Rise for Me by Kristal Harris

Welcome back to Visiting Authors, Kristal. I always enjoy having you. Let’s refresh our readers…

Do you find inspiration in your own life for your writing?

I do find inspiration from my own life, especially for Rise for Me. Mariah, the heroine, is afflicted with a hairy birthmark under her eye. My mother was born with a hairy, pink birthmark in the center of her forehead. It was later removed by a plastic surgeon, but she was embarrassed. I remember feeling so bad for her, but not truly understanding her insecurity until I became disabled. Long story short, I wear drop-foot braces to walk. People stare and it’s uncomfortable, but I’ve learned to ignore it and realized my disability makes me unique. For a long time, it bothered me and caused me to be insecure.

Vampire and warlock, Roman Lee, spent centuries alone as ringmaster of the carnival. After befriending and healing a scarred, young woman, Roman realizes Mariah is his mate. He waits for her, but when she departs from his life, his torture knows no bounds. Now he's risen, unforgiving and angry, forced from his grave by the one woman who captured his heart, but will another secret and the call of his mate change everything?

The steady call of Roman's blood and the promise of peace brings Mariah Stone home to the carnival and the vampire she left behind. He ignores her until she forces him from the grave with her blood. His anger crushes her already broken spirit, but she is determined to win Roman's forgiveness and free him from their bond. Denied passion leads them down a path of magic and desire, while a devastating secret threatens eternal love.

Rise for Me | Universal Book Links Help You Find Books at Your Favorite Store! (books2read.com)

Any new projects on the horizon?

Seduction by Blood is another vampire romance I cowrote with another author. It has been contracted with The Wild Rose Press, Inc., but doesn’t have a release date it. Watch for it!

What was the hardest/most unusual/interesting part of the story to write/research?

Although as a child I spent numerous weekends at an amusement park, I didn’t realize my favorite ride, the haunted house, would play such a role in one of my books. That amusement park closed years ago due to a fire, but while writing I pulled from the experience. Once I started researching carnivals, my curiosity took flight and I found myself reading anything I could find on the subject. Funny how that happens!

What was my muse for Rise for Me? A birthmark. Read more here.

As authors, we are expected/encouraged to develop relationships with readers as well as other professionals in our field. Just for fun, I answered another author’s prompt on Facebook that went like this: 

Create a fictional story about how we met.

My answer:  We met at the carnival. You were the creepy clown who snuck up on me and scared me half to death. I was angry, so I smacked with you with my corndog, got mustard in your hair, you got angry, we wrestled into the duck-pond booth, both got soaking wet, but it’s all good because we’re friends again. LOL

Not the best writing, I know, but that little answer sparked my imagination and I started thinking what a great idea to write a vampire story set at the carnival. It’s the perfect place for a vampire to hide. Of course, the idea developed into so much more once I started writing it!

Excerpt from Rise for Me…

Mariah stopped directly over where she knew Roman rested. Her own blood surged in her veins every time she stepped on the worn plank. She tilted her head, listening to the call of his blood and the beat of his heart. Lizzie said he wasn’t feeding as much as he should, so there was one sure way to bring Roman out of his grave. She searched the room for something sharp until her gaze landed on a small, jeweled pocketknife. She grabbed it off the table and pulled the blade out of its slot. It was dull, but it would work.

Mariah placed the small blade against her left palm, then held it over the spot where she knew Roman rested. With one downward swipe, the blade pierced her flesh, opening a one-inch gash. Blood poured from the wound and dripped onto the rough, wooden floor planks. She crouched and held her palm over the crack between the boards, making sure the blood reached Roman. With a deep breath, she gathered her courage as her blood continued to splatter in droplets between the planks. The room seemed to groan, and every trinket vibrated when she finally called to the other half of her soul in a loud, demanding voice. “Rise for me, Roman Lee.”

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Kristal Dawn Harris is an award-winning, Rone nominated, American romance author. She has been married for 27 years and has two children. Kristal finished a degree from Miami University in Accounting Technology, but quickly realized she preferred words over numbers. She is an avid reader and, in particular, loves darker paranormal romance. Her hobbies include coin collecting, physical fitness, stained-glass art (beginner), poetry, and song writing.

