historical romance, steampunk gadgets, a touch of fantasy, and a canine sub-plot.
She hopes to one day circumnavigate.
She published Historical Romance under Maggie Fenton and is currently working on Thief of Hearts, Book 3 in The Elders and Welders Chronicles.
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Goodreads           Facebook          Twitter               Blog
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Steampunk 2 - Covers and Blurbs
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18515966
London: 1896. Airships rule the skies, and automatons run the tracks at Ascot. Since the Great Exhibition of 1851, Her Majesty’s Empire has been powered by the Steam Revolution and Welding science. It is a time of glorious innovation and dangerous civil unrest.
But Miss Aline Finch, prim, plain career girl, has more important things on her mind than the state of the Empire. After her employer, the handsome but insufferable criminologist, Professor Romanov, hares off for parts unknown in a slightly-illegal dirigible, stranding her in France, she has finally had enough. In a fit of pique, she decides to marry her long-time and very proper suitor, quitting Romanov for good.
The last thing the Professor expects to come home to is his secretary’s mutiny. Finch’s timing couldn’t be any more inconvenient, for a serial murderer from Romanov’s past has set his sights on her. Romanov must keep her close if he has any chance of protecting her life - and the dangerous secrets the murderer threatens to expose. For the Professor is much, much more than he seems, and the secrets that he keeps are centuries old - and hidden deep in his heart.
When the Professor discovers Finch is to wed, however, he is forced to confront the truth of the matter: he doesn’t just want his secretary back to protect her. He wants her in his bed. Forever.
Aline fights Romanov’s seduction, but she’s no match for her own unruly desires, or the truth of her own heart. But when the Professor’s true identity is exposed, destroying the very foundations of Aline’s conception of reality, will the Professor lose her forever? Or will the murderer succeed in his evil plot to destroy them both before they can find their happy ending?
Warning: this sensual romance will put the steam in steampunk.
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20311827
London, 1897: Lady Christiana Harker once committed a grave sin against her kind when she saved Inspector Elijah Drexler's life by turning him into a vampire. Christiana's bold act has only driven Elijah deeper into an impenetrable darkness, fueled by morphine, nightmares, and a constant thirst for blood. Elijah has no room left in his heart for anything but his quest for vengeance against his childhood tormentor, a quest that he fully expects to end with his own death. But when the mysterious Duke of Brightlingsea requests Elijah's help in locating a doomsday device that could level half of London, Elijah's personal vendetta becomes entangled with a secret war being waged among the immortal Elders. Just when Christiana finally accepts that her long-held love for the Inspector will forever be unrequited, however, a catastrophe brings them together, forcing Elijah to finally confront his feelings for Christiana. But will Christiana's love be strong enough to weather the terrible truths buried deep in Elijah's past? And will Elijah find the strength of will to finally cast off his demons and let love into his dark heart? This Victorian steampunk romance is recommended for adult audiences.
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21563482
COMING SOON....
Thief of Hearts
Book 3 in the Elders and Welders Chronicles
1888: Egypt ... or thereabouts ...
The Sahara Desert, hotbed of pirates, tomb raiders, angry bedouins, opportunists and general ne'er-do-wells, is not exactly the ideal place for a former child-thief to go straight. But Hex Bartholomew is trying to do just that, using her state-of-the-art dirigible--an ill-gotten but hard-won remnant of her past--to ferry tourists and scholars from one ancient attraction to another.
But her past comes back to haunt her when her con-artist father's latest misadventure lands them all squarely in the debt of Cairo's most notorious gang of thieves. That is how she finds herself in an uncharted part of the Sahara at the mouth of an ancient, undisturbed tomb, and in the company of bloody-minded treasure hunters, superstitious native guides, and a resurrected Pharaoh ...
... Or at least that was what the aforementioned natives believe when a man stumbles out of a tomb in a shocking state of undress. Hex is no blushing virgin, but she has certainly not seen anything quite like the ... spectacular specimen before her. He certainly looks like an ancient god. But Hex is fairly sure Pharaohs don't speak with a snooty British accent.
