Welcome Skyla Dawn Cameron to our Blog Tour This Week!

I asked fellow kitty-afficianado Skyla a non-cat related question recently:

You get to go back in time to talk to anyone you want about your latest book. Who do you go to, what do you ask them and what do you think they will tell you?

She had a very interesting repsonse. One that evoked so many images for me I have to read this book. Here's what she had to say:

I thought and thought and thought about this excellent question...and drew a blank. There are people from the past I’d love to talk to, but not about my books—more than likely about theirs. But then I don’t particularly live in reality most of the time, so why do I have to pick a “real” person from the past?



I’d go back just over three hundred years to speak to a seventeen year old Romanian girl named Ana, recently betrayed, killed, and turned into a vampire who, many years later, would be known as Zara Lain—the main character of my current series that begins with Bloodlines (and continued with Hunter this past August, with Lineage coming in February and Exhumed later next year). After awakening early and cannonballing pretty far on the crazy spectrum, she ended up locked in her maker’s basement in the hopes of her getting her back to sanity. Or, at the very least, to keep her from randomly slaughtering innocents for awhile.


I want to go to that basement, before she breaks out and kills a bunch of humans, when she’s angry and hurt and out of her freakin’ mind—and I’d tell her about her life now. True, she’s in the middle of conspiracies and secret societies and the apocalypse and several attempts on her life, which may sound like it all sucks. But I’d go into that basement—with her firmly secured to a chair or something, and maybe a big ol’ set of bars between us, and me armed with a stake and a flamethrower—sit down, set the books out before me, and tell her, “You’re going to be okay.


“Your heart is broken, but it will heal. Your identity is shattered, but you will build a new one. You’ve been betrayed, you will have your bloody revenge, and it won’t fix you, but building and growing and changing will repair some of the damage. You’ll make mistakes, and even when you think you’ve learned from them, you’ll make them again because that’s what everyone does. And that’s okay. You’ll learn to trust again—have faith in people, even some humans. You’ll be in love—maddening, schoolgirl-sighing-dreamily, will-probably-turn-angsty love. You’ll gain a sense of humour about injustices you’ve suffered. You will always get back up when knocked down. You are worth saving, even if you are unable to accept it. You will continue to be betrayed, you will continue to be hurt, and your heart might break again, but you will survive anything and everything, always.


“Ana is dead, but Zara lives on. And she’ll never let you down.”

Actually, I’d tell a whole lot of people that if I could.


I imagine Ana would respond with lots of incoherent ramblings, screaming, and general threats I won’t understand because she doesn’t speak English. But I would have to hope, somewhere, she’d remember it.


Then I’d ask Ana for some details about early eighteenth century Romania because history is not my forte and I keep getting stuck having to write flashback scenes. Ugh.


Thank you for having me, Regan!


About the Author: Award-winning author Skyla Dawn Cameron has been writing approximately forever. Her early storytelling days were spent acting out strange horror/fairy tales with the help of her many dolls, and little has changed except that she now keeps those stories on paper. She signed her first book contract at age twenty-one for River, a unique werewolf tale, which was released to critical and reader praise alike and won her the 2007 EPPIE Award for Best Fantasy. She now has multiple series on the go to keep her busy, which is great for her attention deficit disorder.


Skyla lives in Southern Ontario where she dabbles in art, is an avid gamer, and watches Buffy reruns. She’s naturally brunette, occasionally a redhead, and will probably go blonde again soon. If she ever becomes a grown-up, she wants to run her own pub, as well as become world dictator.


You can find her online at www.skyladawncameron.com, www.twitter.com/skyladawn, www.facebook.com/skyladawncameron


About Bloodlines: If you’re in her way, it sucks to be you.


After three hundred years of unlife, vampire Zara Lain has seemingly done it all, and she's now making a living as a successful thief-turned-assassin. Her newest assignment seems simple enough--kill the aging leader of the O'Connor Coven and his only heir, and she'll have another ten million in the bank.


But in the dangerous world of the supernatural, few things are ever “simple.”


