I HATE politics

Don't worry, this post isn't about my political views. I will not try to push my opinions on anyone else. It's a rant about the election season and how I'm ready for it to be over. Actually, to even say that I'm ready for the election to be finished is such an understatement.

It's not just the presidential stuff either. Local political commercials make it nearly impossible to watch TV. Every single commercial break it's the same crap, over and over.

I have not and I will not tell anyone in any public forum what my personal views are. They are personal. We each have the right to choose who we vote for. That's what's great about America. I have never seen an election make people so hateful to each other before. If you even look like you support an opposing candidate, supporters of the other guy think that gives them the right to be rude to you, or start spouting their views as if you asked.

As of this moment I am stunned. I just got blocked on Facebook by someone I've been friends with for 5 years. Why? Because of the election.

First let me say one thing. I clicked "like" on the pages of BOTH presidential candidates  Why? So I could read updates. If there's an article posted about them, I will see this in the update. I thought it might help me to make a more informed decision.

Apparently this "friend" saw only the "like" for the candidate he hates. He therefore took it upon himself to send me a video full of propaganda (which can be made to sound any way at all depending on editing) and asked, "your really voting for this guy tracy?" with a frowny face. Not only did he use the wrong form of "your" as opposed to "you're," he spelled my name wrong as well.

I wrote back, "I am not going to get into a political discussion. We are all given the right to choose. That's what's great about America."

He cursed at me, called me stupid, and then had the nerve to say, "Good luck with your books. Bye Tracey."

What the crap? I never even said I supported the guy he was talking about.

I know, this blog normally talks about writing techniques, my writing, or marketing. However, occasionally I also include bits of my life. This is one of those bits.

Do me a favor and don't post any comments in favor of anyone. This blog wasn't about supporting a specific candidate. I'm just ranting about how people are treating each other over the election.

I needed to get this off my chest, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this craziness.

It's time to get CRAZY

The picture has relevance, I promise. LOL For a while now I've been working on getting into the best shape of my life. I am about 15 pounds away from my weight loss goal. Lately, I've gone back to the one thing that worked best for me, riding a stationary bike.

This is a fun, easy activity that burns tons of calories because it works those big muscles in your legs. And as a random guy who passed me on the road said, I've got legs, "like a mother****er." Yes, he really said that.

You know what works you even harder than a stationary bike? Riding on the open road. I live in the country. There are miles and miles of beautiful roads here. There's only one problem. People have a shit-ton of dogs out here and they do NOTHING to control them.

A friend of mine said he doesn't know why that should stop me. He carries wasp spray with him to keep away dogs. First of all, I actually love dogs and think that's awful. He said he sprays somewhere near them, not on the dog. Well, I'm not comfortable putting poison on or near an animal unless it's trying to kill me. Sorry.

I know the basics of putting my bike between me and the dog, splashing water in their face, things like that. However, I was completely unprepared for what happened yesterday. After much debate, my son and I decided to ride "the block." Out here, that's at least 6 miles (haven't clocked it exactly) with 6 huge hills, one every mile. Most of the places that have dogs are right freaking beside one of these hills. If they decide to chase, there is no such thing as outrunning them.

I was bitten as a child. My left ear points at the top like an elf thanks to this incident. (No shit.) I have no desire to be bitten again.

But back to yesterday. Out of all the dogs (most of them were big) that barked and a few who followed for a couple of paces, only one dog gave us a real chase. A Yorkie. That's right, you heard me. We were in a curve, going up a hill when a herd of mini-dogs comes barking across this yard. I'm not kidding, there were at least 10 of them. A bouncing, yapping, little herd! The first thing I did was say, "Holy shit," and start laughing my ass off.

It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. The Yorkie chased my son who easily outran him. The problem was, I was right behind him. The dog kept darting around, trying to get out of my way and I kept swerving trying to miss him. When I saw my front tire make impact, I threw myself off the bike to avoid crushing the little dog.

I have a big bruise on my right knee, and a knot on my left shin. But other than that I'm fine. The Yorkie was unharmed.

This got me thinking, there has to be an easier way to take a ride and actually enjoy myself. I've read tons of articles on how to deal with dogs while biking and one really cracked me up.

