Guest Post - All About Shifters by Paige Tyler, author of HER PERFECT MATE (X-OPS Book One)

All About Shifters

Paige Tyler

As I started writing HER PERFECT MATE, the first book in the X-OPS Series. I stumbled across an interesting article on the internet about genes and DNA, and how much common building block material humans share with animals. And the article wasn’t just talking about the whole primate thing. It pointed out how many common genes we share with completely different animals—like chickens.

Much of the article was over my head, but one particular part really stuck with me. It pointed out that humans can have a particular gene that in another animal would result in a tail growing, except in humans, that tail gene never “turns on.” And aren’t we fortunate for that? I mean, can you imagine what clothes would look like?

But that little comment about shared genes/DNA and genes “turning on” became the foundation for the shifters in my series.

In X-OPS, shifters aren’t monsters, cursed to live in the darkness, or possessed by a demon (which are all very cool ideas by the way). They simply possess shared animal DNA that has turned on.

In HER PERFECT MATE, the heroine Ivy Halliwell is a cat shifter. In her case, her feline DNA shows up in the form of claws and fangs that slide out when needed (and sometimes when they’re not), drastically improved senses (like great night vision—oh, and she can smell a tempting man a quarter mile away), enhanced muscular strength and endurance, and of course catlike reflexes.

But there is bad with the good. Ivy (and all the other shifters) has hidden her abilities from most of the world, knowing she’d be labeled as a freak if people knew. Even her previous partners in the covert organization she works in treated her that way. The organization doesn’t really help matters much, considering her and others like her to be nothing more than Extremely Valuable Assets, or EVAs for short. Nothing like being told you’re just another covert asset to make you feel inferior, huh?

The lack of trust and respect makes shifters hide a lot of things from their employer. Some hide certain abilities, while others hide weaknesses. One of the things Ivy tries to hide is how much closer to an animal she can be in certain situations.

But as much as Ivy tries to hide it, all her secrets will come out with her new partner, Army Special Forces Captain Landon Donovan. Will he think she’s a freak, too? Or will Ivy’s inability to trust anyone destroy their partnership? Or maybe they’ll just get each other killed first.

Blurb:
He's a High-Octane Special Ops Pro

When Special Forces Captain Landon Donovan is chosen for an assignment with the Department of Covert Operations, he's stunned to find his new partner is a beautiful woman who looks like she couldn't hurt a fly, never mind take down a terrorist.

She's No Kitten

Ivy Halliwell isn't your average covert op. She's a feline shifter, and more dangerous than she looks. Her feline DNA means she can literally bring out the claws when things get dicey. She's worked with a string of hotheaded military guys who've underestimated her special skills in the past. But when she's partnered with special agent Donovan, a man sexy enough to make any girl purr, things begin to heat up. He doesn't think she's a freak-and he's smokin' hot. Soon they're facing a threat even greater than anyone imagines...and an animal magnetism impossible to ignore.
   
Excerpt:

Landon frowned at the next obstacle—a thirty-foot solid wood wall. On a normal military confidence course, the same wall might be ten feet high. Tough to get over by yourself but doable for a two-person team. Nobody could get over this one, even with teamwork. No average human anyway.

Landon glanced at her. “I don’t suppose you can fly, can you?”

“Not quite” She hesitated, then added, “But I can climb it.”

He raised a brow. “Climb it? You’ve gotta be kidding me.” When she didn’t answer, he folded his arms across his chest. “This I’ve gotta see.”

Ivy’s pulse quickened. Part of the reason the DCO made them do the confidence course was to expose Landon to her true nature so he could recognize its value. Or cringe in revulsion. Time to see if he could handle it or would go running off for a psych evaluation.

Turning to face the wall, she let her fingernails extend until they were as long as those of the great cat with which she shared her DNA. Then she took a deep breath and ran toward the wall. Jumping onto it, she dug her claws into the wood and climbed hand over hand all the way to the top. Heart pounding, she peeked down at Landon, praying she wouldn’t find the disgust she’d seen so many times before.