Kristal primarily writes for her publisher, The Wild Rose Press, although it should be noted she has self-released several books. She writes paranormal, fantasy, erotic, as well as contemporary romance in different lengths.

You can find out more about Kristal and her books at www.kristalharris.com.

The Warrior's Progeny by Jeny Heckman

Jeny Heckman is back, sharing about her second book in her Heaven and Earth series, The Warrior’s Progeny. Welcome, Jeny!

First, thank you Jean for having me on today I truly appreciate your time and am excited to get to know your readers.

Tell us about what you write.

My fictional Heaven & Earth series is a paranormal romance. They are all novels except for Dee’s Cornucopia, which will come out next year. It will be a novella on one of the supporting characters, a fan favorite named, Dee Taylor.

I also published, Dancing Through Tears, in February, as part of the Australia Burns anthology (it’s in volume two). It was to benefit the wildfire victims in Australia, and is my family’s experience as attendees of the Las Vegas, Route 91 massacre in October 2017.

I also write contemporary fiction.

What drew you to writing?

Kindle ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Kobo ~ iBooks

What drew me to writing was getting lost in stories and characters. So, many books I used to read I loved but wished for one thing or another to change, even daring to believe I might do it one better. So, it was to see if I could, one, do it and two, create something a little different.

What was your inspiration for The Warrior’s Progeny?

Well, the series is about the Greek gods and goddesses and their modern-day counterparts. The powers and weaknesses of these gods and mortals must work together to solve a quest. Each pairing means something. In the Sea Archer, book one, Apollo and Poseidon worked together to build the foundation and walls of Troy. So, in my story, they create the foundation of the series and the quest. Book two the Warrior’s Progeny, is about strength within the family. So, Ares and Hera needed to be the spotlights.

Do you find inspiration in your own life for your writing?

I do have a lot of my family and friend’s quirks and habits in the books. However, funny enough, it wasn’t super intentional. I’ll have my husband or someone say, “That was funny, so and so does that all the time.” And I’ll be like, “Oh, yeah, huh?” Or a habit of one of them will pop up. For instance, cantilevering a bottle cap against another bottle cap to pop it off is something the men in my family do to beer all the time.

Tell us about The Warrior’s Progeny.

The Warrior’s Progeny is about Ares, the Warrior, or god of violent war. The progeny has to do with Hera, who is the goddess of marriage but also has to do with the family and childbirth. Ares, has a modern-day ancestor, Colt Stone, who is a football tight-end for Seattle. Hera’s, ancestor is Dr. Lillian Morgan, a pediatric, cardiothoracic surgeon. They “run into” each other at the wedding of a friend in Hawaii and do not hit it off.

Eventually, upon their return to Seattle, they begin to do charity work together and the relationship progresses. Lilly, is the widow of a perfect man and marriage, with two small children. Colt, is an eligible bachelor with a hardcore reputation and definitely not an ideal family man.

So, they have some challenges. Throw in some supernatural events, and unexplained dream sequences from Greek gods and the bronze age and life gets a whole lot more interesting.

Slide set caption:

1. The Burren - in Ireland. Inspiring deserted landscape. 2. Iona Cross - on Skye (Scotland). 3. Boat in Inverary (Scotland) - during her month-long solo trip! 4. - The Scaup, is a diving duck boat of Jeny’s.

Tell us about your experience with the publishing process.

So, my first novel, the Catch, is about a woman crab fisherman in Alaska. It’s a novel about empowerment, and a woman working in a man’s world. I’d never written anything before in my life and self-published it. I fell in love with writing and began going to conferences and taking classes on writing. I came up with an idea for this series and pitched the idea to a couple of New York agents who loved it. After writing the Sea Archer, I went to another conference and pitched the book, receiving five requests for the novel. I found a home with The Wild Rose Press, who published it and this book, the Warrior’s Progeny. Next year, I hope to have both books turned into audio along with the remaining four books of the series.

Colton Stone is a newly traded tight end whose reputation is as battered as his football helmet. When he receives a vacation invitation from his new teammates, he accepts. There he collides with Dr. Lillian Morgan, a pediatric cardiovascular surgeon, and doesn't know what to think.

