INTL SIGNED Book + Gini Koch's Top 10 Fave TV Shows!

Thanks so much to Gini for being here today! =)

Gini's Top 10 Favorite TV Shows:

Gini: Mixing it up with current loves and all timers, some long running, some very short, just because it’s my list and I can.

10. The A-Team

9. The Magnificent Seven

8. Castle (used to be #1 but not loving this season, so it’s dropped way down)

7. Firefly

6. Gotham

5. The Flash

4. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer

3. Arrow

2. Elementary

1. Burn Notice 

 Gini Koch

Gini Koch lives in Hell’s Orientation Area (aka Phoenix, AZ), works her butt off (sadly, not literally) by day, and writes by night with the rest of the beautiful people. She writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books, the Necropolis Enforcement Files series, and the Martian Alliance Chronicles series for Musa Publishing. As G.J. Koch she writes the Alexander Outland series. 

She also writes under a variety of other pen names (including Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch), listens to all kinds of music 24/7, and is a proud comics geek-girl willing to discuss at any time why Wolverine is the best superhero ever (even if Deadpool does get all the best lines). 

She speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. She is also the Lead Editor at Raphael’s Village, an online, nonpaying ’zine. Because she wasn’t busy enough, Gini’s added on featured guest columnist, reviewer, and webcaster for Slice of SciFi and It’s Comic Book Day. She can be reached through her website at www.ginikoch.com.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads 

The Katherine "Kitty" Katt / Alien Series:

Newest Kitty/Alien Novel!

Coming Out December 2nd

  

Being the wife of the Vice President isn’t easy. Especially when your talents lie in kicking butt and rocking out…

Jeff and Kitty Katt-Martini find out just how easy it is for the wife of the Vice President of the United States to unintentionally insult an ally. Now they have to smooth things over with the Australian Prime Minister, pronto, or risk creating an international incident the worldwide anti-alien coalitions will be able to use to force Jeff to resign and the A-Cs to leave the planet.

But before Kitty can make things worse, a cosmic congruence and a little help from some powerful beings shoves her into another world -- one where she’s been married to Charles Reynolds for years and aliens don’t exist. She’s also landed in the middle of a huge conspiracy and is marked for death…but at least that’s business as usual.

Kitty’s not the only one confused, because the Kitty from that world has taken her place in this one. Now Alpha Team and the Diplomatic Corps have to make sure that no one spots that there’s been a switch, while keeping World War III from happening. And they have to do so while keeping this new Kitty in line, because she has views about what to do and how to it, and time is running out.

Can both Kittys save their respective days before it’s too late to go home to the universes they belong to? Or will one Kitty decide to keep the other’s life…forever? 

Pre-Order Links:

WIN a SIGNED Book from the Katherine "Kitty" Katt / Alien series (1-9) 

of YOUR choice 

by Gini Koch

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International SIGNED Book + Swag Giveaway & Gini Koch Interview!

Thanks so much to Gini for answering my Qs! =)

Q. Nine books in and I don't see any slowing down in the series. Have you

planned ahead for more awesome adventures or do you come up with new stuff as you write?

A. Thanks! I’m so glad you enjoy the books! 

In terms of planning, it’s really both. By now, my editor and I discuss what’s coming several books ahead, to make sure that whatever book I’m writing “now” stays on target for the books to come and doesn’t contradict the books that have come before.

But within that, I’m still an extreme linear writer. Book 8/Alien Research, for example, basically came out of nowhere, right as I was finishing Book 7/Alien in the House and, thankfully, my editor let me add it in because we had to (or Alien Collective would have needed to be about 1,000 pages long) and because DAW is made of awesome.

With Alien Collective, I had characters demanding to do things I didn’t have planned for them, so I had to make concessions. It worked out, but how I get from here, aka Something Goes Whacky, to there, aka Kitty Manages to Save the Day, never goes even close to how I may have even sort of planned it. But it’s working for me, so I don’t complain. Much. 

