...and the winner is - Tuesday talk with Sedonia Guillone

sorry for the delay

The winner of their choice of ebook from Sedonia is

BONITA

please email me in the next week with your choice of ebook and I'll hook you up with Sedonia.

Thanks for playing everyone. Blog is now officially on hiatus for a while while I sort out some shit.

Tuesday Talk with Sedonia Guillone

Today's victim is Ms Sedonia Guillone. Sedonia writes for several epublishers. She's going to give away an ebook to one lucky winner who comments today on this interview. So get your comments in by Thursday midnight (US EST) and you could win.

(I used to edit Sedonia and she's one of the hardest working authors I know :-))

Q - Do you drink PEPSI or coke?
A -Neither anymore because of the sugar content. But when I do have an occasional diet, it’s Diet Coke with lime.

Q - If you were stuck on a desert island and could only take 3 books – which ones would you choose?
A - The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu, Be As You are, the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi and Hnderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow. (Thank the heavens I don’t have to choose!)

Q - If Pinky and the Brain ever really did take over the world, what do you think they’d do first?
A - Who are Pinky and the Brain?

Q - Which one of your characters would you most like to give to Nora so that she can kill them off and have Eve investigate their murder?
A - Eve is cool, yeah. And that guy Roarke, whoa! One of the sexiest heroes in romance! I’d want eve to rid the world of Taro Suzuki, a psychopathic yakuza in Tokyo who makes my characters’ lives miserable. He’s stolen, raped, blackmailed, murdered, you name it. So far, he’s only a named character in my upcoming September release Beautiful Samurai, White Tiger (Torquere Press – excerpt on my website ) who doesn’t actually have an appearance, but he’s about to show up in person in one of my WIPs and will get his, believe me.

Q - Do you have any mentors in the romance industry? Tell us about them.
A - First, the editors I’ve worked with (present company included) who’ve helped me so much to hone my writing. My critique partner, Ruth Axtell Morren who writes Inspirational romances for Harlequin’s Steeple Hill imprint – she’s been amazing, so generous with her time and feedback. As far as writing, I’d say that the two top writing mentors whose work helps me write better are Jade Lee (the Tigress Series from Dorchester Leisure) and Maryanne Ellis (Dark Designs from Black Lace Books). Both wonderful erotic romance writers whom I read to help me with the actual mechanics of writing, both sex scenes and overall technique.

Q - What do you say when confronted with detractors of the ebook industry?
A - I’ve been fortunate not to be confronted directly with such ignoramuses however, if it were to happen, I’d say, “Look, everything has a plus and a minus to it. That’s life. With e-books, you have the advantage of saving trees and shipping costs.

Q - What is your best piece of advice for aspiring authors?
A -Yeah. Actually, there’s not one best piece because the road to publication is arduous, though definitely gratifying. First is write from the heart. Sounds simple but is not always easy. The stories that move you the most are going to be the best ones you write. Never write solely to please a market – it will come through in your writing and make readers feel insulted. Always honor your readers’ intelligence. They have a million choices of romance novels nowadays and if your book ends up in their hands, you want to give them the best experience possible. NEVER give up. Take constructive feedback and weigh it all before rejecting anything. And when you do get accepted somewhere, send in clean, thorough manuscripts and be courteous with your editor. She is there to help you.

Q - Why should we read your books over all the other authors out there?
A - Oh, I don’t exactly feel that way. I would hope you’d read mine in addition to the other authors. I will say that in my stories I really try to develop the inner characters as portray sensuality that is gentle and healing whether the story is man/man or man/woman. If that kind of thing appeals, then I would hope you’ll want to pick up my books.

Q - Tell us about your latest release – what’s it about? Where can we buy it?

A - My latest release is A Man for Michael (gay/contemporary) from Ellora’s Cave. But YOU knew that, didn’t you, Jaynie? Lol! Here’s the blurb:
Mike Antonio has been a fighter, a tough guy from the streets of Boston whose rough exterior hides a tender heart and a desire for love. When a favor for a friend takes him back to the fight club of his youth, Mike immediately falls for the star fighter. Powerful and fast, muscular and graceful, the Chow heats Mike’s blood…and strangely…his sympathy.
Cory Chow is the world’s top underground fight club star and a sex slave to his owner. Cory hates his life and one sympathetic glance from the brawny stranger on the sidelines rouses Cory’s fantasies of sex without chains. The need is so fierce that Cory would rather die than go on enslaved. Just when he expects death, however, he finds himself in the bed of the very man he craves.
Sex with Mike is hotter…and sweeter…than Cory could have ever imagined. And for the first time in his life he sees his chance at happiness.
But the owner of a million-dollar baby isn’t going to give up his slave so easily and Mike and Cory face the fight of their lives…
A Man for Michael is my favorite of the books I’ve written. It just touches my heart and is somewhat of a fanfic tribute to Jet Li – kernels of the story are his film, Unleashed.

