Welcome to our latest guest blogger, Sharon Ashwood!

For Talia and Lore to work together, much less fall in love, one of them has to blink. It’s not just a forbidden romance, but a contest of will. The title Frostbound isn’t simply referring to the snowstorm blanketing the city. It’s equally a reference to two people frozen in the traditions of their families. It’ll take one hot romance to bring on a spring thaw.

So sit back, open the cover, and feel the sizzle …

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To celebrate her book release, Sharon will offer a copy of any one of the Dark Forgotten series Ravenous, Scorched, Unchained, or Frostbound (reader’s choice) to someone who comments on this post. This is open to international mailing. Check out her book page for trailers and excerpts. I’m sure some of you have questions or comments for her, so please ask away…

Sharon Ashwood is a free-lance journalist, novelist, desk jockey and enthusiast for the weird and spooky. She has an English literature degree but works as a finance geek. Interests include growing her to-be-read pile and playing with the toy graveyard on her desk. As a vegetarian, she freely admits the whole vampire/werewolf lifestyle fantasy would never work out, so she writes paranormal romances instead.

Sharon lives in the Pacific Northwest and is owned by the Demon Lord of Kitty Badness.

Check out author’s website at www.SharonAshwood.com.

Read an excerpt:  http://www.sharonashwood.com/frostbound-excerpt.php

Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjEmIDCwEcc

Welcome to our latest guest blogger, Cecelia Holland!

Last April I climbed a steep hill in Normandy and stood in the ruins of Castle Gailliard. The great keep, made of white stone studded with nodules of black, dominates the river valley below, virtually unapproachable except by a narrow neck of land a child with a slingshot could defend. It was a terrific example of Medieval military engineering at its best.

For me it had a special attraction, because Richard the Lion-Hearted built this castle.

“My beautiful three-year-old daughter,” he called Gaillard, which took only that long to build.(Climbing up, I had occasionally been on my hands and knees; I could hardly imagine hauling the stones up to this site.) And although the Lionheart never lived here, the castle kept his mortal enemy Philip Augustus out of Normandy.

Richard was a great general, a master of terrain, the hero of his age. He was also, I believe, while accepting the controversy, what we now call homosexual, or gay. In any case he left no heir to his throne. Therefore his ditzy brother John succeeded him, and John promptly lost Normandy to Philip Augustus, who took Gailliard after a long siege. So the King’s beautiful daughter wound up in the hands of his worst enemy after all. 

Welcome to our latest guest blogger Adrienne Davenport!

Dishonorable Intentions

First of all I want to say thanks to the people of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques for allowing me this opportunity to speak about my book. Dishonorable Intentions is a historical romance set in Scotland and England during the late 1800’s. It is the story of Aiden Darlington, the duke of Thistledowne and Jezebel McKinley, the countess of Kinley.

While out riding in the Scottish highlands, Aiden stumbles across a young boy, lying lifelessly across his mount. When he goes to investigate, he is stunned to discover that the boy is not a boy at all, but a beautiful maiden with shimmering golden red hair and a hot temper to match.  Determined to convince the beauty to marry him, the Duke is willing to go to any lengths. Even so far as to threaten to reveal the lady’s secret if she does not agree.

Jezebel is content to live her life, caring for the home that was left to her upon her father’s death and the aging servants who are all she has in the way of family. The last thing she desires is to be married to a dictatorial English lord. She defies the Duke at every turn, refusing to relinquish the freedom she values so deeply.

But someone wants Aiden dead and Jezebel has become the prime suspect. Thrown into a world of passion and danger, the pair must learn to trust in each other if they have any hope of surviving the sinister plot in which they have become embroiled.

Dishonorable Intentions will be available in EBook format on June 7^th and in paperback on June 16^th through Eternal Press.  It will be available at Amazon.com as well as Barnesandnoble.com.  It was a thrill to write and I have since begun working on books featuring the other characters within the story as well as a contemporary romance titled Stranger by Morning. You can find out more about me and my upcoming works at www.adriennedavenportbooks.com

Please feel free to write me, I love hearing what readers and other writers have to say.

Best wishes!

Adrienne Davenport

“Adrienne Davenport, a promising new talent, delivers a strong debut novel, Dishonorable Intentions, with an interesting plot and engaging characters.”