Reviews:
"An absolutely perfect story-one I honestly couldn't put down. One of the best books I've read in years. I hope this is the beginning of a very long series, because I definitely want more of Paige Tyler's shifters." - Kate Douglas, author of the bestselling Wolf Tales and Spirit Wild series

"A wild, hot, and sexy ride from beginning to end! I loved it!" - Terry Spear, USA Today bestselling author of A SEAL in Wolf's Clothing

"Once I began, the outside world ceased to exist. It's exciting and fast paced." - Paranormal Kiss

"I love a good paranormal romance and this series has started off with a bang!" - Hopeless in Literature Reviews

Available Online and in Bookstores Everywhere

Buy Links:

Amazon, B&N, ARe, iTunes,Sourcebooks



Paige Tyler is a USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, romantic fiction. She and her very own military her (also knows as her husband) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). Paige graduated with a degree in education but decided to pursue her passion and write books and hunky alpha males and the kickbutt heroines who fall in love with them.

She is represented by Bob Mecoy.

Author Links:

Website: http://paigetylertheauthor.com/
Blog: http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/
Facebook Profile Page: http://www.facebook.com/paige.tyler.9
Facebook Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/PaigeTylerAuthor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/PaigeTyler
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/paigetylerauth/
Google+: http://plus.google.com/u/0/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2300692.Paige_Tyler
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/BBrEPhttp://eepurl.com/BBrEP
Email: paigetyler@paigetylertheauthor.com

Guest Post by Elizabeth Corrigan, Author of Raising Chaos

Today, Elizabeth Corrigan, the author of Raising Chaos, is stopping by on her Raising Chaos tour to explain her views and twists on worldbuilding Christianity in her books. Look for the Giveaway at the end of the post.

Find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo

Add it to your Goodreads shelf

Book/Tour Page on RAP: http://redadeptpublishing.com/raising-chaos/

Author page on RAP:  http://redadeptpublishing.com/elizabeth-corrigan/

Worldbuilding Christianity

I don’t remember when I heard someone suggest that the Bible may have happened differently than what is explicitly stated. I’ve seen the movie Dogma many times and consequently know that the 13^th apostle, Rufus, was left out of the Bible for being black. (Actually, I’m pretty sure that if this were the case, a good many of the apostles would have been left out of the Bible for their dusky skin.) I read The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, which informed me that Jacob’s daughter Dinah wanted to have sex with the guy who her family killed for raping her. And I’ve read my children’s Bible, which decided to tone down the bit about Moses killing the worshipers of the golden calf by saying he just made them drink water with gold in it (so they would have died of heavy metal toxicity anyway). 

When I decided to feature angels and demons in Oracle of Philadelphia, I knew I had to include some of the versions of the Bible stories and characters that had floated around in my head. For example, I envisioned the Archangel Gabriel as a kind, generous, holier-than-life kind of guy and Michael as something of a jerk, so I made them prominent figures in the plot. But my interpretations of the Bible and its veracity became more than just flavor for the story. They became the basis of the entire world. My characters had witnessed and participated in Biblical events. The tales from Scripture were the defining moments in their lives. And things didn’t always happen as the Church taught.

In some cases, I didn’t make up anything new to the Bible stories, but I told them from the point of view of someone who experienced the events. The language of the Bible is often distant and epic-narrative style, so when I rewrote the stories in concrete terms with details and emotions, the results sometimes surprised me. Before I had Bedlam talk about the Israelites in the desert, I never understood that they had escaped from slavery only to kill each other for temporarily worshipping the wrong god.  I’m working on some similar stories for book 3, and have come to realize that the ten plagues of Egypt wreaked an insane amount of suffering on a lot of innocent people.

For other back stories, I did imply that the Bible got some stories wrong. In the case of the virgin birth, I indicated this was somewhat deliberate on the part of historians—no one wanted to know that Mary’s family didn’t react very well to her pregnancy. In other cases, I attributed the changes to the natural ebb and flow of the oral tradition. People forgot about the nephilim in Abraham’s story and just remembered angels visiting his wife and God ordering him to kill his son. 

I guess the best way to describe it is that I treat Christian scripture as mythology instead of religion and consequently feel comfortable playing with it in the same way I might Greek or Norse myths. I do sometimes worry that people will be offended. But then I remind myself that I can always tell them that my book, unlike the Bible, is shelved in fiction.

