Mandy Rules!
I’m so posting this for Mandy, even though she didn’t ask me to and will probably throw more stuff at my head, lol….
Did everyone see? Mandy is Dominating the Best Selling eBooks and Bestselling Author Chart with Immortal Ops!
http://www.fictionwise.com/topstories.htm
You GO GIRL!
We also have new Ebooks listed there (cause I forgot to post when they came out—oops)
http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/MandyMRotheBooks.htm - Mandy
http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/MichelleMPilloweBooks.htm -Michelle
Labels: fictionwise, mandy roth
Cool Contest Finds - Kalen Hughes
About the Contest:To celebrate the publication of LORD SIN, Kalen Hughes is giving away a
period piece of jewelry! It's a paste lace pin, c. 1800, such as
might have been worn by the heroine of LORD SIN to hold her fichu in
place.
This tiny pin is made up of clear pastes surrounding a larger teal
paste (paste was a very popular "stone" for Georgian jewelry, and
was not meant to fool people into thinking it was a precious or
semiprecious stone the way a modern cubic zirconia is). The clasp
works, and it's very wearable.
All you have to do to be eligible for the drawing is join her
quarterly mailing list before LORD SIN hits the shelves (1 May
2007).
Enter to win a period piece of jewelry!
http://kalenhughes.com/_wsn/page4.html
Read the first chapter of LORD SIN
http://kalenhughes.com/_wsn/page3.html
Labels: contest, Kalen Hughes
What Lies Ahead
By
Penelope Marzec
Sometimes my mother knew what would happen in the future--but only the immediate future--and only for those near and dear to her. All her episodes of ESP involved those she loved, but she never related her prescience until after the event--which made some family members skeptical. However, I believed her. Still, there were times when I wished she would let everyone in on her foreknowledge of events. For instance, when I decided to take my younger sister skiing, why couldn’t she have warned me not to go? If she had maybe my sister would not have wound up with a broken leg. My mother was convinced that if she told me I would not have paid any attention to her warning.
Maybe. Maybe not. But I thought it was worth a try. After all, what good are warnings if you don’t act upon them?
It wasn’t until I was all grown up with children of my own that I would occasionally experience some sort of message and I began to understand why my mother always kept her foreknowledge to herself, because she was right, nobody does pay any attention to a warning.
Once, I helped to convince my sister that she should stop dating a guy--he was such a loser and she deserved better. After she dropped him, she was miserable--and I became very concerned. What if she did not find someone else? What if I was instrumental in ruining all her chances for happiness? I felt awful.
Sometime afterwards, I received a message that my sister would get married. The message came to me clearly--not in the form of words, but as a sort of knowing. I had never experienced something like that until that point. It was not simply my own thought--it was given to me.
Naturally, it took time before my sister found the wonderful man she would marry. All I could say to her in the interim was that I knew she would get married. It sounded rather lame. But at least, I was right.
I have experienced a few other messages since then. I cannot turn my clairvoyance on or off--and just like my mother, my foreknowledge of events only concerns those close to me. Once, both my daughter and I experienced the same message at the same time--and we did try to tell everyone, but no one believed us.
But we were warned. And maybe that’s the whole point. We cannot change what lies ahead, but we can be more emotionally prepared for it.
By
Penelope Marzec
http://www.penelopemarzec.comhttp://penelopemarzec.blogspot.comhttp://www.myspace.com/happywriterDisclaimer, cause we have to: The opinions of guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Mandy M Roth and Michelle M Pillow. (Want to be a guest blogger?)Labels: guest blogger, paranormal
Winners of Book Dedications by M&M’s
Thank you so much for playing along with us! We love the podcast questions you've all posted and emailed to us. Please be sure to keep making suggestions for topics and emailing/posting questions you'd like us to answer. We'll be pulling winners at random from those who do and awarding PDF downloads, signed bookmarks and whatever else strikes our fancy. Also, those of you who have emailed/posted your questions/topics for us, don't worry, you're still entered to win other prizes as well! Thanks for playing!
Drum roll please….
Winners of book dedications are…
Robin Snodgrass for a Mandy M. Roth book (TBA)
Anicz for a Michelle M. Pillow book (TBA)
If either of you have any special way you'd like your named listed (full name, first name, nickname) please email us and let us know! CONGRATS!
*disclaimer from contest post*
Books may appear in both ebook and print.
UPDATE: You can option to just have your first name in the dedication or a nickname. We'll put it in as you give it to us, so no worries if you're a closet reader ;) Authors are welcome to enter, you have just as good a chance as everyone else to win
Contest is open to those 18 years and older. Winner will be randomly drawn from names of entrants.