Q. Any plans for more books after the ones planned? (Please say yes! Lol)

A. Yes! (I’m a giver, me. LOL) I’m currently contracted through Book 13, but just this past weekend I came up with what I’d like to do for Books 14 & 15. Normally whenever I’m writing “this” book I see 3-4 books ahead, which is why, as I’m writing Book 10, and thinking about Books 11, 12, and 13, I saw what I want to do with 14 and 15. I’d like to get to 16 or 20, honestly, maybe more. The characters assure me they’re not ready to go quietly off into retirement any time soon. And, frankly, spending my days writing about characters I love isn’t really a hardship.

Q. What has been the most difficult storyline to write so far?

A. Alien Research, because of all the “things” that happened in it. There’s always a point, or more, in every book where the story wants to go one way and I realize, after it’s gone that way, that it doesn’t work. And then I have to cut all those words and start over from wherever it went off. So I’m used to that, and some books have more of those Wrong Tangents than others. 

But with Alien Research, I knew where the story had to go, and so did it, and all the characters knew, too. But, even though I’d been planning some of those “things” for the past several books, when it came right down to it, I still didn’t want to do them. So there were whole days where I would be resisting what I had to do. But forcing myself through it was good for me, and the books. And, hey, “things” gotta happen.

 Gini Koch

Gini Koch lives in Hell’s Orientation Area (aka Phoenix, AZ), works her butt off (sadly, not literally) by day, and writes by night with the rest of the beautiful people. She writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books, the Necropolis Enforcement Files series, and the Martian Alliance Chronicles series for Musa Publishing. As G.J. Koch she writes the Alexander Outland series. 

She also writes under a variety of other pen names (including Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch), listens to all kinds of music 24/7, and is a proud comics geek-girl willing to discuss at any time why Wolverine is the best superhero ever (even if Deadpool does get all the best lines). 

She speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. She is also the Lead Editor at Raphael’s Village, an online, nonpaying ’zine. Because she wasn’t busy enough, Gini’s added on featured guest columnist, reviewer, and webcaster for Slice of SciFi and It’s Comic Book Day. She can be reached through her website at www.ginikoch.com.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads 

The Katherine "Kitty" Katt / Alien Series:

Buy Links:

WIN a SIGNED Book from the Katherine "Kitty" Katt / Alien series (1-8) 

of YOUR choice + Swag 

by Gini Koch

Fill out Rafflecopter to win!

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Signed Book Giveaway + Guest Post by David Matthew Barnes {Stronger Than This - Blog Tour}

Two Worlds at One Time: The Writer’s Life

A Guest Blog by David-Matthew Barnes

An undergraduate writing student of mine summed up the joys of reading when he defined the experience as "living in two worlds at one time."

I couldn't agree more. Good writing moves you. Great writing transports you.

I was once asked, "Have you ever been to Bath, England?"

I responded with, "Yes...once...in a Jane Austen novel."

A good novel should do just that: allow us to travel the globe without once stepping foot outside of our home, office, library, coffee shop, or wherever our favorite place to read is.

Novelist and essayist William Styron once said about reading, “A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”

But can't the same be said for the writer? The duality my student recognized as a reader is similar to the double existence we live each day as writers, culling through our own experiences (imagined and real), sifting through research to make our words more authentic, managing a day job vs. a creative one, and politely ignoring the always-present response when we've told someone we've just met that we're a writer: "Have you written anything I would've heard of?"

While we are busy creating on page those literary landscapes we whisk our readers away to, we are balancing two worlds - the one in which our characters exist and the other we draw daily inspiration from - our own. When we sit down at the computer and begin to tell a story, aren't we in fact living in two worlds at one time? Perhaps the allure for writing begins with the desire to "leave behind" our current life and slip into someone else's.