Elizabeth Corrigan has degrees in English and psychology and has spent several years working as a data analyst in various branches of the healthcare industry. When she’s not hard at work on her next novel, Elizabeth enjoys singing, reading teen vampire novels, and making Sims of her characters.
She drinks more Diet Coke than is probably optimal for the human body and is pathologically afraid of bees. She lives in Maryland with two cats and a purple Smart Car.

 

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Guest Blogger K.W. Gish - On Her Favorite Writing Book

Last week, Paul Deane guest blogged on Writing Collaboration. Today, I have the pleasure of having the second part of this collaboration team, Kimbra Wilder Gish, guest blog about one of her favorite writing books! I'm very excited about this post, as I'm always looking for new great books on the craft. Please welcome Kimbra and make sure to check out her suggestion!

I love writing books. I love them a little too much, perhaps - after all, it's always easier to pick up a writing book and congratulate myself on how much I'm accomplishing by learning what this author has to teach than it is to actually write.

 

I wish I could say that I am the type of writer who sits down at exactly the same time every morning, six or seven days a week, and writes. I am sometimes a writer who writes every day, and my life is better when I do it. But sometimes life does get in the way more than I want, and in those times it is a real challenge to make time for writing. I think life is like that for many of us who write: we have wonderful plans and hopes and dreams, but life gets in the way, and so for me the best writing books are those which help me to tap into my writer self, to find a way into that magical place I discover when I really start to write. For that, I most often turn to Leslea Newman's Write from the Heart: Inspiration and Exercises for Women Who Want to Write.

Despite the title, this book isn't valuable exclusively to women - I don't know of any person, male or female, who couldn't benefit from this book - though for women writers, it is as valuable and important a work as Virginia Woolf's famous "A Room of One's Own." It's a book of writing exercises for fiction and poetry, a few words on publishing, and appendices full of valuable writing resources, including lots of reading recommendations. Many of the exercises are simple - sometimes deceptively so. They have a way of sucking the writer in, revealing where powerful memories and material lie buried, revealing things I didn't know about the character I'm working on, unlocking information about a project that I didn't know was there. The exercises are wonderful as a daily writing practice, and many are also fantastic for use with a particular character I'm wanting to develop for a book or short story. I generate more material than will ever survive in the final draft, but in doing so, I discover where the story lies, whom the story is about, what those characters are like.... The exercises are written in a warm and inviting manner - Newman is now a writing teacher in the low-residency MFA program at Spalding University, and it's easy to see what a great teacher she must be, because she has this absolutely conversational tone. It's as if your favorite aunt is a writer and has invited you in for a chat over tea and homemade cookies, and as you chat she invites you to your writing space with all the warmth and ease of an experienced and gentle guide. She gives lots of examples for reading fun; she covers poetry as well as fiction...she's simply stunning. It's so simple and yet it's like a master class you can take over and over and over again, and still gain something, learn something, every time you open the book. It's absolutely my favorite book on writing.

I could recommend at least half a dozen amazing writing books, and dozens of good ones, but if you buy only one book on writing (poor you!), this is the one you MUST have. It's a good size to throw in a totebag or briefcase or even an oversized purse, and it's like having a master teacher with you. All you need is this book, a notebook, and a pen, and you're ready to tap into your inner writer. Through these prompts and exercises, you can discover what matters deeply to you, what matters deeply to your characters, and the inner writer you know is in there, hiding somewhere. Write from the Heart always brings my inner writer out to play. I hope it will do the same for yours!

Thank you, Kimbra, for stopping by! I'm running out to check out this book!

Kimbra Wilder Gish was born in Middlesboro, Kentucky, part of the Appalachian region. By the time she was in elementary school, she often pretended that the back of her parents’ car was a hobbit-hole. In first grade, she refused to color her coloring pages, and instead turned them over, wrote stories on the backs, and signed them with the names of such fictional characters as Bilbo Baggins and Peter Rabbit.

 

Kimbra now lives in Henderson, Kentucky with her supportive husband, Darren, and a ten-pound chihuahua mix who thinks he owns them both. A former librarian specializing in children's and young adult services as well as medicine, she has a passion for information and books and is happiest in a library. Her favorite fantasy authors include J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Rae Carson.