When a massive assault decimates the continent's population of powerful witches and warlocks, and its orchestrator has vampires being hunted down and captured, Zara realizes the tables have turned and now she'll be playing the hero. Forced to join with a smart-mouthed fellow vampire, a demonologist who's also a fan of hers, a recently widowed—and frequently brooding—warlock, and her best friend's mom, Zara's grudgingly willing to do what she can to save the day.


If only people would stop ruining all her outfits.

Catch excerpts, fan art, the series in chronological order, free stories, and more at www.zaralain.com. 

Introducing Sharon Poppen! My Awe-struck Blog Tour Guest this Week!

Hi Regan, I’m so happy to be guest blogging at your site this week. I do love to write, but marketing, not so much. So, when these opportunities to connect with new readers in distant cities and even distant countries come alone, it’s a real treat. This past week has been a busy week for me with setting up book signings, arranging for sales tables at various sales venues and polishing up some workshop presentations that I will be moderating right after the first of the year. But, best of all, I’m finding time each day to ‘play’ with the charcters of The Band, my latest novel in progress. It is book number six in my series of the Farrell family, that debuted in my first novel After the War, Before the Peace. The first book began with the story of four Southern brothers just after the U.S. Civil War and The Band features their great, grandsons in the 1950s who have formed a rock and roll band. I have a seventh book in mind already. I just signed a contract for the first sequel, so I’m hoping readers will want to follow this family from generation to generation. Now, on to some questions from some fellow authors who have been along for this wild Awe-Struck authors blog tour.




Why do you write?

Because I enjoy it. I love playing ‘what if?’. My imagination has always been one of my most valuable treasures. Instead of dreading to have to ‘wait’ for something, I almost look forward to the opportunities when I’m at an airport, doctor’s office, bank line or at the dreaded DMV. My imagination can create a story about almost any of the people I see in those places. Just recently, I noticed a strikingly handsome man sitting alone in a restaurant. He was nervously checking his watch quite frequently and watching the entrance. He looked apprehensive, yet excited. I imagined him as a cheating spouse awaiting his equally cheating paramour to arrive. I had to edit my imagined story when a tall, handsome man arrived. After a warm hug, the man who had been waiting relaxed. The men sat down, but continued to share a smile while holding hands across the table. My dinner date arrived and my attention was diverted, but it had sure been a lot more fun writing my little story, wondering why my date was late. So, like I said, I love the ‘what if?’ possibilities of life.



How long have you been writing?

I started imaging stories as a child, especially when it came to playing paper dolls with my neighborhood girl friends. As I got older, I got busy with life, a husband and kids. After my divorce, I found myself with time on my hands after the kids went to bed. That’s when I started ‘listening’ to my Southern brothers tell me the story of their life after the U.S. civil war. I’d get out the old typewriter and pound out a few paragraphs here and there. I never shared it with anyone. When I was offered early retirement from the communications company I worked for, I took it. Then after a couple of years of 24 hour togetherness with my second husband, I knew I had to either kill him, get a job or go back to school. The first two options were fleeting moments of whimsy, but the school idea hit home. I enrolled in a local junior college and that’s when I began writing seriously. I had a couple of great Lit professors who felt I had some talent and urged me to get busy. My first published piece was a Haiku. I don’t enjoy poetry writing, but working with that genre really helps to learn how to be succinct and precise. So, I guess I’ve been writing seriously for about 15 years now.



What interests and hobbies do you have, aside from writing?

I love going to movies, most genres, except vampires and horror-for-horrors sake. I love to read, long saga type novels and almost always have a book in progress. I love to travel by RV. I don’t care for tours or cruises, but put me in an RV and on a backwoods, two-lane road, a campfire every night and I’m a happy camper. I love playing bunco and a couple times a month I like to head on over to the casino and play some keno.

What’s your goal for the next 5 years, writing career-wise?