So often I have heard writers talk about "the zone" - that high peak of creativity that is so momentous, nothing else seems to matter or even register except for the words that our traveling from our imaginations, through our fingertips, and onto the page where, hopefully, they are later discovered by a reader who feels the same sense of rapture. I wonder if this state of intense creation is the fine line between the two worlds. When we stand (or dance) on it, are we straddling the very thing that separates fiction from truth?

As writers, we don't just travel vicariously through the lives of our characters. Certainly by living the life of a published writer, I have been given the opportunity to travel extensively. I am amazed by the random, wonderful places my writing has allowed me to go. From Amelia Island, Florida to Altoona, Pennsylvania to Palm Springs, California - I have met readers, signed books, and instructed writing workshops in more cities and towns than I could have ever dreamed of. Each of those journeys have inspired and impacted my writing, giving me personal insight into otherwise unexplored territories. Each time I find myself in a new environment, I can't help but observe my surroundings of this "new world" with a writer's eye, knowing that later I might chose to recreate it for my readers - knowing they will be experiencing a sense of place through me and my words.

In my novels, I take my readers all around the world: from the streets of London to a Greek island, from the suburbs of Chicago to a seaside town in Belgium, from a prestigious music conservatory to a fairy tale village in Germany. I want every reader who picks up one of my novels to feel as if they have lived those "several lives" Styron talked about, that they saw the world without ever leaving the comfort of their bedroom.

Two worlds at one time. The phrase itself can have many meanings. For my undergraduate writing student it sums up the incredible experience he looks forward to as a reader. For us writers, it means the tough balancing act we must master in order to succeed - our creative life and our daily routine, the sometimes blurred line we teeter on between the real and the imagined.

Find David Matthew Barnes Online 

Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Goodreads

Google+ | Newsletter | Official Website | Twitter

Stronger Than This

by David Matthew Barnes

Genre: Literary Fiction/LGBT/Death/Dying/Grief

Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Publication Date: February 18, 2014

Charlene’s soul mate, Samantha, has been killed in a car accident. Daniel’s partner, Martin, has been murdered in a robbery gone wrong. Seeking comfort, Charlene and Daniel attend a support group where they meet for the first time.

Emotionally devastated and discarded by their loved ones’ conservative families, Charlene and Daniel feel an immediate connection. Rather than reveal their pain to a room full of strangers, they decide to see each other through their shared anguish.

As a beautiful friendship emerges from grief, slivers of new hope are found.

Buy Links:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble 

Books-A-Million

Tour Wide Giveaway:

10 eBooks (in PDF format)

 

2 autographed paperback copies

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INTL Giveaway + Felicity Heaton Interview: Win an eCopy of "Her Dark Angel"

Let's Give Felicity Heaton a warm welcome here on the blog!

- When did you first start writing?

I’ve been writing since 2005, and went indie in 2006, before all the cool kids were doing it. I’ve written over forty-five books in my career as a writer, and around forty of those are still available. I love to write passionate paranormal romances, with high-octane action, intense emotion, and heroes who will make your toes curl! 

- Have you always been interested in Romance?

When I was growing up, I loved reading anything paranormal or horror stories but I also loved to read classic romances too, like Jane Eyre, North and South, Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice. I really liked losing myself in that old world and escaping reality. You could say I’ve been interested in romance since I was a teen, like most people out there!

- What about in the Paranormal?

I’ve loved paranormal genre stuff since I was really young, like just starting to read young. I have book reports where I call every book boring unless it has vampires, werewolves, witches or monsters in it! I was hooked at an early age and it has stayed with me throughout my life. My passion for it only grew in strength when I read the classics as a teen, devouring Dracula and Frankenstein, and reading H P Lovecraft and Poe.

- Why writing Paranormal Romance?