Here's the link. http://www.adventure-journal.com/2011/10/dealing-with-aggressive-dogs-make-your-bark-worse-than-your-bike/

The article says to bark as loud as you possibly can. It will startle the dog when they realize you are completely freaking crazy. HA! We shall see. As it so happens, I am completely freaking crazy. I can do this. I have faith in myself.

The article says to pick a one syllable word and scream it at the top of your lungs for one second. I haven't decided yet what mine will be, but I've got some funny ideas. For one whole second, I'm going to completely lose my shit. I'm going to let those dogs see the side of me that I hold back from everyone else. Everything that's ever pissed me off, they're about to feel it in my voice. I'm going to bring the animal I know I have inside out just enough to scare the holy shit out of those dogs.

What if the owner happens to overhear? Oh well, keep your animals behind a fence if they can't behave. The road is public and I have a right to defend myself if I'm threatened while on the damn thing.

So, I'm going to bark some obscenity at oncoming dogs next time I go. And if they don't listen? I'm carrying some pepper spray.

F*** you dogs! You don't tell me where to ride!

An interview with Jesse L. Cairns

Please help me welcome author Jesse L. Cairns. Just to clarify how the interview is formatted here, THK is me. Obviously. Ha. Ha. and JLC is Jesse. Anything in parentheses is my personal musings on his answers. Enjoy. 

THK -  Tell me about yourself. Anything you would like readers know about you?

JLC - It's sort of cliche to say "writing saved my life," but in my case, it pretty much did. I was a terribly unhappy teenager, and scribbling in a series of notebooks seemed to be a good way to let me get some balance and control regarding things. I loved the discovery process, the feeling of accomplishment of when I wrote something better than I had done the previous year... it was like a never-ending series of rewards, and really allowed me to have my own voice.

When I'm not working the day job or writing, I'm a roller derby referee with the Sac City Rollers women's flat-track roller derby league. It's a great calorie-burner and they're an amazing bunch of people. Their do-it-yourself ethic dovetails nicely with writing. I also play a little guitar and have too many cats. That's not very unusual for writers, though.

THK -  Tell me about your current and upcoming releases. Please include a blurb and a link to where the book can be purchased.

JLC - Right now I'm appearing as the lead-off story in the anthology Spells And Swashbucklers by Dragon Moon Press. My story "Death Tide" is about modern buccaneers, magic and a very nasty surprise for both the raiders and the victims. It serves as a good introduction to the urban fantasy universe I write in.

THK - What genre do you write in? What drew you to write in that genre? If you mix genres talk about that too.

JLC - I write for the most part in the urban fantasy genre (five books in the series and counting) because I really like the juxtaposition of magic and technology, but I also have more than a few science fiction bones in my body. Honestly, I've written in every genre except for westerns; I even wrote a baseball novel that I like just as much as anything else I've ever done.

One thing that I don't like is to have hugely evil villains as the antagonists. That's not to say that bad guys don't have their place, but I prefer my antagonists to be "heels" rather than slobbering evil-doers. A classic heel commits heinous acts, yes, but they do them for what they see as being essentially good or at the very least necessary reasons. I like my black hat-wearers to have a set of motivations that the audience can relate to just as much as those of the protagonists. I'm also pretty happy when it seems like that line between the two camps is getting a little blurry, which is a major storyline of my urban fantasy series. Hopefully that one will get accepted soon, and then everyone can enjoy!

(I like my villains to also be real people. I love the way you describe that here.)

THK - How many books have you written? How many have been published?

JLC - I have written 17 novels to completion to this date, along with about a dozen or so false-starts. Some of those were only a chapter or two, but a couple almost hit 40k before they keeled over and died. None of the previous 17 have been published as of this date, but there's only a few of them that are in the active rotation of being shopped around. There's a very large learning curve associated with learning how to write quality fictions novels, and the only way to break through that wall is to keep doing it, over and over again, until you get it right. I have fond memories associated with all those books... well, at least with parts of them, at any rate. I may re-work some of them when I am more firmly established in my writing career and offer them as minimally-priced or even free downloads for fans around the holidays in the future.