I’m love to have all seven books of my After the War, Before the Peace saga become a hugely popular series and maybe even made into a TV mini-series. I’d love to see one of my books on the New York Times bestseller list. And, I’m still waiting for the call from Stephen Spielberg, Ron Howard or Penny Marshall to ask for the rights to film any one of my novels. Tee Hee. I can dream, can’t I?



Author Bio -

Sharon Poppen ( www.sharonpoppen.com ) has won awards from Arizona

Authors Assoc. and National League of American Pen Women. Her western novels

After the War, Before the Peace, Hannah and Abby-Finding More Than Gold are

available at Amazon Books, most web based book sellers and from her website.

Her work has appeared in such publications as A Flasher's Dozen, Desert

Treasures, Skive, Offerings from the Oasis, A Long Story Short, Apollo Lyre

and Laughter Loaf. Her workshops on Journaling, Short Story Writing and

Blogging bring rave reviews. Sharon is a member of Lake Havasu City Writer's

Group.



Book Blurb -

In 1897, Abby Barron, a young Irish-American girl, loses her cousin to a

fire and with him the plans to escape Chicago to search for gold in the Yukon

fields. A want ad for a cook revives the plan and she soon hires on with Paddy

and Tommy, a medicine-show man and his son.

Despite Abby's wanderlust and Tommy's desire to settle down, the two

fall in love. But it's a long road to fulfill Abby's dreams of reaching the Yukon--one

that tests the bonds of love and uncovers long-held family secrets.



Book Excerpt:

Eleven-year-old Liam was sitting at the kitchen table peering over an atlas. He called to his red-headed cousin. “Red, come here. Look.”

With tears in her eyes, Abby made her way over and slid into a chair next to him. The desolate ten-year-old had just lost her mother. The poor, young woman had died of pneumonia.

He reached over and patted her hand. “Abby, don’t cry now.”

She looked up. He never called her Abby; it was always Red. His eyes were a little glassy too, but he managed a smile.

“Look.” He pointed to a map of the world.

“Yes?”

He swept his hand across a centerfold map that spanned two large pages. “All this is out there for us.”

“What do you mean?” She sniffled.

“Well, you know how your Ma always talked about seeing the world.”

“Yes?” Abby started crying again.

“Come on, Abby. Listen.” He reached over and clumsily wiped her tears away with his big, awkward adolescent hands. “I’ve an idea.”

She sniffled and looked with trust into his eyes

“You and me will travel to all the places your Ma used to talk about.”

“How?” Abby was old enough to realize that her Ma had been a dreamer. The Barrons and the Moynahans were lace-curtain, Irish poor. They spent their lives trying to make a mean living; there was no time for frivolous travel. Her mother’s dreams had brought a measure of scorn from many of the neighbors. If it hadn’t been for the kindness of Aunt Kitty and Uncle Maudie, Lord knows where or how Abby and her mother would have lived. An unmarried woman with a child was a pariah in this close-knit Catholic community.

Liam smiled and set his jaw in that determined pose that always preceded his occasional streaks of stubbornness. He spoke to Abby’s eyes in a firm voice. “I don’t know yet.” Abby lowered her head. He lifted her chin and continued. “But, Abby, we’re going to do it. You and me.” His eyes challenged. “Have I ever let you down?”

She shook her head no. Then, despite her misery, she felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “You won’t forget?”

He smiled broadly. “Forget you, Red?” He tousled her hair. “Not likely.” He turned and refocused on the atlas. “Come on. Look, here’s New York and here’s Washington where the president lives.” He swept his arm across a blue expanse. “And look here, Paris.” Soon the two of them were engrossed in the atlas and Abby’s healing began. The atlas became their bible over the years. As news events and school topics brought strange and exotic places into their lives, they found them on the map and often added them to their list of future destinations.



Website - www.sharonpoppen.com

Blog Site - http://poppensthoughtsonwritingandstuff.blogspot.com/

Email - poppen@citlink.net





List of Published Novels -

After the War, Before the Peace - Xlibris Publishing

Hannah - Virtual Tales Publishing

Abby-Finding More Than Gold - Awe-Struck Publishing

Welcome to Christine London!