Q - Where can we find you? (give us your website, author loop, newsletter, blog, myspace etc.)

A - My website is http://www.sedoniaguillone.com/ , yahoo newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sedoniaguillonenewsletter and then email: Sedonia@sedoniaguillone.com . My website is always up to the minute.

Thanks for coming out to play Sedonia - and remember peeps, comment and you could win one of Sedonia's ebooks.

The Winners Are...Tuesday Talk with Mary Janice Davidson

The winners of the TWO ARCs of MJD's upcoming THE ROYAL MESS are...

BECKY

and

DARLA

Please email me your snail addy by Sunday midnight (US EST), otherwise the winner will be redrawn.

Thanks very much to everyone who played, and to MJD for answering questions. Stay tuned for more soon.

Tuesday Talk with Mary Janice Davidson

Please make welcome an author so famous, she needed her own bigass table off to the side at RT, the one, the only - Mary Janice Davidson...

Today MJD is giving away two - yes, count em, TWO ARCs of her upcoming THE ROYAL MESS. If you want to be in to win one of these then you gotta comment on this post. Winners will be drawn shortly after midnight Thursday (US EST)

Q - Do you drink PEPSI or coke?
A -Coke, of course! Pepsi, blech. Mud water. (The irony: my PR rep, Jessica Growette of JAG Productions, would say: “Pepsi, of course! Coke, blech. Mud water.” If we accidentally grab each other’s drink, you should see the gagging.)

Q - If you were stuck on a desert island and could only take 3 books – which ones would you choose?
A -IT, by Stephen King, SMALL SACRIFICES by Ann Rule, and GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell. But really, I’d much rather grab flint, fishing equipment, and a knife.

Q - If Pinky and the Brain ever really did take over the world, what do you think they’d do first?
A -Terrify the Fundamentalists.

Q - Which one of your characters would you most like to give to Nora so that she can kill them off and have Eve investigate their murder?*
A -Oooh, that’s an interesting one. Ah…let’s see…which poor fictional soul shall I sacrifice…I know! Tina, Eric Sinclair’s major domo. She’s already been murdered once, after all, and she’s lived such a long life, it’d be a challenging case. An awful lot of suspects…
Plus, usually in my books, if I kill someone off it’s a Kenny death. You know: not permanent. For a while, Betsy was my own personal Kenny, dying in each book but somehow being saved. That pattern was broken in UNDEAD AND UNEASY, where there were two deaths-for-real. Permanent deaths. Dead for-ever. Dead-dead. Disco dead. Dodo dead.

Q - Do you have any mentors in the romance industry? Tell us about them.
A -Well, just after UNDEAD AND UNWED came out, Laurell K. Hamilton was super helpful…offered to let me be her co-author at a book signing while she was on tour in the Twin Cities, asked me to be in an anthology with her (my response: “Why? Did you lose a bet?”), gave me tips for my own book signings…she’s very generous with her time and experience. The same goes for Christine Feehan (who read UNDEAD AND UNWED when it was still an e-book, gave it an amazing quote, and talked it up at chats and such) and Charlaine Harris, who’s just adorable and cool in every possible way.

Q - What do you say when confronted with detractors of romance novels?
A -I cry into a big bag of money. After I dry my tears with fifty dollar bills, I ask them if they’re aware that one out of every two paperbacks sold in this country is a romance novel. Then I strike them repeatedly until they lose consciousness.

Q - What is your best piece of advice for aspiring authors?
A -Do NOT quit. I started writing when I was 13. UNDEAD AND UNWED didn’t come out until I was 34. And I hit the NYT list when I was 36. A rather long apprenticeship…and if I had quit at any time in my teens or twenties, I wouldn’t be doing this interview right now, among other things! As Laurell K. Hamilton once said, “There’s plenty of room in this business for everyone.”