-Patricia Grasso, National Best-Selling Author

Excerpt from Dishonorable Intentions:

He appeared to be on all accounts dead, not an unusual incident considering his locale. The wilds of Scotland were fraught with accidents. That said, Aiden could not figure out why, for the life of him he seemed intent on chasing the god-forsaken creature on which the dead man balanced, across the whole damn country when he had come to Scotland for rest and relaxation, away from the prying eyes of England’s infamous haute ton. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what he found himself doing. With a heavy sigh, he gave his mount a hearty kick that sent him racing toward the horse and rider.

It didn’t take long for him to eradicate most of the distance between himself and the unfortunate lad. As he came closer, he began to inspect his quarry. The boy was noticeably young, the Duke pondered, much too young to die, by his guess no more than sixteen. He was still reflecting on the matter when he realized, with what little surprise he was capable of, there was no blood to be seen. Well that ruled out a gunshot, Aiden thought as he observed the young boy, he had probably been strangled. Upon closer inspection however, he could see no sign of that either. Falling in line with the huge creature, Aiden reached, grasping the horse’s reins, and with the ease of an expert horseman pulled the beast up short. As he reached over to examine the victim, three things hit him all at once, and in such rapid succession, they left his head reeling. First the boy was no boy at all, but a maid. Beautiful to be sure, every curve and crevice of her body outlined by the masculine apparel she was clad in. Second, she had the most amazing skein of tresses he had ever seen, he must have been outright mad to have missed it. While he was still contemplating this amazing fact, the third hit him right between the eyes. She was awake, and had a damn strong arm!

Welcome our latest guest blogger, Mary Burton!

Mary Burton captivates readers with stories of mystery, crime and relationships–destined to keep readers on the edge of their seats.  Her latest romantic suspense releases are SENSELESS (January 2011) and MERCILESS (February 2011).  When she’s not writing her latest novel, she is most definitely in the kitchen cooking, taking a yoga class or hiking. Visit Mary’s website!

Dear Detective Malcolm Kier,

Which of your heroes is your favorite?  The question came from a fan at a recent book signing and it took me a little by surprise.  A t first I simply couldn’t answer.  Then after a bit of thinking, I politely said I couldn’t possibly pick favorites when it came to my characters.  Choosing a favorite character is like picking a favorite book or a favorite child.  It’s just impossible.  But she kept pushing.  You must have a favorite?  Well, I said I’m really partial to your new partner, Homicide Detective Deacon Garrison, my hero of SENSELESS (January 2011).  And I still have a soft spot for Detective Jacob Warwick in DEAD RINGER and Detective Gage Hudson in DYING SCREAM.  I was able to stick to my guns and never admit what I already knew in my heart: Detective Malcolm Kier, you are my favorite character. 

I quickly justified the thought with a half dozen reason.   When I sat down to write MERCILESS you just kind of leapt off the page the instant I started typing.  I understood your goal, motivation and conflict.  Your forthright manner kept the dialogue snapping and the plot moving.  From the get go, Malcolm, you proved that you could not only be a direct guy who was quite wiling to share your opinion, but you were also there to help anyone in need.  And frankly when you cooked for MERCILESS’s heroine, Angie Carlson, my heart fluttered.  Did you know I dedicated a special recipe of mine to you?  The more I think about it, it makes sense that MERCILESS would be released in February just weeks before Valentine’s Day.

I think I’ve had a secret crush on you since you first burst onto the scene in I’M WATCHING YOU.  My plan was for you to linger in the back-story but even then you were proving to be a handful.  Your entire family had been tiptoeing around the fact that your brother, Detective Zack Kier was a recovering alcoholic.  But not you.  What did you say when you first saw his new house which really was a fixer-upper? “Were you sober when you bought this piece of sh##?” And then you gave him a hot meal because you knew Zack has been going nonstop, hadn’t had time to eat and you were worried.  I still smile when I remember that scene.

It’s important Malcolm that you keep this little confession of mine between us.  I don’t want the other characters becoming jealous.  So even though I may never admit it publically, you Malcolm are my favorite. 

I love you, Malcolm.  Happy Valentine’s Day!  

Mary Burton

P.S.  Enjoy this recipe dedicated just to you…

Malcolm’s Killer Marinara

Raised by parents who own an Italian restaurant, Malcolm grew up in the restaurant kitchens chopping, dicing and stirring.  He would never eat a frozen pizza and runs from any sauce that comes in a jar.  His specialty is marinara sauce on fresh pasta.  In case you want to try “Malcolm’s Killer Marinara” sauce (okay it’s really mine) I’m passing on the recipe.