THK -  What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

JLC - When I go for long walks to figure out a plot thread or a character's background or motivation, I like to talk about the subject at hand out loud as I do so. When somebody else comes walking the other way, I take my phone out and pretend as though I'm having a conversation in order to keep discussing the matter at hand. I listen to a lot of podcasts, so the long form of spoken word as applied to various subjects is something that I find very appealing.

(Oh my gosh! I do this too! I often walk around the house and talk out plots to my dog also.)

THK - What is the hardest part of writing?

JLC - I think the hardest part of the writing process is learning how to self-edit. It's really a different skill-set than you use in your day-to-day life; you've got to be able to recognize something that doesn't work, see why it is things aren't going the way they are supposed to, and then figure how how to get the air out of the pipes and make things flow smoothly again. At its base level, you have to be able to both see--and admit--when you are wrong. What sounds great inside the author's head does not always translate well to the printed page, so you've got to be able to deal with it when it pops up. I don't care how good you are, it'll rear its head sooner or later.

Once that's done with, by far the hardest part is the submission process itself. You can spend a year with a project and think that it turned out great and be pumped up about it... and once you've racked up a dozen rejections on your novel, see how much you still believe in what you wrote. This is the part of the process that washes out so many writers, and learning how to take 20+ turn-downs in the teeth and keep moving forward is absolutely essential if you're going to make it in this business. It's a brutal, brutal grind, but if you quit, you're never going to get to that winner's circle of holding a copy of your book in your hands.

(I agree about the self-editing. I believe I'm continuing to get better at this. As I re-release older books of mine whose contracts have expired, I find things I can't believe I left in there. Hopefully, that shows I'm growing as a writer.)

THK - What do you read for fun when you’re not writing?

JLC - Being a writer kind of ruins you sometimes on reading; you'll find yourself saying, "That wasn't phrased very well," or "I wouldn't have done that with my secondary character," or things like that. It's hard to put the writer hat aside when you want to relax with books, so now I generally try to read things that I don't really write myself. I'm trying to read a lot of non-fiction these days where the experiences of the authors (and their worldviews) differ wildly from my own, so I can be exposed to different ideas and therefore make my characters sound more individual. When doing fiction... I hate to sound like a fanboy, but I could re-read Jim Butcher's entire back catalog a hundred times and learn something new each time I go through. Every time he comes out with a new book, I feel slightly depressed about my own writing for the next week or so. The same holds true for the first eight books of Laurell Hamilton's "Anita Blake" series, and Rachel Caine is also an excellent writer and a very nice person as well. Go read her stuff!

(I don't think you sound like a fanboy at all. LOL You sound like someone who is serious about his craft and able to learn new things. That's amazing. Every time I read Dean Koontz I learn something new. He's quite a change from my paranormal romance also. You are so right about being a writer ruining you sometimes to the simple joy of reading. I have to make a conscious decision to take my writer hat off when I read. It's very difficult.)

THK -  Any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?

JLC - Remember why you do this; it's because you love it more than anything else. You know how you'll see those interviews with famous artists in any field--be it writing, music, acting or whatever else floats your boat--and sooner or later in the interview, the line will come out, "I love this so much, I'd do it for free?" Well, those people did exactly that for many, many years before their ship came in. They did it for free, working on their craft, only it really wasn't work because they love doing it so much. You've got to be the same way, because if you really love what you do, it makes the hard work a series of enjoyable challenges.

Also, don't ever forget how difficult is. The entire process is arranged in such a way to ensure that only those with the most determination will survive the gauntlet; for every published writer out there, hundreds cashed in before they got to the finish line. Don't be a statistic, and don't forget to celebrate like a rock star when you cross the finish line!


Well said!

You can find out more about Jesse L. Cairns at the following links.

Direct link for Spells And Swashbucklers: http://www.amazon.com/Spells-Swashbucklers-Valerie-Griswold-Ford/dp/1897492464

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

Twitter: @jesselcairns

I'm making an appointment with myself

That may sound strange, but I believe it's the only way I'll ever get in shape. I used to be an athlete. I was a cheer-leading captain and later, a damn good martial artist. What the hell happened right? Life. I got busy. When my son was very little I went to work. As I cycled through jobs (many in the beginning were temp), I got increasingly busier. My time for lengthy workouts diminished. And eventually so did my desire for them. I stopped craving the rush of a good workout. It was as if my body had forgotten the feeling.