A widow with two children, Lilly is looking forward to her friends' wedding. When she meets Colton Stone, his arrogant attitude only makes her long for the love she took for granted. Lilly struggles between letting go of her perfect past for an uncertain future.

Strange events occur, out of the realm of normal consciousness. When black energy touches their world Colt and Lilly become the pawns of the immortal Greek gods. Is the love developing between them natural, or part of a larger prophecy?

FIND IT ONLINE: Kindle ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Kobo ~ iBooks

Any new projects on the horizon?

Next year, Dee’s Cornucopia will come out (I’m editing it now). There will be four more books in the Heaven & Earth series, and I’ve just started book three. I also have a YA book in development and a political thriller I’m trying to decide whether or not I’m going to publish. So, lots of things popping!

Words of advice for fellow writers in the trenches:

Get comfortable talking about yourself as a writer. When someone asks you what you do, tell them you’re a writer and own it!

What was the hardest part of the story to write/research?

The hardest part for me with writing by far is the editing! I don’t enjoy it at all! Everything else is cream cheese!

Now for an excerpt…

“You couldn’t have known,” Colt said.

“I’m a doctor,” she retorted. “I’m trained to know.”

“Oh, bullshit.” She drew her brows together and looked at him with

irritation. Undaunted, he continued. “You were his wife, not his doctor.” Glancing back at the picture, he drank from his glass. “He was a young guy...looked fit...father of two.” Colt turned to look at her again. “Young, fit, fathers of two don’t get stage four pancreatic cancer and die in ten months. He wasn’t your patient, Lillian, and you weren’t looking at him like a patient. He was your husband, and he died.”

“Colt.” She took a breath, placed a hand on his, and backed up a little. “Look, I know you want something, but we’re broken here, and I can’t give you what you...”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s not bullshit. It’s how I feel. I’ve got kids to think about and responsibilities. You want easy and I’m not that.”

“You don’t even know me, Lilly.”

“I know. That’s what I’ve been trying to say.”

“No, that’s what you’re trying to use as an excuse. Those kids aren’t damaged because of their dad, you are. Those kids have a mom who loves them and makes damn sure they aren’t damaged. You’re afraid to try, so you hide behind your dead husband.”

“How dare you be so callous?”

“How dare you use your husband to get out of trying again? You’re a beautiful, intelligent woman and your life isn’t over.”

Find Jeny online:

Website  ~ Amazon Author Page 

Facebook ~ Twitter                         

Instagram ~ Pinterest                      

GoodReads ~ BookBub                    

YouTube ~ iBooks Author Page    

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**Finally, I’d like to say thank you again for having me on today Jean, this truly has been a pleasure. Thank you to you and your readers for honoring me with your time!

Life for Sale by Linda Nightingale

Welcome, Linda!

Thanks for having me, Jean. Today I am chatting about humanoid androids and how they play a role in my current book…

(Be sure to enter

the giveaway below!)

Obviously having written two books about them, I’m interested in the developing humanoid androids. I found a couple of movies and two TV series on the subject.  In case you missed Humans, Better Than Us, Westworld, Ex Machina, and Blade Runner, of course, they feature humanoid androids with feelings and intelligence.

This technology is proceeding so fast that by now I may be wrong in saying that we are not there yet. The closest my research has uncovered is Sophia, but this blog isn’t about this very real-looking humanoid android.  I discuss Sophia and her cousins in another blog.

Let’s talk movies and TV.

Here are the published teasers and trailer links for the TV series.

Better Than Us:   Imdb classifies the TV series as a Drama, Sci-fi.  The series ran from 2018-2019. The original title was Luchise, chem lyundi. The series is described as:

Teaser: A family on the brink of splitting up becomes the owners of a cutting-edge robot being sought by a corporation, homicide investigators, and terrorists. Stars Paulina Adreeva, Kirill Karon, and Aleksandr Ustyugov. Creator: Alexander Kessel.

Here is the Trailer.  The show has 16 episodes and is available on Netflix.

Humans: (My fave) – TV series (2015-2018), stars Katherine Parkinson, Gemma Chan, Lucy Carless, and Emily Barrington.

British writers:  Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley

Teaser: In a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a “Synth”, a highly-developed robotic servant that’s so similar to a real human it’s transforming the way we live. (That doesn’t seem to be a complete sentence to me but who am I to judge?)