Labels: books, contest, podcast, winner list
Cool Contest Finds - M&M Surfing the Net
FROM JENNA--I have created a tri-fold brochure for Secrets in the Shadows. Inside that brochure is an excerpt from the book and instructions for finding my Secrets Quiz question. Find the Secrets Quiz and answer the question correctly, and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a $50 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice. Please note that for logistical reasons, this bookstore must be located in the US and accept phone or Internet gift certificate orders.
Big news! Rendezvous, The Romance Bookstore, in Melbourne, Australia has donated a new prize! The first prize winner will receive their choice of a $100 (Australian) voucher for use at Rendezvous, or the $50 gift certificate announced above. Rendezvous has an amazing selection of books--and carries books printed in the U.S. as soon as those books are released--and will ship anywhere in the world. The second prize winner will receive the remaining prize.
I will be sending brochures to upcoming writers' conferences and will be including them in mailings to bookstores. For those of you coming to the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, I will also have brochures available there. In addition, if you send me a self-addressed stamped envelope, I will mail you a brochure. For non-US residents, you would need to send a self-addressed envelope and IRCs. Send your self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Jenna Black
P.O. Box 5071
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5001
The winner will be announced on May 15, 2007. All entries must be received by midnight EDT May 14, 2007.
Labels: contest, Jenna Black
Raven Reader Bash - WIN STUFF!
Join us tomorrow for the Raven Reader Bash! Listed below are just some of the authors expected to join us for a day filled of excerpts and prizes! Come Post to Win!! (authors are welcome to sign up-see end of this email for link to info)
TO JOIN THE FUN: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Raven_Vampire_Nightclub/
Here is the link for authors interested in participating –
http://www.ravenhappyhour.com/raven_faq's.htm#Reader%20Bash%20Days
Labels: Raven Reader Bash
The Night Goddess ~ Raven Reader Opens New Store!
One of our readers over at The Raven Yahoo Group had opened a brand new, online store called The Night Goddess . So, if you get a second, pop on over there and check it out! Good Luck and Congrats!!! I'll see if I can't get Crystal over here to tell you a little more about it!
http://www.thenightgoddess.com/
(Mandy and Michelle aren't affiliated with it so don't give us credit We're just super excited for Crystal in her new endeavor!)Labels: shopping
I never was much into the realm of the paranormal
By
Nancy Henderson
I never was much into the realm of the paranormal. Sure I believed in ghosts, UFOs, Loch Ness all that stuff that couldn’t be explained but was just spotted too often to scoff at. Raised with a traditional-religious background, I knew there was life after death. I believed in ghosts, I read and listened to ghost story specials on television. I even dressed as a ghost one Halloween when I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted to be and my mom had to whip up a costume at the last minute. Then I saw one.
And everything changed.
I shouldn’t say I saw one, per se. I ‘felt’ one. I had an apparition, a messenger, if you will. It was six years ago. My friend, Jud, spent winters in Florida every year. It was February 6th. I woke up at 2 am, just out of the blue, instantly awake, I mean wide awake, the I-had-six-cups-of-espresso awake. And anyone who knows me knows that once I fall asleep, I’m out for the night. There’s no waking me up. So for me to wake up at 2 am, was really bizarre in itself.
I sat up in bed, looked at the clock, then I felt as if I wasn’t alone. My dog, Katie, was sleeping at the foot of my bed. She was as wide awake as I was (she requires an act of God to wake her up too.) She was looking at something at the foot of my bed. There was nothing there, but there was something. I didn’t see it. I felt it. A presence.
Katie began to wag her tail.
And then I knew. Don’t ask me how I knew, I just knew. Jud was dead. I heard it loud and clear in my head. And I had the strangest feeling of peace come over me, and I’ve never felt anything so intense since.
Jud had always loved Katie. He’d loved all dogs, but he was especially fond of Kate. And Katie knew. Don’t ask me how, but she knew. Then, just as quickly as he’d come, he was gone. Katie stopped wagging her tail, dropped her head to her paws, and went to sleep. Sleep didn’t come to me again that night.
I phoned Jud in Florida the next morning. No answer. I phoned all week, as a matter of fact. Nothing. A few weeks later, I got in touch with his son, whom I didn’t have a phone number for. (He was out of the country, so it was rather difficult to track down.)
Jud had suffered a massive heart attack February 6th at approximately 6 pm, killing him instantly.
So there is another realm, be it ghosts, the paranormal, spirits, whatever you choose to call them. Sometimes there not all scary. Sometimes they just have a message to give us.
Nancy Henderson is the author of paranormal, contemporary, and historical romances. Visit her website at:
www.nancyhenderson.com or her blog at:
www.nancyhenderson.blogspot.comDisclaimer, cause we have to: The opinions of guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Mandy M Roth and Michelle M Pillow. (Want to be a guest blogger?)Labels: guest blogger, paranormal
Spike vs Angel - Who do you love?