Many people won't understand what I'm talking about when I mention that rush and how awesome it can be. Let me put it into perspective. The best description I've ever read, the one that came closest to describing a workout rush, wasn't even talking about working out. It was in a book about BDSM. It's a complete rush of exhaustion and elation mixed together. You're completely spent both emotionally and physically. And no, I'm not talking about orgasm. This is different. Some may know it as "runner's high" as well. It's the same concept.

I've made a lot of changes in the past year and a half. This began the day I got my little dog Roscoe. That little face and those big ears helped to break me out of a depression I couldn't beat on my own. But thanks to Roscoe, I kicked its ass and I haven't looked back. I am happier than I've ever been. My book sales are up. I'm spending more time with my family. Plus I've lost and kept off 25 pounds. Now, it's time to take it up a notch.

I am what many would consider a healthy weight. My reasons for not being satisfied are not entirely vain. My mother has type 2 diabetes. So does one of my grandmothers. My step-grandpa died from complications caused by diabetes. I've seen what it can do. For goodness sake, it has the word DIE in it! (At least when you say it out loud it does.)

I am healthy. My heart is strong. My sugar is low. My blood pressure is normal. I intend to keep it that way.

Recently I noticed something about myself. Deep down I already knew this, but never paid attention. I always put myself last. I'm not talking about my work. I'm talking about me. Writing takes precedence over almost everything else in my life. I'm always working on something new. I'm either editing a title whose contract expired for re-release, working on cover art, or writing something totally new. I'm constantly looking for inexpensive ways to promote my books, to help spread the word. Work. That's all I ever do.

I wake up every day with the intention of working out, but it just doesn't happen. Everything else comes first.

Therefore I have concluded that I cannot workout in my house. I have to remove the distractions of email and text and the temptation to go to my computer when I take a water break.

I'm making an appointment with myself to get up and run each morning. Why am I doing this? Because I keep my appointments. It's going to take more than good intentions to get me in the shape I want to be. I'm deliberately setting this appointment at I time I find most uncomfortable. Early in the morning. Those are the appointments I always dread the most. Yet, I enjoy getting them over with.

This is one appointment I do not intend to break. I'm going to pretend that someone is depending on me to show up and skipping is not an option. In a way, they are. Me, thirty years from now. Hell, even five years from now. And if I can't depend on myself, then who can I depend on?

My running shoes are in the dryer right now. As I listen to them tumble, I'm starting to get excited. My goal is 5 miles a day. At this point I'm not worried about speed. I just want to make those miles even if I have to crawl.

And every day I possibly can ... I'm dragging my mother with me.

Werewolves Can't Fly by Berengaria Brown is out today!

Please join me in congratulating Berengaria on what sounds like an awesome new release!

Get ready for Halloween with a hot werewolf ménage!

“Werewolves Can’t Fly” which released on 3 October, is the sequel to “Flight to Joy”, but you don’t have to have read the first book to enjoy this one.

“Flight to Joy” blurb

Mermae can fly. She’s had to keep it a secret, and has never met anyone else like her. One evening she thinks she sees something as she lands after a flight, but decides she’s mistaken, so walks home.

Kade sees a woman flying and is intrigued. He can fly, yet has never met anyone else who can. So he follows her to her apartment to learn her address, then hurries home to his partner, Iain, to tell him the good news.

Buy Link:http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=79_93&products_id=3570

And now the story continues…

“Werewolves Can’t Fly” blurb:

Mermae joined Kade and Iain four months ago. Halloween is almost here and Iain, a werewolf, is desperate for them to commit to each other.

But how can they keep their secrets in a city? And if they move out of the city how will they earn money and live?

Iain asked werewolves Dwyer and Nelson, who live on a secure farm, if his family can bond there and run on Halloween. Dwyer and Nelson are thrilled Iain has found his third person and welcome them to a little hidden cabin.

The mating is wonderful, but all their other problems remain unresolved. Is there a solution to them?

PG -13 EXCERPT

They lay on their sides in bed, sweaty and relaxed, satiated, yet Iain wanted more. With Halloween so close now, he wanted to convince-- no, that's wasn't fair. All decisions had to be made freely. He wanted Mermae and Kade to understand how badly he needed them to mate, to commit to each other, so his wolf side would be fulfilled.

