Coming soon from Red Rose Publishing, in the Autumn Rose Line (over 40 heroine):

Darlene tracks her teen aged son down at a wild party, finds him near death and is attacked.

A vampire? Darlene stared in confusion at the teeth. They looked so real. So deadly. She tried to kick and squirm away, but the woman just smirked at her and tightened the grip of the steel-like hands around Darlene’s neck, cutting off all breath. The dim light of the room went darker.

Suddenly, the woman’s grip evaporated and Darlene fell hard to the floor. The woman turned grey, and crumbled to the floor into a pile of fine dust.

Darlene gasped for breath, her throat aching as well as the rest of her body from the sudden fall to the concrete floor. She stared up at a man who stood where the vampire woman had been. He was tall and broad shouldered, dressed in a long sleeved black knit shirt and black jeans. Blond, wavy hair, cut close around the ears, framed an impossibly handsome face with high cheekbones, a square jaw, and full lips. His eyes were bright blue visible even in the dim light, long lashed and tilted upwards similar to a cat. His presence seemed as bizarre as the vampire woman. Darlene shook her head and tried to pull herself together.

“Leave,” he ordered in a hard voice.

“My son! I need to call 911.” Her voice came out in a harsh croak, her throat hurt when she talked. She got up on her knees and reached for her cell but a sharp kick from the man sent it flying across the room. She collapsed onto the floor and moaned, realizing he must be another one. A vampire. She crawled onto the bed and embraced her son, weeping. At least we’ll die together.

The blond man brushed her out of the way and examined Brian. “Too late,” he said in the same hard tone.

“No!” She cried in horror at his words but she knew he was right. She could see the twin puncture holes over Brian’s jugular. She swayed, almost falling off the bed. “He’s my son! He’s only seventeen,” she pleaded, needing to stay with Brian.

The man grabbed her with strength she recognized as inhuman, and one hard hand on her jaw forced her to look into his face for a long moment.  “I can give him life, but it won’t be the same,” he finally spoke. “It won’t be human life. It is too late for that. The boy will have to live with me. Or he’ll turn into a monster like the woman I just dusted. Is this what you want? He will be a vampire.”

Hope, pure and sharp, filled her. She looked into the man’s hard blue eyes, and thought she saw a flicker of compassion deep in the depths. “I want Brian alive! I don’t care what you have to do.”

Melisse Aires
*Website*

*Blog*

I’m working on a Harlequin Intrigue for the November Intrigue contest. I’m a long time reader(decades, I think) of Intrigues and have been playing with an idea for awhile, so this seemed like a great time to work on it. I’ve been wanting to write something longer than 30k-40k so this is a challenge since Intrigues are a minimum of 55k.

My Intrigue is set in North Central Montana. The hero was in a traumatic plane crash and has some memory loss. He also has new baby twins. The heroine is an artist, a little New Agey, vulnerable because–twins! He feels he is too old and jaded for the heroine, even though he can’t remember tons of his life. And there’s a sooper seekrit evil organization involved. All very fun to write.

I’m editing Galactic Game, too, the second book in the futuristic series I have coming out in Jan 2010 with Red Rose Publishing.

I’m also putting a fantasy romance novel, Fauntasy, on the TextNovel site. It is entered in the Dorchester contest, too. Here’s the link–you can comment and vote for it, too, if you want!

I have a story entered in the Dorchester/TextNovel contest. This is a story I’ve always liked but never knew what to do with because it has not -quite-human characters. It is a high fantasy romance, rated R for the site, and is titled Fauntasy by Melisse Aires.

Link to home page: www.textnovel.com/home.php I think you have to search with the title. Grr.

Basically, I need to have 6k uploaded at 500 words at a time by the contest deadline. Since the story is around 30k, no problemo.

It sounded like fun and I like to have something free out there for the folks that are having to count the pennies right now.

On the Home Front:

We had a big storm last night that knocked out the electricity for hours so I went to be by nine! My daughters stayed up reading by candlelight.

We don’t have elaborate plans for the weekend, just a nice BBQ and some kind of fruity red, white and blue cake. I would like to try and get a family portrait taken via our camera and tripod, always a fun time.

On the Reading Front:

I have a new book to read! I got it as an ebook so if the electricity goes out I can read it on my backlit PDA!