I loved this show.  Gemma Chan as Mia does a wonderful job as a Synth with good intentions played against Emily Barrington as Niska, a rebellious droid who thinks all the Synths should be made sentient and is determined to carry out that goal. Niska is a sympathetic villain/hero.

Here is the Trailer. Enjoy this show on Amazon Prime.  It was originally aired on AMC.

Ex Machina: (Movie)

Ex Machina is a 2014 science fiction psychological thriller. The film was written and directed by Alex Garland. Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Sonovy Mizuno, and Oscar Isaac star.

Teaser: The story follows a programmer who is invited by his CEO to administer the Turing test to an intelligent humanoid robot.

Here is the Trailer.                  

I didn’t mention Westworld and Blade Runner because most people have seen or heard of them. No personal review is included. I didn’t have room in this short blog. Instead, I’ve given a link to the trailer. Wouldn’t you prefer to see the characters in action?

Westworld Trailer ~ Blade Runner Trailer (the classic) or the 2017 version

I hope I’ve introduced you to a new show or movie you haven’t seen and will enjoy.

My new sci-fi romance stars sentient androids in a different blend—love and danger. Life for Sale is now on pre-order. The book is the sequel to Love For Sale, both from The Wild Rose Press.

Though Life for Sale is a standalone, Love For Sale is available in print, audio, and eBook. The narrator is British, and her voice works very well with this book.  Listen to the sample here:  Audible

Mayfair Electronics has created life.

But four of their Special Editions—sentient androids indistinguishable from human—have escaped. Rebel, Christian Aguillard and his owner, March, are on the run, but they have a bigger problem than his creator's plan to destroy him. They've discovered that one of the renegades has suffered a dangerous malfunction, threatening them with more than just exposure.

Trapped on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic, March and Christian must stop the insane robot before someone else dies. All the evidence points to March being the killer's next victim.

BUY LINKS: Life for Sale ~ Love For Sale

Life for Sale Excerpt:

March shivered again, rested her face on his chest. “Hold me until I stop trembling.” Tears she didn’t want him to see welled in her eyes. The whole ghastly business had to be hard on a man encoded to protect not harm humans.

Her AI angel stroked her hair, and a sob broke through her control. She squeezed her eyes shut, battling tears.

“Shush, dear. It’s over now,” but he didn’t sound confident. The thing buried in the backyard could tear them apart or worse.  Any slight misstep, and they both faced Death in all his chilling glory.

“I love you,” she whispered.

He brushed a kiss to her lips and pulled held her closer.

For some time, they stood. taking comfort from holding each other and simply being, then, hand-in-hand, they walked, when they wanted to run, to the house. Christian had switched on the overhead light in the anteroom. In the brilliance, it was possible to pretend the past few minutes hadn’t occurred. Again the tears threatened, and he held her until she’d regained control. She straightened, gazing into his eyes. Battered emotions stained them darker blue. Mayfair hadn’t missed even that small detail. He cradled her face between his hands and kissed her tenderly, his lips soft and his body close. In a lifetime of searching, she’d never have found anyone like him. If she were to lose him…she couldn’t imagine living without him.

Once, Mayfair had taken him away.  They could do it again—and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. The golden ring on the third finger of his left hand should protect Christian from Mayfair, but who’d investigate a missing robot, or even believe her in the first place?

With almost religious ferver, she and Christian had adhered to Mayfair’s first commandment. Above all, the company demanded secrecy. The Special Editions passed for human, and no one was ever to know that Mayfair had engendered life, but at any moment Aguillard, the wild card for whom the Christian line was named, might renege on the freedom he’d grudgingly bestowed.

Her cell rang, ending their moment of respite.

Giveaway below! Win the first book in the series, Love for Sale.

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Be sure to enter the giveaway above for a chance to win an e-book copy of Love for Sale, or use this link.

You can find Linda at:

Twitter

Facebook

Web Site:  – Visit and look around. There’s a free continuing vampire story.

