And the February contest is now on! This month I’m giving away a copy of Charming Jo, historical Western romance, by my good friend, Laura Drewry. To be entered sign up in the sidebar for the newsletter–if you are already signed up, just sign up again.

For more details on the contest, or to see March and April prizes, visit the contest page.

(cover from digital version, prize paperback version for U.S. entries)

Anyway, late, but still great….LadyVampire has won a copy of one of Sharon Ashwood’s Dark Forgotten books.

Congrats to LadyVampire and thanks to Sharon Ashwood for keeping me honest!

I have three months worth of prizes listed so far starting with the House of Whispers: Book One Of The Supernatural Properties Series by Margaret Lucke.

Claire Scanlan is launching a new career in real estate and has a chance to sell a spectacular oceanview home designed by a world-renowned architect. But the home has a problem that frightens off buyers – it was the site of a vicious mass murder. As Ben Grant, the handsome, successful brother of one of the murder victims, shows Claire and a real estate rival the empty house, Claire experiences strange sensations. The unexplainable experiences continue and the idea that the place might be haunted both fascinates and repels her. Claire is also fascinated, and not at all repelled, by Ben Grant. Claire realizes the psychic experiences are real and must solve the mystery of the bloody tragedy – even though Ben seems to be a suspect.

To enter this month’s contest, just sign up for the newsletter in the right sidebar or on the contest page.

Now for the winners! Everyone should have been sent an email, but if you haven’t been notified and see your name listed below, drop me a note and I will get things sorted out. Also, if I missed a prize, let me know. There were a lot and I may have lost track during the crazy month that was December here.

Note: For daily prizes you had to comment on that day. For grand prize there just had to be a comment sometime during the event–but more comments meant more chances to win.

Congrats to everyone!!

Hope everyone had a safe and fabulous New Year’s Eve and is now in their jammies eating black eyed peas or taking part in whatever tradition you have for New Year’s Day.

Second, this is your last chance to get in all those comments for 30 Days of Vampires and try for the win of either one of the daily prizes or the $100 gift card grand prize.

So while you are sitting home eating those black eyed peas, visit the posts you missed and comment! All comments must be made by January 3rd to count.

Direct link to all the 30 Days of Vampires fun!

Mercy Loomis grew up in a haunted house, and has had quite enough of ghosts for one lifetime, thank you. Though she now lives in a 150-year-old house, it is remarkably ghost-free. (That, or they’re staying on the down-low. She doesn’t care which.) She finished writing her first vampire novel when she was in middle school, and hasn’t stopped writing about them since. She loves stories about the paranormal because monsters are scary, but less scary than real people. Or at least less depressing.

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“I would never have read a vampire book, but I really liked this one.”

I heard this from many of my beta readers after they read my novel Scent and Shadow, and it left me with two impressions. One, I had apparently succeeded in my goal of writing a vampire book with broad appeal, and two, there are a lot of people out there who apparently think vampire books are all the same.

Vampires show up in all kinds of books, from the ruthless symbiotes of Brian Lumley to the Scribe-Virgin-blessed holy warriors of J. R. Ward. From horror to science fiction to fantasy to romance to historical noir, vampires have been there, done that.

One of the things I love about vampires is that they are so very, very versatile.

Their versatility is two-fold: the legends themselves are very malleable and offer an author a huge range of abilities and restrictions to play with, and the theme of vampirism is equally broad.

Vampires of one type or another show up in countless legends in lots of different cultures, going back thousands of years. Some are probably a way to explain wasting diseases, or physiological changes in corpses, or even just certain types of personalities. Some are repelled or injured by sunlight, some by garlic or other special plants, some by silver, some just by making a lot of noise. Some don’t have reflections, or can’t cross running water, or they can’t bleed or cry or cast a shadow. Some can be foiled by simply spilling sand or rice on your doorstep, because then the vampire has to stop and count all the grains and will probably still be there counting when the sun comes up.

And that’s not even touching all the spiffy powers they’re supposed to have. (Or psychic vampires!) How can an author resist such a customizable character?

But the thing I feel is really responsible for the vampire’s longevity in story is their absolute adaptiveness in regard to theme.

Vampires are monsters, but they’re monsters that look like us. Heck, most of the time, they were us. The Devil has a pleasing face, and it could happen to you! Perfect scary antagonist, especially because they aren’t real, so it’s a safe thrill. Then you have the whole intellect versus instinct thing, with the vampire maybe wanting to control his bloodlust, and the seductive, demanding bloodlust trying to turn him into a baser creature. (You get this with werewolves, too.) And the “love conquers all” theme, always popular and closely related to the “redemption of the bad boy”, which is a trope hard-wired into most women’s brains as far as I can tell. Plus there are all the metaphoric vampire themes: psychic vampirism, corporate vampirism, political vampirism. One source even credits the first use of the word vampire in English print as metaphorically referring to greedy merchants.

I could go on and on about this topic, because you can do that much with vampires. I don’t think they’ll ever stop being popular, because we are constantly reinventing them to serve our own purposes and portray the themes of the day.