Hoping he could explain himself properly, Iain said, "Halloween is special to a werewolf."

"What, you're going to howl at the moon?" teased Mermae.

He tugged her closer to him. "You never know, I might. But I really will need to run properly that night, and I want you both to be beside me. Traditionally, we fuck, then run, then fuck again on Halloween."

Mermae slid up on an elbow so she could look into his face. "There's more than that, though, isn't there?"

"You're a very perceptive woman. Yes, there is. We usually fuck the first time as humans and the second time as wolves, but that can't happen in our triad. But the ritual, yeah I need to complete the ritual. I..." Iain broke off. He didn't want to pressure her, or Kade, although Kade knew a bit more about how important this all was to him.

"You want us to commit." Mermae spoke slowly yet firmly.

Iain rolled over and lay flat on his back staring at her face, trying to read the expression behind her eyes. He nodded. What if she turns me down? What if she isn't ready yet to take this step?

"Okay. Let's just go through this all again. You can bite me without turning me into a werewolf. You've bitten Kade and nothing's ever happened to him. Right?"

"Yes." Kade spoke at the same time as him. Iain was going to add more, but it was obvious Mermae was still thinking, so he waited for her to finish.

"The commitment is binding. Once we commit it's for life. Except that you're going to live a hell of a lot longer than Kade and me. Does this mean even after we die you can never commit to another two people?"

"Yes, it does. But I've been told in committed triads that include non-wolves, the humans tend to live quite a lot longer than regular humans. As you know, I've never lived in a pack. We were lone wolves. My three parents and twin brother were killed by hunters when I was a teenager and when I looked for a pack, they were all one male/one female packs, and much bigger than me and..." Once again he couldn't finish what he wanted to say. This was not the time to pull the pity card. Mermae had to decide for herself, not because of anything he said, but because she wanted to commit to him and Kade.

Buy Link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_91&products_id=3711

Berengaria Brown

http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/

http://berengariabrown.com/

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Frank and The Werewolf Tamer - All Romance Ebooks

I just wanted to let everyone know that Frank and The Werewolf Tamer is now available at All Romance Ebooks. I'm so excited about this. I'm doing my best to make my indie titles available everywhere possible. Oh, Frank and Bitten are also on Barnes & Noble now for those with NOOKs. :)

Frank and The Werewolf Tamer - All Romance Ebooks

How Do Vampires Stay Happy? A guest post by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Tracey (who has a very cool name, by the way) has posted a number of posts about positive thinking and happiness recently, which got me thinking about vampires and their mental well being.  

Vampires have a tough row to hoe, really.  I explained how difficult it can be for them when I stopped at Kathryn Wallis’ blog (http://bit.ly/ReWJu0) earlier in my blog tour, when I was also explaining how The Unspoken Ones in my vampire romance series, Blood Stone, found it easier to withdraw from society and the world at large after a millenia or two of passing through history, rather than trying to adapt and change any more.  Once they had withdrawn, they developed very strange behaviours and attitudes, off in their isolation.

One character in the second novel of the series, which is also called Blood Stone, that is to be released tomorrow (!) is Nial.  Nial is so old he also qualifies for the status of Unspoken One…but he isn’t one.  How did he managed to avoid that awful abyss?  How did he stay happy for over a millenia? 

There’s a clue in the first book, Blood Knot, when the woman that would become his wife quizzes him on truth telling.  Winter can adjust other people’s biologies by touching them, and she attempts to “read” Nial by touch:

---

For the tiniest fraction of a second, Nathanial hesitated. Then he lifted his hand out to her. He had a big hand, to match his height and frame. But unlike Sebastian, he did not have the long, sensitive fingers. His were strong, the palm square. There were calluses below the fingers. Winter touched them.
“From my sword,” Nathanial said.

“But…that must have been years ago.”

“Centuries, actually. Our physiologies do not change, Winter.” His gaze was steady, defying her to be appalled or horrified.