Mr. Pharaoh can remember nothing of who he is or how he managed to find himself in an Egyptian tomb that has been sealed for thousands of years. All he has is a name found in an inscription of his ring: Rowan. And some truly disturbing and ... well, God-like powers. And an annoying tendency to follow Hex around "protecting" her.
Ha.
As if she needs a man to protect her--especially an amnesiac Brit with a God complex. As if she needs to fall in love with said amnesiac, especially when it becomes obvious that the truth behind who--and what--Rowan is, threatens to tear them apart for all of time. It's just not worth the risk to her heart.
Until it is ...
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Steampunk 2 - Buy Links
Amazon UK            Amazon US              Amazon CA

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Picture Prompts #1

These pictures are sourced from a variety of places around the web. The direct link will be on the photo itself.

Why?

Because we all need a little push, every now and then and an image, they say, is worth a thousand words. So pick a picture, write a short story or a novel, and let it feed your imagination. This is a great way to get past writer's block or a particularly tough part of your current WIP. Whether it's sweet, sassy or sexually charged, pictures really can inspire you.

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Friday, November 20, 2015

You Might Like...Nalini Singh #2

ROSE - Meet the Author
I've been writing as long as I can remember and all of my stories always held a thread of romance (even when I was writing about a prince who could shoot lasers out of his eyes). I love creating unique characters, love giving them happy endings and I even love the voices in my head. There's no other job I would rather be doing. In September 2002, when I got the call that Silhouette Desire wanted to buy my first book, Desert Warrior, it was a dream come true. I hope to continue living the dream until I keel over of old age on my keyboard.
I was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. I also spent three years living and working in Japan, during which time I took the chance to travel around Asia. I’m back in New Zealand now, but I’m always plotting new trips. If you’d like to see some of my travel snapshots, have a look at the Travel Diary page (updated every month).
So far, I've worked as a lawyer, a librarian, a candy factory general hand, a bank temp and an English teacher and not necessarily in that order. Some might call that inconsistency but I call it grist for the writer's mill.
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Goodreads           Facebook           Twitter               Website
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ROSE - Covers and Blurbs
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9738582
In Angel’s Wolf a vampire becomes fascinated with the seductive angel who rules Louisiana. But all is not what it appears to be in her court.
In Angels’ Judgment a hunter must track one of her own gone bad, while surviving the deadly tests placed in her way by the archangels themselves. Unexpected backup comes from a stranger who might just be the most lethal threat of all...
Plus FIRST TIME IN PRINT
In Angels' Pawn a vampire hunter faces off against two rival factions and the angel manipulating them both, and a vampire whose help is not entirely selfless...
And NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED
In Angels’ Dance an angel trapped in the mountain stronghold of the Refuge finds herself under siege by a warrior angel from a martial court.
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The gentle teacher of angelic young, and the keeper of her people's histories, Jessamy is respected and admired by everyone who knows her. Yet, born unable to soar into flight, she has spent thousands of years trapped in the mountain stronghold of the Refuge, her heart encased in painful loneliness...until the arrival of Galen, warrior angel from a martial court.
Rough-edged and blunt, Galen is a weapons-master at home with violence, a stranger to the sweet words it takes to woo a woman--but he is also a man determined to claim Jessamy for his own, to dance with her through the skies denied her for so very long...even if their exhilarating passion proves as dangerous as the landscape of war and unrest that lies before them.
Angels' Dance previously appeared in the anthology, Angels' Flight.
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19030885
Warrior angels, vampire hunters, and angels gone bad heat up this altogether sizzling paranormal alternate universe, from the bestselling author Nalini Singh.
Angels' Judgementis the compelling story of passion, love and danger in the Guild Hunter world. Sara and Deacon are Guild Hunters, their life's work is catching and capturing - or killing - rogue angels. It's dangerous work and sometimes life or death decisions must be made in a moment. And when a judgement has to be made, should love be allowed to get in the way . . . ?
This is a compelling, sexy addition to the Guild Hunter universe.