I think I began to blend those two very separate genres I mentioned above—classic romance and paranormal/horror. I fell for vampires and other creatures of the night, imagining worlds where they existed. They’ve always fascinated me and I’m happiest when I’m writing about them because I love doing something different, twisting accepted norms into something new, playing with mythical creatures and history. It’s amazing fun and I can spend hours just figuring out the finer details about the breed of vampires in a series, or crafting their world, layering in the details that makes it feel real to readers. In paranormal, the possibilities are endless, only limited by my imagination, and my imagination loves to push the boundaries.

- What is your favorite subject in the Paranormal Romance Realm?

Vampires. I always come back to them. Although, I am venturing more towards fae species too now. I also love writing my own particular brand of angels. 

Favorites:

- Favorite Paranormal themed Movie? The Lost Boys

- Favorite Paranormal themed TV Show? It’s a toss-up between The Vampire Diaries and Lost Girl.

- Favorite Paranormal themed Book? Ashes of Midnight by Lara Adrian

- Favorite Author? Lara Adrian

- Favorite Paranormal Romance Author? Lara Adrian

- Favorite Genre that is NOT your own? Classic romance

- Favorite one of your Books? I don’t tend to like to pick favourites, but if I had to choose, I could narrow it down to Forbidden Blood, Love Immortal or Heart of Darkness.

- Who is your favorite of your own characters?  

I have a top ten for my heroes. Valentine, from the Prophecy Trilogy, always occupied the #1 spot until recently. He’s been usurped by characters I haven’t written romances for yet—Esher from my upcoming Guardians of Hades series, and Vail from my upcoming Eternal Mates series. I love them because they’re tortured, a little bit crazy, and very hot.

- Which was the hardest to write?  

Winter’s Kiss and Hunter’s Moon, both in my Vampires Realm series, were the most difficult to write because I had to get the reactions and reasoning of the heroes in those books spot on and it was really hard.

- What would you be if not a writer? 

I would be a web designer / programmer / developer, which is what I’ve been for most of my life.

- If you Could be a Paranormal Being, Who would you be?

A vampire, no questions asked.

 

Quickies!

- Angels or Demons? Both. I can’t pick between them. Some of my favourite characters are angels and demons.

- Reading or Writing? Writing

- Print or eBook? eBook – I can carry loads around with me and they don’t weigh a thing, and they don’t take up space in my house.

- Hardback or Paperback? Paperback

- YA novels or Adult novels? Adult only.

- Library or Bookstore? Bookstore

- Summer or Winter? Summer

- The Movie or The Book? The Book

- PNR or UF? PNR

- Romance or Action? Both. It’s what I write. Romance balanced with action.

- What is your favorite part of the writing process?

Building the world and planning the story, and fleshing out the characters. After that would be writing the first draft. But it’s the initial dreaming up of the story that I love the most. I get to let my imagination take the reins and go crazy. It’s so much fun.

- What is your least favorite part?

Editing! It has to be done though, and done properly.

- Her Angel series in your own words? 

The Her Angel series is all about sexy passionate angels determined to protect their women from a terrible game between Heaven and Hell. The first three novellas introduced some of the characters and set up the world, and then the game began in the first novel, Her Guardian Angel, which was the fourth book. It was a tumultuous journey for the hero and heroine, and other characters in the series in that book. The fifth book, Her Demonic Angel, turned up the heat as we spent more time in Hell and the Devil made a play for power, and now we’ve reached the sixth book, Her Wicked Angel.

- What is coming up next for you?

My next book is the first book in the Eternal Mates series. Kissed by a Dark Prince comes out on November 30th and it’s about the dark elf prince, Loren, and his millennia-old feud with an enemy bent on killing him and destroying his kingdom. When Loren is knocked unconscious and dumped on the inspection table of Olivia, a scientist working with the demon-hunting organisation Archangel, she thinks it’s her lucky night and sees her mystery man as a way of redeeming herself with her superiors. Loren comes around and can’t resist tapping her carotid for some life giving fluids to help him heal. That one bite changes their lives forever because she’s his one true mate and not only has he bound her to him, but he’s weakened himself and dragged her into the crossfire between him and his enemy… exactly as his enemy had planned. It’s a race against time for them to find a way to break the bond, but can Loren really sacrifice the one thing he’s been waiting millennia for—his mate?