She covered his hand with both of hers and edged her senses inside him. It was the same deadness she remembered from her incursion inside Sebastian. But it wasn’t all black and dead and darkness. There was life of a sort. Just not life as she understood it. The heart was there, capable of beating. Blood, and veins and arteries. All the organs were where they should be. They were all dormant, ready to function as needed.

“Do you like football, Nathanial?”

“NFL? Bores me silly,” he told her. His body remained still. Silent.

“What do you like?”

“Sports are vague posturing of people who have forgotten why they do what they are doing. Did you know that most team sports were originally conducted to prepare men for war?” He shook his head. “I find them vapid and shallow.”

She smiled. “Well, I guess I asked for your true opinion.”

Nathanial smiled. “You did.”

“Very well. What do you like that isn’t sports? What gets you excited? Apart from sex?” she added hastily.

The gleam in his eyes told her the final proviso had been just in time. He considered for a moment. “There is no one thing that I consistently turn to. But there are many things that move me. I find them every day. You just have to be open to seeing them and they come to you.”

“I don’t understand,” Winter confessed.

“The modern philosophers and cultural psychologists of this day and age advise everyone that they should have a hobby that they’re passionate about, to give them an interest in life. That’s what you’re trying to ask me about now. Truth is, Winter, I ran out of time and patience for maintaining interests decades ago. Now, I just follow life. There’s always something new to learn and life always gives me something beautiful to appreciate. Something to get excited about.” He nodded towards the window. “Like your hair outlined by the sunset a moment ago. They were the perfect compliment.”

And she felt his heart shift just a little.

“Have you ever stopped to truly smell the bergamot in a pot of fresh Earl Grey tea, Winter?” he asked. “I’ve forgotten what it tastes like now, but the smell is divine.”

Blood stirred and flowed, pushed by his heart.

“I like studying the stars, because they’re older than me, and they make me feel very small, humble and insignificant. They haven’t changed in all the years I’ve looked up at them, despite the massive changes I’ve seen on Earth. I find that astonishing and comforting at the same time.”

Again, the small flutter of his heart beating.

“Every day there are small things. A kitten asleep in a plant pot. The sun rising over the snow and turning it pink. Hoar frosts still take my breath away with their beauty despite the hundreds I have seen. The kindness of the stranger who pays for the next person’s drinks at the coffee shop. The rudeness of tourists in Jasper during the summer season. The unconscious beauty of young people who don’t realize they have everything ahead of them and are enjoying their every moment now, just as they should.

“And then sometimes I am rewarded by meeting someone like you, Winter, who stirs me so strongly I am forced to hide my reactions with professional techniques.”

And his heart squeezed. Hard. It began to beat with a normal systolic pulse.

[Extract from Blood Knot – copyright © Tracy Cooper-Posey 2010]

---

When the Unspoken Ones become a more active force in Blood Stone, Nial has to explain himself and his great age and happy outlook yet again.  This time, his answer is a little less patient and a lot less complicated:

__

“I was born in the year five hundred and fifty-nine in what is now called northern Italy. I’ll save you some mental gymnastics. That was one thousand, four hundred and fifty-three years ago. But I think of myself as…” He shrugged. “In my thirties.”

Roman was scowling again and Garret recognized the expression as the one he used when he was thinking hard and disagreeing with the stated opinion.

“Euphrasia didn’t think of herself as thirty,” Garrett guessed.

Roman just scowled harder.

“The unspoken ones aren’t some sort of exclusive club to which you get invited by brown-nosing and paying membership dues,” Nial told them. “There isn’t an arbitrary age cut-off that says ‘at this point you become an unspoken one.’ Euphrasia simply didn’t want to be a part of modern life. She hated it. You spent a week on her island, Roman, so you tell me – what did it make you think of?”

Roman shrugged, still glowering. “Constantinople, like when I was a child. But simpler. Peaceful.”

“That was her version of ancient Athens,” Nial told him. “A far more comfortable and insulated one. She arranged it so she didn’t have to adapt anymore. She could just go on as she was, unchanging and uninterrupted.”

“But you didn’t choose that way,” Roman pointed out. “When every other vampire as old or older than you did choose it…or died. As far as I know you’re the oldest of the blood who still actively passes. Why didn’t you retire to coddle your worn psyche like the others?”