What are your favorite attributes of vampires, and which are your favorite vampire story themes? Leave a comment below with your email address to win a free signed trade paperback of my novel Scent and Shadow . (Foreign entries are welcome, but you’ll have to help me figure out how to ship it!) Winner will be chosen at random, but all comments with emails will receive the novel as an ebook!

Web Site: Mercy Loomis

Buy the books!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Direct link to all the 30 Days of Vampires fun!

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Who says a vampire can’t live in sunny Florida in winter?

My editor.

When I submitted my proposal for Unwrapped, a novella that was released last year in HQN’s Christmas with a Vampire anthology, I envisioned a lonely, scarred vampire named Adrian living in an oceanfront mansion in posh Palm Beach. There, six green gremlins dressed as Santa Claus give Adrian a doll that turns into Sarah, the heroine. Sarah is the werewolf he needs to restore his lost honor and return to his clan.

My editor thought the premise was great. There was one problem. She wanted the location changed because Florida and vampires seemed incongruous to winter holidays. So Adrian and Sarah ended up shivering on the rocky shores of snowy Maine.

Unwrapped was a fun story. A Christmas story with a hot, sexy vampire. But you know what? I still wanted a vampire in Florida. I live in Florida. I know there are vampires here, especially in South Beach. I may not see their fangs, but they’re here, lurking in the shadows, eyeing the super models and the stylish people, thinking how nice and yummy their blood would taste after a long night of fashionable club hopping. Well, maybe not a super model. They might be too anemic. But there are lots of tasty people for vampires to graze upon in Florida.

South Florida is a smorgasbord for vampires. International cuisine! The fanged ones have a choice of American, Latin American, Asian, European, you name it. Even Chinese, though a vampire may get thirsty an hour later.

Why should vampires be limited to frozen, wintry climates?

And thus, when I agreed to write a trilogy of novellas called The Ancients for Nocturne’s new, sexy Cravings line, I decided to write a vampire story set partly in South Beach.

Bitten by the Vampire is a novella about Lucian Marcello, a vampire who knows it’s his destiny to claim Mara Fuller as his own. She is a Darklighter, half demon and half angel, and has sworn to destroy the man who almost killed her. If she succeeds, her demon side will take over and she will turn evil. The only way to save Mara is for Lucien to mate with her and absorb her dark powers. But though tempted by a shared erotic vision, Mara is resistant to his charms. It will take all Lucien’s powers of seduction to make her surrender to his dominance and desire. For if he fails, her life will be forfeit.

Now, although Lucien DOES make his home in Michigan, he comes to South Beach to claim Mara as his mate. She’s a Florida gal. He has to take pills to tolerate sunshine. When she quips that she thought vampires sparkled in the sunlight, he responds, “We haven’t sparkled since the era of disco lights and mirrored balls.”

Lucien likes Florida. He stays at a swanky South Beach hotel, where he plans his seduction of Mara. And to wear down her stubborn defenses about mating with him, he shows her the pleasure of sunbathing by a sparkling pool. Lucien teaches Mara to unleash her passion, using his considerable talents as a lover.

The heat between them isn’t merely the burning Florida sun. Lucien craves Mara in his bed, but the sexy combination of sweet innocence and devilish passion tugs at his heart. He’s in danger himself… of falling in love with her, as what happens in this scene from Bitten by the Vampire.

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“Another crack shattered his cold heart. Lucien smiled, melting at the adorable expression on her heart-shaped face. Damn, she was lovely, and sexy and so tempting. Mating her was dangerous because she had the power to unravel his cold restraint. Mara was getting to him.

“I usually bite their neck. I am a vampire,” he teased.

A pulse beat wildly at the side of her long, slender throat. His fangs ached as he longed put his mouth on her, mark her by taking her blood. She’d taste hot and sweet sliding down his throat.

He toyed with a strand of her silky hair, his gaze heavy-lidded as he regarded his charge. He envisioned sinking his fangs into her soft skin as she clung naked to him, screaming as they copulated in lusty, sweaty sex on his feather mattress.

Or the floor.

Or this sofa.

Those blue eyes pierced his. “Vampires are supposed to be powerful. I’ve heard stories about Lucien the Ancient, who can kill with a single thought. And no one can kill him.”

“No one is totally invincible.”

“You seem so strong.”

He felt a fragile bond of trust grow between them. “Not when I’m headless,” he attempted to joke. “Or facing fire. Both can kill me. Which is why I keep the dinner knives locked up and many fire extinguishers handy.”

“I’m feeling kinda hot myself. Very hot.”

Mara wrapped her arms around his waist. Startled, he realized she pulled his shirttails out.

Her palms slid up his bare back. Lucien’s body tightened with pleasure as she touched him.

As he sank into the yearning in her blue eyes, he only wanted to hold the moment between them, like a glass snow globe. Mara with her angelic sweetness and her demonic passion…”

*******

Eventually, Mara and Lucien work things out and make their home in Michigan, where they will live happily ever after. Michigan is a great state. I have good friends in Michigan. The summers are lovely and in the winter, the snow sparkles like diamonds. But you know what? I bet Mara and Lucien sneak back to Florida for winter visits.