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In these hound-eat-hound worlds, anything goes... and everything bites.
Follow paranormal bodyguards Clovache and Batanya into Lucifer's realm, where they encounter his fearsome four-legged pets, in Charlaine Harris'sThe Britlingens Go to Hell.
Seek out a traitor in the midst of a guild of non- lethal vampire trackers, one that intends to eradicate the entire species of bloodsuckers, in Nalini Singh's Angels' Judgment.
Find out why the giant three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades has left the underworld for the real world-and whose scent he's following-in Ilona Andrews's Magic Mourns.
Embark on a perilous search for the kidnapped niece of a powerful vampire alongside her blind- and damn sexy-companion and a hellhound in Meljean Brook's Blind Spot.
These four novellas by today's hottest paranormal authors will have hellhound lovers everywhere howling.
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3819326
Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux knows she is the best- but she does not know if even she is good enough for this job. Hired by the dangerously beautiful archangel Raphael, a being so lethal that no mortal wants his attention, Elena knows failure is not an option—even if the task is impossible.
Because this time, it's not a wayward vamp she has to track. It's an archangel gone bad.
The job will put Elena in the midst of a killing spree like no other—and pull her to the razor's edge of passion. Even if the hunt does not destroy her, succumbing to Raphael’s seductive touch just might. For when archangels play, mortals break.
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6582637
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh returns to her world of angelic rulers, vampiric servants, and the woman thrust into their darkly seductive world...
Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find herself changed—an angel with wings the colors of midnight and dawn—but her fragile body needs time to heal before she can take flight. Her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel, Raphael, is used to being in control—especially when it comes to the woman he considers his own. But Elena has never done well with authority.
They've barely begun to understand each other when Raphael receives an invitation to a ball from the archangel, Lijuan. To refuse would be a sign of fatal weakness, so Raphael must ready Elena for the flight to Beijing—and to the nightmare that awaits them there. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan holds a power that lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena.
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7307503
Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux and her lover, the lethally beautiful archangel Raphael, have returned home to New York only to face an uncompromising new evil ...A vampire has attacked a girls' school - the assault one of sheer, vicious madness - and it is only the first act. Rampant bloodlust takes vampire after vampire, threatening to make the streets run with blood. Then Raphael himself begins to show signs of an uncontrolled rage, as inexplicable storms darken the city skyline and the earth itself shudders. The omens are suddenly terrifyingly clear. An ancient and malevolent immortal is rising. The violent winds whisper her name: Caliane. She has returned to reclaim her son, Raphael. Only one thing stands in her way: Elena, the consort who must be destroyed ...
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18895600
Warrior angels, vampire hunters, and angels gone bad heat up this altogether sizzling paranormal alternate universe, from the bestselling author Nalini Singh.
Angels' Wolf is a tale of flirtation and danger set in the Guild Hunter world. Noel has been promoted, but in the Guild Hunter world that's not always as positive as it sounds. And now that he's working with the beautiful, dangerous, seductive Nimra there are a whole host of new risks he has to contend with... Nimra is drawn to the mysterious Noel, sent to her by an angel, defiant and intense and oh-so-intriguing. Is their an alliance to be forged between them, or is it a matter of time before one of them becomes the others prey ...
This is a compelling, sexy addition to the Guild Hunter universe.
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10557809
Tales of alpha angels...from four alpha authors.
They soar through the night, unearthly creatures of legends and lore. Four masters of urban fantasy and paranormal romance explore the rapture of the heavens above, and the darkness below in four all-new stories of angels and guardians, and good and evil.
Angel's Wolf by Nalini Singh — In the spellbinding universe of the Guild Hunters, a vampire becomes obsessed with the seductive angel who rules the Louisiana territory. But in her court, all is not what it appears to be.
Alphas: Origins by Ilona Andrews — A woman is kidnapped into a world divided by a superhuman civil war. As the captive of an irresistibly dangerous male, she has two choices: submit and become a pawn, or take hold of her own destiny.
