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!

Linda Robertson writes the Persephone Alcmedi series for Pocket/Juno books, the fifth book was released just a few days ago, Dec. 27. She hails from Mansfield, Ohio, is a mother of four boys and is currently a guitarist in the band Hagatha’s Bluff.  Her website is: authorlindarobertson.com

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Vampires. Mmmmmm.

These creatures of the night have seized their iconic status and are running like hell with it. Some folks love ‘em when portrayed as romantic. Some folks want ‘em to be written more like the classic predator from the old silent film Nosferatu.

Me, I like something a bit more in the middle. I mean yes, I like my vampires to be old but to look young. I like them to be powerful and intelligent and have a penchant for badness–y’know the Machiavellian vamp—but to show that he/she is not locked into that behavior.

When a character can surprise you without losing the character that is uniquely theirs, will keep you guessing, keep you interested, and keep you coming back for more.

So what is it that intrigues me about the agelessness of the vamp? The idea that they’ve existed long enough to have mastered all the cycles and patterns of life. I mean they are still human at their core, still subject to the memories and temperament of the person they were in life. I figure that in the same way that regular mortals study their heroes (such as an athlete to emulate) as they aspire to be more like them, vampires have had to study humans. Not only to hunt them better, but perhaps in an ironic “grass is greener over there” way…as in now that they are lifeless, the living are more exotic.

But I say that to say this: if you were undead and had power, intelligence, and wealth, wouldn’t you mess with the mortal people around you? In the least, after centuries of existing, and with all those aforementioned abilities at your disposal, combating the boredom could take on some twisted notions.

Hence…Menessos. He’s been around so long he’s damn good at predicting the behavior of others and uses this to his advantage. He’s usually a few steps ahead of those around him, and as this excerpt shows, how he speaks and what he doesn’t say, can be as important as what he does say.

—–EXCERPT FROM WICKED CIRCLE:

The stage lighting lowered. A spotlight illuminated Seven where she stood just in front of them. “Meroveus Franciscus, Advisor to the Excelsior…and party,” she announced. She stepped out of the light, allowing Mero and [his female guests] to replace her in the glow and on the viewscreens placed to either side of the stage.

He felt the scrutiny of the haven members from the darkness below them. Seven gestured for him to descend the steps. Mero preceded the women down into the midst of the haven members at their tables, crossing the floor and pausing before the stage. He admired the set up. Most havens he’d seen of late had the master on a dais of some kind, but this, this was tactically superior. One had to climb a ramp to get to the otherwise railed-off stage. Retreating would involve ascending the equivalent of three flights of stairs just to make the hallway.

And anything could be behind those stage curtains.

Knowing what he had been sent here to do, and how outnumbered he was, understanding the security and the location of exits was necessary. There weren’t any good, immediate options…but Menessos was in attendance. He has to know why I’m here. Whether he fights this or not, he must know there is only one way for this to end.

Mero stopped a few yards away from the ramp that led to the stage. “Greetings, Quarterlord, and Hail to thee, Menessos, Magus Periti Nocte.” Mero bowed low, as did those with him, as the formal greeting between wizards was spoken. The wizard greeting was not required, but it would force Menessos to greet him in kind and that would make everyone here knew that Mero was a magical force equal to their esteemed master.

“Hail to thee, Meroveus, Magus Periti Nocte. I extend the greetings of this court to you, Advisor to the Excelsior, and to your companions.”

Mero tilted his head in acquiescence of the greeting.

“What brings you, Meroveus Franciscus and party?”

He noted that Menessos had also carefully avoided acknowledging him as a friend from centuries past. At least Mero had some time to play diplomat and consider what that meant. “The Excelsior has noticed that your behavior has had a rebellious flavor of late.”

“Rebellious?” Menessos’s mouth crooked up on one side. “Have I…provoked…our Excelsior with such actions?”

The emphasis gave Mero a clue. They used to play such games in the courts of deviant masters. One of them would infiltrate the haven, suffer the rise to some authority. When the other would appear, the first engaged him in a fiery debate in court. They emphasized certain words to signal each other on how to respond or to conduct an underlying conversation that others were oblivious to. Sometimes their purpose was best served if the newcomer lost his temper, and sometimes the newcomer had to incite the mole. It was a ruse that required deep trust between the two of them.

But this was Menessos’s haven. The authority was his, so…Do I trust him that much still? Would he use our past to play me? Is he this far under the thumb of his witch? “You didn’t seek the Excelsior’s…consent…before relocating your haven.” His timed glance toward the witch meant his single word was a question about her. He hoped Menessos understood it as, “Do you consent to her?”