Because vampires do love Florida. We have fun and sun. And face it, where else could a vampire find such an international feast for the palate and get in a little beach time as well?

(To find out more about Bonnie Vanak’s sexy vampire and werewolf romances, visit http://www.bonnievanak.com To celebrate the holidays, she’s giving away an electronic download of Bitten by The Vampire to one lucky winner. Just leave a comment on this blog to enter. Good luck!)

Web site: http://www.bonnievanak.com/

Buy the Books:

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Direct link to all the 30 Days of Vampires fun

Jane Toombs, born in California, raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, has returned “home” to live in the beautiful Upper Peninsula on the shore of Lake Superior–with the Viking from her past. Jane has five children, two stepchildren, seven grandchildren, a calico cat named Kinko and two computers.

She’s the author of over eighty published books, both in paper and electronic.  These include the various romance genres–gothic, suspense, contemporary, historical, Regency and paranormal–as well as other genres such as mystery, fantasy and horror. Jane has used pseudonyms–Ellen Jamison, Diana Stuart, Olivia Sumner–but is now writing under her own name except for her Zebra/Pinnacle romances for which she uses Jane Anderson.

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Yes, I‘m one of “those.” No, not a villainous vampire, but an author whose vampires are never heroes because they’re dead. Don’t try to confuse me with undead. To me, dead is dead. Perhaps because I‘m a nurse, who knows? So if they’re dead and up walking (or flying ) around, they have to be a villain in any of my books.

Even though I write a lot in the paranormal genre, I have yet to make a vampire a hero. Although in one of my Witch Series books–that I haven’t started writing, yet–one of my witches is trying to help a vampire whose only wish is to die–only not painfully with a stake in his heart. So possibly he could be classified as a hero.

I have never felt any desire to have a dead person suck blood from one of the veins in my neck. No matter how erotic some books make it out to be, my reaction is–ugh. I definitely am not putting down any reader who loves this idea–it’s just not a turn-on for me.

I have tried to read some vampire-as-hero books just to understand what about a vampire could make him a hero, I did finish several that were very well written. But never once did I bond with the heroine, because I couldn’t. Which was not the author’s fault because she was writing for those who do like vampires as heroes. Again, I have no quarrel with either readers or writers of this genre because I understands it’s just me.

In my vampire-as-villain books I have created some really vicious vampires–some in the Dracula mode–suave and appealing. Some more like Nosferatu who would never appeal to any living women as sexy. If you haven’t seen the movie by that name, you should. Even as an adult I found it scary.

I happened to see the original Dracula with Bela Lugosi when I was quite young and loved it, even if scared me. What an elegant vampire, cape and all, yet still exuding evil.

I have used vampires in my book, but can‘t easily remember where or what book. One time I recall was in Moonrunner Three, Dark Sunrise. I looked it up and it was in Chapter Eighteen. This vampire had an agenda–to kill the woman who’d accidentally forced him to become one. Plus anyone who stood in his way–in this case a young boy. Another I remember was in Turquoise Twilight, a Jewels of the Quill novella and one of the stories in my North Of Nonesuch collection. This was a vampire who’s first choice was random, but when the victim survived, he deliberately set out to kill him–and the woman who’d saved the man’s’ life. .

Another I recall was a Shadows I did for Silhouette–The Abandoned Bride. This villain was a very dangerous psychic vampire, who took the soul as well as the life of his victims. Had a lot of fun writing that book.

Sometimes, as Jacqueline Lichtenberg, has done, the vampire can be portrayed as an alien from elsewhere. In another series she split an alien species into two parts–the taker and the provider, who needed each other, so neither one was either victim or villain. I enjoyed those books.

So, though I have trouble seeing the vampire as hero, I certainly agree that the vampire has a universal appeal no matter how he or she is portrayed.

Web site: http://www.janetoombs.com/

Buy the Books:

Barnes & Noble |   Amazon

Direct link to all the 30 Days of Vampires fun

In case you are new to this event, here’s the scoop. Every day from now until December 31st I’ll be posting an article by various vampire-loving authors. Each new post is your chance to enter to win the 30 Days grand prize– a $100 gift card to the bookstore (bricks and mortar or online) of your choice. The only disclaimer for this is that I (located in Wisconsin) have to be able to get the gift card to you at a reasonable cost (not counting the $100 value) and effort. Grand prize winner will be announced in the first week of January 2012.

In addition to the grand prize (which as I said you only have to comment on the daily posts to enter) there will be some daily prizes and even one totally free download of a vampire story.

Plus, of course, there will be lots of great blog articles on vampires by lots of great authors!

Want to know who is posting when? Just visit the 30 Days of Vampires Google Calendar.

Want a direct link to all the 30 Days of Vampires fun?

Want a chance to win a bonus prize right now?

Post below your favorite vampire of all time. Dracula? Lestat? Count Chocula? And tell me why he/she is your favorite vampire.

I’ll pick one winner to get a paperback copy of Jennifer Armintrout’s The Turning and a fun vampire Pez.

(U.S/Canada mailing addresses only for this one, but even if you don’t qualify for this prize, comment anyway for your chance at the $100 gift card. Winner announced first week of January 2012.)