Q - Why should we read your books over all the other authors out there?
A -Um…because I’m a monster of selfishness and I insist upon it? No? Okay, how about this: because they’re good for a laugh, they’re a guaranteed HEA, and they’re a quick read. Diana Gabeldon, I am not. (I cannot even CONCEIVE of writing a manuscript that long…)

Q - Tell us about your latest release – what’s it about? Where can we buy it?
A -The latest one is UNDEAD AND UNEASY, book 6 in the Betsy-the-vampire-queen series. In this installment, I viciously yank Betsy’s support system out from under her and sort of force her to embrace her queenship. Torturing her was great fun!
I also have a book coming out at the end of August, THE ROYAL MESS, which is the last of the Alaskan Royals books (what if Alaska was its own country, with its own whacked-out royal family, and a bastard princess turned up?).

Q - Where can we find you? (give us your website, author loop, newsletter, blog, myspace etc.)
A - www.maryjanicedavidson.net
and, my Yahoo group,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/maryjanice/
You can sign up for my newsletter at my website.
And my blog, which I must shamefully admit is updated only monthly, if that:
http://www.maryjanicedavidson.blogspot.com/

Awesome. Thanks so much MJD. So peeps - all you gotta do is post a comment and you could win one of these fab ARCs.

Contest Winners

The winner of the Michele Bardsley Tuesday Talk is

SHELLY (shelly@bewitched)

The winner of the Total E-bound Saturday Spotlight is

DAUN ANN (lilwildcat@)

please email me to claim your prize by Wed midnight (US EST) or it will be redrawn.

Tomorrow's Tuesday talk will feature the very popular MJD and she's giving away ARCs - 2 of them. Tune in for that - it will probably be the last Tuesaday Talk because I just don't have time to blog anymore.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen TV shows that Jaynie R has loved at various stages of life. 1 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There can be only one, and Buffy pretty much is the one for me. Seven seasons of complete bliss. I could watch it over and over again. 2 - Grey's Anatomy. This is my NOW show. McDreamy, McSteamy, McYummy, and oh yeah - the chicks. This show has it all - hot guys, great acting, fabulous dialogue. I am, however, extremely pissed about the season finale of season 3 - there was no need to make it that depressing for EVERY single character. Sad - the baby dying. Even sadder - finding out who the father was. 3 - Arrested Development. Why oh why did more people not watch this. I was so upset that it got tanked after only 3 seasons. Jason Bateman was the perfect straight man for this cast of weird and wacky. Lots of giggles. 4 - Red Dwarf. British comedy sci-fi. They're all dead Dave, all dead, all dead Dave. Dave is the last human alive and he hangs with a mutated man/cat, a robot, and a hologram called Rimmer. Something else that I can watch over and over again and never get bored. Very clever stuff. 5 - Pinky and the Brain. Cult cartoon about two little Acme mice on a mission to take over the world. What are we going to do tonight Brain? The same thing we do every night Pinky, we're going to try and take over the world. 6- Beverly Hills 90210. Don't think I could sit through it now, but from age 15 to 23 it was on all the time on my television as I lusted after Dylan, and tried to decide just who he should choose - Brenda or Kelly. 7 - Law and Order. I never watched this when it originally came out, but caught up with reruns and I think I've seen the first 8 or 9 series about 4 or 5 times for each episode. Can you believe we're on season 18? I stopped watching when Jerry Orbich died. Couldn't do it anymore. 8 - Married with Children. Best piece of non-politically correct crack up you can find. Who doesn't love Al, Peggy and the gang? 9 - The Dukes of Hazard. Yeehaaa - car races and voice overs. This one was a classic when I was growing up. It makes me laugh now, but back then it was a serious thing - making sure the boys saved Uncle Jesse's farm. 10 - MacGyver. I swore I was going to marry him when he grew up. The fact that he only needed a pocket knife and a piece of chewing gum to start a car was always fascinating to me. 11 - M.A.S.H. I still cry in the final episode. I think I've seen every episode at least 2 or 3 times. Probably one of the best shows ever made. The story of why Hawkaye went nuts still gives me nightmares. 12 - Star Trek. The original. The others were good too, but only in the original can you truly get the experience of Kirk screwing green aliens, and Beam me up Scottie. Good entertainment value. 13 - Friends. Some of those episodes had me rolling on the floor literally. Great for a giggle when you really need one. I can't believe how many I had to leave out and most from the eighties or nineties. I don't really watch much tv anymore. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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