“It is my haven. To do with as I see fit.”

Mero understood that to mean that Menessos was still the master here, and that whatever show was to occur would be for the benefit of his haven. Or his witch.

Mero nodded once, shutting his eyes to indicate he understood the message.

In a monotone, Menessos added, “Chicago had become tedious.”

Speaking without inflection and using a plain verb like “had become” instead of something more telling meant the message was complete. Mero continued, ready to provoke Menessos. “The Excelsior expects to be apprised when his Quarterlords make such changes.”

Menessos waved dismissively. “I sent him a change of address card.”

Quiet laughter swept through his court.

Mero waited until the crowd had quieted once more. “Indeed, but only after this property was purchased and renovations had begun.”

“Ah…had I asked the Excelsior to bankroll the move, then I would have needed his permission. As I require no financial sponsor, I personally paid the expense of all aspects of the relocation. Therefore, I am at liberty to do as I please.”

“To do as you please?” It was a striking statement; repeating it made the crowd stir uncomfortably. Mero knew when talking with Menessos it was he who did all the conversational navigation. Mero just had to keep up and do his part.

“Within my jurisdiction, of course. Cleveland is well within the borders of my quarter of the United States.”

“That is true, but a decision such as this forces the Excelsior to ask what other broad decisions you might see fit to—”

“Do you mean to imply that a Quarterlord has not earned the right to make such broad decisions? Does the Excelsior plan to micromanage the Quarterlords now?”

“No, my lord. I mean to imply only that the Excelsior finds the relocation of a Quarterlord’s entire haven to be noteworthy prior to the move.”

Menessos was quiet for a heartbeat. “Have you come to censure me, Meroveus Franciscus?”

“I have.”

*********

My sincerest thanks to Lori Devoti for having me on her blog!

—–Linda

Web Site: authorlindarobertson.com

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Michele Hauf  has been writing romance, action-adventure and fantasy stories for over nineteen years. Her first published novel was DARK RAPTURE.

France, musketeers, vampires and faeries populate her stories. And if she followed the adage ‘write what you know’, all her stories would have snow in them. Fortunately, she steps beyond her comfort zone and writes about countries she has never visited and of creatures she has never seen.

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In my world of Beautiful Creatures the vampires have some of the standard vamp foibles.  They need to drink blood to survive.  A stake through the heart can kill them.  They don’t do sunlight (well, they can, but they get a nasty burn, and prolonged exposure to UV rays will fry them).

They have great strength.  They are immortal.

But what are their weaknesses?

Well, I like the idea of something that is irresistible to the vampire to also be a deadly craving.  Take faery dust, or faery ichor, which is what runs through their veins. A vampire can easily become addicted to faery dust.  One bite is as addictive as meth is to humans.  So most vampires avoid faeries like the proverbial plague.  Except my hero.  He wasn’t looking to get high.  He needed blood, ichor—anything—to regain his strength.  And he got it, with the new addiction to dust.  Now he craves it, and the heroine.

Good, bad, or very dangerous?

I don’t know.  You decide.  My latest story matches Rev Parker, vampire, with Sabrina Kriss, a faery.  If you’ve read HER VAMPIRE HUSBAND, they both appeared in that story.  Their story, CRUEL ENCHANTMENT is part of the anthology, CRAVE THE NIGHT, which features three more compelling stories featuring paranormal love matches by authors, Lori Devoti, Patti O’Shea, and Sharon Ashwood.  For blurbs, and to read the first chapter in each story, stop by swellcatpress.com.  And for more information on all the characters in my world, stop by Club Scarlet.  clubscarlet.michelehauf.com

One commenter will win a digital copy of CRAVE THE NIGHT!

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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

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Award-winning author Terry Spear is the author of urban fantasy romances and medieval Highland romances. She received Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year in 2008 for Heart of the Wolf. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry is a librarian by day. She lives in Crawford, Texas.

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Vampires are HOT!

Not cold and dead in my world. But HOT!

That’s the fun of creating a world of fantasy—making the world your own. My vampires were turned by the Black Death. Some who survived the plague became vampires, some hunters of the vampires. So they’re very much hot blooded, with thumping hearts, pumped-up testosterone, primal desire, and all that makes them hungry for a woman’s love.

When I saw Dracula at Brevard Community College, I fell in love with him. I hated that he had to die. I wanted him to bite my neck! Me! Me!

Later, I saw the Broadway play of Dracula in NYC. I felt the same for HIM. He wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t evil. He wanted to love like any of us do. He deserved to be loved and to love in return.
And so in my stories, the vampires aren’t monsters. Or, at least many of them aren’t. But hunters and humans alike can be more monstrous than any vampire. Although I have to admit some of the vampires are total blood suckers—and not in a good way.