 

When not reading or writing, Kimbra enjoys crocheting and simple cooking. Her YA fantasy books in the Aislin (pronounced "eyes-lynn") saga, beginning with Daughter of the Signs, are collaborations with Paul Douglas Deane, an awesome writing partner and friend whom she met online through a mutual love for J.R.R. Tolkien. 

 

You can find Kimbra on Twitter: @kwgishwriter. And check out her blog.

Guest Post - When Opportunity Doesn't Knock on Your Door, Open it Up

I'm most inspired by reading about other writers' experiences and the hope that the writer community always seems to carry in its midst.

Today, I'm happy to have Deanna Proach as the guest blogger. Her article below has been inspired by her own experiences and I find her advice to be an important one for any writer.

Deanna Proach has authored two novels: To be Maria (PULSEpub) and Day of Revenge (Inkwater Press). She's also an avid blogger herself. You can learn more about Deanna on her blog, http://deannaswriting.wordpress.com.

When Opportunity Doesn't Knock on Your Door, Open it Up

by Deanna Proach

Recently, while I was on Facebook, I saw a post on a friend's wall that said something like this: ‘When opportunity doesn't knock at your door, open it up.’ I can't remember the exact words of this quote, but the message deeply resonated with me, and it was incredibly inspiring.

When you're starting out as a writer--like myself--it's tough. Trying to get attention is like screaming into the wilderness: no one hears you. When it comes to writing, no one sees you. However just because no one see you, that doesn't mean no one cares about your book. Your lack of visibility is most likely because no one outside your circle of family and friends knows about your book.

That can change, but it's up to you to make that change. You cannot expect readers to find your book because they won't, and your book won't sell itself. You must make the effort to find your target audience. Writing for high profile magazines and blogs, and appearing on popular talk or radio shows is the number one way to get the word out about your book to millions of people. Fast. But if you don't have the right connections, experience or publicity, these opportunities may seem out of reach. Yet, it doesn't have to be. There is one way you can open up the door to opportunity for greater publicity: Blogging.

Establish a personal blog or website. It's the best way to create an online presence. When it comes to blogs--even personal blogs--content is king, and so are basic SEO skills. The best way to attract readers to your blog is to write content that people want to read. The types of articles that attract people the most are those that inspire, inform, educate and entertain. Make every blog article title descriptive and gripping, and write well. People respond much better to those who write well than those who don't.

If you're an author who loves to read and has a passion for books, start a book blog. There are numerous authors who need reviews and other forms of promotion, so you don't have to look far to find them. You can even become a host for blog tour companies. Most, if not all, blog tour companies have an ample following, so it would be an excellent opportunity for you to build a readership, get the word out about your own book while offering services to other emerging authors.

On the other hand, you might be the kind of author who has multiple interests. If that is the case, create a new blog that is based entirely on one of your many passions. For example, if you're an author of young adult fiction, but have a passion for photography, start a new blog that's centered on photography. This would give you an excellent opportunity to showcase your talent, as well as provide tips and advice to new and aspiring photographers. You can even write fiction pieces based on images.

Well written, engaging content and strong SEO skills are key to building a following, but to maximize your potential, you must promote, promote, promote. Submit your blog's feed to every social networking site you belong to, comment on other blogs and make the effort to connect with other writers.

This is laborious, time consuming work, but it will be well worth it in the end. In time, you will reach your goal and opportunities for massive publicity will come your way. So don't wait for opportunity to knock at your door. Open the door to opportunity.

Deanna, thank you for guest blogging with this great article today!

Guest Blogging

I'm guest blogging today at Christine Fonseca's blog. The article talks about learning from our failures and the management of goals for writers. Check out the post here.

Interview with Heather McCorkle - Channeler's Choice Release and Tour

Today, it is my great pleasure to interview Heather McCorkle as she stops by on her Channeler's Choice Release Tour! I have been honored to have met Heather through the writers' online community, of which she is one of the most helpful and supportive authors, and I can say that she is truly an amazing individual and writer.

Without further adieu, I'd like to welcome Heather.

 It's so nice to have your here.

Let's start at the beginning.When did you know you wanted to be a writer?  