I also got :
Lisa Kleypas is a new author for me. I picked up her Wallflower series last week and just devoured it. Her hero’s have a HUGE FLAW.

On the writing front:

I joined Holly Lisle’s Write a Book with Me (http://hollylisle.com/writingdiary2/index.php/write-a-book-with-me/)
for motivation and because I have found of her writing books helpful. I’m on a quest to move from novella length to novel length, though neither of the project I’m working on right now are planned as novels. I’m planning ahead.

One thing I’ve noticed in much of my writing–unlike Lisa Kleypas– it is my heroines who have a HUGE FLAW.

In Galactic Game, Gema is part Krzsch, a non-Terran lizard humanoid race, much despised by the lab created, genetically enhanced PureGen humans that inhabit the space system she is living in. Her lover is an exotic Puregen. Even worse, he is royalty on his homeworld.

In Del Fantasma:Demonade, Trudy is a psyvamp. She doesn’t deliberately kill, not now that she is more mature and experienced in her feeding, but her past is full of death.

In my current release: Del Fantasma: Tiger Juice, Letha has psychic abilities and lived under the suspicion of being demon possessed in
the religious community where she was raised.

It is chilly here in the High Desert. My flowers are doing okay, the extra rain has been nice, but–BRRR.

Yesterday was the last day of school for my kids. We don’t have too many plans for the summer. Their usual summer activity is summer marching band, but that program got cut this year. My twins are really at loose ends since they are too young to get a summer job. My oldest got a full scholarship to a two week debate camp at UW! She also is job hunting.

As far as my summer, there is the garden. We’ll take day trips to lakes and other outdoor recreation sites. Hopefully we’ll get to Fort Collins for school clothes in August. Not a real exciting summer, I know, but we can’t atke off work this year. Just one of those economic things.

My writing is planned for the summer: A second Shadow Clans vampire romance for Red Rose Publishing, titled Vampire of Solace Creek, set in rural Montana. Then edit and finish stories in my five part futuristic series, Sons of the Protectorate, also with Red Rose. And I have a WIP for another Del Fantasma for Aspen Mountain Press.

I’m not starting anything really new, though occasionally I will take breaks from all my WIPs and fiddle with a new idea.

I am looking forward to trips to the lake. I love my old Alphasmart!

The Del Fantasma series from Aspen Mountain Press is a multi-author series centered around a paranormal bar, the Del Fantasma. Cody, the vampire owner and chief bartender of the Del Fantasma has quite a way with matchmaking beverages.

The Real Deal

My sister’s husband passed away very unexpectedly last week so I was in Montana for the funeral. He was a young guy, only 47, and he and my sis were high school sweethearts. They have three kids (one still in high school) and one grandbaby.

I’m planning to do this workshop since she is going to cover several things I know too little about.

Online workshop: New Author’s Survival Guide

A practical guide for the newly published. Whether you’ve just signed your first print contract with New York, are dipping your toes into the arena of e-publishing for the first time, or preparing in advance for when that first call comes, this course will take you on a step-by-step journey from contract to bookshelves with everything a new author needs to know to survive in the competitive marketplace. In this one week online course, we’ll go over:

- Contracts – what to avoid and what to fight for
- Rights – what to do with your TV/Film, Foreign, Electronic, and Audio rights
- Editor/agent relations – who do you turn to, how often, what makes you vigilant and what makes you a pest
- Revisions and Galleys – what to expect, what to watch for
- Promotion – how to tailor a promo campaign for you, make the most of your promo dollars, and getting your publisher behind your book
- Cover art/blurbs – your input and options
- Cover quotes – how to get them, which ones are most effective
- Contact info for reviewers, vendors, booksellers

May 4th – May 11th Cost $20
For more information or to register for class, please go to:
http://www.gemmahalliday.com/classes/

Instructor Bio:
Gemma Halliday is the author of the High Heels Mysteries, as well as this fall’s upcoming Hollywood Headlines romantic mystery series. Gemma’s books have won a multitude of awards, including a Golden Heart, a National Reader’s Choice award and two RITA nominations. She’s sold foreign rights for two of her novels, and optioned television rights for her debut book, SPYING IN HIGH HEELS.