The Sauce

 2 T Olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 – 16 oz cans of tomatoes
1 cup of red wine
1-2 cups of chicken stock
Salt
Oregano
Sugar to taste

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan and toss in diced onion and carrot.  Cook the carrot and onion until soft.  Add tomatoes, red wine and chicken stock.  Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.   Puree sauce with a hand blender.  Caution you can do this in a blender but just puree a little at a time.  Too much hot sauce in a blender can lead to hot marinara exploding all over you and your kitchen cabinets.   (Heed my warning…I learned this lesson the hard way.)  Once pureed add salt, oregano and sugar to taste.  Serve over fresh pasta.

 Please welcome our guest blogger – Joan Frances Turner!

 

Thank you, Debbie, for inviting me to say a little bit about my book.  Dust is the story of what happens when you take a writer already somewhat…neurotic about death and the probability of oblivion, add an actual death in the family, mix with the original Night of the Living Dead and Carnival of Souls, shake well, let ferment in a cool, dark part of the subconscious for several years and then carefully stir in the three magic words:  “That’s somebody’s mother.”  The undead characters of Dust–despite their rot, decay and pitiless appetites–are for all intents and purposes a surrogate family of the unwanted, the homeless, those who through no fault of their own can’t speak our language and can never return to their human loved ones again.  These “dead” folk have emotions, however deeply and forcibly buried, and futile memories of everything they’ve lost.  And their human family members know their beloved dead are out there, somewhere–but they’re trying very hard to pretend it isn’t so.

If there’s humanity in these monsters, then, there’s also monstrosity in the humans who, for their own safety, have no choice but to live barricaded from their aggression.  Zombies, in this world, aren’t some nasty new birthday surprise, nor are they a contagion:  They’ve always existed, nobody knows why some dead people revive and some don’t, they’re a lethal but extremely natural hazard and humans have always lived uneasily just outside their orbit.  Lately, though–and it’s not just paranoia, the thanatologists have confirmed it, though they don’t know why–there’s so many more of them, and they’re attacking more aggressively, and whole towns, cities, counties are existing under siege.  Someone needs to do something.  But of course, it’s far easier to say that when it’s not your mother, brother, child trying to get past the gates.  There must be another way, a third path, that can make everyone happy.  There’s always another path, and it’s always paved with very good intentions.  It’s love, not loathing–on both sides–that makes the uneasy, unsustainable stasis of this world finally, irrevocably, tip over.

Of course this all sounds terribly solemn, but there’s a fair share of (unavoidably grotesque) humor in Dust and that’s why the book trailers amused me so much:  The undead are a perverse sort of family, any family only wants to protect its “children” and, like “parents” since the dawn of time, they invariably don’t quite know how to express that without inciting giggle fits.  As an authentic child of the eighties I have fond memories of the original Partnership for a Drug-Free America PSAs–and the sincere puzzlement of the adults around us when we all pointed at them and laughed–and so seeing the trailers play out was terribly fun.  I set out, all solemn, to write a zombie story not half as campy as many I’d seen, but it turns out there was more than a bit of camp and fun lurking between the lines after all.  It’s all just another way of whistling past the graveyard.

View the trailers:

Visit Joan Frances Turner on the web.

Read Debbie’s review of Dust.

Please welcome our guest blogger – J Morgan!

Buy his latest book from Desert Breeze Publishing:

My name is J. Morgan, sometimes known as ‘the one and only Jmo.’ I’m here to discuss split personalities among romance novelists. Huh? Excuse me for a moment but someone seems to be trying to get my attention. How rude? Insert shuffling sounds and muffled whispers here.

Okay, it appears that was not the blog subject Kwips invited me here to talk about. But, in light of the fact split-personalities are fun, I’m going to do it anyway. Before you decide to cut this blog reading short, I’m not talking about the medication type spilt personality. No, I’m referring to how many authors, myself included, like to stretch our wings and dabble in genres we’re not known for. My newest release Immortally Yours is such a case. For the past few years, readers have known me as a comedic writer with such books as Love at First Stake and Were Love Blooms. Immortally Yours offers a darker edge than what I’d written in the past. That brings us back to split personalities.

When Kwips offered to interview me, I said I already had someone in mind who would be willing to do the job for free, not that anyone was offering cash, but free is free. So, everyone give a rousing round of applause for a comedian of some limited renown. Jmo step up to the podium and wave to the fine folks out there. Okay, not so much. You look like Queen Elizabeth when you do it like that and I find it quite disturbing. Just get on with the questions before somebody locks you up or something.