Like werewolves, they’ve been maligned for centuries. It’s time to see them as they really are. Lovers of the night, who indulge in a red glass of wine on occasion, vampire style, classy, possessive, loyal, have a sense of humor and are immortally sexy.

So what do you think? Could you find it in your heart to love the right vampire?

If so, I’m offering a chance to win a copy of Deadly Liaisons, a vampire romantic suspense to die for.

Terry Spear
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality.”

www.facebook.com/terry.spear
www.terryspear.com
www.myspace.com/terryspear
http://terry-spear.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/TerrySpear

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Angelique Armae is a native New Yorker who’s as zany as the city she grew up in. As a child her favorite toy was Emerald The Witch, a small doll with green eyes, green hair and purple skin.

Miss Armae’s books and novellas have garnered numerous awards and nominations, including the Sapphire Award, P.E.A.R.L. Award and Word Weaving Award. Her books have also been featured on Midwest Book Review’s Book Watch TV. Angelique’s first novel, COME THE NIGHT, made Fictionwise’s Best of the Best list, rounding out the top five best selling dark fantasy books of the year.

Aside from writing, Angelique also dabbles in digital art. She is the recipient and two time nominee of the Dream Realm Award for best cover art.

When not working, Ms. Armae enjoys traveling, learning about the ancient Celts, exploring history and learning new languages. Angelique studied history and French literature at Skidmore College.

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I love vampire heroes.  They’re dark, brooding characters and they make the ultimate bad boy lover.  I think the allure of the vampire in romance fiction is due to the dark side of human nature.  They’re usually wounded heroes and need nurturing.  Yet they never turn their back on a good friend, family or their heroine.  Despite their flaws, they always come through for those who count.

When I wrote The Protectorate, I fell in love with my hero Donovan Bramwell.  He has a very tormented past, yet rises up to face the challenges thrown  his way.  He’s a loyal friend and is always willing to help those in need, even if at times he’s torn between duty and his personal torment.

I’d love to know what attracts readers to vampires.  Is it the dark side of the character?  Their tormented past?  Or is it the lure of a powerful creature who knows his limits and is always willing to sacrifice for those in need?

Book Blurb:

THE PROTECTORATE
(Book 1 of the DEAD WALKERS Vampire Series)
By Angelique Armae
ISBN 1-893896-36-6 (Paperback)
Publisher: ImaJinn Books

A Quasi Vampire…
A Celtic Princess…
An evil entity as old as time…

In Regency Ireland, a dark legacy re-emerges from the depths of the Vampire realm, leaving three souls trapped between two worlds…

Donovan Bramwell is a dead walker, a soul who walks on the dark side of life. He’s also heir to an ancient Celtic vampire kingdom and its earthly branch known as the Protectorate, a secret society of vampires and humans protecting the mortal realm from evil dead walkers. But when the time comes for him to ascend to the throne, Donovan refuses. He’s been harboring a deadly secret?he’s the one soul capable of destroying the very world he was born to protect. Now his greatest enemy has returned and Donovan is determined to save the Protectorate, even if it mean’s sacrificing his own soul. But as Donovan prepares to carry out his secret plot, a female quasi vampire thwarts his plans and forces him to relive a past he’s spent centuries trying to forget…

Born a royal Celt with Vampyric blood, Iceni lost her family and her tribe to the Romans and the deadly vampires who befriended the Empire. After spending centuries trying to fight the dark souls who took away her world, Iceni now has the chance to finally avenge her parents’ deaths and take back the sacred relic housing her father’s ancient powers. But to do so, she needs Donovan Bramwell to join her cause. And considering she didn’t exactly use conventional means to get the man’s attention, she must first convince the Protectorate heir she’s not the enemy…

Suffering from a bite gone wrong, Vastos–a Vampyric prince and dead walker as old as time–returns to man’s world determined to cure the ailment afflicting his soul. But to do so, he must fight his greatest antagonist, Donovan Bramwell, the one soul keeping him alive and yet killing him at the same time. Vastos has two choices: Conquer the Protectorate and take the throne away from Donovan, or destroy Iceni and take full control of her father’s powers. And to a dead walker vampire running out of time, choosing one option over the other really doesn’t matter…

Giveaway:  I’m offering one signed paperback copy of The Protectorate.  Each blog comment who tells me why they love vampires will be entered into a random drawing.  One winner will be picked.  (US addresses only, please)

Website:  http://www.angeliquearmae.com

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/AngeliqueArmaeFans

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