Nocturne by Sharon Shinn — Accepting a position in a secluded and whispered-about mansion, a woman soon discovers the source of its mystery: the blind, tormented angel who lives there, and whose secrets could now destroy them both.
Ascension by Meljean Brook — When vampires disappear from a community he's protecting, a world-weary Guardian doesn't know what evil he's hunting, but he'd rather hunt alone than accept help from his ex-lover and fellow Guardian, Radha. But Radha refuses to leave him, because she's determined not just to help him save the community...but to save him.
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8074967
The severed head marked by a distinctive tattoo on its cheek should have been a Guild case, but dark instincts honed over hundreds of years of life compel the vampire Dmitri to take control. There is something twisted about this death, something that whispers of centuries long past...but Dmitri's need to discover the truth is nothing to the vicious strength of his response to the hunter assigned to decipher the tattoo.
Savaged in a brutal attack that almost killed her, Honor is nowhere near ready to come face to face with the seductive vampire who is an archangel's right hand, and who wears his cruelty as boldly as his lethal sensuality...the same vampire who has been her secret obsession since the day she was old enough to understand the inexplicable, violent emotions he aroused in her.
As desire turns into a dangerous compulsion that might destroy them both, it becomes clear the past will not stay buried. Something is hunting...and it will not stop until it brings a blood-soaked nightmare to life once more...
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9738483
With wings of midnight and an affinity for shadows, Jason courts darkness. But now, with the Archangel Neha’s consort lying murdered in the jewel-studded palace that was his prison and her rage threatening cataclysmic devastation, Jason steps into the light, knowing he must unearth the murderer before it is too late.
Earning Neha’s trust comes at a price—Jason must tie himself to her bloodline through the Princess Mahiya, a woman with secrets so dangerous, she trusts no one. Least of all an enemy spymaster.
With only their relentless hunt for a violent, intelligent killer to unite them, Jason and Mahiya embark on a quest that leads to a centuries-old nightmare… and to the dark storm of an unexpected passion that threatens to drench them both in blood.
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15808767
Nalini Singh, the New York Times bestselling “alpha author of paranormal romance” (Booklist) returns to an immortal world of violent passion and lethal power…on the brink of a deadly archangelic war.
Angels are falling from the sky in New York, struck down by a vicious, unknown force.
Vampires are dying impossibly of disease.
Guild hunter Elena Deveraux and the Archangel Raphael must discover the source of the wave of death before it engulfs their city and their people, leaving New York a ruin and Raphael’s Tower under siege by enemy archangels.
Yet even as they fight desperately to save the city, an even darker force is stirring, its chill eyes trained on New York…and on Raphael. Rivers of crimson and nightmares given flesh, the world will never again be the same…
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Author’s Note: This short story began life as a scene in an early draft of Archangel’s Shadows. It focuses on Dmitri & Honor, so there are no spoilers for the Archangel’s Shadows storyline (however, if you haven’t yet read Archangel’s Blade (Honor and Dmitri’s story), then save this to read later). I hope you enjoy!
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17409835
Return to New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s sensual and painfully beautiful Guild Hunter world in her new novel of sacrifice, loyalty, and the choices of love that can shatter the heart.
In the wake of a brutal war, the archangel Raphael and his hunter consort, Elena, are dealing with the treacherously shifting tides of archangelic politics and the people of a battered but not broken city. The last thing their city needs is more death, especially a death that bears the eerie signature of an insane enemy archangel who cannot— should not—be walking the streets.
This hunt must be undertaken with stealth and without alerting their people. It must be handled by those who can become shadows themselves…
Ash is a gifted tracker and a woman cursed with the ability to sense the secrets of anyone she touches. But there’s one man she knows all too well without a single instant of skin contact: Janvier, the dangerously sexy Cajun vampire who has fascinated and infuriated her for years. Now, as they track down a merciless killer, their cat-and-mouse game of flirtation and provocation has turned into a profound one of the heart. And this time, it is Ash’s secret, dark and terrible, that threatens to destroy them both.