I'm posting this knowing full and well Mandy is going to make fun of me for a really REALLY
REALLY long time. I don't care, lol. I love Spike after having gotten into the Buffy sitcom later in the series, and more recently have come to love Angel (though Spike still wins, lol, cause he was first and I have a soft spot for those your good, your bad, your good, your bad, your crazy type characters) Mr JW, if you're out there---um, can I have a job writing on your next show?
Plus, I really like this song too. :)
So, who is your fave Buffy/Angel world character? And is anyone planning on getting the graphic novels?
Closer
About the Burning Times
By Gia Dawn
During medieval times, fear of devilry and witchcraft ran rampant. If a cow sickened and refused to give milk…obviously it had been cursed by the local hag. Too much rain? Not enough? Crop failure was also laid at the women’s doorsteps.
Not that the local populace needed any encouragement. Priests urged neighbor to turn against neighbor. If the accused was convicted of witchcraft, their lands were forfeit with half going to the church, and half going to their accuser. It was a most profitable business for all concerned—except for those that were put on trial.
The determination was simple in many cases. The accused was bound and tied and thrown into the nearest river. If they somehow managed not to drown, the river did not accept them—a sure sign they were true witches—and then they were burned at the stake. Not much of a choice, if you ask me.
Entire towns were nearly wiped out, with women being far more likely to die than their male counterparts. And it wasn’t just the old who were accused. Any young girl who had the audacity to refuse to sleep with the local clergy or nobility was threatened to be charged with heresy and put on trial before the town.
But were there really witches who rode brooms and danced with the devil beneath a full moon’s light? Was magic alive and well and thriving? And why are we so fascinated with magic today? What calls us to write and read stories of charms and spells and whispered incantations?
On some basic level, we need the power of myth. We need to believe there are still things out there that cannot be explained, that urge us to delve into the mystery of the past and explore the dark and forgotten realms. We need to wonder. We need to dream. We need to imagine.
So on the next full moon night, spend a few moments calling on the magic—the magic of your creativity, the magic of your life. Speak your deepest desires aloud. There is power in the telling, and you never know, someone might still be listening.
Gia Dawn
www.giadawn.com
Lord Demon's Delight, Samhain Publishing--January, 2007
Disclaimer, cause we have to: The opinions of guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Mandy M Roth and Michelle M Pillow. (Want to be a guest blogger?)
Labels: guest blogger, paranormal
First Raven Podcast - Now Live!!!
Oh, yeah, now you have to listen to us too!
Before download, be sure you have your speakers turned on and if you're using headsets, be sure they aren't the kind with one ear piece only.
Podcasts Mp3's
Want to be a guest on a RAVEN PODCAST?
Email us to see what spots are open and please have a topic to recommend for your time. Also, you will need to have SKYPE installed on your computer along with a decent microphone. Skype is a free program.
By agreeing to be a guest you give us permission to record you, and post for public as we see fit.
Listen to podcasts here:
http://www.ravenhappyhour.com/raven_podcasts.htm
http://ravenpodcasts.podomatic.com/
Labels: podcast
CONTEST: Raven Podcasts - Coming Soon!
Mandy and Michelle are currently setting up to begin Raven Podcasts. Yeah, you have to listen to us now too! LOL
Anyway, in honor of the setting up process, we're holding a contest. Submit reader questions or topics we can use in our podcasts that you'd like to hear us talk about and be entered for a chance to win your name in a book dedication! There will be two winners, one in a Michelle book and one in a Mandy book (of our choice)
UPDATE: You can option to just have your first name in the dedication or a nickname. We'll put it in as you give it to us, so no worries if you're a closet reader ;) Authors are welcome to enter, you have just as good a chance as everyone else to win
Contest is open to those 18 years and older. Winner will be randomly drawn from names of entrants.
To enter:
Simply post your topic as a comment to this post. You can enter more than once. More than one winner may be drawn for the same dedication if there are several entries.
Books may appear in both ebook and print. By entering the contest you are agreeing to 1. have your name in the dedication and related material whether print or electronic--for example on my and the publisher website or in a podcast. 2. allow Mandy and Michelle to use your topic in a Raven podcast, in whole or in part, as they see fit. No other compensation will be given.Labels: contest, podcast
When Voyeurism is Good
By
Candice GilmerThey say that voyeurism is a bad thing. That's what they tell us.
But...
There comes a time when voyeurism is a good thing.
Like when writing a good sex scene.