Jmo: J. Morgan thanks for allowing me to sit down and probe that mind of yours.

J. Morgan: Thanks for having me. Nice place you have here. Love the Green Klover motif.

Jmo: It belongs to the Kwips team, so try not to dribble anything on the furniture or they’ll charge you with the cleaning bill.  Let’s get right to the questions. What made you decide to step away from your comedic roots with Immortally Yours?

J. Morgan: I think every author needs to step out of their comfort zone and try something new. Immortally Yours gave me the opportunity to do that.

Jmo: Could you give the readers a brief rundown on the book?

J. Morgan: I’d love to. Immortally is basically a modern fairy tale. Chase Michaels is a warrior with a curse hanging over his head—immortality. Tired of his existence, he’s fallen in, for lack of a better word, a rut. He goes about the motions of living but has more or less given up being alive. Belle Gardner shocks him out of that rut in a big way and leads him on an adventure that will not only reawaken him to being alive, but answer the mystery of his curse. 

Jmo: Sounds exciting. This isn’t a stand alone book, though. You have two more planned in the series, don’t you?

J. Morgan: Yes, the Amor Immorati series is going to be a trilogy. The second book Immortally Damned is due out sometime in 2012.

Jmo: Does this mean you’ve turned your back on comedy? I certainly hope not. That would put me out of a job.

J. Morgan: Don’t worry Jmo, you’ve always got a place in my organization, like I said earlier. The Immortally books are just a different side of my writing. Two more Love Bites books will be coming out over the next year and another Southern Werewolf Chronicles. So, 2011 will be full of fun and laughter.

Jmo: Nice! Well, we’re running out time. As you pointed out, you—me?—I’ve got a lot of work to do over the next few months. This split personality thing is rough on a person. Anyway, before you leave—we leave?—let the lovely Kwips readers know where they can find you on the web and please don’t leave without posting an excerpt of Immortally Yours. We’d—I’d?—the readers would love to see some of this promising book. Man, I’m confused. Next time you can let them supply an interviewer, dude.

J. Morgan: Thanks to everyone at Kwips for having me. Please forgive Jmo for that last breakdown. I don’t think he’s taking his medication like he’s supposed to be.

As for where you can find me on the web. I seemed to have developed an addiction to Facebook, so you can always find me there. I have a terminally forgotten website, as well and when I can remember to blog—which is almost never, but when I do you can read my ramblings at The Morgan Diaries.  Here’s the links.

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

Website: http://www.freewebs.com/jmorganslair/

The Morgan Diaries Blog: http://themorgandiaries.blogspot.com/

Amor Immorati

Book One:

Immortally Yours

From

J. Morgan

And

Desert Breeze Publishing

Excerpt

“Bellaronia Skylorian Gardner, unburden your heart. Brechashe is not dead.”

Belle looked up to see the ancient woman from her dreams standing on the other side of the cairn.

“What is this? Old lady scare the crap out of Belle day?” Belle blurted out.

“I’m sorry if I frightened you, but this is the only place I can communicate with you outside of your dreams.” The woman moved toward Chase and placed her hand over his heart. “I felt it was time for us to talk.”

“What are you doing to him?” Belle demanded.

The wizened woman patted Chase’s brow. “Simply keeping him from moving on until our talk is at an end.”

Belle moved slightly toward them, a predatory instinct driving her steps. “Why?”

“Long ago, Brechashe was young and foolish.” The woman tilted her head toward him. “He acted without thought. For that he paid the price, but he has told you this tale before. What is the question you really wish to ask?”

Belle bit at her bottom lip considering the woman’s words before speaking. “Who are you?”

“A complicated question to be sure.” She scratched the side of her head, a look of confusion covering her face. “And really not the one I thought you’d ask.”

Belle placed her hand protectively on the cairn. “Sue me. I like to know who’s screwing with my life.”

“Smart girl. Once upon a time I was called Eoyian, but that isn’t the answer you’re looking for. A name rarely denotes the character of the person it belongs to, and that is the question you want answered. Eoyian ceased to be the minute I assumed the robes of Silvian’s priestess.”

The breath rushed out of Belle’s lungs. Silvian was the mother of them all — the one true goddess of the Shazhium race. From her all life sprang. By the Peoples, if Chase had defiled her temple, it was no wonder he had been cursed. Silvian was a goddess of peace, but one quick to enact vengeance on those who harmed her chosen daughters.