Nial shrugged. “I don’t know. Because I’m stubborn? Because something interesting came along just at the right time? Because I’ve been terribly lucky, all my long, long life. Who does know? I don’t look back, Roman. Well, not that often and I try not to linger on the unpleasantness, of which there’s been far too much. But I can tell you that I did think about chopping myself off from the world more than once. There is definite appeal to not having to go through the tiresome routine of change, over and over. But change is what makes life so damned interesting, too. And I can tell you when I stopped considering the idea altogether, when it became an absolute impossibility for me.”

“When you made Sebastian,” Garrett answered.

Nial glanced at him and smiled. “Of course, you would have that figured.”

Roman sat back in the sofa again. He almost threw himself back, as if he was frustrated, or made angry by the answer, but didn’t dare show it. “Is that why you defied the edicts and kept Sebastian with you all those years?”

Nial’s smile didn’t fade. “I didn’t keep Sebastian with me. He stayed because he wanted to. He still does. But in the way you mean, he kept me alive, yes.”

[Extract from Blood Stone– copyright © Tracy Cooper-Posey 2012]

__

These are the moments I thought of when I was reading Tracey’s posts about happiness and positive thinking.  Nial has some pretty definite ideas about what keeps him centred and moving forward through his many days and nights:

1. Love
2. Focus on the positive stuff
3. Find pleasure each day, even in the smallest of things
4. Gratitude

It seems to me that’s a pretty good recipe for humans, too, wouldn’t you say?

____________

Blood Stone is my 44th title and my ninth indie book.

Nial orders Calum Garrett to get close to Hollywood producer Kate Lindenstream.  Garrett reluctantly complies for he has held himself apart from humans for centuries.  Kate doesn’t fall into Garrett’s arms, either.  She already has someone for that.  Roman Xerus -- whom Kate knows as Adrian -- and Garrett go way back to the sixteenth century Scottish highlands, but they parted bitterly two hundred years ago.

With Roman’s support, Kate battles Garrett in wills and business as he methodically forces himself into her life. However, on the closed-in movie set in the Californian desert, Garrett’s calm, orderly world crumbles for Garrett is drawn to Kate.  He has begins to experience real, human feelings.  

Kate doesn’t cooperate in the chess game Nial orchestrates, despite being unaware of the strategies swirling around her film set.  Demanding and expecting only the best for her movie, Kate’s agenda forces Roman and Garrett to work together to protect her and keep the humans around her ignorant of the Pro Libertatus, the anonymous and all-powerful vampire group who nearly killed Nial, Sebastian and Winter, and shield Kate from the excesses of the League for Humanity.  But could Roman really be with the Pro Libertatus?

There’s hidden intentions everywhere, and centuries of repressed feelings, along with at least two different groups that mean them harm.  Then there’s the rumours that Kate has found the mythical Blood Stone, the key to unlocking vampire history and lifting their curse.   Who is Kate, really?  Because once Garrett begins to notice, things about Kate don’t quite add up, either...

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An Excerpt From: BLOOD STONE
Copyright © TRACY COOPER-POSEY, 2012
All Rights Reserved.

Nial clapped his shoulder and stepped back to lean against the counter again. “Kate slapping you down is a good sign,” he said, smoothly changing the subject. “It confirms she has the backbone we’ll need. She really is perfect for this. I’m more curious about how Roman came into her life. It’s interesting timing.”

Garrett frowned. “The only people who knew in advance about the plans for Kate are us three...and I presume your—Winter.”

Sebastian grinned but didn’t comment about Garrett’s change of name for their wife.

Nial crossed his arms. “Then Roman has to be there for his own reasons—or for Pro Libertatis reasons.”

“What possible reasons would the Pro Libertatis have for seeking her out, before we give them one?” Sebastian said.

“None,” Garrett said flatly. “Kate Lindenstream is exactly what she seems to be. A Hollywood producer/director who makes successful big budget action adventure movies, and has a growing amount of political power in the industry because of it. She has a lot of friends in high places, and probably has a number of skeletons in her closet, just like all the power players do. She can do interesting things with money. If she wasn’t so wrapped up in La-la land, I would have coaxed her over to one of my Boston corporations a year ago and put her in charge of finance.”