Most writers have a hard time writing a good sex scene or a good erotic tale. Their difficulty could lie in many areas, anything from feeling unable to communicate the intensity of the scene, to feeling just generally that the work was too naughty to do it.
When writing speculative fiction, the author has to deal with a whole new layer of complications beyond the typical who-touched-who-how element.
They have to deal with alternate body chemistries; alternate as in not human body make-ups.
This can present a completely different angle all together. And as such, certain aspects need to be taken into consideration.
This is where knowing your characters is very important, knowing how their bodies function, how they respond to sexual stimulation, what the results of said stimulation can do to their body's responses.
In my book Unified Souls, Devin Cartell's species of humanoid are plagued by a condition known as Body Fire. The stronger the adrenalin, the stronger the Body Fire, and therefore, the stronger his sexual needs become when in such a state. Most of Devin's species are pacifists, and therefore can control this Body Fire without much effort, since rarely do they generate the needed adrenalin and other components to ignite it.
Devin, however, lives a very action-packed life, and in the book, he becomes plagued by this fire, seducing Jasmine Storm in one of the heated moments. It takes great control on his part to step away, to stop, before he's consumed by his Body Fire, and is unable to free himself of his desire.
Knowing that Cartell lives with such a burning intensity in his veins makes him very fun to write, because he can get so lost inside this Body Fire, he forgets all of the world around him, and what he should be doing, rather than what he craves.
This kind of intimate knowledge of Cartell's body chemistry helps me write about his needs in sex scenes. What satisfies someone who literally burns with desire and intensity? What kind of sex would that be? Would it be slow, quiet, and gentle? Highly unlikely. When such passion lives within someone, it's hard to squelch that desire when it takes over.
This is where being a voyeur is a good thing. You can see, through the eyes of the characters, what's going on in the room; how the characters react, how they move, how they express their emotions.
How does that help your writing of sex scenes?
If you can visualize the intimate moments, you can actually understand what the characters see—if one of your main characters is, say a feline type race, you can see exactly how she moves, how she climbs over her pray and, maybe licks a trail up his torso.
Or what if your character has wings, like a fairy of some kind? Would their wings flutter and spasm against their back as they reached climax? Would an animalistic character like a werewolf start changing, mid climax, if only for a few seconds, during sex?
These are all things that you need to ask yourself when writing sex scenes within your speculative romance. As you ask these questions, you'll find new answers, and with any luck, creative ones at that. Also, this will present even more questions, which will create more answers and a better understanding of your character.
While you watch through the window of your character's eyes at a sex scene, you also will feel what they feel, and see what they see. Since dealing with speculative characters, the importance of knowing things like skin texture, differences in body design or variance are important as well.
And you may not see those differences with the character's clothes on.
Going back to Devin Cartell, he has a minor variation in his body from "standard" human forms. Down his shoulders, across his back, and down to a point toward his bottom is a trail of dark freckles. Not a terribly big deal, but on people of Devin's race, those freckles change colors, depending on mood. In the Body Fire, they're dark red, and hot to the touch. When Jasmine Storm touches them for the first time, she's shocked at the warmth in them, something that startles her (very briefly) during their intimate moments.
I never would have "saw" or "felt" how his skin reacted unless I let myself watch what was going on.
It is amazing what you can do when you focus on your work, open your eyes, and participate a bit of mental voyeurism. Your characters can show you amazing things, and no matter what they show you, you can write about it. These are your characters. They're reacting in your world. Allowing yourself to take a look at those things will teach you incredible things about your characters.
And also, those characters won't do anything you can't write about, after all, they're your characters.
So watch them.
You might be surprised.
Ain't voyeurism great?
About the Author: Disclaimer, cause we have to: The opinions of guest bloggers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Mandy M Roth and Michelle M Pillow. (Want to be a guest blogger?)Labels: guest blogger, paranormal
JAN WINNERS! Express Yourself Contest
JAN WINNERS!!
1. Jan - Winner $25 Amazon.com Gift Certificate
2. Amy Smith - Winner Choice PDF -- One from Mandy's backlist of ebooks, One from Michelle's backlist of ebooks
Please email us off list to claim your prizes. EMAIL: michelle_pillow (at) yahoo.com
Since everyone seemed to have a fun time with this contest, we're keeping it going! New winners will be drawn next month. Remember, you don't have to do a fan book video to be a part of it! So have fun creating!
Contest Link -
http://www.mandyroth.com/express_yourself_contest_page.htmThanks!
M & Ms
Michelle M Pillow
www.michellepillow.comMandy M Roth
www.mandyroth.com
**PRIZES-If you win a prize and do not claim it within 30 days, its void. Sorry to do this but we clear my records each month and need this for our sanity.Labels: contest, Express Yourself, winner list