Blog:  - Lots of interesting guests & prizes

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Naivete and Naked Cowboys--a blog reflection by Colleen L. Donnelly

From the desk of Colleen L. Donnelly…

Naivete and Naked Cowboys

To write a book is to wear your soul as clothing. When people say, “Write what you know,” they’re not just talking about head knowledge, they mean what you’ve been through as well. What hurts, what tempts you, what you did last year that you hope no one ever finds out about. If there’s a scratch, a fracture, or even an unfulfilled yearning in your heart of hearts, it will end up on your page, and everyone will see it.

When I splashed my biggest hurt on three hundred such pages of fiction, I wasn’t prepared to see my agony snatched up by a publisher, put into print, turned into an Amazon #1 Bestseller, and then go on to win awards. My worst nightmare was out there, with only a fictional heroine between a worldwide audience and me.

Tossed from the seclusion of just me and my laptop into a gala national conference and award ceremony, I crept into an arena of readers with a red face, a bag with several of my books, and a tablecloth to hopefully spread somewhere to display them on.

Naïve novices learn the hard way that a book frenzy is not the place a timid writer can cower behind a character. Readers are ravenous. They want to know all. They want to gape wide-eyed at what I/my characters suffered, and they want to leave me wide-eyed at suggestions for things I’d never fathomed existed to spice up future books. Their enthusiasm left me dazed, awestruck, and confident that what I exposed was as fine as the Emperor’s new clothes.

“Where’s your naked cowboy?” another writer at the extravaganza asked, to which I responded, “I don’t have naked cowboys in my story.” She assured me I didn’t have to write them, just stand life-sized naked cowboy cutouts in front of my table to increase sales. I pondered that…naked cowboys or naked soul. “No thanks,” I responded. “I just bared something far more painful and far more humiliating. And it was worth it!”

Louise Archer boards a westbound train in St. Louis to find the Kansas homesteader who wooed and proposed to her by correspondence, then jilted her by telegram – Don't come, I can't marry you. Giving a false name to hide her humiliation, her lie backfires when a marshal interferes and offers her his seat.

Marshal Everett McCloud intends to verify the woman coming to marry his homesteading friend is suitable. At the St. Louis train station, his plan detours when he offers his seat to a captivating woman whose name thankfully isn't Louise Archer.

Everett's plans thwart hers, until he begins to resemble the man she came west to find, and she the woman meant to marry his friend.

Find Letters and Lies online:

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ iTunes

Find Colleen online: Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads

What was your inspiration for Letters and Lies?

Fun! Most of my novels are serious, and I wanted to write something that made us laugh.

Do you find inspiration in your own life for your writing?

Yes, but I never stop paying attention to those around me…just in case.

Colleen’s pug — and writing companion.

Any new projects on the horizon?

During the final round of edits for “Letters and Lies” the man who jilted Louise Archer jumped from secondary character to hero in my mind. It might seem impossible for a man who drops his fiancée right before their wedding to be worthy of a whole new book. But this man is. Once his true motive jumped off the page at me, I knew his story had to be told, and he’s in the process of revealing it to me right now.

What was the hardest/most unusual/interesting part of the story to write/research?

Trains. I needed a train to do what I wanted, where I wanted it to, when I needed it to, and with the proper accommodations. In fact, I had to sacrifice my druthers for Louise’s train ride to stay true to history.

Now to leave you with an excerpt:

“He wrote and changed your plans? Why didn’t you tell me? You know I love hearing his letters.”

Everyone loved hearing his letters. Or at least they’d pretended to. I glanced at my friends, especially the one who’d first suggested I correspond with her husband’s homesteading friend in Kansas who was ready to look for a wife. She dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief while she flicked the fingers of her other hand in a weak wave. I dredged my soul in search of a smile. The man she’d introduced me to truly had penned everything I’d ever wanted in a husband, months of letters which convinced Mama Jim was my open door. Letters I’d foolishly carted from family to friend to blather every word like a desperate spinster. Drat.

“He didn’t send his change of plans in a letter, Mama. He sent them in a telegram.” Don’t come, I can’t marry you. The only words I never shared.  

“Well I imagine your Jim has a surprise for you and didn’t have time to send a letter before you left for Crooked Creek. How thoughtful to wire you instead.”

Thoughtful…I felt poisoned and Mama would too if she ever found out Jim had shut my open door. Which she wouldn’t, since as soon as I got out there and found him, I’d wedge it back open again.