- What are you working on right now?

At the moment, I’m working on the second draft edits of Claimed by a Demon King, which is the second book in the Eternal Mates series. That one is due to come out in February 2014. I’m also in the planning stages on several others books for my other series.

- Do you have any advice or tip to those that want to become a published Author someday?

Study the craft. I think it was advice I gave to myself but I do recommend it to all writers. I’ve read some fantastic books on writing and I still make time to read books on writing now. They’ve all helped me in some way or another. I’m an advocate of putting in some reading time and doing exercises to improve your writing.

- Anything you would like to say to your fans out there?

Thanks for reading my books and sticking with me, and I hope you’ll keep sticking around and demanding more from me, because I have so many stories left to tell!

- Thanks so much for being here!

Her Angel Series:

Newest Release:

Her Wicked Angel (Her Angel #6) 

by Felicity E. Heaton

Out NOW!!

Buy Felicity Heaton's Books:

Felicity Heaton

New York Times and USA Today bestseller Allison Brennan is the author of twenty novels and several short stories. A former consultant in the California State Legislature, she lives in Northern California with her husband Dan and their five children.  

Crime fiction, mysteries, and romantic suspense have always been Allison's favorites, so it's no surprise that her romantic thrillers have a dark suspense edge. Reviewers have called her books "terrifying," "mesmerizing," "fast-paced," "pulse-pounding," "wonderfully complex," "layered," and "a master of suspense - tops in the genre." Lee Child called LOVE ME TO DEATH, "A world-class nail-biter" and Lisa Gardner says, "Brennan knows how to deliver."  

Writing three books a year is more than a full-time job, and so is raising five kids, but Allison believes life is too short to be bored. When she's not writing, she's reading, playing video games, watching old movies or new television shows, driving to or attending volleyball / basketball / football / soccer / baseball / softball games, and on occasion even makes it to the gym where she enjoys people-watching more than exercise.  

Allison is currently writing the Lucy Kincaid series about an FBI recruit. The sixth book, STOLEN, is on sale now. COLD SNAP will be out on October 29, 2013. Also, she's thrilled to announce a new hardcover mystery/thriller series starring investigative reporter Maxine Revere that launches April 8, 2014, starting with NOTORIOUS. 

Connect with Felicity Heaton:

 Website | FaceBook | Goodreads | Twitter 

Win an eCopy of 

"Her Dark Angel"

by Felicity Heaton

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An angel without a mission, Apollyon lives trapped in Hell guarding the bottomless pit. Surrounded by endless darkness, he longs to fly free on Earth once more but his master hasn’t called him in centuries. When the call finally comes, it’s to serve a new master, a beautiful woman he has often watched over, a woman who has always captivated him.

Serenity is shocked when a gorgeous black-winged angel shows up in her city of Paris claiming that she called him when she was only casting a simple vengeance spell. He’s no other than the angel of death! When Apollyon offers to obey her and help her have revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, she can’t resist the temptation, but can she resist him? Can an angel as dark as Apollyon ever fall for a mortal woman like her?

Their charade as lovers quickly becomes reality when one dance leads to another and Apollyon proves that he’s as sinful as he looks. His sensual and hungry touch brings Serenity back to life, freeing her from the hurt of being betrayed and reigniting her passion, but she can’t ignore her growing fear. Lost in their moment together, Apollyon realises that there is a reason he heard her call—he’s in love with her.

But will Serenity see past the wings and believe that Apollyon returns her feelings and won’t hurt her? When her ex-boyfriend asks her to forgive him and be with him again, will she take the easy route or will she find the courage to fly away with her dark angel?

Dark, passionate and erotic, Her Dark Angel is a tale of intense desire and deepest forbidden love guaranteed to get your heart racing.

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