When I was twelve. Yep, really.

Who was/is your inspiration?
I find inspiration in so many things that it's tough to narrow it down. If I had to though, I'd have to say my hubby because he gives me so much time to write and supports me so much in that dream.

What advice can you give to "aspiring" writers?
Never stop learning. Go to retreats, workshops, conferences (and college!), keep improving your craft. 

Would you ever consider writing genres other than YA?  
Absolutely. In fact I started out writing adult fantasy and I plan to write an adult fantasy series sometime soon.

What did you learn since becoming a writer?
That there is always more to learn and the industry is so tough that those who stop get left behind.

Who is your favorite character to write in the Channeler's series?
That's a tough one, I love them all so much! I'd have to say Fane though. His innocence, love of all things American, and open spirit are a blast.

A favorite quote.
 "It would be in your best interest not to insult my girl. If you do it again, I will not hold her back." From Fane when Bridget is picking at Caitlin.

I know you do a lot for wild life conservation and preservation. This is a cause that is also near and dear to my heart. Can you please tell us more about your efforts and why  it is so important to you?
I'm donating a portion of the proceeds from every copy of Spruce Knoll that's sold to my favorite charity that protects endangered species. With so many species only years away from extinction in the wild, I can't NOT help. There are 3,500 tigers left and their numbers are decreasing at a heartbreaking rate. And they are only one of many species. I don't want future generations to have to read about such amazing animals in books and ask if such things really walked the Earth.

Heather, thank you so much for being here and answering my questions.

I know you're curious to read more about Channeler's Choice, so here's a teaser:

With her parents' murderer's dead, Eren can finally concentrate on fitting in at Spruce Knoll High, not to mention figuring out what it means to be a channeler. If only it were that easy. It turns out she isn't normal even among channelers - she may be a legendary warrior meant to protect the earth in a last great battle. But Mayan prophecies are the least of her worries as she involuntarily starts to gather her own Society, another girl moves in on Aiden, her powers rage out of control, and worst of all, someone is stalking her. To top it all off, Eren discovers she doesn't have to be a channeler after all - she has a choice. As an old threat closes in and she risks ending up like her parents, she is forced to decide. Be a normal teenager and leave the legendary warrior stuff to someone else, or embrace a dark destiny?

Hurry to pick it up at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and !

And for more information on Heather and her work, visit her blog and website here

Friday Art & History Feature - Johannes Vermeer

NaBloPoMo #25

I'm proud to announce that today's post is written by my multi-talented niece Rebecca. Rebecca is a sophmore in an art program in her high school. She is also a brown belt in shotokan karate. I would like to thank  you Rebecca for introducing us to Johannes Vermeer.

Johannes Vermeer

 Johannes Vermeer. That’s probably not the first name that comes to mind when the Dutch Golden Age is mentioned. And wrongfully so. Johannes Vermeer was one of the greater 17^{th century Dutch painters, with a style that was unique and-dare I say it-superior to other Dutch masters such as Rembrandt or Frans Hals.}


The Girl With a Pearl Earring

　
Johannes Vermeer was born in 1632 in the city of Delft, in the Netherlands. He was born to middle class innkeepers and prominent silk weavers. His father was a member of the St. Luke’s Guild, and this is from where Vermeer would acquire his knowledge of art.
　
Vermeer married Catherine Bolnes, a wealthy Catholic woman. She modeled for him in a number of paintings. He was inspired, due to his marriage to a Catholic, by great Italian artists like Caravaggio. Some of his paintings show Catholic influence through biblical and classical mythological themes. These paintings also show inspiration from the Italian Baroque style.　

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary

Vermeer’s painting style was heavily reflective by his being a realist painter, showing mastery of techniques such as chiaroscuro. Vermeer created a majority of his paintings in the 1660’s. This was a period of financial struggle for him, and it comes through in his work, being very intense. Some of his masterpieces during this period took up to three years to complete. During this period, Vermeer experimented with a number of unique and complex techniques of composition.

