Archive for May, 2010

“I do not sound like that.”
Oops. Wrong shifter. You won’t hold that against me, will you, hot stuff?
“Hands off my man!”
*blushes* Sorry, Rowan. Uh…why don’t I just step back and let you guys speak for yourselves.
“I think that’s a great idea.”

“The beautiful Rhian was nice enough to tell our story. You can check out the details below .”

Coming home was never going to be easy for Rowan Wilder, but after six years she didn’t think it would be this hard. First she can’t control her inner coyote, then she has to deal with her mate and the madman out to get them both. Determined to take her rightful place in the pack, Rowan must face each hurdle and succeed. To fail could mean losing her life.

Quinn MacClellan is more than ready for the return of his mate and he’ll do anything to keep her safe and by his side. He couldn’t protect her years ago, but things are different now and he won’t let anything or anyone separate them again. Together they’ll confront all obstacles and ensure the future they both deserve.

Buy here

posted over at International Heat.

Woot! Yup, I’ve finally thawed out and not feeling the heat as much as I was when I first came home. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still blazing but I’m down from too many showers per day to two. lol

Looking back fondly at the cold, here are a few pics from places I’ve lived/visited that were cold as a witch’s tit.

I went to visit a friend in Calgary one March and she insisted we go up to the mountains–she loves them. We did and I had a great time. My camera button froze it was so cold but it was awesome!

No, there’s no snow on the ground but man, it was freezing! I lived in South Germany at the time and stupidly, I dressed for the weather there, thinking Berlin would be the same. I had to buy a sweater to wear under my windbreaker post-haste. I remember because the sales clerk asked me the word for “receipt” so we had a mini Englisch tutorial and she can now say, “Your receipt is in the bag.” I was thrilled that my English wasn’t a hindrance for once. lol

The city that obliterated my heat immunity by building my immunity to cold. lol

Have a great weekend everyone!

“I confess right now that I have a secondary character fetish,” J. R. Patrick said here.

Why is that? I wondered. Something along the same lines had happened to me with my editor, who told me she found a secondary character in my debut novel “fascinating”. She said she hoped to see more of him in the sequel.

Which was great, of course – not only that she was discussing the sequel but that I’d planned to write about him anyway. But still. When I wrote Before the Storm, the hero, Robert Demeresna, was meant to be a strong but plain-looking man who treated the heroine courteously and kindly. His sidekick – in this case, Mayerd, the captain of his guard – was the tall and dark and cold and tortured type.

And the “tortured” part was with good reason, since Mayerd committed a terrible crime in his past. As a result, his ability to do magic was removed, and he was forced to flee his homeland. He ended up in a foreign country, where his kind are held in distrust and fear because of their arcane powers – and it doesn’t matter that he lacks those powers, since he has no way to prove that he’s now crippled.

So even though he managed to find a place in Robert’s ranks, it doesn’t make much of a difference. He’ll always be the foreigner and the outcast.

Naturally, he’s more popular among readers. I should have seen that coming, because secondary characters often end up stealing the spotlight for several reasons.

With such characters, a writer can take more risks. In a novel where the hero is a walking sculpture with piercing grey eyes, his best friend can be less attractive. In a novel where the hero is a very good person at heart, the man who competes with him for the heroine’s affection can be an anti-hero, which usually means he’ll have bitingly sarcastic dialogue as well. Secondary characters get to do or say what the protagonists can’t, and might be the comic relief too.

There just isn’t as much pressure to make the secondary characters conform to any authorial requirement. They can have flaws and quirks that might be problematic in the hero, but which make them who they are.

A secondary character’s story also isn’t as likely to be wrapped up neatly at the end. The hero and heroine have to have a happily-ever-after, or at least a happy-for-now. But the secondary character’s fate is much less certain, and that means more tension for the readers.

The more worried you make them, the more emotionally invested they are.

Readers are also more likely to care about characters whom they aren’t pushed to like. If I’m reading a novel where the hero is a handsome, rich and talented SEAL who rescues orphaned children… well, he doesn’t need my admiration when he’s clearly got the rest of the universe on his side. But if he’s unattractive, if he struggles to pay the rent, if he’s ostracized by his family or society because of his lack of a talent – or in spite of it – that’s compelling.

In those cases, it doesn’t feel as though the author’s trying to steer me in a particular direction.

So no wonder Mayerd turned out to be popular in my novel. Although he was competent and loyal, few of the other characters accepted or liked him, so the readers picked up the slack. I just hope that when he’s the hero of the sequel, he won’t be upstaged by a secondary character too.

Bio: Marian Perera is the author of Before the Storm, a romantic fantasy where psychic magic and steam engines clash on the battlefield. When she’s not writing, she studies medical laboratory technology (one more year of college to go!).

She has a website and a blog where she discusses writing and publication. Comments always welcome!

First things first. Happy new release day to Jambrea!

In case you missed it, Retribution is out today. Rave and Kain go through so much to get their HEA but it’s a journey you do not want to miss! Hot man-love, evil masterminds, friends who come through in times of danger… It’s awesome! Get it here

Guess you want to know who won now, huh?

Congratulations to naughty Joder!

Jambrea will be emailing you about your prize.

Thanks for playing, everyone! Loved what you came up with.

Uh…no women here. Hmm.

Retribution: Your balls…served to you on a platter.

What do you mean that neither of those is the tag line

Okay, okay. Here’s the real thing

Retribution: Is love worth the cost?

Rave Anders lost everything – his job, his lover, and part of his soul. Accused of a crime he didn’t commit, it’s taken him years to build up a respectable intergalactic transport business. Pulled into a web of intrigue and espionage, Rave is forced to face ex-lover Kain Sims, the one man he no longer trusts.

On a mission for the Alliance, Kain must convince Rave the fate of a world rests in both their hands. Kain needs Rave to help to destroy a deadly weapon before it can be used to eradicate a planet. But that’s the easy part; the hard part is making Rave believe he never wanted to leave him in the first place.

Can they save a world and reclaim the love they once shared, in a galaxy of deception?

Retribution releases tomorrow from Total-E-Bound. Be the first in line to get your copy here.

For a chance to win an ebook copy of Retribution, post your own tag for Retribution in the comments.

Contest runs until Monday, May 3, 2010 at 7 am EST. I’ll pick a random winner then and announce who that lucky someone is at 8 am.