Eoyian smiled. “By your reaction, I see the old ways have not been forgotten.”

“If that was his crime, why is he still alive?” Disbelief flooded Belle’s mind. Immortality still didn’t sound like much of a curse to her.

“Because of the inherent goodness in his soul. The man you know as Chase Michaels was…” She held up a crooked finger. “And is not an evil man. Silvian knew slaying him would be a larger crime than the one he committed. As is her nature, the goddess took pity on him — though he probably doesn’t view it in that light — and allowed him to redeem himself through you.”

“Through me?” Now, she truly was confused.

“Bellaronia, you are the future of your people. In you resides the sole hope of the Shazhium. Silvian’s people are slowly dying. In their apathy, they have become too short sighted to see their mortality staring them in the face. Only you have seen the fate that awaits them — more importantly, you are willing to move forward, whereas they wallow in their past glories.”

“How am I supposed to change anything? I have talked until my voice is gone from trying. The Peoples aren’t willing to listen to me. What has it all gotten me? I am hunted and lost to them. Their fear of my stepfather keeps them enslaved.” Belle wished it wasn’t so, but knew better than anyone the state of her people.

“Alone you cannot.” Eoyian’s hand swept up from Chase’s heart and hovered over his head. “But the union of strength and wisdom offers the promise of the world to come. Morag told you correctly. You must open your heart and accept the strength this man offers.”

Suddenly, Chase’s chest rose and a mighty gasp flew from his lips. Life rushed into his cheeks.

“Now accept the destiny you deny, or he will reside within the Willowing forever. As always, the choice is yours to make.” With that the ghost faded into nothingness.

Please welcome our guest blogger – Jessica Barksdale Inclan!

The Love Chase 

Last December in a heap of end-of-the holiday rubble, my fiancé Michael and I watched a string of extremely bad movies.  Visitors finally gone, the guest room sheets in the wash, we sort of let ourselves be taken over by things that were definitely worse than anything we have ever experienced.    Both movies were about the end of the world as we know it, or, at least, the end of business as usual:  The Happening and Doomsday, a truly, very, absolutely awful British movie with Bob Hoskins and a lot of stunt doubles.  Actually, Doomsday was an amalgam of Escape to New York, Braveheart, The Road Warrior, and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.

The Happening is an M. Night Shyamalan movie, one of his several since The Sixth Sense that haven’t made sense or good watching.  And yet, I’ve seen all his movies, so I clearly have no sixth sense about anything.  In fact–and I hate to even admit this–I’ve seen The Happening twice. 

In any case, there is nothing to report back from this viewing adventure worth talking about except for one conversation in The Happening.  The characters Alma, Elliot, and Jesse are sitting at the table with a character played by Betty Buckley.  The character is crazy older woman who has lost her mind, long before the attack of the plants began.  But in a moment of cogence, she asks Alma and Elliot–a married couple–which of them is chasing the other.  She knows that relationships are  unequal, that there is always a shift in power, in balance, and she wants to know who is on the chase now.

Elliot raises his hand, and Betty nods, and says she knows it.  His chasing showed.

So that’s it.  Betty’s character goes off into a bizarre and ugly death (sorry.  I spoiled it for you.  Thank me).  The movie ends, and you won’t give a rat’s ass about any of it.

Except that one piece of dialogue. 

There is that power balance, that affection balance, that push and pull of normal life that makes one member of a relationship pull back, the other surge forward.  Sure, there are times of even keel, smooth sailing, equal push and pull.  But not always, not often.  Back and forth, chase and be chased.  Chase back.  Up and down.  This chase can be subtle or huge, something everyone can see.  And it often shows.  It’s possible to look at relationships as Betty did and notice the run down the seashore, one person ahead of the other, the person behind with his arms outstretched.

I recognized this power balance, this back and forth years ago, a couple months into my relationship with my boyfriend, the man who became my husband.  He chased me relentlessly, and then I played chase months later.    And much, much later, I realized I would prefer to be the more loving one, the chaser.  I like to be the lover and not the beloved, though I think it’s natural to move back and forth between the roles.

The idea of the more loving one comes from an old W.H. Auden poem, the one that gave me the courage to chase.

 The More Loving One

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

Thank you Jessica for dropping by to visit us at CK2S Kwips and Kritiques! We are so glad you were able to do this.

Please feel free to visit Jessica at her website.