Young Woman With a Water Pitcher

　

One especially noted technique that he developed was the use of the camera obscura. The camera obscura was a primitive form of a camera, which captured an image and projected it upside down, and though it had been around for a while, not many artists took advantage of it and furthered their work with this tool as Johannes did. Vermeer would take the image, and trace over it with incredible accuracy. This sort of perspective was very unusual in Vermeer’s time, but he appeared to have mastered it, even blurring out certain objects, just as you would see in a photograph. He took delight in the use of various lenses and contraptions to find new ways of capturing light. Though this is a bit like cheating, Vermeer added so much to the photographs-you have to remember that they weren’t the fantastically precise digital images of today, instead, being grainy and black and white. His use of color was bold and innovative.




The Astronomer

 

The Geographer

 　
The 1670’s were a fantastic move forward in his works, developing new methods and using light and shadow to define space. Sadly, his death cut his excelling career short in 1675, when he died of a stroke.
　
It is quite odd to hear that during his lifetime, Johannes Vermeer was not very famous or revered. Although his works were beautifully made, it is believed that he only produced about 74 works, although today only 37 are accounted for. He gained modest celebrity, but was soon forgotten after his death. Vermeer lay forgotten for nearly two centuries. In the 19th century, however, his work was rediscovered, and since then his reputation has grown so much so that he is now considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. And rightfully so.


The Milkmaid

As a true artistic revolutionary of the Baroque era, his works made even the most ordinary household experiences into beautifully, intensely composed masterpieces.

Guest Blogger - Tina Moss - When Rules are Meant to Be Broken: The Whole Story

Presenting my very first guest blogger - Tina Moss.

Tina, besides being a very interesting, talented and fun person and a wonderful friend, is my dear co-writer and a fellow black belt karateka. I've known my whole life that I loved writing but Tina is the one who inspired and pushed me to pursue writing seriously, and I will always be grateful to her for that. Tina is very enthusiastic about helping and inspiring other writers and is an active member of the writing community. Check out her blog Tina Moss’ Blog – She Won’t Bite but Her Books Might! and follow her on Twitter @Tina_Moss. Thank you Tina for being my first guest blogger!

And so, without further adieu, I give Tina the floor (or the page, in this case).

When Rules are Meant to Be Broken: The Whole Story

On your writing journey, you will inevitably and undoubtedly meet the “do this” person. In fact, you may meet several “do this” people. They are the ones that have all the answers, that know all the rules. Their bag of tips and tricks includes only those that are well approved by the authorities of x, y and z. (I’ve yet to figure out who these mysterious x, y, z authorities are, but alas, maybe one day.)

I’m here today to tell you one simple response – baloney (or Bologna; I prefer the latter, much nicer than the lunchmeat). Should you follow publishing industry standard for manuscript formatting? Yes. No one wants to read your novel in 16 pt comic sans. Should you create a well thought out query letter? Absolutely, if you want to get any interest. Will experienced and honest critique partners and beta readers make your story better? No question. But, at the end of the day, you – YES, YOU – are the author of your work.

Some of the best stories break the cookie cutter mold. Take J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter as a prime example. Whoever believed in a million years that kids and adults alike would follow a boy wizard into manhood over the course of seven books and over four thousand pages? Constantly, we hear agents scream in interviews, on blogs, and in their Twitter streams that they crave something new, something unique, something original – the NEXT Harry Potter, NOT a reworking of the same story.



Robotic Sheep Rule

They’re not looking for sci-fi meets historical fiction meets Little House on the Prairie. They want your story to fit into a genre – if you’re writing commercial fiction - but that doesn’t mean it has to be the same old thing. Should your contemporary romance end with the heroine dying and the hero running off with her sister? No, but it might work as a soap opera. How about your thriller turning into a new rendition of the Sound of Music? Nah, the hills are not alive. You have to know your audience and their expectations. It doesn’t mean you can’t take a chance on some out of the box idea. What about a YA paranormal featuring a girl raised by a secret government organization with a mermaid best friend who lives in a tank? See Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy. Or a crossover Dystopian novel about a girl who competes in gladiatorial style games to survive? See Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.

Take a chance on that shiny new idea (aka SNI in writer speak) and run with it. At the end of the day, you may not be able to convince your audience that a hundred year old vampire virgin hangs out in high school and sparkles in the sun, but then again...

Find Part II of the post - The List - on Tina's blog