I recently asked Christine one of my favorite questions:

You get to go back in time to talk to anyone you want about your latest book. Who do you go to, what do you ask them and what do you think they will tell you.

What a great question, Regan. Thanks for having me as guest today.

If I were to go back in time involving my work in progress to talk to someone about its theme, I would need to speak with someone who has already died. Perhaps the best person would be a relative as I know them most intimately and could therefore have the deepest interaction. I would ask them to tell me about the aftertime and what things they would have done to make their time here all the more meaningful. But then this is sad as it involves regrets and the past...

 

What I would prefer to have the power to do is to go forward and speak to someone after their passing about what they could have done, should have done to make their life all the richer—to bring love into this brief existence to compliment their already amazing success.

There is a man I know that has all the trapping of earthly success, but has not accepted one special person into his heart to enrich his life far beyond what all his earthly success has already brought him. To speak with him in future time might have the power to help him make better choices today. The power of salvation in this one and only lifetime is much more alluring to me than regrets.

 

My work in progress:

 

One More Day

 

"Cole Phillips was dead.

Four years later his wife Tara is without any answers.

Is a universe that so cruelly tore her husband from her actually capable of bestowing such a gift?

One More Day… "

A tale of the return to life of a man so sorely missed by his widow the power of her will alone causes a rift in the universe, and with it, an opportunity of which other have only dreamed.

It is a universal experience— to lose someone too young, too soon, without a proper goodbye...and the desire to have a few more precious hours together. In One More Day I explore the emotions and strength of love to overcome even the finality of death. What would be discussed, how would one pass the hours if they were given such a gift with the person who had meant the most to them in their life? How can they learn to move on?

And this man who lives now that I might wish to visit in the future hereafter—what would he say? What would I ask hm? What would he tell me?

"Now that you have accolades, success, worldwide travel and have participated in heart pounding activities and wonders most only dream of, what would you most liked to have experienced that you did not?"

 

His answer?

 

"I would allow myself to see what was right in front of me---love. That special person that could have shared all my success through her eyes and mine. My life is not too busy to welcome that kind of intimacy. Life shared, even with insane travel and time constraint IS possible. The richness of this intimacy is so much deeper than the adrenaline of the 'right now' because there are no tomorrows hereafter. And there is nothing more important than grabbing the 'brass ring' here and now."

 

I think that most of us assume we have many more opportunities, many more tomorrows to live our ultimate dream—to love an be loved. To have the gift of being able to speak to someone who does not have the joy of this intimate sharing in his life— in the light of the finality of the hereafter...now that would be profoundly powerful in changing his life—other's lives— here and now.

Leap Of Faith

Awe Struck Publishing

Now Available:

http://tinyurl.com/43w4ho7

Film student Faith Holmes is on an Italian holiday bought and paid for -- a familial inducement to finding an Italian husband. She wants none of it. Boredom and curiosity make for a volatile mix and Faith is lured into the heart of the island of Forio's exclusive international film festival not as guest, but crasher. Hollywood's premiere publicist Hunter Jameson has more than enough on his plate when his client, English film sensation Alex Winslow decides he's departing from the straight and narrow. One American party crasher should be the least of his worries. He has no idea that Alex’s growing feelings for Faith rival his own. The only thing for certain is his life will never be the same.

Bio:

Christine London was born in Chicago, Illinois, but left the long winters of the Midwest as a child to find her roots in the sun and charm of California, both North and South. Her adopted home became Great Britain when she spent a year of college in the east end of London with three male flat mates; one from each country on the main island. Her fascination and love affair with all things British has grown over the years, facilitated by summers spent trading houses.
 

Graduating from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Chris continued with family, teaching, singing in a jazz sextet and running foot races (and winning) before discovering her true passion….the romance and adventure of writing.
It took one Scot to awaken her poetic appreciation of Scotland's natural beauty, and another Scot to ignite her passion for writing. Thank you, gentlemen.