Nial lifted a brow. “You did your homework.”

“I’m not stupid, Nathanial,” Garrett shot back. “This woman has a tested IQ of 160. She would have spotted holes in a cover story from ten miles away. The approach had to be flawless and long term.”

“And now that you’ve met her in person, what is your reading?” Nial asked.

“She has an entrepreneurial mind. She thinks like a man — probably a result of fighting it out in the industry she’s in, and surviving. She likes to have fun and explore with big toys. That’s why she does all those hands-on research trips to wild corners of the globe and lives rough and hard for six weeks in the Gobi Desert or the Atlas Mountains while she digs up some interesting trinket or another for her next movie.” Garrett grimaced. “She also doesn’t mind slapping down men every now and again to prove her point. She has mental balls.”

Sebastian laughed softly. “I like her already.”

Nial was frowning. “These research trips of hers. That’s one of the reasons we focused on her, Garrett. The last trip she did...”

Garrett shrugged. “She’s in pre-production for some biopic about a warrior emperor. Murad. She did all the research a year or so ago.”

Nial nodded. “Somewhere in southern Turkey.”

Garrett felt the jolt almost down to his toes. “Çayönü,” he breathed. “Near Diyarbakir.”

Sebastian moved around the counter and came up next to Garrett’s side. He was taller than Garrett remembered, and looked Garrett in the eye. “Murad was an Ottoman emperor, wasn’t he?”

Garrett nodded.

Nial straightened up from his slouch against the counter. “Southern Turkey was all part of the Byzantine empire...and the Ottoman, too. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“Roman was born an Ottoman. He’s probably heard about Kate’s research,” Garrett said.

Nial crossed his arms again. “You have to find out, Garrett. Roman is a wildcard we need to neutralize if this game is to play the way we want it to.”

Garrett grimaced. “In three hundred years, I never could tame Roman in the slightest. The best I managed was to walk away and not look back.”

Sebastian’s smile was grim. “You can’t walk away this time, my friend. Your stakes are not the only ones on the table anymore.”

Garrett nearly opened his mouth to ask who else had a stake in the game beside him. Then he clamped his jaw closed, his heart pounding, as he realized the answer for himself.

Everyone’s future rode on the outcome of this. Human and vampire. Merely the future of mankind.

BLOOD STONE is the second book in the Blood Stone series

BLOOD STONE is the sequel to BLOOD KNOT.

It is a Plus-sized Novel.

WARNING:  This book contains two hot, sexy alpha heroes, frequent, explicit and frank sex scenes and sexual language.
It includes heart-stopping sexual scenes between the aforementioned sexy heroes, menage scenes, anal sex and the use of sex toys.  Don't proceed beyond this point if hot love scenes offend you.
No vampires were harmed in the making of this novel.

___

Blood Stone is the second book in my best selling vampire romance series.  It will be on sale on September 14, if not a bit before then. 

The good news?  The first book in the series, Blood Knot, is my #1 best seller, was the Winner of the Coffee Time Reviewer’s Recommended Award, was listed as one of Goodread’s “Most Drool-worthy Covers“, nominated for Erotic Vampire Book of the Year by The Romance Reviews, and received a CAPA Nomination for Best Paranormal Book of the Year by The Romance Studio, December, 2011, among many glowing and rave reviews.  If you’re curious about Blood Knot, you can read more here:  http://bit.ly/g9pSw5. 

The really good news?  On the 14^th, when Blood Stone is released, Blood Knot drops down to $0.00 for three days of free downloading at Amazon.

Bookmark Blood Knot on Amazon now:  http://amzn.to/hcrCCf

And bookmark Blood Stone on my website, so you can jump to the Amazon link the day it goes live:  http://bit.ly/TrCuWv

If you want a reminder on the 14^th to go get your free book, sign up to my blog’s RSS feed, or to the email feed, or to my newsletter.

Tracy Cooper-Posey writes romantic suspense, hot erotic paranormal and urban fantasy romances. She has published over 40 novels since 1999, been nominated for 5 CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award. 

She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated three times for Book Of The Year.   She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at Grant MacEwan University. 

She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together.  In her spare time she enjoys sewing, history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.  

You can find her site at http://www.TracyCooperPosey.com.