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17409842
Naasir is the most feral of the powerful group of vampires and angels known as the Seven, his loyalty pledged to the Archangel Raphael. When rumors surface of a plot to murder the former Archangel of Persia, now lost in the Sleep of the Ancients, Naasir is dispatched to find him. For only he possesses the tracking skills required—those more common to predatory animals than to man.
Enlisted to accompany Naasir, Andromeda, a young angelic scholar with dangerous secrets, is fascinated by his nature—at once playful and brilliant, sensual and brutal. As they race to find the Sleeping archangel before it’s too late, Naasir will force her to question all she knows...and tempt her to walk into the magnificent, feral darkness of his world. But first they must survive an enemy vicious enough to shatter the greatest taboo of the angelic race and plunge the world into a screaming nightmare…
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22839846
A bad boy wrapped in a sexy, muscled, grown-up package might be worth a little risk…
Molly Webster has always followed the rules. After an ugly scandal tore apart her childhood and made her the focus of the media’s harsh spotlight, she vowed to live an ordinary life. No fame. No impropriety. No pain. Then she meets Zachary Fox, a tattooed bad boy rocker with a voice like whiskey and sin, and a touch that could become an addiction.
A one-night stand with the hottest rock star on the planet, that’s all it was meant to be…
Fox promises scorching heat and dangerous pleasure, coaxing Molly to extend their one-night stand into a one-month fling. After that, he’ll be gone forever, his life never again intersecting with her own. Sex and sin and sensual indulgence, all with an expiration date. No ties, no regrets. Too late, Molly realizes it isn’t only her body that’s become addicted to Fox, but her heart…
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New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh's new contemporary romance novella is pure hard rock and scorching heat...
What happens when the Gentleman of Rock decides to play dirty?
A drummer for the hottest rock band on the planet, David has a single, powerful weakness: Thea, the band's publicist and the woman who steals his breath away with her every move.
Only problem is, Thea doesn't date clients--or musicians. Emotionally scarred by a cheating ex, she's not about to risk her heart with a man who has groupies buzzing around him like flies. Even if his sexy smile ties her up in knots.
What she doesn't know is that David is a one-woman man...and he's madly in love with her. David's determined to prove he's worth the risk, and willing to court her, step by exquisite step. Thea's about to discover just how long and hard this handsome drummer can play.
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23514316
In New York Times Bestselling author Nalini Singh’s newest contemporary romance, passion ignites between a gorgeous, sinfully sexy man who built himself up from nothing and a shy woman who has a terrible secret in her past…
Wealthy businessman Gabriel Bishop rules the boardroom with the same determination and ruthlessness that made him a rock star on the rugby field. He knows what he wants, and he’ll go after it no-holds-barred.
And what he wants is Charlotte Baird.
Charlotte knows she’s a mouse. Emotionally scarred and painfully shy, she just wants to do her job and remain as invisible as possible. But the new CEO—a brilliant, broad-shouldered T-Rex of a man who growls and storms through the office, leaving carnage in his wake—clearly has other plans. Plans that may be equal parts business and bedroom.
If Charlotte intends to survive this battle of wits and hearts, the mouse will have to learn to wrangle the T-Rex. Game on.
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CoverReveal
Kit Devigny could have loved rock guitarist Noah St. John. Their friendship burned with the promise of intense passion and searing tenderness…until the night Noah deliberately shattered her heart.
Noah knows he destroyed something precious the night he chose to betray Kit, but he’d rather she hate him than learn his darkest secret. All he has left is his music. It’s his saving grace, but it doesn’t silence the voices that keep him up at night. Chasing oblivion through endless one-night-stands, he earns a few hours’ sleep and his bad boy reputation.
When a media error sees Noah and Kit dubbed the new “it” couple, Kit discovers her chance at the role of a lifetime hinges on riding the media wave. Wanting—needing—to give Kit this, even if he can’t give her everything, Noah agrees to play the adoring boyfriend. Only the illusion is suddenly too real, too painful, too beautiful…and it may be too late for the redemption of Noah St. John.
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ROSE - Buy Links
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